Current Affairs Update – 21st and 22nd February, 2016

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• Aditya Birla Group’s two
  companies Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (ABNL) and Idea Cellular Limited on 19 February
  2016 announced that they formed a joint venture company.
• The joint venture will be known
  as Aditya Birla Idea Payment Banks Limited and was set up under the Guidelines
  for Licensing of Payment Banks issued by the Reserve Bank of India on 27
  November 2014.
• In the payments bank, while
  Aditya Birla Nuvo will be holding up to 51 percent shares, balance 49 percent
  shares will be held by the Idea Cellular.
• While ABNL is a 4.4 billion US
  dollar premium conglomerate and active in textiles and apparel, carbon black,
  fertilizers, insulators, mobile telephony and financial services; Idea Cellular
  is India’s third largest mobile operator by subscriber base.

• Software major Wipro has tied up
  with Verveba, a telecom network engineering company, for providing advanced
  mobile radio network optimisation solutions.
• The companies will jointly offer
  solutions to address industry challenges in generating measurable economic
  value from fast growing, mobile network technology deployments and
  optimisation, especially in 4G and single RAN technologies.
• The companies will work together
  on business development activities and expanding solutions to the telecom
  service providers globally.

• Aiming to strengthen India-UAE
  economic ties, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has signed an MoU with
  Dubai Exports to boost trade and explore business opportunities.
• CII, a non-government
  organisation, has signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dubai
  Exports, which works with other Dubai Government Departments to simplify the
  export process.
• It develops long-term growth
  strategies to expand businesses and maximise the opportunities given by Dubai’s
  unique position as a natural trade gateway between the East and West.

• Union Ministry of Road Transport
  and Highways on 22 February 2016 formed an Empowered Group of State Transport
  Ministers.
• An announcement in this regard
  was made at the 16th Meeting of National Road Safety Council by the Union Road
  Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi.
• The group, chaired by the
  Rajasthan Transport Minister Yunus Khan, will suggest measures to boost the
  transport sector, improve the public transport system and minimise road
  accidents in the country.
• The formation of the group is in
  tune with the Union Government’s concerted action plan to reduce road accidents
  by half by 2019.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
  21 February 2016 launched Shyama Prasad Mukherjee National Rurban Mission. The
  mission was launched from Kurubhat village in Dongargarh block of Rajnandgaon
  district in Chhattisgarh.
• The Rurban Mission seeks to
  develop smart village on the line of smart cities and reduce the burden of
  migration to the cities through adopting ‘cluster approach’.
• Under the Mission, Murmunda
  village cluster in Rajnandgaon will cater 16 village panchayats – Kurrubhat,
  Bhagwantola, Bhandarpur, Haransinghi, Jamri, Jatkanhar, Khallari, Matketa,
  Medha, Mudhpar, Murmunda, Nagtarai, Pinkapar, Pipariya, Rajkatta and Raka.

• The Centre has launched a mobile
  app ‘Swachh Paryatan’ in order to facilitate general public to communicate
  their complaints about any unclean area/garbage piles in and around tourist
  destinations.
• The app, which is available on
  Android Phones, will also be soon available on Apple and Microsoft as well, the
  Ministry of Tourism said in a statement on Monday.
• It shall be monitored by the
  Project Monitoring Unit of Swachh Bharat Mission in Ministry of Tourism.
• Initially, 25 Adarsh Smarak
  Monuments such as Red Fort, Taj Mahal, Elephanta Caves, Qutub Minar Complex,
  among others, have been identified for inclusion in the app, but it would be
  scaled up to include more monuments as the campaign expands, the statement
  said.

• The Indian Space Research
  Organisation (ISRO) on 19 February 2016 successfully tested high-thrust
  cryogenic engine CE-20 at its Propulsion Research Centre in Mahendragiri, Tamil
  Nadu.
• The successful hotbed test lasted
  640 seconds and paved the way for the first developmental flight of the GSLV
  Mark 3 in December 2016.
• The GSLV Mark 3, the biggest
  rocket made in India, will be capable of launching 4-tonne satellites into
  geosynchronous orbit.
• So far India’s GSLVs were being
  powered by cryogenic engines given by Russia. But this development marks a
  milestone in the country’s effort to develop a big cryogenic engine to fly
  satellites of up to five tonnes.

• Kalikho Pul on 19 February 2016
  was sworn in as the ninth Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Pul was sworn in as the CM with
  the support of 18 rebel Congress MLAs, and two Independents and 11 BJP MLAs who
  gave outside support.
• State Governor J P Rajkhowa
  administered the oath of office to Pul around 9.30 in the night.
• On 26 January 2016, President
  Pranab Mukherjee approved the Union Cabinet’s recommendation for the imposition
  of President’s rule on Arunachal Pradesh.
• The President’s Rule was lifted
  after the Supreme Court vacated its interim order to maintain status quo in the
  Arunachal Pradesh assembly, paving the way for government formation.

• President Pranab Mukherjee on 22
  February 2016 appointed Justice Vineet Saran as the new Chief Justice of Orissa
  (Odisha) High Court. He will take oath on 26 February 2016.
• Prior to this appointment,
  Justice Saran was working as a senior judge of Karnataka High Court.
• The post of Orissa (Odisha) Chief
  Justice was vacant since 15 February 2016 as Justice D H Waghela was
  transferred be the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

• Former Prime Minister of the
  Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera on 20 February 2016 was
  declared winner in the second round of presidential elections.
• As per the initial results
  announced by National Elections Authority (ANE) president Marie-Madeleine
  Nkouet, Touadera, who campaigned against corruption, won 62.71 percent of votes
  cast in the 14 February 2016 election. On the other hand, his contender
  Anicet-Georges Dologuele managed to poll 37.29 percent of the votes.

• India has yet again emerged as
  the world’s largest importer of arms, with Russia being the top supplier
  garnering 70% of the Indian market, a Stockholm-based think-tank said today.
• India’s imports, accounting for
  14% of global arms imports, were three times greater than those of China and
  Pakistan, it said.
• Interestingly, six of the top 10
  largest arms importers in the period 2011-15 are in Asia and Oceania.
• India tops the list with 14% of
  global arms imports. China ranks second with 4.7%, Australia (3.6%), Pakistan
  (3.3%), Vietnam (2.9%) and South Korea (2.6%).
• The emergence of the US as a
  major supplier to India is a recent development. The US imports are also
  growing. They were 11 times higher in 2011-15 than in 2006-10, the Stockholm
  International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report.
• India was the largest importer of
  major arms in 2011-15, accounting for 14% of the global total, the report
  titled ‘Trends in International Arms Transfers’ said.
• Between 2006-10 and 2011-15
  imports increased by 90%.
• India was the world’s largest
  importer of weapons and military equipment in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

• International Mother Language Day
  2016 was celebrated across the world on 21 February 2016. The theme for the
  year 2016 is Quality education, language(s) of instruction and learning
  outcomes.
• The theme emphasizes the
  importance of appropriate languages of instruction, usually mother tongues, in
  the early years of schooling.

• World Day of Social Justice was
  observed on 20 February 2016 with the theme A Just Transition – environmentally
  sustainable economies and societies.
• To mark the occasion, various
  activities were organised across the world to stress importance of the 2030
  Agenda for Sustainable Development which laid special emphasis on achieving
  social justice.

• The Jaypee Punjab Warriors on 21
  February 2016 defeated Kalinga Lancers 6-1 to clinch Hockey India League (HIL)
  title in the fourth edition of the six-team tournament at the Birsa Munda Hockey
  Stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
• The Punjab Warriors were third
  time lucky as they had finished runners-up in the last two editions. They lost
  to Delhi Waveriders in 2014 and to Ranchi Rays in 2015.
• Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar
  Das presented the winner’s trophy to Jaypee Punjab Warriors captain Sardar
  Singh and Mark Knowles.
• The Player of the Tournament
  Award of 50 lakh rupees was awarded to Rupinder Pal Singh of Delhi Waveriders.

• New Zealand cricket team captain
  Brendon McCullum on 20 February 2016 scored fastest test century. McCullum
  scored the century in record 54 balls against Australia on the first day of the
  2nd match that was played for Trans-Tasman Trophy in Christchurch, New Zealand.
• To score the fastest and the 12th
  test century, the 34-year old player took 2 balls less than West Indies’ Viv
  Richards and Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq who jointly held the previous record.
• While Viv Richards scored it
  against England in Antigua in 1986, Misbah-ul-Haq’s century came against
  Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014 in 56 balls.

• Italy’s Sara Errani on 20
  February 2016 defeated Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova to clinch the WTA
  Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships women’s singles title.
• A former Top 10 fixture and
  French Open finalist, Errani’s greater big-match experience shone through as
  she emerged victorious by a 6-0, 6-2.

• Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary
  on 21 February 2016 won silver medal at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics
  Championships in Doha, Qatar. His silver helped India to increase its medal
  tally to five in the championships.
• Maheswary had a modest jump of
  16.16 metres. Gold went to Kazakhstan’s Roman Valiyev with 16.69m and Rashid
  Ahmed Al Mannai won the bronze with 15.97m.

• Ronnie O’Sullivan on 21 February
  2016 won seven frames in a row to beat Neil Robertson 9-5 and win 2016
  BetVictor Welsh Open title held at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
• O’Sullivan met Robertson in the
  final. Despite trailing 3–5 after the afternoon session, O’Sullivan won all six
  frames played in the evening session to defeat Robertson 9–5 and equal John
  Higgins’ record of four Welsh Open titles.
• It was O’Sullivan’s 28th ranking
  title, which put him in joint second place with Higgins and Steve Davis for the
  number of career ranking titles.

• Malayalam film “Ottal” was named
  the Best Children’s Film at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival in
  Germany. It was honoured with the Crystal Bear Award in the ‘Generation K-Plus’
  section.
• The film, directed by Jayaraj
  Rajasekharan Nair, is about the story of an old fisherman and his grandson. The
  movie is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s short story ‘Vanaka’.
• Jayaraj is known for adapting
  literary classic into films. He has earlier made films based on Shakespeare’s
  works such as “Othello” and “Antony and Cleopatra”. This is
  the third year in a row that Indian films have triumphed.

• Harper Lee, the author of To Kill
  a Mockingbird, passed away on 19 February 2016 in Monroeville, Alabama, U.S.
  She was 89.
• Lee was widely known for her
  debut novel To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960. Immediately successful,
  it won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American
  literature.
• The author’s  second novel, Go Set a Watchman, was written
  in the mid-1950s and controversially published in July 2015 as a sequel, though
  it was later confirmed to be To Kill a Mockingbird’s first draft.

Regards

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