International Mother Earth Day observed on 22 April

World Earth Day, also known as International Mother Earth Day, is celebrated every year on April 22. The Day will be celebrated all over the world to spread awareness for Earth’s wellbeing and to encourage people to support environmental protection. The day focuses on the global climate crisis that is worsening with each passing day. World Earth Day 2022 will mark the 52nd Anniversary of the day since it started being observed in 1970. Earth Day was renamed officially by the UN in 2009 as International Mother Earth Day. The theme of Earth Day 2022 is to ‘Invest in our planet’.

LV Vaidyanathan appointed CEO of P&G India

Procter & Gamble India appointed LV Vaidyanathan, who leads the company’s business in Indonesia, as the new chief executive officer. He takes over from Madhusudan Gopalan who will move into a new role at the parent company. Vaidyanathan takes over as the CEO from July 1, 2022. Career of LV Vaidyanathan: Vaidyanathan completed his Bachelor of Engineering (mechanical) from the National Institute of Technology, Nagpur and has an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad. He started his career with P&G in India in 1996 in the sales function and worked in various leadership roles.

Lt Gen. Manoj Kumar Katiyar named as next DG of Military Operations

Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar Katiyar has been appointed as the next Director-General of Military Operations. He would take charge of the new office on May 1st. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Lieutenant General Katiyar was commissioned in the 23rd Battalion of the Rajput Regiment in June 1986. Lieutenant General Katiyar is presently the General Officer Commanding of 1 Corps, a strike formation responsible for offensive operations against both Pakistan and China.

New Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Indian Government

Ajay Kumar Sood, an eminent physicist has been appointed as the central government’s principal scientific advisor (PSA). He is a member of the Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council to the prime minister. He has been appointed to the post for a three-year period. He is known for his work on graphene. Also, he is a physics professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. The appointment has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). He will be succeeding renowned biologist K VijayRaghavan.

Sarmat: Russia’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)

Amidst harsh sanctions imposed by the West due to the Ukraine invasion, Russia has tested its new Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Sarmat on 20th April 2022. This was ICBM Sarmat’s first test launch after the launch was in 2021. The test was earlier pushed to December 2021 and then later to April 2022. The ICBM was from Plesetsk in Russia’s North-West. The target was set in the Kamchatka peninsula which is around 6,000 km away.

Mumbai: Inaugural of First Digital Bus Service

Aaditya Thackeray, the state environment minister of Maharashtra inaugurated Mumbai’s first completely digital bus on the route of Gateway of India to Churchgate having a unique ‘Tap-in Tap-out’ feature. The first bus service in India that went completely digital is the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST). This feature will be implemented in all 10 buses on this route and will later be expanded to all 438 routes across the city. This is the country’s first-ever 100 percent digital bus service and it has the aim of increasing the bus ticket system’s digitization.