Current Affairs Update – 5th January, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 5th January, 2016. These are Important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016, SIDBI Assistant Manager, Syndicate Bank Manipal PO Exams.

• Andhra Bank has announced it is launching Immediate Payment
  Service (IMPS) across branches to provide inter-bank electronic transfer
  service, capable of processing person to account remittances.
• IMPS is a multi-channel and multi-dimensional platform that
  makes payments possible within fraction of seconds with all the standards and
  integrity maintained for security, the bank said.
• Each transaction will have a maximum cap of Rs 2 lakh and
  charged at the rate of Rs 5 per transaction, according to a press release.

• Leading automobile manufacturer Volvo Group on 5 January
  2016 announced the merger of its bus manufacturing arm Volvo Buses India and joint
  company Volvo India Pvt Ltd (VIPL).
• The consolidation has come into effect from 31 December
  2015.
• Volvo Group in India includes multiple business areas and
  brands such as Volvo Buses, Volvo Penta Engines, Volvo Construction Equipment,
  UD Buses, Volvo Trucks, Eicher Trucks and Buses.
• VRV Sriprasad will continue to lead the Volvo Bus business
  in India. He will report to Akash Passey, Senior Vice President at the Volvo
  Bus Corporation.

• IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, a Mumbai-based road
  developer, on 4 January 2016 bagged the 10050 crore Zojila Pass tunnel road
  project in Jammu and Kashmir.  This
  tunnel project is the country’s biggest road project by cost
• The Zojila Pass tunnel will be the longest in South Asia
  once completed. Presently, Chenani-Nashri tunnel at 9 km is the country’s
  longest road tunnel.

• The 14.08 km tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity
  between the Jammu and Kashmir regions with Leh Ladakh, which remain cut off
  during winters due to heavy snowfall.
• The project’s construction period is seven years and the
  concession period is 22 years.

• Nokia Corporation on 5 January 2015 announced that it
  completed the regulatory formalities for acquiring the French telecom equipment
  company Alca-Lucent.
• The deal, worth 15.6 billion euro, was signed in 2014 and
  later approved by the European Commission.
• With this acquisition, Nokia holds 79.32 percent of
  outstanding Alcatel-Lucent shares and at least 78.97 percent of the French
  company’s voting rights.
• Further, the deal is expected to help the company in
  competing globally with the likes of Ericsson and Huawei in the
  telecommunications field.

• Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on 4 January 2016
  inaugurated the state’s land bank web portal, jharbhoom.nic.in, that will help
  investors know land-related information.
• With this, one would be able to get information about the
  land which is available at the district and the circle area level with a click
  of a mouse. This land bank will help investors get information through
  district-wise nodal officers.
• For this purpose, district wise nodal officers have been
  appointed whose mobile numbers and email ids will also be available on the
  website.

• Department of Posts on 1 January 2016 formed a one-man
  committee to study issues related to Gramin Dak Sevaks including wage structure
  and service conditions.
• The panel will be headed by Kamlesh Chandra, a retired
  member of the Postal Services Board, which will be assisted by T Q Mohammad, a
  senior administrative grade officer, as the secretary.

• It will examine the system of branch post offices,
  engagement conditions and the existing structure of wage and emoluments paid to
  gramin sevaks and recommend necessary changes.
• It will review the existing facilities for 2.6 lakh
  employees spread across the country, the service discharge benefit scheme and
  other social security benefits.

• Sterlite Grid on 2 January 2016 set a new benchmark by
  commissioning the Transmission Project to Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP)
  ahead of schedule under the Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) incentive
  regime.
• RAPP is the first power transmission line to be been
  commissioned ahead of schedule since the implementation of TBCB scheme.
• As per Sterlite Grid, the construction work on transmission
  project to RAPP, which was awarded to the company in 2013, was completed within
  12 months from the start of construction.

• India-Nepal Bus Service on 4 January 2016 resumed after a
  gap of 27 years. The service was suspended 27 years ago in the wake of the
  Indo-Nepal Trade and Transit Treaty.
• The service runs between Kanchanpur in Nepal, which is close
  to Banbasa border in Champavat district of Uttarakhand, and Anand Vihar ISBT in
  Delhi.
• To travel in these buses, no special documents are required
  as both the countries share open border.
• The service is expected to benefit people living along the
  border areas as they have family as well as trade relations with each other.

• The term River Information System (RIS) was in news in the
  first week of January 2016 as the Union Ministry of Shipping is set to launch
  the system for Inland Waterways in the country.
• The system is expected to improve navigation in Indland
  Waterways as the government is set to expand the network across the country
  through the National Waterways Bill, 2015.
• The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 21 December 2015 and
  is pending with the Rajya Sabha.

• State election commissioner (SEC) Ashok Kumar Chauhan on 4
  January 2016 announced that toilets will be mandatory requirement for
  eligibility to contest panchayat elections.
• This declaration means that no one can contest the Bihar
  panchayat elections scheduled in 2016 without having a toilet at their home.
• SEC said that candidates have to give an undertaking
  regarding status of toilet by 1 January 2016 in their home. He also said to
  ensure free and fair polling the elections will be held in 10 phases. The
  notification of the elections and dates will be issued on 15 February 2016.
• Election will be held for the posts of 8397 Mukhiyas
  (Village head), 8397 Kutcheri Sarpanchs besides Panchayat Samiti members,
  Kutchehri panchs, and Zila Parishad members.

• Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has announced it has
  commissioned the first 600 MW coal-based thermal power plant in Telangana, a
  state where it has an order book of 6,000 mw.
• Significantly, the unit commissioned at Kakatiya Thermal
  Power Project in Warangal, is the highest rating unit in the State. One
  coal-based unit of 500 MW rating, commissioned by BHEL in 2010, is already
  operational at Kakatiya thermal plant.
• BHEL–built 600 MW rating sets comprise a 4-cylinder turbine
  designed in-house. So far, the company has contracted 21 sets of 600 MW each,
  of which 14 have been commissioned. BHEL has a major contribution in the
  Telangana power sector with 84 per cent of the coal-based power stations
  amounting to 4,580 MW having been commissioned by BHEL.
• Reposing confidence in BHEL’s ability to set up power
  plants, TS Genco has placed orders with it for executing around 6,000 MW of
  thermal power projects in the State on equipment procurement construction (EPC)
  basis.

• Former Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur was on 4
  January 2016 sworn in as the eight Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of
  India by President Pranab Mukherjee.
• Mathur succeeded Vijai Sharma, who completed his tenure on 1
  December 2015.
• As the CIC, the former Defence Secretary will have tenure of
  about three years, until he attains the age of 65 years.

• Mary Barra was on 4 January 2016 elected as Chairman of
  General Motors (GM) Board of Directors with immediate effect. Barra succeeds
  Theodore Solso, who will continue serving as the  Lead Independent Director of the Board.
• Earlier, Barra was serving as Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
  of GM since January 2014.

• Industry body the Internet and Mobile Association of India
  (IAMAI) has named Kunal Shah, co-founder and chief executive officer of
  FreeCharge as the new chairman of the association. Shah would replace current
  chairman Nishant Rao, who recently moved to Chennai from Gurgaon to join a
  startup called Freshdesk as its global Chief Operating Officer. Rao was earlier
  country head of LinkedIn.
• Shah co-founded FreeCharge in August 2010. In April last
  year the company was acquired by Snapdeal. Post acquisition, FreeCharge
  continues to be an independent entity under Snapdeal. Vinodh Bhat, president
  and chief strategy officer at online music streaming service provider Saavn
  remains the vice chairman of the association.
• IAMAI also announced Vishwas Patel, who is chief executive
  officer of CCAvenue as the new treasurer. CCAvenue provides payment gateway
  services to several thousand of online merchants across the world.

• Professional networking platform LinkedIn today appointed
  Akshay Kothari as Country Manager for India, with immediate effect.
• India has one of the largest userbase for LinkedIn, which
  has more than 400 million members globally.
• Kothari replaces Nishant Rao, who quit the company in
  October last year to join cloud-based customer support software firm Freshdesk as
  its Chief Operating Officer.
• Kothari will report to Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn’s Managing
  Director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, and join the company’s APAC senior
  management team, LinkedIn said in a statement.
• He joined LinkedIn in 2013 when Pulse, the company he
  co-founded and was CEO for almost 3 years, was acquired by LinkedIn.
• Since then, based out of LinkedIn’s global headquarters in
  Mountain View, California, he has led several major product and content
  initiatives, including Pulse.

• Vishal Suri has been appointed as managing director of Kuoni
  India. He replaces Rajeev Wagle who resigned from the post.
• The changes in top management at Kuoni India take place a
  month after Thomas Cook acquired the company. Suri held the position of CEO –
  Tour Operating in Kuoni India. Prior to joining Kuoni he was chief operating
  officer (leisure travel) in Thomas Cook.
• Thomas Cook concluded the acquisition of Swiss tour major
  Kuoni’s business in India last month. The acquisition of Kuoni Hong Kong, which
  was a part of the same Rs 535 crore transaction, had been completed a month
  earlier.

• Mumbai teenager Pranav Dhanawade today scripted history by
  becoming the first batsman ever to notch up a four-figure score by smashing an
  unbeaten knock of 1009 in an inter-school tournament here.
• The 15-year-old, playing for KC Gandhi Higher Secondary
  School, reached the gigantic score in just 323 deliveries with a jaw-dropping
  strike rate of 312.38 in the game against Arya Gurukul in the Bhandari Cup
  inter—school tournament organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
• In the course of his awe—inspiring innings, which lasted 395
  minutes, Dhanawade smashed a whopping 129 fours and 59 sixes.
• The epic knock ended when his school declared at 1,465,
  which is also a world record. His school went past Victoria’s 1,107 against New
  South Wales made way back in 1926.
• Pranav now holds the record for the highest individual score
  in any form of cricket, bettering AEJ Collins’ 628 not out for Clark’s House
  against North Town in 1899 in the UK.

• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on 3 January 2015 won
  the 26th Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey tournament.
• To win the title, the ONGC defeated Indian Railways 3-0 on
  penalties in the final match held at the Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi.
• At the end of the stipulated time both the teams stood at 2
  points each. In the shootout, Sumit Kumar, Gurjant Singh and Vikramjit Singh
  scored for ONGC while the Railways players could not score a single goal.

• British writer Kate Atkinson on 4 January 2016 won the
  novel-of-the-year prize at Britain’s Costa Book Awards 2015 for the second time
  in three years. She fetched the award for A God in Ruins, a story of war and
  its aftermath.
• With this, Atkinson became the first author to receive the
  Costa novel prize three times: for A God in Ruins in 2016, Life After Life in
  2013 and Behind the Scenes at the Museum in 1995.

• The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
  (IUPAC) on 30 December 2015 announced discovery and assignment of elements with
  atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118.
• The decision was taken by the IUPAC as the four elements met
  the discovery of elements of the IUPAP/IUPAC Transfermium Working Group (TWG)
  1991 Discovery Criteria.
• Naming of elements: After officially recognizing the
  elements, the IUPAC also invited suggestions related to permanent names and
  symbols from the scientists who discovered them.
• New elements can be named after a mythological concept, a
  mineral, a place or country, a property or a scientist.

• Temporary working name and symbol are ununtrium and Uut
  respectively.
• It was discovered by the scientists belonging to RIKEN
  research laboratory in Japan.

• 115: ununpentium, Uup are the temporary working name and
  symbol respectively.
• 117: ununseptium, Uus are the temporary working name and
  symbol respectively.
• In discovering the element 117 Indian scientist Susanta
  Lahiri played an important role.
• They were discovered by scientists belonging to Russia and
  the USA in collaboration

• It has ununoctium and Uuo as the temporary working name and
  symbol respectively.
• It was jointly discovered by scientists belonging to the
  Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
  California, USA.

• Ex-Chief Justice of India Sarosh Homi Kapadia passed away on
  4 January 2016 in Mumbai. He was 68.
• Kapadia is survived by wife and a son and a daughter.
• On 12 May 2010, he was sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of
  India by the President Pratibha Patil.
• During his tenure as CJI, he served as the Chairman of the
  General Council of the Gujarat National Law University and the Visitor of the
  National Law School of India University.

• Former Wigan Athletic defender Steve Gohouri passed away.
  His body was recovered from the River Rhine in the western city of Krefeld on 2
  January 2015. He was 34.
• Gohouri went missing on 12 December 2015 after attending the
  party of his German club TSV Steinbach. He was meant to visit his family in
  Paris but never arrived.

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