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Current Affairs - 04 April 2021
1.Google's Waymo CEO John Krafcik steps down
- The executive who steered the transformation of Google's self-
driving car project into a separate company worth billions of dollars is stepping down after more than five years on the job. - Two of Krafcik's top lieutenants will replace him as Co-CEOs. Dmitri Dolgov, who has been working on self-driving cars since Waymo began within Google in 2009, will focus on the technology for the autonomous vehicles. Tekedra Mawakana, a lawyer who had been Waymo's chief operating officer, will handle the business side of the operation.
- Krafcik will remain an adviser to Waymo, a company that established itself as the clear leader in autonomous driving since Google hired him in 2015. Not long after that, Google's self-driving division morphed into Waymo, a company owned by Alphabet, which is also Google's parent.
Foot Notes:
About Google:
CEO: Sundar Pichai
Founded: 4 September 1998
Headquarters: California, United States
2.International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action 2021: 04 April
- Every year, April 4 is observed as the International Day for Mine
Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. The day was approved by the General Assembly on 8 December in the year 2005. This day aims to seek assistance for mine action work, raise awareness about landmines and advance toward their eradication. The mine action community around the world, led by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), starts rolling out activities a week in advance. - With the assistance of the UN and other relevant organizations, the service calls for continued efforts to foster the development of national mine-action capacities in places where mines and explosive tail ends of war add up to a grim threat to the lives of the civilian population. The work of the UNMAS for the last 20 years has been motivated by the needs of affected individuals and adapted to the threat of hazards faced by humanitarians. 2021 Theme – “Perseverance, Partnership, and Progress”
3.NPCI transfers automatic bill payments business to new subsidiary
- The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has transferred
all its Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) transaction mandates to a new subsidiary called the NPCI Bharat Bill Pay Limited (NBBL), effectively hiving off its automated bill payment business. BBPS is an interoperable bill payments platform used by banks, fintech companies and biller merchants to automate bill collection and request solutions. - The decision to set up a separate subsidiary for bill payment business aims to scale growth of the interoperable bill platform by giving it increased autonomy in operations and onboarding of new billers.
- BBPS is an interoperable bill payments platform set up in 2013, for use by banks, fintech companies and biller merchants to automate bill collection and request solutions.
Foot Notes:
About NPCI:
Headquarters: Mumbai
Chairman: Shri Biswamohan Mahapatra
CEO: Dilip Asbe
4.PhonePe became first player to cross billion-transaction mark on UPI
- Digital payments major, PhonePe has crossed a billion transactions
on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) infrastructure in March, making it the first player in the country to reach this milestone. - A spokesperson at the Bengaluru-based company told Mint that PhonePe has overall clocked close to 1.3 billion transactions on its platform, across payment offerings of wallet, cards as well as UPI, last month.
Foot Notes:
About PhonePe:
Founded: December 2015
CEO: Sameer Nigam
Headquarters location: Bengaluru
5.Mallika Srinivasan 1st pvt sector specialist to be appointed as Chief of PESB
- Mallika Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director of Tractors
and Farm Equipment (TAFE) Limited has been appointed as the chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). - This is for the first time that a private sector specialist has been appointed as the head of the PESB, responsible for appointment of top management posts in the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).
6.New Book ‘Manohar Parrikar: Brilliant Mind, Simple Life’ by Nitin Gokhale released
- A new book titled ‘Manohar Parrikar: Brilliant Mind, Simple Life’
authored by Nitin Gokhale was released on March 31, 2021. - The book is a tribute to Manohar Parrikar, India’s former defence minister and four-time chief minister of Goa, the first IIT-ian to become a chief minister
- The book is published by Bloomsbury. It is an attempt to capture Parrikar’s persona — the man, the politician and the patriot.
- Through this book, the author presents the journey of the contribution of Parrikar to nation-building and his service to the Goan society, from being an IIT student to a social worker and to India’s defence minister.
- Gokhale is a renowned author, media trainer and founder of a specialised defence related website BharatShakti.in. and StratNewsGlobal.com.
7.Kerala-based Aniyan Midhun wins Gold at South Asian Wushu Championship
- Aniyan Midhun of Kerala has won the gold medal in the 70-kg
category at the South Asian Wushu Championship 2021, held in Nepal on March 30 and 31, 2021. - The 28-year-old youth is the first Wushu player from southern India in the ten-member Indian team.
- Midhum belongs to Nattika village in Thrissur district of Kerala.
Foot Notes:
About Kerala:
Capital: Thiruvananthapuram
Governor: Arif Mohammad Khan
Chief Minister: Pinarayi Vijayan
8.Schistura Hiranyakeshi in Sindhudurg becomes Fifth Biological Heritage Site of Maharashtra
- The Maharashtra government has declared an area at Amboli in
Western ghats in Sindhudurg district as a biodiversity heritage site, following the discovery of a rare freshwater fish species. - The new freshwater fish species called ‘Schistura Hiranyakeshi’ was discovered in a pond at the Mahadev Temple at Amboli in Sawantwadi tehsil of Sindhudurg district by Tejas Thackeray (son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray), along with his team.
- The 2.11 hector area has been declared as ‘Shistura Hiranyakeshi Biological Heritage Site’, under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, making it the fifth area in Maharashtra.
Foot Notes:
About Maharashtra:
Chief Minister: Uddhav Thackeray
Capital: Mumbai
Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
9.Real Sociedad beat Athletic to claim Copa Del Rey and Basque glory
- Real Sociedad’s reign as Copa Del Rey holders will be the briefest
in history but it will last forever. Mikel Oyarzabal, the 23-year-old captain of the club he joined at 14, scored the only goal of the 2020 final, postponed a year and played just two weeks before the 2021 final. But if that trophy is set to be handed to someone else in this same stadium soon, nothing will ever take this night from them. There were tears at the end of an occasion that will always be theirs. - Not because this final was a particularly good game. In fact, it was mostly dreadful, Oyarzabal’s goal coming from the penalty spot and one of just two shots on target all night, but because of what it meant. And what it meant was everything. At the end, there was release, an explosion of joy for la Real. For Athletic there will be another chance against Barcelona in a fortnight but that did not make it easier to take.
10.Japanese Nobel laureate Isamu Akasaki, inventor of first efficient blue LED, passed away at 92
- Isamu Akasaki, Japanese inventor of the world’s first efficient blue
light-emitting diodes (LED) died at age 92. - Akasaki, a professor at Meijo University, was recognized for the invention “which has contributed to bright and energy-saving white light sources, widely known as LED lamps,” said the news agency.
- He was a co-winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention.
Foot Notes:
About Japan:
Prime Minister: Yoshihide Suga
Capital: Tokyo
Currency: Japanese yen
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