Daily GK Update – Current Affairs – 7th January 2016

1. Mufti Sayeed passes away, Mehbooba likely to succeed as CM

i. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a crafty politician who took on the powerful Abdullah family and rose to become the country’s first Muslim Home Minister, died today at AIIMS here after his platelets dropped dangerously.

ii. Sayeed, 79, who took charge of the State on March 1 last year heading a PDP—BJP alliance, breathed his last this morning after remaining on ventilator for the past few days. He was flown from Srinagar in a special plane on December 24 and admitted to the AIIMS where he was diagnosed with sepsis (life threatening complication of an infection) and pneumonia. During hospitalisation his platelets had dropped dangerously, doctors said.

iii. He is the second J&K Chief Minister to die in office, the first one being Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who died on September 8, 1982. Sayeed’s daughter 56-year-old Mehbooba is expected to take over as the first woman Chief Minister of the state with PDP leaders throwing their weight behind her. But this will require the approval of BJP.

iv. Sayeed is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son. Jammu and Kashmir government has declared a seven-day mourning and holiday today. Flags will be flown at half mast.

v. The mortal remains of the Chief Minister would be flown to Srinagar where the body will be kept for people to pay homage. He is likely be buried in his ancestral village Bijbehera in South Kashmir, about 48 km from Srinagar.

vi. Sayeed took over as chief minister of PDP-BJP coalition on March 1 last year. In the 87-member J and K Assembly PDP won 28 seats and BJP 25 while opposition National Conference got 15 and Congress 12.

2. Wattan Ko Jano initiative: A programme that aims to expose youth from J&K to rest of India

i. Wattan Ko Jano, an initiative being carried out by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Government, was in news on 6 January 2016. The initiative came in news after more than 240 youth in the age-group of 15 to 24 from J&K met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

ii. Watan Ko Jano initiative was conceived by the J&K State Rehabilitation Council in 2011. It essentially is a Youth Exchange Programme under which the children of militancy-hit victims, orphanages, and weaker sections of society are identified by Jammu and Kashmir State Rehabilitation Council as beneficiaries under the programme in the state.

iii. The initiative aims at exposing youth from the state to the vibrant development and vitality of culture of people residing in other states of the country.

iv. Earlier on 29 December 2015, a group of 250 such youngsters participated in the Watan Ko Jano tour and met Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

3. Paramilitary forces to have 33% reservation for women in constable level position

i. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has approved 33% reservation for women in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) at constable-level positions.

ii. There will be 33% reservation for women at constable-level posts in Central Reserve Police Force and Central Industrial Security Force, and 14-15% reservation at the constable level in border guarding forces i.e. Border Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and Indo Tibetan Border Police, starting immediately, according to an official statement released by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

iii. The Committee on Empowerment of Women in its Sixth Report had advocated elevating representation of women in paramilitary forces. The reservation is, however, limited to only constable-level position.

iv. There are 9 lakh troops in all these forces combined, of which women constitute a mere 20,000. In 2015, 33% positions in the Delhi Police were reserved for women; six other Union Territories also passed this proposal and women were also allowed for combat roles in the Indian Air Force.

v. The Delhi Police employed only 9.27% women when the regulation was passed.

4. IAMAI appoints Freecharge founder Kunal Shah as chairman

i. Industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which counts companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google as members, named Kunal Shah, co-founder FreeCharge as its new chairman.

ii. Shah succeeds Nishant Rao, the ex-managing director of LinkedIn, who recently moved to Freshdesk as the global Chief Operating Officer, the association said in a statement. 

iii. IAMAI also named Vishwas Patel, chief executive officer, CCAvenue as the new treasurer. 

iv. Shah co-founded FreeCharge in August 2010 with an aim to build a business that turned recharges in to rewarding experiences for its consumers. In April 2015, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal. 

v. Vishwas, the founderand CEO of Avenues India Private Limited, launched the company’s first initiative, CCAvenue in September 2001. CCAvenue provides payment gateway services to thousands of eMerchants across the world. 

5. Gadkari launches India’s first River Information System

i. Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday inaugurated the River Information System (RIS) – the first of its kind in India – to facilitate safe and accurate navigation on National Waterway-1 (the Ganga River).

ii. “While it remains a challenge how to develop the waterways of the country, the River Information System is a major step in realising the dream of waterways,” said Gadkari, according to an official statement statement.

iii. Phase-II of the system from Farakka to Patna and Phase-III from Patna to Varanasi will be undertaken on priority, the statement said.

iv. “River Information Systems are combination of modern tracking equipment related hardware and software designed to optimise traffic and transport processes in inland navigation,” the statement added.

6. International media conference in Mysuru

i. The Global Communication Association (GCA), a not-for-profit professional organisation, to host the 11th international conference of media experts and communication specialists from around the world at Mysuru on January 28-29.

ii. The meet has University of Mysore, which is celebrating its Centenary year, as its academic partner for hosting the conference. “The 2016 India conference focusing on ‘Ombudsman: Media and social responsibility’, has aroused keen interest amongst many participants coming from different academic and industry backgrounds,” said Krishna B Mariyanka, Curator and Organising Secretary, 11th GCA Conference, Mysuru.

iii. At a time when there is a massive explosion of the media across the globe, be it of the traditional variety or the new media, it is increasingly being looked upon as a powerful instrument of social change,” he added.

iv. On the flip side, as with any instrument that can influence vast sections of a society, there are also other ‘powerful forces’ that will misuse the media for vested interests.

v. Established in the year 2007, the GCA objectives are the promotion of academic research in global communication studies among major universities worldwide; facilitation of joint project and research opportunities among scholars and students.

vi. More importantly, GCA provides an eclectic international platform for corporate executives, communication specialists, policy makers, academicians, bureaucrats, political leaders, public relations practitioners and co-related industry professionals to meet, interact and generate new ideas for growth.

7. Mysuru to get Cauvery river gallery

i. Karnataka’s Tourism and the National Academy of Sciences of India (NASI) have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a Cauvery river gallery in Mysuru.

ii. The gallery, to be built at a cost of Rs. 3.5 crore, is expected to showcase the life, culture and biodiversity along the river from its birth in Kodagu till it reaches the Bay of Bengal. The exhibits at the gallery would also include multimedia features and electronic display to provide the visitors an immersive experience of life and culture along the river.

iii. Tourism Department officials and NASI executives signed the MoU for establishing the gallery at the Karnataka Exhibition Authority (KEA) complex in Mysuru. The project will be completed in 6-9 months and it is expected to become a tourist attraction.

iv. NASI former president Manju Sharma said, “The Cauvery gallery in Mysuru will be third in the country. So far we have completed the Brahmaputra river gallery project in Guwahati and the Ganga river gallery in Allahabad.”

v. RV Deshpande, Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries and Tourism, said NSAI would execute the project and run it for three years before handing it over to the State government.

vi. The Karnataka Knowledge Commission (Jnana Ayoga) headed by K Kasturirangan had recommended the establishment of the gallery and is providing input to the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) for the implementation of the project.

8. Cabinet okays ‘Sampoorna Arogya Keralam’ medical care project

i. The State Cabinet has decided to implement the ‘Sampoorna Arogya Keralam’ project announced in the 2015-16 State budget. The project aims to bring all major government health services under one umbrella. With this, people will not be required to visit multiple offices or agencies for medical care.

ii. Instead, they can go to enlisted public and private hospitals and get the services through a smart health card. A Sampoorna Arogya Keralam Trust would be set up to implement the initiative. All families with annual income below Rs. 3 lakh will be brought under the project, an official release said here. At least 42 lakh such families are expected to benefit.

iii. The Chief Minister will head the Sampoorna Arogya Kerala Trust, which will monitor and implement the project. A corpus fund of Rs. 20 crore would be set up and a separate head of account formed. Various financial assistance schemes under sundry departments will be consolidated under the project and up to ₹2 lakh made available to beneficiaries through means of the smart card.

iv. The IT platform of a similar project implemented in Telangana by Arogyasri Trust will be customised for use to roll out the project, the release said. Assistance for medical care in Kerala is currently made available through Rashtriya Swayam Bima Yojana (RSBY), Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (Chis), Chis-Plus, Arogyakiranam, Karunya Benevolent Fund, Thalolam, cancer protection scheme and similar schemes of various welfare fund boards.

v. Beneficiary families, except the 32 lakh enrolled under the RSBY, Chis and Chis-Plus schemes, need to produce an income certificate from the revenue department as a one-time requirement. They would be issued smart cards in due course. A technical committee will be set up to decide on treatment protocols and the various procedures required to be adopted in accordance with the guidelines of the project.

9. India to skip BS-V, leapfrog to BS-VI norms from April 1, 2020

i. In a bid to curb vehicular pollution, the Centre today decided to implement stricter emission norms of Bharat Stage (BS) VI from April 1, 2020, by skipping BS-V altogether. The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, which was attended by Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

ii. “Government has decided to leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI directly by April 1, 2020. We have decided to skip BS-VI emission norms. It is a bold decision and a commitment to the environment,” Gadkari told PTI here after the meeting.

iii. All the other ministries have assured cooperation to make the implementation successful, he added. At the end of December, Pradhan had stated that India would go straight from Euro-IV compliant petrol and diesel to Euro-VI fuel by 2020. Earlier, a meeting of an inter-ministerial group, including representatives of the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways, Petroleum, Heavy Industries and Environment and Forests, was unable to reach a consensus.

iv. The Road Transport and Highways Ministry was of the view the roll-out of BS-V norms must start from 2019 but the Petroleum Ministry expressed its inability to comply with the deadline. Earlier in November, a draft notification by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoEF), had advanced dates for implementation of BS-V norms to April 1, 2019, and BS-VI norms to April 1, 2021.

v. At present, BS-IV auto fuels are being supplied in the whole of northern India covering J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, parts of Rajasthan and western UP. The rest of the country has BS-III grade fuel.

10. Uber launches ‘uberEXCHANGE’, start-up mentorship programme

i. Taxi-hailing app Uber today announced a new start-up mentorship programme in the country in partnership with Invest India called ‘uberEXCHANGE’. Over the next years, Uber will host a series of six leadership talks by senior Uber executives, including from their headquarters in San Francisco, the company said in a statement.

ii. The programme will address issues that entrepreneurs face, like fund-raising, product design, engineering and how to scale up a business. At the end of the programme, the top 10 start-ups will travel to San Francisco, where they will be introduced to global investors, fellow entrepreneurs and the team at Uber, it said.

iii. This public-private initiative will enable students, entrepreneurs and industry leaders to learn from each other, helping to create a culture that celebrates risk-taking and views failure as an opportunity to learn. It will also support Prime Minister’s vision to make India a global startup hub.

iv. “Today, more and more people aspire to be entrepreneurs and build something themselves. That’s why Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s start-up India initiative is so important, and that is why we’re excited to share our experience with hundreds of startups and entrepreneurs as they begin their journey,” Uber’s chief executive Travis Kalanick said.

v. Kalanick is expected to give the inaugural speech at the Startup India Initiative on January 16, speaking about his own journey as an entrepreneur. “This mentorship programme will be immensely valuable to Indian entrepreneurs and I am excited about the exchange of knowledge and ideas between the startup culture in India and the Silicon Valley,” DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant said.

11. AB Khare appointed CMD of Madras Fertilizers

i. The Centre has appointed AB Khare as the Chairman and Managing Director of the state-run Madras Fertilzers for a five-year term. In August last year, the government headhunter Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) had recommended the name of Khare for the post of CMD at Madras Fertilizers Ltd (MFL).

ii. Khare will succeed I Vijay Kumar. His name was finalised after interviewing 7 shortlisted candidates. Khare was previously working with state—owned fertiliser firm Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers as Chief General Manager (Commercial).

iii. “The President is pleased to appoint of A B Khare to the post of CMD, MFL in the pay scale of Rs. 75,000-90,000 for a period of five years with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post or till the date of his superannuation, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest,” the Fertiliser Ministry said in an notification.

iv. MFL was incorporated in 1966 as a joint venture between the Government of India and Amoco India, a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company of the USA. It is under the administrative control of the Fertiliser Ministry.

12. Achyuta Samanta elected as General President of 105th Indian Science Congress

i. Dr Achyuta Samanta was on 6 January 2016 elected as the General President of the 105th Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) that is scheduled for 2017-18. Samanta is also currently serving as member of Executive Council of Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA).

ii. With this, Samanta becomes the second person from Odisha to be elected as President of the ISC in its 102 years history. On last occasion, Prof Prana Krushna Parija, eminent Odia scientist, was elected as President of the 47th Session of the ISCA in 1960.

iii. He has been the member of Executive Council of ISCA since 2011. He has also been the member of many prestigious educational and other national level apex bodies, including UGC (2008-2014), AICTE, National Coir Board, CAPART and NCTE.

iv. He was the only person from Odisha to be the member of both UGC and AICTE. Samanta has set up institutions like Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneshwar.

13. Noted Gujarati writer Labshankar Thakar passed away

i. Noted Gujarati writer and poet Labhshankar Thakar passed away on 6 January 2016 following prolonged illness in Ahmedabad. He was 80. He was a modernist author of Gujarati literature with influence of existentialism challenging traditional literature styles.

ii. He was born on 14 January 1935 in Sedla village near Surendranagar in Gujarat. Some of his famous poems are Vahi Jati Pachhal Ramya Ghosha (1965), Manasni Vaat (1968), Mara Namne Darwaje (1972), Boom Kagalma Kora (1974), Pravahan (1986), Kalagranthi (1987). He wrote many plays including Asatyakumar Ekagrani Dharpakad, Make Believe (1967), Mari Jawani Maza (1973), Bathtub ma Machhali (1982) etc. 

iii. He is also known for his novels Akasmat (1968) and Kon? (1968). Apart from being Gujarati poet, playwright and story writer he was also an Ayurvedic Practitioner. He also wrote several books on Ayurveda and also had published several magazines including Kriti and Unmoolan.

iv. He had also been awarded several times for his works including Sahitya Akadami Award (1991) for his poetry, Sahitya Gaurav Puraskar (2002) of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Kumar Chandrak (1962), Narmad Chandrak and Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak (1981).

14. Sam Pitroda appointed as Odisha Government’s Technical Advisor

i. Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, popularly known as Sam Pitroda, on 6 January 2016 was appointed Technology Advisor to the Odisha Government. Pitroda was appointed as the technology adviser for development of telecom, electronics, IT, ITES sectors of the state.

ii. Pitroda will have a key role in Vision 2036 for Odisha@100, as the state government is making a vision document for 2036 to celebrate the 100 years of state’s formation. Born on 4 May 1942 in Titilagarh, Odisha, Sam Pitroda is a telecom engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker. In 1964, he travelled to Chicago to study electrical engineering.

iii. He is a director of the Young Indian Company co-owned by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He also served as Advisor to the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Technology Missions related to water, literacy, immunization, oil seeds, telecom, and dairy.

iv. He is the founding Chairman of India’s Telecom Commission. He has also served as an advisor to the United Nations.

15. Pavan Kapoor To Be India’s Ambassador To Israel

i. Senior diplomat Pavan Kapoor has been appointed India’s ambassador to strategically important Israel, where he will succeed Jaideep Sarkar. Mr Kapoor, a 1990 batch Indian Foreign Service Officer, is currently India’s High Commissioner in Mozambique capital Maputo. “He is expected to take up his assignment shortly,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

ii. The appointment assumes significance as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to visit India this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may also pay a return visit to Tel Aviv. India’s relations with Israel are on an upswing. President Pranab Mukherjee had visited Tel Aviv in October last year, becoming the first Indian Head of State to visit the Jewish nation.

iii. India is Israel’s largest buyer of military hardware. Israel has supplied various weapons systems, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles over the last few years but the transactions have largely remained behind the curtains. Mr Kapoor, an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, also a has a Master’s degree in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics.

iv.  In his diplomatic career of two decades, he has served in different capacities in the Indian Missions in Moscow, London, Geneva and Kiev apart from serving in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office. He has also done a stint at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London as Political Adviser on Asia and Europe.