The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of the I-T Department, has recently issued a notification making which two instrument are valid proof of "date of birth" for obtaining PAN card?: Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and Aadhaar, issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India
Explanation: After this notification now it is easier for the applicant to get the Pan card with limited number of documents thus gives relaxed from the cumbersome procedure of having multiple documents to prove one's own identity. Till now, both these photo ID cards were only considered as valid proof for substantiating the "identity" and "address" of an individual and not their date of birth. there are a total of 12 identity documents which could be used to establish the date of birth of an individual who is applying for a PAN card as compared to the eight earlier. But for a common man, who is not in government service, only an EPIC or Aadhaar is required.
The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) on 20 April 2015 expelled rebel leaders Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha for what reason?: 'anti-party' activities
Explanation: AAP had on April 17 served show-cause notices to the four senior leaders and removed them from important committees. Yadav had called the show-cause notice a "pre-scripted drama" where the outcome is already decided and well-known. However, AAP claimed that Yadav, Bhushan and Anand Kumar violated the Code of Conduct detailed in Article VI A (a) of the party's constitution. Jha failed to furnish his response but he was also charged with the same offence as the other three.
A Kolkata-class stealth destroyer warship for the Indian Navy was launched on 20 April 2015 at Mumbai. It will be known by which name after being commissioned into the Indian Navy?: INS Visakhapatnam
Explanation: The ship, weighing approximately 3,000 tons during the launch, is slated to be christened as ‘INS Visakhapatnam’ on commissioning and is expected to be commissioned in the Navy by 2018. It will be the first of P15-B stealth destroyers (under Kolkata-class) and will be propelled by four gas turbines. It is designed to achieve a speed of over 30 knots at a displacement of approximately 7,300 tons.
For the first time a female driver was appointed in the bus service of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) on 18 April 2015. What is her name?: Venkadarath Saritha
Explanation: In an important chapter in women empowerment in Delhi, 30-year old Venkadarath Saritha from Telangana will be on day-time duty on regular routes in Central Delhi. She moved from Hyderabad to New Delhi four years ago, was selected from among seven women candidates who had applied for the post in response to a DTC advertisement. She will attend a four-week training programme at the DTC training school after the completion of formalities, Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai handed over DTC’s appointment letter to her on 18 April 2015 and will now join her regular duty at Sarojini Nagar Depot from 20 April.
President of India Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Centenary Year Celebrations of which High Court on 18 April 2015?: Patna High Court
Explanation: The Court has planned year long centenary celebrations and the occasion was inaugurated by the President on 18 April 2015. The foundation-stone of the Patna High Court (which is the High Court of Bihar state) was laid on 1 December 1913 by the then Viceroy and Governor-General of India Sir Charles Hardinge. The court was formally opened on 3 February 1916. Some of the noted personalities who practiced here included Dr. Rajendra Prasad (First President of India), Syed Hasan Imam (President, Indian National Congress) and Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha (First Speaker of Lok Sabha). Three Chief Justices from Patna High Court had went on to become the Chief Justice of India.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp on 19 April 2015 has agreed to take over a part of the abandoned assets of the western offshore Tapti gas field from its joint venture partners between which 2 companies once output falls to zero.?: Reliance Industries and BG
Explanation: Gas output from the field has almost halved to 14.2 billion cubic feet (bcf) in 2014-15 while oil production was 0.2 million barrels, down 22 per cent from previous fiscal. With Tapti output declining rapidly, partners in the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields - RIL, BG and ONGC, have decided to abandon the field. NGC will take over Tapti Part A facilities in accordance with Tapti Production Sharing Contract (PSC) along with abandonment obligation. Abandonment means dismantling and removing infrastructure set up for production of oil and gas. Primarily gas-bearing Tapti field is located 160 km north-west of Mumbai and is currently producing about one million standard cubic meters per day and even this output is expected to taper off to zero before the year end. The Panna-Mukta fields are expected to stay in production till fiscal 2019.
Which state government has decided to link all ration shops in state and suburban district with a biometric system by November with a view to check irregularities in the public distribution system (PDS)?: Maharashtra government
Explanation: The linking will be done in a phased manner where all ration shops in Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivali region will be linked by Diwali, which falls in November this year, and thereafter the government will shift focus on Nagpur-Pune and Aurangabad districts. The step is seen as government keen interest on curbing illegal distribution of food grains by rationing shops and has even allotted Rs 100 crore in the budget for this purpose. There are around 3,000 rationing shops in Mumbai and about 1,000 in Thane that will be linked to the biometric system. Thus the five companies have shown interest in the proposal so far and demonstrations are being given to department officials however final call on the company is still to be made.
On 16 April 2015, India has successfully test-fired nuclear warhead-capable which series of Agni ballistic missile?: Agni-III ballistic missile
Explanation: The testing happened around 10 am on 16 April 2015 where the indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile was test fired from a mobile launcher at Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast by the army. AGNI III has a strike range of more than 3,000 km.
Leading agri-commodity bourse NCDEX on 16 april 2015 notified that it has tied up with which broadcaster entity for providing spot and futures prices of farm items to the soon-to-be-launched with its channel.?: Prasar Bharati with its 'DD Kisan' Channel
Explanation: The exchange will help the channel showcase developments in the primary markets in addition to producing a pro-bono half-an-hour weekly show for farmers. Along with providing data for price tickers, NCDEX will also provide news stories, expert analysis and feature stories to showcase the economic turnaround stories from hinterlands and rural India. In 2014-15 Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had allocated Rs 100 crore for launch of Kisan channel to provide real-time information on various farming and agricultural matters.
A Task-Force on Interlinking of Rivers was constituted by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation on 14 April 2015. Who was appointed as the Chairman of this Task-Force?: B.N. Navalawala
Explanation: B.N. Navalawala is an internationally renowned water-resources expert with specialisation in planning, design and execution of multipurpose water resources projects, flood management and economic planning & financial management of water resources.Thus the Task Force will take up all issues for expediting the work on interlinking of rivers in the country under his supervision. Apart from examining the existing links that are laid out as per the National Perspective Plan under both Himalayan and Peninsular components, the Task-Force would also consider alternative plans in place of infeasible links in the present plan. Thus the Task-Force would llok to facilitate interlinking of intra-state and intra-basin Rivers also along with that of inter-state and inter-basin links.
