Current Affairs, News & Facts of 19 Apr 2016

In order to check sale of spurious liquor, the Maharashtra Government has decided to make it mandatory to have a hologram on every alcohol bottle manufactured and sold in the State.

Henceforth, no liquor bottle will be allowed to be sold in the state without the hologram. Twenty-one states in the country are already using the hologram technology.

The decision was taken keeping in mind the last years tragedy at Malwani where about 100 people died after consuming spurious liquor.

A recent Excise Department survey found that while the liquor production in the state was two lakh bottles, the sale figure stood at 6 lakh bottles which indicates that there are fake liquor manufacturer in the state.

How it will work? 

(1) It will be mandatory to paste "polyester base track and trace" hologram on every alcohol bottle. It will be supported by a mobile app, which will help consumers find out whether the liquor is fake or genuine.

(2) Besides checking sale of spurious liquor, the technique will also help prevent loss of revenue due to cheap liquor being imported into Maharashtra from neighbouring States.

(3) The State earned excise duty worth about Rs 18,000 crore, inclusive of VAT, from liquor sales last fiscal. There are 159 liquor manufacturers in the State.

In order to check the steep decline in ground water level across Maharashtra, the state government has decided to restrict digging of borewells beyond 200 feet. Announcement in this regard was made by state Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Babanrao Lonikar.

This decision was taken in the wake for severe drought and decreasing ground water level across various regions in the state.

The ban will be implemented under the Maharashtra Groundwater Development and Management Act in order to control the excess water pumping through borewell. 

Henceforth, digging of borewell that violates prescribed rules will punishable offence and the violators of the rule would now face fine or even imprisonment.

Senior IPS officer Deepak Mishra has been appointed as Additional Director General in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). His appointment was cleared by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

He will have tenure till November 2018 with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post.

Deepak Mishra is IPS officer of the 1984 batch of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)

CRPF is the largest of India's Central Armed Police Forces. It functions under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).  

Its primary role is to assist States/Union Territories (UTs) in police operations to maintain law and order and contain insurgency.

It came into existence as the Crown Representative's Police on 27 July 1939. After Indian Independence, it became the Central Reserve Police Force on enactment of the CRPF Act on 28 December 1949. Currently CRPF is the world’s largest paramilitary force with 228 battalions and over three lakh personnel.

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal  (World No 5) clinched the ninth Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters title of Tennis by defeating Gael Monfils of France with a score of (7-5, 5-7, 6-0) in the final match.

It was his overall 9th Monte Carlo Masters title and his 68th win from 100 finals on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour. 

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Title Leaders

(1) Rafael Nadal  -    28  Titles
(2) Novak Djokovic -  28  Titles
(3) Roger Federer -   24  Titles
(4) Andre Agassi  -   17 Titles

Achievements of Rafael Nadal

• He has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, 28 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and 16 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments. He is also the winner of 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles category.
• He is the only male player in tennis history to win one Grand Slam and Masters 1000 title for ten consecutive years from 2005 to 2014. He is famously known as the King of Clay.