Current Affairs Update – 15th January, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 15th January, 2016. These are Important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016 and Syndicate Manipal PO 2016.

• Madhya Pradesh (MP) Government on 14 January 2016 signed
  four MOUs with Singapore to collaborate in urban planning, skill development,
  clean energy and food processing.
• The MoUs were signed in Singapore in the presence of MP
  Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan, who was on four day visit from 12 January 2016

• The MoU on setting up 1000 megawatt wind energy plant in
  western part of the state was signed between the Department of New &
  Renewable Energy and Singapore corporation unit, Sembcorp Green Infra Ltd.  It was the biggest of the investment
  proposals.
• The MoU covering urban planning was signed between the
  Directorate of Town & Country Planning and Singapore Cooperation
  Enterprise,
• The MoU on capacity building and skill training was signed
  between the Department of Technical Education and Skill Development and ITE
  Education Services of Singapore
• The MoU covering food processing was signed between India’s
  LT Food Ltd and Singapore-based DSM Nutritional Products.
• Earlier, Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan was awarded with Lee
  Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship for his contribution in development and
  international harmony. It was by awarded Fellowship Chairman Mr. Eddie Teo in
  Singapore on 13 January 2016.

• Union Government on 14 January 2016 signed a loan agreement
  with World Bank in New Delhi for the Neeranchal National Watershed Project.
• All 28 states which implement the watershed projects will
  benefit from this project. However, the nine states, Andhra Pradesh,
  Chhattisgarh, Gujrat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan
  and Telangana will benefit more from the project as they are implementation of
  large number of watershed schemes in their states.

• The project was approved by the Union Cabinet in October
  2015 with a total budget of 2142 crore rupees in which India would bear 1071
  crore rupees and the rest 50 percent cost will be borne by the World Bank.
• It will be implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development
  over a six-year period (2016-21).
• It will support the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana in
  hydrology and water management, agricultural production systems, capacity
  building and monitoring and evaluation.

• The Union government plans to connect 585 agricultural produce
  markets under its National Agriculture Market (NAM) initiative by March 2018, a
  senior minister said here today.
• He further added that within March 2017, another 200 markets
  would be connected using the platform, and the target was to connect 585
  markets by March 2018.
• In July last year the Centre had approved setting up of an
  online national agriculture market that will provide more options to farmers
  for selling their produce. The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal to
  create a National Agriculture Market. The move is expected to give choice to
  farmers to sell the farm produce both in physical mandis or online platform.
• Currently, the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC)
  Acts in different states permit the first sale of crops to take place only in
  regulated market yards or mandis. This basically restricts the farmer to sell
  his produce to traders or commission agents licensed to operate in the area
  under a particular APMC.

• Ships and aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard and the Japan
  Coast Guard came together to train for the 15th edition of ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’
  joint exercise in the Bay of Bengal off the Chennai coast on Friday.
• This is the second time in three months a ship from the
  Japanese military forces is participating in a military exercise along with
  India. In October last year, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force’s ship FS
  Fuyuzuk participated in exercise ‘Malabar’ with ships and aircraft of the Indian
  and the United States navies.
• While India was represented by ICGS Samudra Paheredar, ICGS
  Sarang, ICGS Vishwast, ICGS Rajtarang, ICGS Rajkamal and a Dornier Do 226 and
  chetak helicopters in ‘Sahyog-Kaijin XV’, Japan Coast Guard’s JCGS Echigo with
  its integral helicopter took part in the exercise.

• The country’s first ‘water tourism’ will begin in Madhya
  Pradesh next month with the aim of attracting more tourists to the state.
• Named as ‘Jal Mahotsav’, the 10-day extravaganza will be
  inaugurated on February 12 in Hanuwantiya at Indra Sagar Dam, one of Asia’s
  largest man-made water reservoir.
• It is a first-of-its-kind event going to be organised in
  Madhya Pradesh. The aim is to encourage more tourists to this destination. The
  mega event will be inaugurated by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh
  Chouhan.
• Hanuwantiya, which is under Khandwa district of the state,
  is about 130 kms from Indore and 280 kms from state capital Bhopal.

• The total installed capacity of solar power in India has crossed
  the milestone of 5,000 MW.
• The cumulative installed capacity has reached to 5,130 MW
  with an installed capacity of 1385 MW in the current FY.
• Rajasthan tops with installed capacity of 1264 MW, followed
  by Gujarat (1024MW), Madhya Pradesh (679 MW), Tamil Nadu (419 MW), Maharashtra
  (379 MW) and Andhra Pradesh (357 MW).
• The Government has set the ambitious target of generating
  100 GW of solar power by 2021-22 under the National Solar Mission.

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in
  the second week of January 2016 successfully test-fired Nag anti-tank missile
  at the Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan.
• The test was conducted during a night trial to validate the
  enhanced 4-km range capability of Imaging-Infrared seeker, which guides the
  missile to the target after its launch.
• During the test, the Thermal Target System (TTS) was used as
  target for the missile. The TTS simulated a target similar to an operational
  tank as thermal mapping from tank to TTS was carried out for generating thermal
  signature.

• Eminent film personalities Kamal Hassan and Gautam Ghosh
  were on 14 January 2016 included in the Shyam Benegal Committee on functioning
  of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
• The inclusion was done to give representation to more
  regions of the country and on the recommendation of the existing four members
  committee.
• Earlier, on 1 January 2016, the Union Information and
  Broadcasting Ministry set up the panel under the chairmanship of Shyam Benegal
  to review the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and recommend measures
  for the smooth run of CBFC.

• Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis’ awe-inspiring run continued
  unabated as they lifted their second trophy of the season with the WTA Apia
  International title after clinching their 30th win a row, here today.
• The triumph over Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic
  though was not without initial hiccups as the top seeds lost the first set
  meekly before eking out a 1-6 7-5 10-5 win in one hour and 13 minutes.
• The world number one team trailed 1-6 1-4 at one stage but
  they yet again came out unscathed, levelling the second set 5-5 and then sealed
  it to stretch it to a Super tie- breaker.
• The US open and Wimbledon champions raced to a 8-3 lead in
  the decider and clinched the issue comfortably to stretch their unbeaten run to
  an incredible 30 matches.
• It was the 11th title together for the Indo-Swiss pair as
  continuing the good show from 2015 when they won 9 titles including the
  year-end WTA finale.
• The year 2016 has also started on a fabulous note for the
  fuo, which won the Brisbane International trophy last week.

• The former Barcelona and AC Milan player Ronaldinho on 11
  January 2016 was announced as the Brand Ambassador of the Nagjee International
  Club Football Tournament. The tournament will be held at the Corporation
  Stadium in Kozhikode, Kerala from 5 February 2016 to 21 February 2016.
• The legendary footballer was a part of Brazil’s 2002 World
  Cup winning squad and played an important role in the world’s biggest sporting
  extravaganza.

• The Russian Tennis Federation on 14 January 2016 announced
  that former World No.1 tennis player Marat Safin joined the International
  Tennis Hall of Fame.
• The official ceremony to induct Safin has been scheduled for
  16 July 2016.
• The Russian tennis player was announced as a candidate for
  the induction into the Hall of Fame in October 2015 together with Belgium’s
  Justine Henin, a former women’s singles No.1 and seven-time major champion, and
  Helena Sukova from the Czech Republic, who won 14 major titles in doubles and
  mixed doubles.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14 January 2016 conferred
  the Times Now Amazing Indians Awards 2016 to all the awardees.
• The awards were given by Times Now in recognition of
  extraordinary achievers, ordinary people whose work shaped many lives

• Sensitive portrayal of life for young women facing the
  threat of the diktat of khap panchayats in Haryana has earned Ankita Anand, a
  journalist-writer based here, the European Commission’s prestigious Lorenzo
  Natali Media Prize for 2015 (Asia-Pacific).
• Travelling across the areas in Haryana where Khap bodies or
  caste councils had handed down fiats against women, she interviewed some of the
  Khap members and also talked to a cross-section of women, including
  prize-winning sports personalities, for their views on the pronouncements from
  kangaroo courts and the gender bias in society.
• Anand’s experience and efforts were contained in a write-up
  ‘No Country for the New Woman’ was published in the summer number (April-June
  2015) of the quarterly magazine ‘The Equator Line’, which centred on the theme
  of women’s freedom in India.

• The World Health Organisation declared an end to the
  deadliest Ebola outbreak ever on Thursday after no new cases emerged in
  Liberia, though health officials warn that it will be several more months
  before the world is considered free of the disease that claimed more than 11,300
  lives over two years.
• Thursday’s success comes after a harrowing toll: nearly
  23,000 children lost at least one parent or caregiver. Some 17,000 survivors
  are trying to resume their lives though many battle mysterious, lingering side
  effects. Studies continue to uncover new information about how long Ebola can
  last in bodily fluids.
• Liberia, which along with Sierra Leone and Guinea was an
  epicentre of the latest outbreak, was first declared free of the disease last
  May, but new cases emerged two times forcing officials there to restart the
  clock. “While this is an important milestone and a very important step forward,
  we have to say that the job is still not done,” said Rick Brennan, WHO director
  of emergency risk assessment and humanitarian response, at a news conference in
  Geneva.

• The Minister of State (MoS) for Railways Manoj Sinha
  released a book titled Objective Railway Engineering-Track, Works & Others
  on 14 January 2016 in New Delhi. It was authored by a well known Civil Engineer
  MM Agarwal.

• This is the 3rd revised and enlarged edition of the book,
  which contains 37 updated chapters which cover the entire spectrum of Railway
  Engineering.
• It was originally written in 2007. The book has since then
  been revised two times to include the latest technical developments in the
  track taking place on Railway around the world with special reference to Indian
  Railways.

• Noted filmmaker Anil Ganguly passed away today at his
  residence here after a brief illness. He was 82.
• Ganguly is a noted director and screenwriter, who worked in
  Hindi cinema from 1970s to the 90s.
• He is best known for Jaya Bhaduri starrer, Kora Kagaz and
  Tapasya both of which won National Award.
• His other notable films are Saaheb, Trishna, Khandaan,  Humkadam, Pyar Ke Kabil, Balidan (Bolidan
  -1990, Bengali), Dushman Devta among others.
• His daughter Rupali Ganguly is a television and theatre
  actress and his son Vijay Ganguly is a director and choreographer.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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