Current Affairs, News & Facts of 25 Apr 2016

Spanish professional tennis player Rafael Nadal, currently ranked world No. 5  has won the 2016 Barcelona Open title of Tennis by defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan in the final match played at in Barcelona, Spain.

It was Nadal’s overall 9th Barcelona Open title and 69th win from 101 finals on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour. With this victory, Nadal has equalled Guillermo Vilas’ decade’s old record of 49 clay-court titles. 

Rafael Nadal : He is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history due to his dominance and success on the surface, he has been titled "The King of Clay". So far, 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 also had won 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles.

Every year April 24 is observed as National Panchayati Raj Diwas to mark the passing of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24th April, 1993 which institutionalized Panchayati Raj through the Village, Intermediate and District levels Panchayats.

Significance of the day : This date marks a defining moment in the history of decentralization of political power to the grassroots level. The impact of the 73rd Amendment in rural India is very visible as it has changed power equations irreversibly.

Every year on this day best performing Gram Panchayats are conferred with Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Purskar by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the day long National Conference on the occasion is also organised in various parts of the country.

‘Sahapedia’ an online encyclopaedia encompassing Indian history, art and culture has gone live with about 5,000 pages on every imaginable aspect of India's cultural landscape.

Sahapedia is a not-for-profit society headed by former TCS chairman S. Ramadorai, who currently helms the National Skill Development Agency.

It's has everything, from heritage monuments, dance forms, poetry and philosophy to film and theatre directors, religious festivals, wildlife parks and even cuisines. Sahapedia is brainchild of Sudha Gopalakrishnan, who earlier headed India's National Mission for Manuscripts.

Sahapedia will be accessible across user groups such as scholars, practitioners, students, teachers, travellers and enthusiasts. It will also play important role in integrating activities and services including research, documentation, digitization and conservation.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan was named as the goodwill ambassador of the Indian contingent for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He was chosen by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) from a list of two to three candidates which also included Shah Rukh Khan and veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan.

This is the first time when a Bollywood superstar has been chosen as a goodwill ambassador for the Indian contingent at the Olympics so it kicked up a storm with star wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and sprint legend Milkha Singh questioning the move of IOA.

The announcement was made in the presence of  star woman boxer M C Mary Kom, hockey captain Sardar Singh, and shooter Apurvi Chandela among others.

Since Salman Khan as he is considered to be more connected with the youth and sportspersons so his association will not only attract sports lovers but also help motivate the players to do well in the Olympics.

The Army Commanders Conference is beginning today in New Delhi. It will be a six days Conference that will appraise current and emerging strategic security scenario, review of operational preparedness of the Indian Army and aspects pertaining to training, administration, military technology and force modernization.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will inaugurate the conference today. The Conference will be chaired by Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Dalbir Singh. All Army Commanders and other senior Army Officers will attend the conference.

During World War I, there were  two  million Armenians living in the Ottoman empire but by 1922,  there were fewer than 400,000 Armenians .

The other 1.5  million were killed in what historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century "Armenian Genocide".

Those 1.5 million people were not killed at once but were driven through mountains and deserts without food, drink or shelter  and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre.

The man who invented the word “genocide”— Raphael Lemkin  a lawyer of Polish-Jewish origin - was explicitly moved by the Armenian annihilation to coin the word genocide in 1943 and define systematic and premeditated exterminations within legal parameters.

Solar-powered airplane -- Solar Impulse 2-- landed in California, completing a risky, three-day flight across the Pacific Ocean as part of its journey around the world.

Piccard and fellow Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg started the global journey of Solar Impulse 2 from Abu Dhabi in March 2015.  It made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China, Japan and Hawaii.

The most dangerous part of  their journey was the flight over the Pacific Ocean's vast expanses, where there are few places to make an emergency landing. They made 62 hour, nonstop solo flight over the pacific ocean without fuel.

Pilot Bertrand Piccard completed a risky, three-day flight across a great expanse of the Pacific Ocean while sleeping only 20 minutes at a time inside the plane's tiny cockpit with no heat or air conditioning and at the same time maintaining constant contact with the Europe-based control center.

The Government of India has notified new rules on Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary to revamp Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act  to ensure speedy justice to members of the SC/ST community.

Key facts 

The new rule includes the provision of completing an investigation and filing a chargesheet in the court within 60 days of the filing of complaint by a member of SC/ST community. There is also provision of relief for offences of rape and gang rape, introduced for the first time.

Another important provision is delinking the requirement of medical examination for getting relief amount for non-invasive offences kind of offences against women like sexual harassment, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of women. 

 It has Provisions of admissible relief amount to the SC/ST women for offences of grievous nature, on conclusion of trial, even though not ending in conviction.

The new  provisions have increased the existing quantum of relief amount from between Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 7, 50,000 to between Rs. 85,000 and Rs. 8, 25,000, depending on the nature of the offence.