Current Affairs Update – 16th January, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 16th January, 2016. These are Important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016, Syndicate Bank Manipal and IRDAI Junior Officer 2016.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 16th January, 2016

  1. PM Narendra Modi
    flags off Start-Up India initiative.
    With 4,200 startups, India ranks 3rd globally. Of $18 billion pumped into Indian
    startups between 2010-15, $9 billion came in 2015 alone. 9 Indian startups have been valued at more than a billion dollars. 80% reduction in patent registration fee. 10,000 crore corpus fund to support start-ups.
    Tax exemption for start-ups for three years. Innovation programme to start
    5 lakh schools to target 10 lakh children
    .
  2. The World Bank on
    14 January 2016 announced that India
    saved 1 billion US dollars annually by using Aadhaar
    . It was revealed in
    the bank’s publication World Development
    Report 2016: Digital Dividends
    that was released in Washington DC, the USA.
  3. Cardiac Design Labs,
    a startup that has come up with an innovation to help cardiac patients in rural
    India access critical care through a wearable device, came out triumphant at a live contest hosted by tech
    firm Google at the Startup India event
    .
  4. China-backed Asian
    Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
    , in which India and 56 countries have
    joined as founding members, was formally
    opened
    here today by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
  5. Online marketplace Flipkart
    has tied up with auto major Mahindra
    & Mahindra Ltd
    to exclusively launch the latter’s newest SUV- KUV100. Consumers can book the SUV
    on Flipkart from January 18th, 2016.
  6. Tsai Ing-wen elected Taiwan’s
    first female president.
  7. 68th Army Day
    celebrated on 15 January.
Finance/Industry
PM Narendra Modi
flags off Start-Up India initiative

  • Kick-starting its ambitious Start-Up Mission, the government
    on Saturday promised to prioritise such measures for greater employment
    generation and said it was committed to ensuring start-ups a friendlier
    regulatory regime, easier capital availability as well as quicker exit norms
    through a bankruptcy law. The Start Up India mission envisages technology
    business incubators and research parks.
  • The Human Resource Development Ministry and the Department
    of Science and Technology have agreed to partner in an initiative to set up
    over 75 such startup support hubs in the National Institutes of Technology
    (NITs), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), the Indian
    Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and NIPERs or National
    Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research.
  • With 4,200 startups, India ranks 3rd globally.
  • Of $18 billion pumped into Indian startups between 2010-15,
    $9 billion came in 2015 alone.
  • 9 Indian startups have been valued at more than a billion
    dollars.
  • Increase in number of incubators: 80 in 2014, 110 in 2015;
    50% outside Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai.

Highlights:
  • 80% reduction in patent registration fee
  • New scheme to provide IPR protection to start-ups and new
    firms
  • 10,000 crore corpus fund to support start-ups
  • No government inspection for three years for newly-formed
    start-ups
  • Innovation hub under Atal Innovation Mission will be created
  • Tax exemption for start-ups for three years
  • Credit guarantee fund for start-ups, tax incentives
  • Innovation programme to start 5 lakh schools to target 10
    lakh children

India saved 1 billion
US dollars annually using Aadhaar: World Bank

  • The World Bank on 14 January 2016 announced that India saved
    1 billion US dollars annually by using Aadhaar. It was revealed in the bank’s
    publication World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends that was released
    in Washington DC, the USA.
  • As per the report, transfer of fuel subsidy to bank accounts
    using the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) saved about 1 billion per
    year when applied throughout the country on account of reduced leakage and
    efficient gains.
  • The report further estimated that the DBT has the potential
    to save over 11 billion US dollars per year in government expenditure if the
    scheme is expanded to other subsidy programmes.

Findings of the
report with respect to India
  • China has the largest number of internet users, followed by
    the United States, with India, Japan, and Brazil filling out the top five.
  • A digital identification system such as India’s Aadhaar, by
    overcoming complex information problems, helps willing governments to promote
    the inclusion of disadvantaged groups.
  • In India, there are an estimated 1.063 billion population
    are offline.
  • Nearly 900 million Indians have been issued digital IDs in
    the past fi ve years, which they are using to open bank accounts, monitor
    attendance of civil servants, and identify recipients of government subsidies.

Cardiac monitoring
firm wins tech contest hosted by Google at Startup India
  • Cardiac Design Labs, a startup that has come up with an
    innovation to help cardiac patients in rural India access critical care through
    a wearable device, came out triumphant at a live contest hosted by tech firm
    Google at the Startup India event.
  • The Bengaluru-based firm combines communications and heart
    monitoring technology and is designed for use in rugged rural conditions.The
    patient can be monitored from home. The cardiologist will be able to remotely
    interact and diagnose the patient using his cell phone.
  • The firm has built MIRCaM, comprehensive suite that
    comprises of wearable sensors, doctor’s terminal, patient’s bedside and a
    mobile app.
  • The company said the system provides real time analysis and
    generate instant alarms on episode detection or abnormally rapid heart rate
    among the patients. This enhances patient care and safety.

Chinese President Xi
launches Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

  • China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), in
    which India and 56 countries have joined as founding members, was formally
    opened here today by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
  • An Indian delegation headed by Dinesh Sharma, additional
    Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, attended the opening ceremony.
  • In all 57 countries have joined as founding members, while
    the US and Japan have stayed out.
  • The bank was formally established in Beijing on December 25,
    2015. Chinese Finance Minister, Lou Jiwei, was elected as the first Chairman of
    the AIIB council. China’s former Finance Minister, Jin Liqun, was elected the
    first AIIB president.
  • With authorised capital of $100 billion and subscribed
    capital of $50 billion, Beijing-based AIIB will invest in sectors including
    energy, transportation, urban construction, and logistics as well as education
    and healthcare.
  • China, India and Russia are the three largest shareholders,
    taking a 30.34 per cent, 8.52 per cent, 6.66 per cent stake respectively in the
    newly formed bank.
  • Their voting shares are calculated at 26.06 per cent, 7.5
    per cent and 5.92 per cent.
  • Based on the shareholding, India is expected to get the
    Vice-President’s post.
  • The opening of the AIIB marked a milestone in the reform of
    the global economic governance system, Lou said in an interview earlier.

Flipkart ties-up with
Mahindra for KUV100 online bookings

  • Online marketplace Flipkart has tied up with auto major
    Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd to exclusively launch the latter’s newest SUV-
    KUV100. Consumers can book the SUV on Flipkart from January 18th, 2016.
  • Flipkart launched Automobiles as a category last month with
    a vision to change the way vehicles are bought in India. The association with
    Mahindra is another step in that direction.
  • The two entities have come together to deliver superior
    customer experience with assured in-a-month delivery. Flipkart currently also
    offers a wide range of automotive accessories as part of its endeavour to
    become a destination for all automotive needs.
  • Mahindra’s KUV100 (pronounced as KUV ‘1 double Oh’), has
    been conceptualized and developed with the aim of creating an entirely new
    category. It is a compact SUV.

World
World Bank released
report titled World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends
  • The World Bank on 14 January 2016 released a report titled
    World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends in Washington DC, the USA.
  • The report explored the impact of the internet, mobile
    phones, and related technologies on economic development across the world
    including India.
  • Further, it concluded that potential gains from digital
    technologies are high, but often remain unrealized and proposed policies to expand
    connectivity, accelerate complementary reforms in sectors beyond information
    and communication technology (ICT), and address global coordination problems.
  • In relation to India, the authors of the report that
    included Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of World Bank
    appreciated the Aadhaar scheme as it saved 1 billion US dollars by bringing
    down corruption.

6th Asian Mining
Congress will be held in Kolkata
  • The Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute of India
    (MGMI) has announced that the 6th Asian Mining Congress and Mining Exhibition,
    a biennial event since 2006, would be organised in Kolkata from 23-27 February.
  • The theme for the congress is “Resurgence of Mineral
    Industry in Asia”.
  • The Congress will provide forum for promotion and support of
    techno-scientific cooperation towards national and international progress in
    mineral production.
  • MGMI expected that over 800 delegates from India and countries
    like Australia, Poland, Germany, USA, UK, Russia, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia
    would participate in the congress.

Days
68th Army Day
celebrated on 15 January
  • India on 15 January 2016 celebrated the 68th Army Day.
    Annually, the day is celebrated to commemorate the day, when Lieutenant General
    (later Field Marshal) K M Cariappa became the first Commander-in-Chief of the
    Indian Army in post independence period.
  • He took over the command of Army from General Sir FRR
    Bucher, the last British Commander-in-Chief on 15 January 1949.
  • To mark the occasion, General Dalbir Singh, Chief of the
    Army Staff reviewed the Parade at Army Parade Ground, Delhi Cantonment.

Awards
& Honors –
Dr Jancy James
selected for Prof MV Pylee Award for the Distinguished Academician of India
  • Dr Jancy James, the first woman Vice Chancellor of Kerala,
    was on 15 January 2016 selected for the Prof MV Pylee Award for the
    Distinguished Academician of India.
  • The award was instituted by Cochin University of Science and
    Technology in the name of MV Pylee. He is an Indian scholar, educationist and
    management guru and widely regarded as the father of management education in
    Kerala.
  • The award is given for excellence in teaching and research
    and contribution to academic community. It carries an amount of 1 lakh rupees
    and a citation.

Easterine Kire wins
The Hindu Prize

  • Easterine Kire, a poet, novelist and children’s writer from
    Nagaland won The Hindu Prize, 2015. Ms. Kire won for her novel ‘When the River
    Sleeps’, a book about a lone hunter seeking a heart stone in a faraway sleeping
    river and fighting all odds to get it.
  • Ms. Kire, had earlier read out an excerpt from her novel,
    describing a scene in which the protagonist and another man escape from a river
    with the spirits of widow women chasing after them with spears and curses. She
    described the book as an exploration of the Naga spirit universe.
  • The award was given away by author Alexander McCall Smith on
    Saturday afternoon at the ongoing Lit for Life event organised by The Hindu at
    Sri Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chetpet. The Fest, which began on
    Friday, will conclude on Sunday.

Appointments
Tsai Ing-wen elected
Taiwan’s first female president

  • Ms Tsai, 59, leads the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
    that wants independence from China.
  • In her victory speech, she vowed to preserve the status quo
    in relations with China, adding Beijing must respect Taiwan’s democracy and
    both sides must ensure there are no provocations.
  • China sees the island as a breakaway province – which it has
    threatened to take back by force if necessary.
  • In her speech, Ms Tsai hailed a “new era” in
    Taiwan and pledged to co-operate with other political parties on major issues.
  • The will of the Taiwanese people would be the basis for
    relations with China, Ms Tsai said.

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