Current Affairs : April 15, 2010

Kerala: Vishu
Vishu is the auspicious festival of prosperity and hope celebrated in Kerala. Thousands of devotees are thronging the temples for the traditional ritual of vishukani darshan.

Vishu, one of the important festivals of Kerala comes in the month of April usually on the 14th. It is the 1st day of Malayalam month Medam which is the astronomical New Year, as per the traditional Malyalam Calender. The main event is ‘Kani-Kanal’ is the main event of the festival. On the previous night of the Vishu, the ladies of the house prepare the Kani which is a big pot comprising coconuts, a gold ornament, a new cloth, fruits, cereals and Konna flower. A mirror and the garlanded deity of Lord Krishna is kept behind the mirror. In the morning of the Vishu day, the master of the house , followed by other members see the aupicious ‘Kani’. The youngers get blessings from the elders of the family. The youngers also get money called Vishu Kaineetam

.
West Bengal: Poila Baisakh
Poila Baisakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar 1417. The day is celebrated with traditional fervor and gaiety

Assam: Rongali Bihu
Rongali Bihu is the most popular post-harvest festival of Assam. The week-long festival marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year -“Bohaag”.

Bangladesh: Pahela Baisakh
Pahela Baisakh or the First day of the ‘Nababarsha’ or new Year is celebrated in 15th April 2010 in Balgladesh. The programmes include singing of devotional and patriotic songs in addition to street plays and colourful processions with a number of huge statues.

Appointments/ Elections:
Cannes Film Festival jury – Shekhar Kapur
Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is selected to the jury of the competition section at the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival scheduled to be held from May 12 to May 23, 2010.American film director Tim Burton will be the President of the Jury.

Wynn Telecom brand ambassador – Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan is appointed the Brand ambasador of Wynn Telecom Ltd (WTL), a mobile handset company. WTL is an extension of SAR Group of companies which has LUMINOUS as the flagship brand.

Infoclip: In 2006, Saif Ali Khan had appeared along with Rani Mukerji, and Aishwarya Rai at the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, as part of a performance showcasing Indian culture along with on behalf of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Delhi.

Awards:
34th Matrishree Media Awards
Matri-Swar, organiser of Matrishree Awards have been announced.Some of the winners are:
M Chenna Nagraj – UNI
Indra Shekhar Shah – Univarta
Archana Jyoti – PTI
Dharmendra Pant – Bhasha
Mumtaz Alam – Hamara Samaj
Usha Pahwa- Punjab Kesari
Yousuf Kirmani – Navbharat Times
Paras Amrohi: Dainik Hindutan

Other Winners: Rashtriya Sahara’s Vijay Rai, Dainik Jagran’s Vibhuti Kumar, Amar Ujala’s Navneet Sharan, Hindustan Times’ Gaurav Chaudhary, Times of India’s Saurabh Sinha, Nai Duniya’s Harish Kumar , The Hindu’s Madhur Tankah, R Prasad (cartoonist) of Mail Today , Vijay Kumar (photographer) of Press Trust of India, Doordarshan’s K V Singh, Akashvani’s S P Singh, Aaj Tak’s Bhuvneshwar Sengar, Star News’ Praful Srivastava, IBN 7’s Puneet and NDTV’s Anjali, Meenakshi Rao (film critic) of The Pioneer, S N Verma of Sahafat Urdu and Mahesh Darpan of Sandhya Times

Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan & PAA in best film category.

National Affairs:
Meghalaya: Mobile mammography van
Meghalaya Government launches a mobile mammography van to detect breat cancer in the rural areas of the state.It is being jointly operated by Meghalaya government and MKC Roko Cancer Trust, a UK-based charity operating in India.. MKC Roko Cancer Trust has now covered nine Indian states viz. Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Goa.

Nor’wester
Nor’wester is the severe cyclone that has hit Bihar, West bengal and Assam claiming 138 lives. Worst affected area is Karandighi in Bihar where 20 people have died so far.

Budget Session Resumes:
The Budget Session of the Parliament resumes after recess. The dominating topics : Passage of the finance and the women reservation bill , price rise issue , cut motion in a bid to put pressure on the government to roll back hike in petroleum prices, IPL franchise scam and Dantewada massacre of CRPF men by Naxals, Nuclear Liability Bill.

Chetna Yatras
To mark the 125 years of Congress’s foundation National General Secretary of Congress , Rahul Gandhi flags off ten Chetna Yatras in Uttar Pradesh.

International Affairs:
US: India to get $ 4.5 million under ATA
ATA or Anti-terrorism assistance is a flagship counter-terrorism law enforcement capacity-building programme of the United States.
India to receive $ 4.5 million US assistance to fight terrorism. Obama administration has doubled the assistance to India for the year 2011 to meet the increasing political will on the part of the Indian government, which has requested more and higher-level training in the aftermath of the Mumbai attack.

Pakistan: Heraldo Munoz Report
Heraldo Munoz commission an independent United Nations-appointed panel probing the killing of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto & headed by Chile’s UN ambassador Heraldo Munoz commenced on July 1, 2009 and was to have submitted its report on December 31, 2009 but its term was extended for another three months.

Volcanic Eruptions in Europe:
Volcanic eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland have caused significant disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe. Much of the airspace in Europe gets closed until 20 April, causing cancellation of most flights within, to, and from Europe.

Qinghai -Earthquake:
China’s north western Qinghai province comes under a massive attack of earthquake measuring 7.1 on Richter scale.

Sports:
Asian Junior Snooker
Liu Chuang od China wins 11th Asian Junior Snooker Championship T T Paiboon of Thailand. The event was organised in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Related Posts