23 April 2015 Current Affairs.........

1) The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) recently gave its in-principle approval for creation of three new tiger reserves in the country. This was announced by the Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in Lok Sabha on 21 April 2015. These 3 new tiger reserves will be established at which places? – Ratapani (Madhya Pradesh), Sunabeda (Odisha) and Guru Ghasidas (Chhattisgarh)

Explanation: The decision to establish three new tiger reserves came after the tiger census in January 2015 showed an overall rise in numbers. Apart from this, the NTCA also accorded final approval to a proposal to declare Kudremukh National Park in Karnataka and Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand as tiger reserves. Seeking to provide more protected spaces for the endangered species, State governments have been asked to send conservation proposals for the following areas: Suhelwa in Uttar Pradesh, Mhadei in Goa, Srivilliputtur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary/ Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary/ Varushanadu Valley in Tamil Nadu, Dibang in Arunachal Pradesh and Cauvery-MM Hills in Karnataka.

2) Saudi Arabia on 21 April 2015 ended its month-long military operation against the Houthi rebels under which air strikes were conducted. What was the name of this operation? – “Operation Decisive Storm”

Explanation: “Operation Decisive Storm” was military operation against Yemen’s Houthi, who had seized large areas of Yemen. This operation was spearheaded by a coalition of nine Arab nations lead by Saudi Arabia. It was started on 25 March 2015 and it mainly involved air strikes. Apart from Saudi Arabia, other 8 Arab countries that took part in this operation were Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. On 21 April 2015, Saudi Arabia announced an end to “Operation Decisive Storm”, saying the intervention’s focus would shift from military operations to the political process and that it had achieved its military objective of removing the threat to Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries. Iran, which was supporting the fellow Shi’ite Houthis, welcomed the ceasefire, which followed months of factional fighting between the militant group and forces loyal to the government, which was driven out of the capital Sanaa.

3) Which international news channel was forced to go off air in India for five days from 22 April 2015 as the government penalised it for repeatedly showing wrong maps of the country? – Al Jazeera

Explanation: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that it had come to its notice that Al Jazeera had shown a wrong map of India in some of its broadcasts in 2013 and 2014, after which the matter was referred to Surveyor General of India (SGI). The SGI had observed that in some of the maps displayed by Al Jazeera, “a portion of Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir (i.e. PoK and Aksai Chin) has not been shown as a part of Indian territory.” The channel also did not show Lakshadweep and Andaman Islands in some of the maps. On 22 April, this channel only showed a blank screen with a message saying that “as instructed by the ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this channel will not be available from 00.01 hours on 22nd April till 00.01 hours on 27th April 2015.”

4) What is the name of the mobile app launched by Indian Railways on 22 April 2015 that will facilitate obtaining unreserved passenger tickets? – UTS

Explanation: Indian Railways’ UTS application is an android-based application (app) which can be downloaded via the Google Play Store. After downloading the UTS app, users will receive a registration ID number for the creation of an electronic wallet. Money for buying tickets will have to be loaded through the e-wallet mobile payment system either online or at a ticket counter at any station. Passengers have the option of topping up the e-wallet at ticket counters or on the IRCTC website using a credit or debit card. It has been developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). Having booked a ticket using the app, a commuter need not take a print-out of the same and can show its soft copy on the cellphone to the TTE. This app has been launched as the Indian Railways takes forward its initiative for paperless ticketing and makes it much easier to obtain unreserved tickets. The app-based ticketing system was tried out in the Mumbai suburban sector on a pilot basis. A version of the app for BlackBerry devices will be made available later.

5) India’s leading online travel services provider MakeMyTrip acquired which travel startup as announced on 22 April 2015? – MyGola

Explanation: MyGola is a startup travel guide firm that was founded in 2009 by Anshuman Bapna and Prateek Sharma. On the other hand MakeMyTrip’s services and products include air tickets, customised holiday packages, hotel bookings, railway tickets, bus tickets, car hire and facilitating access to travel insurance. It was founded in 2000 by Deep Kalra and has also been listed on the NASDAQ. MakeMyTrip has done 100% acquisition of MyGola, which has been done through the company’s earlier announced innovation fund.

6) Indian Railways on 21 April 2015 launched an online monitoring mechanism to monitor implementation of various ongoing projects including Rail Budget proposals. What is the name given to this new mechanism? – E-Samiksha

Explanation: E-Samiksha has been developed to make it a highly interactive web-based, user-friendly and customised system. Apart from budget-related projects, the E-Samiksha can also be used for monitoring the infrastructure target and board meeting follow-up. Designed by NIC, the software is currently being used by Cabinet Secretariat, PMO and other Ministries for monitoring progress implementation of various programmes and follow-up of meetings.