Important Current Affairs of January 9 to 12, 2016

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JANUARY 9 TO 12, 2016

o    Sri Lanka on January 9, 2016 embarked on the exercise of making a new Constitution for the country by resolving to convert the current Parliament into aConstitutional Assembly.

o    The resolution to draft a new constitution was presented to the parliament by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

o    Following this, President Maithripala Sirisena addressed the Parliament and called upon all parties to unite to create the 3rd Republican Constitution for the country.

o    According to the Prime Minister, the main aim of the exercise is to abolish the executive presidential system, ensure reconciliation with minorities and usher in wide ranging electoral reforms.

• World Hindi Day was celebrated on January 10 every year, marking the anniversary of first World Hindi Conference which was held in 1975. The first World Hindi Conference was inaugurated bythen Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
• Here are some lesser known facts about Hindi language:
• Word Hindi has originated from the Persian word Hind(land of Indus River)
• Also spoken in Nepal, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Fiji and Mauritius. Hindi and Nepalese share the same script – Devnagari
• First book published in Hindi was Prem Sagar.
•  One of the seven Indian languages that can be used to make web URLs.

• Government has introduced web tools like audio-typing aid on computers and is working on making available Hindi classic literature digitally to promote use of the language among its employees on World Hindi Day.

o    Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia deteriorated even further on January 9, 2016 as Tehran (capital of Iran) severed all commercial ties with Riyadh and accused Saudi jets of attacking its embassy in Yemen's capital.

o    On January 9, 2016 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was observed.

o    This day is celebrated in India to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India.

o    The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa in Bombay on 9 January 1915.

o    This day was first observed in the year 2003.

o    Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani has inaugurated the 43rd edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair.

o    Important Points to Note :

o    China is the guest of honour country.

o    Theme : Presentation of the cultural heritage of India.

o    This nine-day fair is largest book fair in Asia.

o    This fair is hosting around 30 countries.

o    In order to prevent misuse of Senior Citizen Concession and Quota, theRailways will act tough against passengers who have declared wrong age by treating them as without tickets.

o    The new rule will be applicable from 1st February 2016.

o    In Andhra Pradesh, two-day Flamingo Festival at the famous brackish water Pulicat Lake town in Sullurupeta of Nellore district began on January 9, 2016.

o    In Rajasthan, the famous two-day Camel Festival began at Bikaner, with a traditional procession.

o    Jammu & Kashmir on January 9, 2016 came under Governor's rule as process of new government formation following the death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will take some time.

o    Britain’s Employment minister Priti Patel and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Sovan Chatterjee have launched a roadmap for Kolkata’s strategy to become a “low-carbon and climate resilient city”.

o    Following the elevation of its chief operating officer Abidali Neemuchwala as CEO,Wipro has appointed Bhanumurthy BM, president and chief executive of the business application services (BAS) business as a new COO (Chief Operating Officer).

o    Private sector non-life insurance firm SBI General Insurance has appointedPushan Mahapatra as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

o    This post was vacated after Bhaskar J Sarma retired on December 31, 2015.

o    Note : SBI General Insurance is a joint venture between State Bank of India and Insurance Australia Group.

o    Bharti Airtel has named Rakesh Bharti Mittal as non-executive Director in place of Rajan Bharti Mittal.

o    Rajan Bharti Mittal quit his position effective January 7, 2016.

o    The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) has launched an Online Initiative to engage the LPG Consumers and Citizens of India in providing efficient and citizen friendly services in LPG distribution. 

o    Following two online discussion forums have been launched and are available onmyGov.in and mylpg.in for

o    Citizen-Friendly Services; and

o    Increasing LPG Coverage in the Country

o    Note : This initiative is one of the many initiatives for observing 2016 as the"Year of LPG Consumers".

o    An annotated edition of Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” has gone on sale inGermany. 

o    It is the first version of the notorious manifesto to be published in the country since World War II, and contains academic notes which are critical of Hitler.

o    Former world number one Victoria Azarenka won her first title since 2013 by beating Angelique Kerber in the Brisbane International final.

o    Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis pair won ‎Brisbane International women's doublestitle.

• Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis unveiled “Laman Diva” as the logo of the first Make in India (MII) Week scheduled to be held in Mumbai between February 13 and 18, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The Laman Diva or Nanda Deep has great relevance in Indian culture as it symbolizes auspicious beginning, peace, prosperity, growth.
• This is also the logo of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. The only added elements are the cogs and parts of the Make in India Lion logo to signify the manufacturing potential of Maharashtra.
• Government has approved the set up of fifth Greenfield electronics manufacturing cluster in Raipur, Chattisgarh worth Rs.89 crore and the central government will provide Rs.43.07 crore, for manufacturing mobile phones, solar LEDs and consumer electronics products.
• Department of Electronics and IT (Deity) has already given nod to 17 Greenfield EMCs and approved four EMCs which include two in Madhya Pradesh, one each in Rajasthan and Jharkhand.
• It has approved only one Brownfield EMC which is located in Mysore while given nod to three other brownfield EMCs.
• Keys: Chhattisgarh
• 10^th largest state in India
•  Source of electricity and steel for India
• Capital: Raipur
•   Governor: Balramji Das Tandon
•  Chief Minister: Raman Singh
• International Kite Festival began at Surat and Rajkot in Gujarat. Kite-flyers from 31 countries set to participate, which will travel across the state before concluding at the Sabaramati riverfront in Ahmedabad on January 14.
• Other Name: Uttarayana, marks the advent of summer.
• Location: Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad city, Bhuj, Porbandar, Modhera and Khambhat cities
• Jointly organised by: Vadodara Municipal Corporation and GTCL.
• Participants: 70 kiting experts from China, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Italy, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand and Cambodia.
• Keys: Gujarat
•  Jewel of the Western part of India
• Capital: Gandhinagar
•  Governor: Om Prakash Kohli
• Chief Minister: Anandiben Patel

• Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani unveiled the 43rd New Delhi World Book Fair. It is nine day fair, publicized as the largest in Asia, is hosting about 30 countries.

·         Guest of honour: China

·         Programmes including panel discussions, dramas, classical and folk dances, workshops, discussions, authors’ meets, conferences, seminars and cultural programmes will be held.

·         A special ‘Navlekhan’ programme which work towards promoting and publishing young authors under the age of 40 writing in Indian languages.

• Upcoming event ‘Shodh Yatra’: School children(selected from Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala) from India will visit Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmara and Cambodia in the company of eminent litterateurs and photographers from Assam, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab and Kerala.
  
• Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has launched an Online Initiative to engage the LPG Consumers and Citizens of India. It is one of the many initiatives for observing 2016 as the Year of LPG Consumers.

· Objective: To provide efficient and citizen friendly services in LPG distribution.

·    Two online discussion forums have been launched and are available on myGov.in and mylpg.in for

·         Citizen-Friendly Services Increasing

·         LPG Coverage in the Country

• Valuable suggestions/ comments are welcome and will be considered for improving the customer oriented services related to LPG Coverage & Delivery on the respective forums online.
• Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas: Dharmendra Pradhan
• Governor’s rule was imposed in Jammu & Kashmir under Article 92 (1) of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir

·         Reason: Because Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance will reportedly take some time to form the government again following the death of Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

·         As per reports Sayeed’s daughter Mehbooba Mufti will take over as the chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, has refused to take oath before the mourning period ends. 28 MLAs of the party are in support of Mehbooba succeeding her father.

Keys: Jammu & Kashmir

·         Special autonomy under Article 370 of the Constitution of India that is no law enacted by the Parliament of India, except for those in the field of defence, communication and foreign policy will be extendable.

·         Own official state flag along with national flag and constitution. Indians from other states cannot purchase land or property in the state.

·         Governor: NN Vohra

• Nepal has been elected to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) executive board, representing the group of Asia-Pacific countries for the term 2016-2018.

·         Nepal’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN Durga Prasad Bhattarai has also been elected as vice-president to the bureau of the executive board.

·         Nepal recently completed its terms as a member of the UN economic and social council (ECOSOC) for 2013-2015 and as vice-president from Asia-Pacific region at the executive board of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS for the year 2015.

·         Nepal had contributed to the UNICEF by remaining in the executive board in different times including 1982 to 1985, 1992 to 1995 and 2002 to 2004.

• Co-founder and CEO of e-commerce giant Snapdeal Kunal Bahl has bagged the “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award, 2015 for his splendid business acumen.
• Kunal established Snapdeal in the year 2010 in partnership with his childhood friendRohit Bansal.
• EE British Academy Film Awards(BAFTA) has nominated He Named Me Malala, a documentary on Malala Yousafzai(18) in the upcoming awards Documentary category for 2016.
• About Film: It is an intimate portrait of Malala Yousafzai who is the passionate Pakistani advocate of girls’ education who who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Swat Valley in 2012 and shows how Malala, her father Ziauddin, and her family are committed to fighting for education for all girls worldwide.
• Directed by: American filmmaker Davis Guggenheim
• Other nominations by BAFTAs: Amy, Cartel Land, Listen to Me and Sherpa.
• About Malala: Born in Mingora,Pakistan, Residence: Birmingham, United Kingdom
• Malala Day: 12 July 2013
• Awards     
• ·         Nobel Peace Prize(2014)
• ·         Sakharov Prize(2013)
• ·         Simone de Beauvoir Prize(2013)
• ·         Honorary Canadian citizenship(2014)
• ·         National Youth Peace Prize(2011)
• Tata Steel Limited bagged eighth time Prime Minister’s Trophy for being the ‘Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant’ in the country for 2013 2014.
• About Prime Minister’s trophy: It was instituted in 1992-93.
• Suggestion by: Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao
•  Primary objective: To generate a sense of competition among the steel plants so that they continuously benchmark themselves with the best and improve their performances.
• Keys: Tata Steel
•  Founder: Jamsetji Tata
• ·         HQ: Mumbai
• ·         Chairman: Cyrus Pallonji Mistry
• ·         Managing Director: V. Narendran
• ·         President TQM & Steel Business: Anand Sen
• After the appointment of Abidali Neemuchwala as CEO of India’s third largest IT services provider, Wipro has appointed Bhanumurthy B. M. as the President and Chief Operating Officer and also appointed another senior leader G. K. Prasanna as the head of a newly formed created unit, Marketing, Innovations and Technology (MIT).
• The announcement was made by newly appointed CEO Abidali Neemuchwala in an internal mail sent to Wipro employees.
• The changes will be effective from February 1, 2016.
• Mr. Bhanumurthy will report to CEO Mr. Neemuchuwala and provide leadership to all the service lines (Business Application Services, Global Infrastructure Services, Product Engineering Services, Analytics, Application Management Services and Business Process Services), Service Transformation and Excellence, Global Delivery Enablement and Quality functions.
• Wipro has also formed a new team Marketing, Innovations and Technology, which will focus on non-linear growth engines, products and platform based services.
• Government has re-appointed Urjit Patel as the deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India for a three-year term. Patel is a doctorate from Yale University, also had a stint at IMF.
• Patel, a close confidante of Rajan for shaping and implementing monetary policy was earlier appointed as deputy governor for a period of three years from January 11, 2013.
•  Patel is the fourth deputy governor, the other three being HR Khan, R Gandhi andSS Mundra
• The Patel panel report is the basis of the monetary policy committee which takes a lot of powers of the RBI. Under the independent monetary policy committee, which is being set up, the government will set an inflation target to the RBI and the governor will be made answerable to Parliament if he fails to contain inflation at the given target.
• Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Senior IAS officer Sailesh asRegistrar General and Census Commissioner (RGCC) of India.
•   He has been appointed for a period till July 28, 2017.
•   He will succeed C Chandramouli after he completed his tenure.
• Sailesh is a 1985 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Prior to this appointment he was serving as Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry.
• About Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India:
• The post of the RGCC of India is usually held by a civil servant holding the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India.
•  It is responsible for conducting the decennial Census.
•  He heads the Census organisation (mentioned in entry 69 of seventh schedule of Constitution) which functions under the aegis of Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• Two Pune based research labs of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)have developed new ammunition for India’s main battle tank Arjun.
• More destructive than its predecessor, the new ammunition was successfully test fired at Chandipur in Odisha.
• Labs Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) did an extensive research on the new Penetration-Cum Blast (PCB) and Thermobaric (TB) Ammunition which are specially designed for Arjun.
• An international team of scientists led by an Indian-American professor has discovered a new method that may help in detecting dwarf galaxies dominated by dark matter and explain ripples in the outer disk of the galaxy.
• Sukanya Chakrabarti, assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, uses waves in the galactic disk to map the interior structure and mass of galaxies
• This new method to characterise dark matter marks the first real application of the field of galactoseismology.
• Ms. Chakrabarti’s team used spectroscopic observations to calculate the speed of the three Cepheid variables stars used as yardsticks to measure distance in galaxies in the Norma constellation.
• The current study tracks a cluster of Cepheids that are racing away at an average speed of 4,50,000 miles per hour while the radial velocity of stars in the stellar disk of the Milky Way is about 13,000 miles per hour.
• With the help from NASA space technology, automaker Nissan has successfully test-driven its all-electric, driverless car at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in California that will help scientists send self-driving vehicles on deeper space missions.
• The Nissan LEAF vehicle is equipped with cameras, sensors and cellular data networking.
• It uses robotics software originally developed for Ame’s K-10 and K-REX planetary rovers to operate autonomously.
• Last year, the US space agency and the automaker Nissan announced a five-year partnership to build self-driving, zero-emission autonomous cars for earth- and eventually space.
• The partnership allows researchers to develop and test autonomy algorithms, concepts and integrated prototypes for a variety of vehicular transport applications.
• World No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated his rival Rafael Nadal by 6-1, 6-2 to win the Qatar Open title.
• He captured his sixth consecutive ATP World Tour title and 60th overall at the tour level.
• He became just the 10th player in the Open Era to reach the 60-title milestone.
• Nick Kyrgios secured the Hopman Cup for Australia Green by beating Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 6-4 to give his team a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in Perth.
• Daria Gavrilova had earlier defeated Elina Svitolina 6-4 7-6 (8-6) in the women’s rubber of the mixed event.
• Kyrgios, ranked 30th in the world, beat Britain’s world number two Andy Murray.
• The Hopman Cup 2016 was the 28th edition of the Hopman Cup tournament between nations in men’s and women’s tennis. It took place at the Perth Arena in Perth, Australia.
• Former world number one Victoria Azarenka won her first title since 2013 by beatingAngelique Kerber in the Brisbane International final.
• The unseeded Belarusian, who has been plagued by injuries in recent years, beat the fourth-seeded German 6-3 6-1.
• World number 22 Azarenka (26) is preparing for the Australian Open, which starts on 18 January. She won in Melbourne in both 2012 and 2013.