Current Affairs Update – 4th February, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 4th February, 2016. These are Important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016.

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
  on 3 February 2016 announced that it has been rated as the World’s Most
  Powerful Brand in IT Services by Brand Finance, the world’s leading brand
  valuation firm.
• Scoring highly on a wide variety
  of measures such as familiarity, loyalty, staff satisfaction and corporate
  reputation, TCS emerged as the IT services industry’s most powerful brand with
  a score of 78.3 points earning it an AA+ rating.
• TCS is also the fastest growing
  brand within its industry over the last six years.

• Disney is the world’s most
  powerful brand
• Despite slowing sales, Apple is
  the world’s most valuable brand
• Volkswagen brand value falls by
  $12 billion US dollars following emissions scandal

• Ontario Province, Canada and
  Telangana State have today inked a slew of MoUs in the areas of education, infrastructure,
  IT and research.
• Kathleen Wynne, Premier of
  Ontario, who spoke at a plenary session attended by Ontario delegates and
  representatives from Indian companies and institutions, said generating trade,
  jobs and economic growth for both regions is the intent.
• The key pacts inked include the
  new manufacturing unit to be set up by Data Wind, joint venture between Astra
  Microwave Products Ltd and Vaughan, Ontario-based broad based systems. It will
  provide broadcasting services, satellite uplinking and medical imaging products
  to India and other regional markets.
• Another MoU between the IIT,
  Hyderabad and Hamilton, Ontario-based McMaster University to generate
  opportunities to create intellectual property through innovation and to
  commercialise research outcomes was signed.
• The Nuclear Fuel Complex and
  Toronto-based Kinectics signed an agreement for one of the most advanced
  partnerships in the Canada – India nuclear energy initiatives while
  Ottawa-based Solantro and their Indian partner, Smarttrack will collaborate on
  the development of power electric solutions for renewable energy and micro
  inverters.

• Central Institute of Plastic
  Engineering and Technology (CIPET), under the Union Ministry of Chemicals and
  Fertilizers on 3 February 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
  Karnataka Government to set up Advanced Polymer Design and Development Research
  Laboratory cum High Learning Centre at Bengaluru.
• The State Government share 50
  percent of project cost apart from allotting the required land for the centre.
• Union Government will bear the
  remaining 50 Percent and act as a multi-functional one-step facility with
  specialization in product development in Polymer sector.

• Union Health and Family Welfare
  Minister JP Nadda on 1 February 2016 awarded the certificate of Miniratna
  Category-I status to Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (I) Ltd (HSCC).
  The honour was awarded to its CMD Gyanesh Pandey at Nirman Bhawan in New Delhi.
• It got the status for its
  consistency in excellent performance in top and bottom-line growth along with
  its turnover, particularly for the last five years. These status are granted by
  the Department of Public Enterprises under Union Ministry of Heavy Industries
  and Public Enterprises.
• HSSC is a Public Sector
  Enterprise under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare since its
  inception it has been a profit making organisation. As a result, it attained
  the Miniratna-II status in 2002.
• Criteria to award Miniratna
  Status
• Those CPSEs that have shown
  profits in the last continuous three years and have positive net worth can be
  considered eligible for grant of Miniratna status.

• Amid enduring tensions over the
  South China Sea, India and China today held inaugural round of talks on
  maritime cooperation.
• The dialogue here covered a range
  of issues of mutual interest, including exchange of perspectives on maritime
  security and prospects for maritime cooperation between the two countries, the External
  Affairs Ministry said.
• It said developments in
  international regimes such as UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and
  IMO (International Maritime Organisation) also figured in the discussions.
• The Indian delegation was led by
  Amandeep Singh Gill, Joint Secretary (Disarmament and International Security
  Affairs) in the Ministry of External Affairs, while the Chinese delegation was
  led by Kong Xuanyou, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
  China.

• Council for Scientific and
  Industrial Research (CSIR) on 3 February 2016 launched the BGR-34, the country’s
  first anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug for Diabetes. BGR is acronym for blood
  glucose regulator.
• The ayurvedic drug BGR-34 was
  launched at Kozhikode, Kerala by CSIR’s Senior Principal Scientist Dr AKS Rawat
  as part of the Global Ayurveda Festival in the city.
• BGR-34 is designed for type 2
  Diabetes mellitus, has been scientifically validated for its efficacy and
  safety. Priced at 5 rupees per tablet, the medicine is now available at all major
  chemist counters of Kerala.

• Indian biotechnology company
  Bharat Biotech on 3 February 2016 claimed that it has achieved a breakthrough
  in developing a vaccine to fight the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
• Bharat Biotech developed world’s
  first, two promising candidates ZikaVac vaccines for Zika infection.
• The company is probably the first
  in the world to file for global patent for the two vaccines.
• One of the possible vaccines is
  recombinant, which means it is created by genetic engineering, while the other
  was inactivated, and will enter pre-clinical trials in animals in two weeks.

• The term Cobra Gold was in news
  on 3 February 2016 as India confirmed its participation in the annual
  amphibious military exercise in 2016.
• The decision in this regard was
  conveyed to Thailand, the host country, during Vice President Hamid Ansari’s
  visit to the country.
• It is the largest Asia-Pacific
  military exercise and held in Thailand every year.
• It is among the largest
  multinational military exercise in which the United States participates.
• As of 2014, Cobra Gold has three
  distinct activities, namely, the Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEX),
  Command Post Exercise (CPX) and activity related to assisting the local Thai
  population.

• Reliance Defence Ltd, a
  subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, will set up the Dhirubhai Ambani
  Centre for Innovation and Research in Aerospace in Bengaluru.
• An announcement in this regard
  was made by the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Reliance ADAG) chairman
  Anil Ambani on 3 February 2016 at the Invest Karnataka 2016 summit in
  Bengaluru.
• The centre, the first-ever of its
  kind in the private sector in India, will be a world class facility for
  research, development and innovation in aerospace technology. It will generate
  more than 1500 highly skilled jobs.
• The centre will be a
  knowledge-driven technology venture and will function as a global centre of
  aerospace excellence.

• Canadian Provinces of Prince
  Edward Island (PEI) and Ontario in first week of February 2016 inked Memorandum
  of Understandings (MoUs) in Chandigarh. The MoUs were inked during the India
  visit of the premiers of PEI and Ontario Wade MacLauchlan and Kathleen Wynne
  respectively.
• The meetings were focused on
  cultivating relationships with India in renewable energy, sustainable
  development, food products, and post-secondary education.
• MoU to facilitate exchanges of
  faculty and students and collaboration on research and programming was signed
  by University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) with Chitkara University and the
  Punjab Agricultural University.
• MoU to send apples grown in
  eastern Prince Edward Island to markets in India and Asia was signed between
  the province and Canadian Nectar products.

• Aruna Sethi, the Principal
  Adviser (Cost), on 1 February 2016 took over charge as the head of Indian Cost
  Accounts Service (ICoAS). With this appointment, she became the first woman to
  occupy the post.
• Prior to the present elevation,
  Aruna, a 1985 batch ICoAS officer, held important portfolios in Government of
  India including Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs,
  Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
  Ministry of Defence etc.

• Former chief secretary of Gujarat
  DJ Pandian was appointed vice-president and chief investment officer of the
  newly-created Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on 3 February 2016.
• His appointment as vice-president
  and chief investment officer was approved by AIIB. The retired 1981-batch IAS
  officer of Gujarat cadre had worked on deputation with the World Bank in
  Washington. He was also the MD of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).
• The Beijing-based 100 billion
  dollar multi-lateral lender, AIIB was set up in Beijing on 25 December 2015. It
  was established to boost lending for infrastructure projects such as energy,
  transportation, urban construction and logistics as well as education and
  healthcare.

• Sarangi maestro Pandit Ram
  Narayan on 3 February 2016 was selected for the prestigious Bharat Ratna Pandit
  Bhimsen Joshi Classical Music Award for 2015-2016.
• Narayan’s selection for the award
  was announced by Maharashtra’s Cultural Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde in Mumbai.
• Pandit Ram Narayan popularised
  the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani
  classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player.
• He was awarded India’s second
  highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2005.

• Manipuri documentary film
  Phum-Shang on 3 February 2016 bagged the prestigious Golden Conch Award for the
  best documentary film at the 14th Mumbai International Film Festival for
  Documentary, Animation and Short Films (MIFF 2016).
• The film is directed by Haobam
  Paban Kumar, an alumnus of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute,
  Kolkata.
• The 52-minute film critically
  examines the serious environmental problems faced by the Loktak lake, the
  largest freshwater lake in northeast India. The lake is characterised by its
  unique floating biomass, known as Phumdi, which is the primary source of livelihood
  for fishermen who live on huts built on the Phumdis.
• Swiss film My Name Is Salt and an
  Indian film Placebo shared the Golden Conch Award for the best feature length
  documentary film.

• Kerala’s all-women taxicab
  service She-Taxi on 3 February 2016 received the prestigious Chief Minister’s
  Award for Innovation in Public Policy 2014 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. It
  was selected for the recognition in the developmental interventions category.
• This initiative was selected for
  the award considering it as a unique model and its possibility to replicate in
  other places.
• In short span of time, it
  addressed the safety and security concerns of women travellers along with the
  contribution to socio-economic empowerment aspect of women in the state.

• All twelve Pacific Rim countries
  on 4 February 2016 signed the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement
  in New Zealand. This is one of the biggest trade deals in history.
• The ceremonial signing event on
  the pact was led by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and US Trade
  Representative Mike Froman at Auckland’s Sky City Convention Centre.
• The trade deal looks to facilitate
  investment between 12 countries across the Pacific Rim, which together account
  for about 40 percent of the global economy. The agreement was signed by
  Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,
  Singapore, the United States of America and Vietnam.

• World Health Organisation (WHO)
  on 1 February 2016 recommended all governments to rate movies with smoking
  scenes to protect children and adolescents from tobacco addiction in Geneva.
• According to the WHO’s third
  edition of Smoke-free movies: from evidence to action report, movies showing
  the use of tobacco products have enticed millions of young people worldwide to
  start smoking.

• The European Union (EU) on 3
  February 2016 approved 3.3 billion Euros in funding to help Turkey cope with
  the issue of Syrian migrants. At present, Turkey is home to around 3 million
  Syrians who fled the country since the beginning of the civil war in 2011.
• The funding is aimed at curbing
  flow of asylum seekers into the Europe by tightening its borders with Turkey.
• Under the deal, the EU’s
  executive is contributing one billion euros to the fund, while the 28 member
  states will contribute the rest.

• World Cancer Day (WCD) 2016 was
  observed across the world on 4 February 2016. The day was observed with year’s
  theme – We can. I can.
• World Cancer Day unites the
  world’s population in the fight against cancer. The tagline of the theme
  reflects on what you can do and asks to make a pledge and take action and make
  a difference in fight against cancer.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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