Current Affairs Update – 13th January, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 13th January, 2016. These are Important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016 Exam.

• In order to provide relief to drought-hit farmers, the
  government today announced a new Rs 8,800 crore crop insurance scheme, with
  significantly lower premium, to cover for loss of crop to natural calamities.
• Farmers will pay only 2% of the premium fixed by insurance
  company for kharif foodgrains/oilseeds crops and 1.5% for rabi
  foodgrains/oilseeds crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
• The remaining sum of premium would be borne by the Centre
  and state governments equally, entailing an outgo of Rs 8,800 crore annually
  for coverage of 50% of the crop area of 194.40 million hectare. The scheme will
  be rolled out from the coming kharif season beginning June.

• Country’s largest lender has opened a branch in Seoul, South
  Korea to predominantly finance growing trade and investment relations between
  Korean and Indian companies.
• SBI is second Indian bank after Indian Overseas Bank to have
  branch in South Korea. SBI already had a representative office in Seoul.
• Meanwhile, SBI has signed a Line of Credit with The
  Export-Import Bank of Korea (K-EXIM) for $ 500 million (Rs 3,300 crore).
• While corporate banking – — trade finance, bilateral and
  syndicated loans etc — would be mainstay, SBI branch will also provide current
  and savings and remittance facilities to retail customers.

• India is the largest recipient of loans from the World Bank,
  amounting to $102.1 billion, between 1945 and 2015 (as on July 21, 2015),
  according to the Bank’s lending report.
• While the International Bank for Reconstruction and
  Development (IBRD), a part of the World Bank group, has lent $52.7 billion, the
  International Development Association (IDA), a multilateral concessional lender
  of World Bank, has loaned $49.4 billion to India over the last 70 years.
• The Ministry of Finance tabled an updated figure of $103
  billion (IBRD—$53 billion and IDA—$50 billion) in a reply to the Lok Sabha
  (Parliament’s lower house) last month.
• India’s loans from the World Bank stand at $104 billion
  (IBRD—$54 billion and IDA—$50 billion) as on December 31, 2015. Of this, the
  World Bank has disbursed $73 billion, with India repaying $37 billion.
• India is followed by Brazil ($58.8 billion), China ($55.6
  billion), Mexico ($54 billion) and Indonesia ($50.5 billion).

• Reliance Defence Ltd, a unit of Anil Ambani led Reliance
  Infrastructure Ltd led on 10 January 2016 signed a memorandum of understanding
  (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh Government to set up a world class naval facility in
  the state.
• The announcement regarding the MoU was made at Andhra
  Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam.
• The proposed facility will be established with an initial
  investment of 5000 crore rupees. And, it will be setup on the East Coast of
  India at Rambilli, which is 70 kilometers south of Visakhapatnam.

• Vice President Hamid Ansari today declared Kerala as the
  first state in the country to attain ‘Total Primary Education’, and described
  the achievement as ‘historic.’
• Noting that the achievement was another feather to the
  state’s educational cap, he said the state was marking the successful
  culmination of its ‘Athulyam’ programme aimed at ensuring Total Primary
  Education in Kerala — equivalent to Standard IV of formal education.
• The declaration marks the culmination of the second phase of
  the ‘Athulyam’ Class 4 equivalency programme -— for people aged between 15 and
  50 —- run by KSLMA.
• ‘Athulyam’ is a programme launched by the literacy mission
  after the success of the total literacy campaign in the state. Under the programme,
  2,40,804 learners were identified out of which 2,05,913 learners were brought
  to the classes after out-reach programmes.

• NHAI has signed Memorandum of Understanding with National
  Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) under Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
  and North East Centre for Technology Application and Research (NECTAR) for use
  of spatial technology for monitoring and managing national highways.
• The use of satellite data and geospatial technology will be
  useful in providing inputs in highway and infrastructure projects for
  preparation of DPR(Detailed Project Report), prefeasibility status in new
  alignment, upgrade/road widening, monitoring of road segments under
  construction and Road Asset Management System.
• The use and benefits of unmanned aerial vehicle technology
  will be useful in monitoring, construction progress, Road Asset Management,
  feasibility report and DPR preparation, immediate assessment and remedy of
  problematic spots etc.

• Union Minister for Fertilizers and Chemicals Ananth Kumar on
  12 January 2016 announced the sanction of greenfield petrochemical complex and
  National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in
  Visakhapatnam and a Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology
  (CIPET) in Vijayawada.
• The announcement was made at Confederation of Indian
  Industry (CII) partnership summit 2016 in Visakhapatnam.
• The proposed petrochemical complex will be constructed by
  public sector companies Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Gas
  Authority of India Limited (GAIL). This would be an additional Medical Devices
  Park to the prior announced one in Gujarat in December 2015.

• The 20th National Youth Festival was on 12 January 2016
  inaugurated by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari at
  Rajyostav Sthal in Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh to mark the National Youth Day.
• The five day long annual festival is celebrated by the Union
  Government in partnership with a state government on the occasion of the birth
  anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
• For the 20th National Youth Festival, Chhattisgarh was
  chosen as the partner state with the theme India Youth for Skill, Development
  and Harmony.

• Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan on 12 January 2016 was
  bestowed honorary life membership of Kolkata’s soccer outfit Mohammedan
  Sporting.
• Sporting president Sultan Ahmed handed over the club’s life
  membership to Bachchan.
• Bachchan was also invited to be the chief guest of the
  club’s 125th anniversary gala event to be held later in 2016.

• The prestigious Yale School of Management will name its
  deanship in honour of PepsiCo’s India-born CEO Indra Nooyi as she gifted an
  undisclosed amount to her alma mater, becoming the school’s biggest alumni
  donor and the first woman to endow a deanship at a top b-school.
• Yale did not disclose the amount gifted by Nooyi but said
  her “landmark gift” to endow the deanship of the school and inaugurate an
  innovation fund has made her the “most generous graduate” of Yale School of
  Management in terms of lifetime giving to the school.
• She is also the first woman to endow the deanship at a top
  business school, the school said in a statement yesterday.
• In October last year, Nooyi’s sister and Grammy-nominated
  musician Chandrika Tandon and her husband Ranjan had made a 100 million dollar
  gift to the New York University’s School of Engineering, one of the largest
  philanthropic gifts by a member of the Indian-American community.

• An international team of scientists led by Indian-American
  Sukanya Chakrabarti devised a new method, galactoseismology, to detect dwarf
  galaxies dominated by dark matter. The method also explains ripples on the
  outer disk of the galaxy.
• Sukanya Chakrabarti, an assistant professor at Rochester
  Institute of Technology, New York, presented her findings at a press conference
  hosted by the American Astronomical Society meeting in Kissimmee on 7 January
  2016. Findings were submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

• United States and Jordan on 11 January 2016 signed a Joint
  Action Plan (JAP) to improve efforts against nuclear and radiological
  smuggling. The partnership will help in enhancing the efforts to combat nuclear
  terrorism.
• The JAP was signed by Secretary of State John Kerry and
  Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in Washington.
• The measure strengthens US-Jordanian efforts to work to
  detect and prevent nuclear and radiological smuggling incidents. The US has
  similar agreements with 13 other countries, including Iraq, Ukraine and Lithuania.

• The term Project Tango was in news in the second week of
  January 2016 as Lenovo, a Chinese multinational computer technology company,
  announced that it entered into a partnership with Google for the project.
• As part of the partnership, Lenovo will launch a new
  smartphone that can “see” and map out surroundings without external signals
  like satellite-based global positioning system (GPS).

• The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) Board of Directors
  on 12 January 2016 selected Council board members Edward Monser, President of
  Emerson, and Punit Renjen, CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte
  Global), as USIBC Vice Chairs.
• The announcement came at the heels of former Cisco CEO John
  Chamber’s recent appointment to USIBC Chairman.
• Renjen and Monser together represent over 60 years of
  experience and expertise in global manufacturing, business strategy, and
  business development, reflecting USIBC’s directive to maintain a diverse leadership.

• C Sridhar today assumed charge as the West Zone IG.
• Headquartered in the city, Sridhar has taken over from K
  Shankar, who has since been transferred to Chennai.
• Sridhar was joint commissioner (L and O), Chennai before his
  new assignment.
• M N Manjunath has taken over as police commissioner of
  nearby Tirupur city.

• The book titled Jawaharlal Nehru and The Indian Polity in
  Perspective was released by Hamid Ansari on 12 January 2016 by the Vice
  President of India Hamid Ansari at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
• The focus of the book is on the role of Jawaharlal Nehru,
  India’s first Prime Minister, on shaping the polity of modern India.
• The book was edited by Prof Alexander and with contributions
  from eminent persons like Justice K T Thomas, Dr Rajan Kurukkal, Dr B
  Vivekanandan, M G Radhakrishnan and others.

• Jerome Valcke has been dismissed as secretary general of
  soccer’s scandal-scarred governing body.
• FIFA says its emergency committee fired Valcke with
  immediate effect and terminated his contract.
• Valcke, who had served as FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s top
  aide, was provisionally suspended by FIFA on September 17.
• Last week, FIFA ethics judges formally opened a case against
  Valcke, who had faced a nine-year ban from soccer.
• FIFA says Markus Kattner will continue to serve as acting
  secretary general.

• Lieutenant General J.F.R. Jacob (retired), hero of 1971
  Bangladesh Liberation War and former Governor of Goa and Punjab, died on 13
  January 2016 after prolonged illness. He was 92.
• Jacob, who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in
  Dhaka, was best known for his role in India’s victory in the 1971 war. During
  the war, He served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command
  by being the Major General.

• Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, an outfielder who starred for the
  New York Giants in the 1950s, died on 11 January 2016 in Houston, Texas, the
  USA. He was 96.
• Irvin was the oldest living former Negro Leagues player. He
  lived in a retirement community in Houston prior to his death.
• Irvin was a left fielder and right fielder in the Negro
  leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who played with the Newark Eagles, New
  York Giants and Chicago Cubs.

Regards

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