Current Affairs Update – 28 and 29 December, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 28 and 29 December, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IPPB PO Mains, NIACL AO Mains and RBI Assistant Mains 2016-17.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 28 and 29 December, 2016
  1. The Ministry of Electronics and Information
    Technology (MeitY)
    has decided to team-up with Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to further
    promote digital payments among the retail community.
  2. The Odisha Government in third week of December 2016 named the Rs 7600 crore Mega Lift
    Irrigation Scheme after freedom fighter Parbati
    Giri.
  3. The Union Ministry of Water
    Resources on 29 December 2016 announced a roadmap for early completion of Prime Minister
    Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)
    and
    Accelerated
    Irrigation Benefits Programme
    (AIBP).
  4. The World Bank’s Board of
    Executive Directors in December 2016 approved USD 235 million for the Bihar Rural Roads
    Project
    .
  5. The Committee on Digital Payments
    headed by Ratan P Watal in December 2016 submitted its report to the Union
    Ministry of Finance.
  6. Union Minister of Shipping and
    Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on 26 December 2016 inaugurated
    Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) in New Delhi
    .
  7. India and Bhutan in December 2016 signed a
    Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for extending technical cooperation in infrastructure engineering.
  8. Seeking to make India a hub of
    international arbitration and to accelerate the system of alternate dispute
    resolution, the government today set up
    a high level committee to recommend ways to make arbitration
    more efficient
    . The committee will be headed by retired Supreme Court
    judge B N Srikrishna
    . It will submit its report in 90 days.
  9. Haryana government today signed a memorandum of understanding with Andhra Pradesh to assist it compile a centralised
    database of its population
    to ensure efficient and effective implementation
    of welfare programmes.
  10. The Union Health Ministry in collaboration with All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) will set up a National Death
    Registry
    encompassing data about
    deaths and their causes in all the hospitals across the country. The
    announcement was made on 27 December 2016.
  11. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
    27 December 2016 laid the foundation stone of Char Dham Highway Development Project in
    Dehradun, Uttarakhand
    . These highways will be built at an
    approximate cost of Rs 12,000 crore.
  12. Viral V Acharya was on 28 December 2016
    appointed as the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India
    (RBI). He is a professor of economics at New York
    University.
  13. The Jammu and Kashmir government on 28 December 2016 cleared the
    appointment of Dr Shesh Pal Vaid
    ,
    Special DG, Coordination and Law and Order, as new Director General of Police.
    Vaid, the 1986 batch Indian Police Services (IPS) officer of J&K cadre,
    will hold the office until October 2019.
  14. Former IAS officer Anil Baijal is all set to be appointed as the 21st Lieutenant
    Governor of Delhi.
  15. Meghalaya will host the 2022 National Games,
    which will coincide with the state’s 50 years of statehood. The state had
    pledged 5 crore rupees as the bid amount for the game. The next Nation Games will be hosted by Goa
    in November 2017
    .
  16. India’s Test captain Virat Kohli on
    27 December 2016 was named Cricket Australia’s ODI team of the year.
  17. Renowned Rajasthani litterateur Satya
    Narayan
    was on 26 December 2016
    chosen for the 26th Bihari Puraskar 2016 by K K Birla Foundation. This was the
    26th year of the award.
  18. Carrie Fisher, known for her
    role as Princess Leia Organa in Star
    Wars movie
    , passed away on 27 December 2016 following a cardiac arrest. She
    was 60. She is survived by her mother, daughter and beloved French bulldog,
    Gary.

Finance/Economy –
MeitY teams up with CAIT to train retail merchants for Digital Payments

  • The Ministry of Electronics and
    Information Technology (MeitY) has decided to team-up with Confederation of All
    India Traders (CAIT) to further promote digital payments among the retail
    community.
  • As many as 1 crore shopkeepers in
    about 1,000 towns of the country will be trained on digital payments under a
    memorandum of understanding (MoU) between MeitY and CAIT, Ravi Shankar Prasad,
    Union Electronics and IT Minister, said at a press conference here on
    Wednesday.
  • Prasad said that there was no
    timeline for completing the training (raise awareness level and increase adoption)
    of 1 crore shopkeepers.
  • Meanwhile, Prasad also announced
    that MeitY rural Common Service Centre (CSC) through its outreach campaign
    ‘Digidhan Abhiyan’ has enrolled over 1 crore rural citizens for digital
    payments since its launch earlier this month.
  • Over 3 lakh merchants have
    started offering digital payment options to rural customers across various
    districts and blocks in rural India, Prasad added.

Odisha names Mega Lift Irrigation Scheme after freedom fighter Parbati
Giri
  • The Odisha Government in third
    week of December 2016 named the Rs 7600 crore Mega Lift Irrigation Scheme after
    freedom fighter Parbati Giri.
  • The State Cabinet took the
    decision to mark respect for Giri’s contribution to the freedom movement and
    service to the poor and needy.
  • The government approved tender
    for 13 Mega Lift Irrigation Schemes with a total command area of 19400 hectares
    in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts of the state.

Union Government announced roadmap for early completion of PMKSY &
AIBP
  • The Union Ministry of Water
    Resources on 29 December 2016 announced a roadmap for early completion of Prime
    Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) and Accelerated Irrigation Benefits
    Programme (AIBP).

Highlights of Roadmap
  • The roadmap is aimed at early
    completion of 99 identified projects under PMKSY and AIBP.
  • Out of these 99 projects, 23
    projects were categorised as Priority-I projects which will be completed by
    April 2017.
  • Another 31 projects were
    identified as Priority-II projects which will be completed by April 2018.
  • The remaining 45 projects were
    classified as Priority-III projects which will be completed by December 2019.
  • Out of the 99 AIBP projects,
    Maharashtra has 26 projects. While Andhra Pradesh has eight projects, Gujarat
    has only one project.
  • Seven projects of Maharashtra are
    – Waghur, Bawanthadi (IS), Lower Dudhna, Tillari, Lower Wardha, Lower Panzara
    and Nandur Madhmeshwar. They are in priority-I category. The remaining 19
    projects of the State are under the priority-II category.

About Prime Minister Krishi
Sinchayee Yojana
  • The scheme was approved by the
    Union Cabinet in July 2015 with an outlay of Rs 50000 crore.
  • Its primary objective is to
    improve convergence among existing water harvesting schemes in order to improve
    water usage efficiency.
  • It is implemented over a
    five-year period till April 2020.

About Accelerated Irrigation
Benefits Programme
  • The scheme was launched by the
    Union Government in 1996-97 to provide Central Loan Assistance (CLA) to states
    for executing irrigation projects.
  • The primary objective of the
    programme is to accelerate the implementation of major and medium irrigation
    projects which were beyond resource capability of the states or were in
    advanced stage of completion.

World Bank approves USD 235 million for Bihar Rural Roads Project

  • The World Bank’s Board of
    Executive Directors in December 2016 approved USD 235 million for the Bihar
    Rural Roads Project.
  • The project aims at improving and
    effectively managing Bihar’s rural road network. It will also suggest better
    contract management practices to avoid time and cost over-runs. It will also
    propose better contract management practices to avoid time and cost over-runs.
  • The fund will support the
    construction of about 2500 km of rural roads under the Mukhiya Mantri Gram
    Sampark Yojana (MMGSY).
  • The roads under the project will
    be constructed using cost-effective designs and will also incorporate
    engineering measures that ensure road safety.

Key highlights of the project
  • After the completion of the
    project, around 1.2 million people will be able to access all-weather road. A
    majority of these people belong to the poor and vulnerable sections of society.
  • 30% of the people, who will
    benefit from the project, live below the poverty line and about 48% of them are
    women.
  • The project will also create
    direct employment of about 20 million person days for local labourers through a
    rural road construction and maintenance program.
  • Under the project, climate
    resilient and cost-effective engineering designs will be used. Local materials
    and industrial by-products will be used to construct the roads.
  • It will also use the alluvial
    sand that gathers on large tracts of farmable land after floods. It is expected
    that the step will save more than 25% in construction costs for rural roads.

Ratan P Watal Committee on Digital Payments submitted report to
Government
  • The Committee on Digital Payments
    headed by Ratan P Watal in December 2016 submitted its report to the Union
    Ministry of Finance.
  • The committee was formed by the
    Union Government to suggest measures for increasing digital financial
    transactions across the country.

Accordingly, it has suggested the following
recommendations in its report.

  • Make regulation of payments
    independent from the purview of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
  • Update the current Payments and
    Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
  • Promote digital payments and
    receipts within Government.
  • Create a fund proposed as DIPAYAN
    from savings generated from cash-less transactions.
  • Create a ranking and reward
    framework to encourage and recognise government agencies who lead the efforts
    on enabling digital payments.
  • Consider outsourcing the
    operations of payment systems like Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and
    National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT).
  • Upgrade payment systems like RTGS
    and NEFT to operate on a 24×7 basis in the due course of time.
  • Allow non-bank payment service
    providers (PSPs) to directly access payment systems.
  • National Payments Corporation of
    India (NPCI) should be made payments centric in its ownership and objectives.
  • Enable payments to be
    inter-operable between bank and non-banks as well as within non-banks.
  • Create a formal mechanism to
    enable innovations and new business models.
  • Implement other measures to
    promote digital payments.

Nitin Gadkari inaugurated Sagarmala Development Company in New Delhi

  • Union Minister of Shipping and
    Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on 26 December 2016 inaugurated
    Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) in New Delhi.
  • The incorporation of Sagarmala
    Development Company is a part of the ambitious Sagarmala Programme of the Union
    Government.
  • The programme aims to harness
    India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways
    and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.
  • The main objective of the company
    is to identify port-led development projects under the Sagarmala Programme.
  • It would also aim to increase the
    scope of private sector participation in project development.
  • The company provides equity
    support for the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) set up by the ports, state,
    central ministries.

India, Bhutan signed MoU for technical cooperation in infrastructure
engineering
  • India and Bhutan in December 2016
    signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for extending technical cooperation
    in infrastructure engineering.
  • The MoU was signed between the
    Central Public Works Department (CPWD) of India and Bhutan’s Department of
    Engineering Services in Thimpu.

Under the MoU, the CPWD will
assist Bhutan in –
  • Promoting sustainability in the
    built environment
  • Capacity building through
    training of Bhutanese manpower
  • Benchmarking in building and road
    sectors
  • Besides, the CPWD also deploy
    engineering experts in Bhutan to achieve the above objectives.

CCEA approves Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism
Affected Areas
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic
    Affairs (CCEA) on 28 December 2016 approved Road Connectivity Project for Left
    Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme aimed at
    improving the rural road connectivity in the worst LWE affected districts.
  • This project will be implemented
    as a vertical under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Highlights of the Project
  • The construction or upgradation
    of 5411.81 km road and 126 bridges will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs
    11724.53 crore.
  • The fund sharing pattern of LWE
    road project will be same as that of PMGSY that is in the ratio of 60:40
    between the Union Government and State Government.
  • However, the fund sharing will be
    in the ratio of 90:10 for eight North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu
    & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand).

India –
Govt sets up Justice B N Srikrishna committee to recommend ways to make
arbitration more efficient

  • Seeking to make India a hub of
    international arbitration and to accelerate the system of alternate dispute
    resolution, the government today set up a high level committee to recommend
    ways to make arbitration more efficient.
  • The committee will be headed by
    retired Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna. It will submit its report in 90
    days.
  • The minister said the government
    has been taking legislative and administrative initiatives on arbitration with
    an aim of minimising court intervention, bring down costs, fix time lines for
    expeditious disposal, and ensure neutrality of arbitrator and enforcement of
    awards.
  • The mandate of the panel will be
    to analyse and review effectiveness of present arbitration mechanism, the
    facilities, resources, funding and manpower of existing ADR (Alternate Dispute
    Resolution) institutions.
  • It will also examine the
    institutions funded by the Centre for arbitration purposes and assess skill
    gaps in ADR and allied institutions for both national and international
    arbitration.
  • The committee will also evaluate
    information outreach and efficacy of existing legal framework for arbitration.

Haryana signs MoU with Andhra to prepare citizen database

  • Haryana government today signed a
    memorandum of understanding with Andhra Pradesh to assist it compile a
    centralised database of its population to ensure efficient and effective
    implementation of welfare programmes.
  • The MoU for State Resident Data
    Base (SRDB) was signed by Haryana Principal Secretary, Information Technology
    Devender Singh and Secretary Andhra Pradesh, Information Technology, Vijayen. Haryana
    Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Andhra’s N Chandra Babu Naidu were
    present during the signing of the MoU at Andhra Bhawan here.
  • Andhra already has a database of
    this sort. It’s described as a comprehensive portal for managing demographic
    (name, gender, age, photograph and address) and biometric information for
    facilitating “Unique ID” based identity authentication.

Health Ministry, AIIMS to set up National Death Registry
  • The Union Health Ministry in
    collaboration with All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) will set up a
    National Death Registry encompassing data about deaths and their causes in all
    the hospitals across the country. The announcement was made on 27 December
    2016.

Highlights of the National
Death Registry
  • The aim behind setting up of this
    registry is to have a nationwide database about the causes of deaths occurring
    in hospitals in various regions of India.
  • It will help the policy makers in
    having a better understanding of disease outbreaks so as to optimise the resources
    and healthcare facilities in respective regions.
  • AIIMS already implemented the
    pilot version of the death registry with the unique feature of having a coding
    system called the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED).
  • AIIMS will be the technical as
    well as the implementing partner of this programme.

Union Cabinet approved ratification of ISA Framework Agreement
  • The Union Cabinet on 28 December
    2016 gave its ex-post facto approval for ratification of ISA’s Framework
    Agreement of International Solar Alliance (ISA) by India.
  • The approval was given at a
    meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

What is International Solar Alliance?
  • It is an alliance of 121 nations
    that are primarily situated between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
    launched on 30 November 2015.
  • The International Solar Alliance
    (ISA) was jointly launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and France
    President Francois Hollande in Paris on the sidelines of the Conference of
    Parties 21 (CoP21) of the United Nations climate change conference (UNFCCC).
  • It is considered as first
    international and inter-governmental organization mooted by India.

What are the functions of International Solar Alliance?
  • It tries to improve living
    standards by facilitating greater access to energy.
  • The ISA works with partner
    countries to formulate projects and programmes to accelerate development and
    deployment of existing clean solar energy technologies.
  • It also develops innovative
    financial mechanisms to reduce cost of capital.
  • It is also instrumental in
    spreading knowledge about solar energy through knowledge e-portal.

PM Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of Char Dham Highway Development
Project

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
    27 December 2016 laid the foundation stone of Char Dham Highway Development
    Project in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
  • The primary objective of the programme
    is to develop all-weather roads leading to Char Dham – Kedarnath, Badrinath,
    Yamunotri and Gangotri in Uttarakhand.

Highlights of Char Dham
Highway Development Project
  • It is also called as the Chardham
    Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna.
  • It is a part of the Union
    Government’s National Highway Connectivity Improvement Programme for Char Dham
    in Uttarakhand.
  • Char Dham Highway Development
    Project is an ambitious initiative to improve connectivity to the Char Dham
    pilgrimage centres in the Himalayas.
  • Under the project, 900 km of
    national highways will be developed.
  • These highways will be built at
    an approximate cost of Rs 12,000 crore.
  • The all-weather roads will have
    tunnels, bridges and fly-overs to enhance road safety and uninterrupted access.

Appointments –
Viral V Acharya appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI

  • Viral V Acharya was on 28
    December 2016 appointed as the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
    He is a professor of economics at New York University.
  • He will be joining the ranks of
    Vishwanathan, S S Mundra, R Gandhi as one of four Deputy Governors of RBI. He
    will be serving under RBI Governor Urjit Patel.

SP Vaid appointed as Director General of J&K police

  • The Jammu and Kashmir government
    on 28 December 2016 cleared the appointment of Dr Shesh Pal Vaid, Special DG,
    Coordination and Law and Order, as new Director General of Police. Vaid, the
    1986 batch Indian Police Services (IPS) officer of J&K cadre, will hold the
    office until October 2019.
  • He will succeed DGP K Rajendra,
    whose extended term of service will end on 31 December 2016. Kumar was
    appointed as DGP of J&K in May 2014 and later was given an extension of
    three months during the unrest that occurred in the valley after killing of a
    militant named Burhan Wani.
  • His appointment was approved at a
    cabinet meet chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
  • He is the second officer from
    Jammu to have risen to the post of Director General of Police. MM Khajuria was
    the first person from Jammu to hold the position. He held the position in 1985.

Anil Baijal to be appointed 21st Lieutenant Governor of Delhi

  • Former IAS officer Anil Baijal is
    all set to be appointed as the 21st Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The approval
    for his appointment was given on 28 December 2016 by President Pranab
    Mukherjee.
  • Baijal will succeed Najeeb Jung,
    who resigned from the post of Delhi LG on 22 December 2016. Jung had resigned
    18 months short of his tenure.

Soli J Sorabjee re-elected as President of India International Centre
  • Former attorney general Soli J
    Sorabjee was on 26 December 2016 re-elected as the President of the India
    International Centre (IIC), a prestigious cultural institution. He was
    appointed for a period of five years with effect from 1 January 2017.
  • The Board of Directors of IIC
    unanimously elected Sorabjee for a second consecutive term while recognising
    his services in achieving the objectives of IIC.

Sports –
Meghalaya to host 2022 National Games

  • Meghalaya will host the 2022
    National Games, which will coincide with the state’s 50 years of statehood. The
    state had pledged 5 crore rupees as the bid amount for the game.
  • With this, Meghalaya will become
    the third north-eastern state after Manipur and Assam to host the National
    Games.
  • The news was announced on 27
    December 2016 in the meeting of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) meeting
    held in Chennai. The IOA accepted Meghalaya’s bid to host the National Games
    overshadowing four other bidders, which were Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgargh
    and Uttarakhand.
  • The IOA accepted Meghalaya’s bid
    to host the 2022 National Games following the successful South Asian Games,
    which was co-hosted by Shillong and Guwahati earlier in 2016.
  • The next Nation Games will be hosted
    by Goa in November 2017.

Samit Gohel broke 117-year-old record in first-class cricket

  • Samit Gohel, the Ranji player
    from Gujarat, who scored 359 not out runs in Ranji Trophy quarterfinal in
    Jaipur, Rajasthan, has broken the 117-year-old record in first-class cricket.
    He was able to create the world record with 45 boundaries and one six in 723
    balls.
  • Samit remained not out in his
    team’s score of 641, which was the highest first-class score for team Gujarat.
    With this score, Gujarat was able to enter into the semi-final of the Ranji
    Trophy. It defeated the Ranji team of Odisha.
  • One of his teammates Priyank
    Panchal has been the top scorer in this season’s Ranji Trophy.
  • Samit, 26, registered the highest
    first-class 359 while carrying the bat in a match against Odisha at the Sawai
    Man Singh Stadium. With his score, he also broke the first-class record held by
    an Englishman, Bobby Abel. Surrey’s Bobby Abel scored 357 against Somerset way
    back in 1899 at the Oval.
  • While Hanif Mohammed’s score of
    499 remains the highest score by an opener in first-class cricket.

Virat Kohli chosen Cricket Australia’s ODI Captain of Year
  • India’s Test captain Virat Kohli
    on 27 December 2016 was named Cricket Australia’s ODI team of the year.
  • Kohli was earlier also picked as
    the Captain of the ICC’s ODI team of the year.
  • Cricket Australia stated that
    Kohli played only 10 one-day matches in 2016; however, he underlined his status
    as one of the best in the 50-over format. He scored back-to-back centuries
    against Australia in January 2016 and then a 154 against New Zealand, which was
    more than half of his team’s total. At present, he averages an incredible 90.10
    in 59 successful run chases for India.

Indian Olympic Association appoints Suresh Kalmadi, Abhay Singh
Chautala as life presidents
  • The Indian Olympic Association
    (IOA) on 27 December 2016 appointed Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Singh Chautala as
    its life presidents.
  • The IOA unanimously appointed the
    Kalmadi and Chautala to the post during its Annual General Meeting in Chennai,
    Tamil Nadu.
  • A life president of IOA is an
    honorary post with no voting rights or involvement in day-to-day functioning of
    the body. In its 89-year old history, IOA has had 12 presidents, including the
    current incumbent N Ramachandran.

Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic announces retirement
  • Serbian professional tennis
    player Ana Ivanovic on 28 December 2016 announced retirement from tennis at the
    age of 29.
  • Ivanovic announced her retirement
    in a video in which she stated that she no longer feels fit enough to compete
    at the highest level.
  • The tennis player is the first
    Serbian woman to win a grand slam tournament.

World –
Nawaz Sharif inaugurated Chashma-III nuclear power plant
  • Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz
    Sharif on 28 December 2016 inaugurated Chashma-III nuclear power plant near
    Mianwali in Punjab Province.
  • The inauguration of the plant not
    only alleviates the load shedding problems in Punjab Province, but also helps
    Pakistan in achieving the commitments under the Intended Nationally Determined
    Contributions (INDCs).
  • As per the INDCs that are submitted
    by Pakistan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
    (UNFCC), use of non-fossil fuel based energy sources will be encouraged in the
    country.

Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe seeks reconciliation with US at Pearl Harbour
  • In a landmark moment, the Prime
    Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and President of the United States Barack Obama
    visited Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to offer condolences to the victims of the
    surprise Japanese bombing on US naval base 75 years ago.
  • The meeting of the two leaders at
    the memorial site was another move towards reconciliation.

Key Highlights
  • Both the leaders used the
    ceremony to encourage their citizens to reconcile and move forward.
  • Though Abe did not apologise for
    the attack, he did offer his most sincere and everlasting condolences to the
    victims and stated that Japan had taken a solemn vow to never wage a war ever
    again.
  • Abe also visited the USS Arizona
    Memorial, which was built in 1962 in the memory of the American sailors and
    Marines who lay buried in the wreckage of the battleship, sunk by the Japanese
    during the attack.

Nepal rejects India’s ‘Open Sky’ offer

  • Nepal rejected India’s ‘open sky’
    proposal at a meeting held at New Delhi on 20 December 2016. The proposal was
    to allow unlimited flights between the two countries.
  • Nepal explained its decision by
    saying that it was not ready for the agreement and might consider it two years
    later. Currently, airlines of both the nations are allowed to operate only
    30000 seats from each side.
  • India and Nepal signed a
    memorandum of understanding to create a joint technical committee, which will
    be responsible for looking into Nepal’s request for developing new air routes
    and entry points at its Bhairahawa, Janakpur and Nepalgunj airports.
  • The committee would convene in
    the first week of February 2017 to check the feasibility of the requested
    routes.

Awards & Honors –
Rajasthani writer Satya Narayan selected for 2016 Bihari Puraskar
  • Renowned Rajasthani litterateur
    Satya Narayan was on 26 December 2016 chosen for the 26th Bihari Puraskar 2016
    by K K Birla Foundation. This was the 26th year of the award.
  • He was chosen for his Hindi book
    titled Yeh Ek Dunia which was published in 2010. His novel Yeh Ek Dunia depicts
    the various circumstances of life in contemporary world.
  • The book attempts to enter the
    unseen aspects where human experiences and conscience are more important than
    life situations of contemporary time zone.

Obituaries –
Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher passes away

  • Carrie Fisher, known for her role
    as Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars movie, passed away on 27 December 2016
    following a cardiac arrest. She was 60. She is survived by her mother, daughter
    and beloved French bulldog, Gary.
  • Escaping Hollywood in 1973,
    Fisher enrolled in the Central School of Speech and Drama in London to study
    acting.
  • In 1975, she made her film debut
    in the Warren Beatty-lead movie Shampoo.
  • Throughout the 1990s, Fisher
    focused on her writing career and published Surrender the Pink and Delusions of
    Grandma.
  • She also crafted the scripts for
    numerous Hollywood films like The Wedding Singer, Hook and Sister Act, etc.

Sunderlal Patwa, the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, died
  • Sunderlal Patwa, the former Chief
    Minister of Madhya Pradesh, died at a private hospital in Bhopal on 28 December
    2016. He was 92.
  • The veteran Bharatiya Janata
    Party (BJP) leader and two-times chief minister of Madhya Pradesh is considered
    as a political mentor of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Astronomer Vera Rubin, who confirmed dark matter, passes away
  • Pioneering astronomer Vera Rubin
    passed away on 25 December 2016. She was 88.
  • Rubin, who helped discover
    evidence of dark matter, passed away due to natural causes.

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This post was last modified on November 27, 2017 8:54 am