Daily Gk Update for January 2, 2015

 IAS officer R K Srivastava takes charges as AAI Chairman

IAS officer R K Srivastava took over as the new chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Earlier in December, Srivastava was appointed as chairman of AAI by the government for 5 years.
He is a 1984-batch Jharkhand-cadre IAS officer and  has replaced Sudheer Raheja who was charge of the post since late August 2014.

Airports Authority of India (AAI)
AAI is statutory body under the aegis of Ministry of Civil Aviation. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India.
It also provides Air traffic management (ATM) services over Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas.
AAI manages around 125 airports in India, which include 18 International Airport, 07 Customs Airports, 78 Domestic Airports and 26 Civil Enclaves at Defense airfields.

Greece dissolves parliament ahead of snap elections

Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has dissolved the country’s parliament ahead of snap elections to be held on 25 January.
Dissolution of Parliament comes after it failed to elect the President in the third and final round of voting.
In the third and final round for electing President, ruling government’s candidate Stavros Dimas (former European Commissioner) was defeated by 180 votes, resulting in dissolution of the Parliament.
Prime Minister Antonis Samara’s ruling coalition government had came into power in 2012 after the General Elections.
In 2012 General elections, Prime Minister Samaras-led New Democratic Party had won the elections and formed the government.

Central Government appoints A.K. Mittal as Chairman of Railway Board

Central Government has appointed A.K. Mittal as Chairman of Railway Board. His name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister.
He will succeed incumbent chief Arunendra Kumar whose term had ended on 31st December 2014.
About A.K. Mittal

• He is an officer of the Indian Railway Stores Service of the 1976 batch. He has become first-ever officer from the Stores service to be Chairman of Railway Board.
• Before this appointment A.K. Mittal was Member Staff of Railway Board and ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India.
• He has also served as General Manager of South Western Railway (SWR). He also had held additional charge of General Manager, South Central Railway (SCR).

4 feared killed as explosives-laden Pakistan vessel sinks off Gujarat

Four crew members of an explosive-laden boat were feared dead in an explosion triggered by the fire set off by them after the Indian Coast Guard intercepted the vessel near the India-Pakistan maritime boundary late December 31, 2014.

The Coast Guard ships and aircraft spotted a suspicious fishing boat 365 km off Porbandar in the Arabian Sea, following intelligence inputs that one such boat from Keti Bandar near Karachi was planning some illicit transaction.

The Coast Guard ship tracked down the boat and after an hour-long hot pursuit, intercepted it. “Four persons were seen on the boat who disregarded all warnings by the Coast Guard ship... the crew hid themselves in below deck compartment and set the boat on fire, which resulted in an explosion and major fire on the boat,” said a Coast Guard release.