Daily Current Affairs : 3rd & 4th January 2016 GK / GK

Jan 6, 2016

111

India test fired indigenously developed MBRL Pinaka II at Pokhran successfully.

Amament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in the last week of December 2015 successfully test-fired Pinaka II multi barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) System.
Three-day long user assisted trials were conducted at Pokhran in Rajasthan.
Range : Range of Pinaka II is 20 km more than the Pinaka I version, which has a 40 km range and has already been inducted into the forces.

Paytm acquired Shifu for $8mn to enrich customer experience.

It will enable the digital payments company to offer more personalised user experience.
Shifu, a context-aware personal assistant application, mines the smartphone usage patterns of users and makes personalised and highly relevant recommendations to them.

Lodha committee suggested drastic reforms for BCCI, IPL CEO given clean chit.

Lodha committee was appointed by Supreme Court.
The committee today recommended sweeping reforms for the controversy-ridden BCCI, suggesting a bar on ministers from occupying positions, putting a cap on the age and tenure of the office-bearers and legalising betting.
Committee also suggested one unit should represent one state, while taking away the voting rights of institutional and city-based units.
The committee also suggested the restructuring of the BCCI’s administrative set-up, proposing the position of a CEO accountable to a nine-member apex council.

T K Kurien promoted as Vice Chairman ; COO becomes CEO

Major changes :

Chief executive officer (CEO) T K Kurien elevated as the executive vice-chairman.
Chief operating officer Abidali Neemuchwala as the new CEO and member of the board.
Both the Changes will be effective from Feb 1, 2016.
Kurien who took over the role of CEO in February, 2011 will hold the executive vice chairman position until March 31, 2017.

New Year Gift from LIC; offers longer cover under ‘Jeevan Labh’.

LIC is offering a ‘New Year gift’ to the public in the form of a limited-premium, non-linked and with-profit endowment assurance plan ‘Jeevan Labh’ from Monday.
Note : Premium is payable for a limited period while risk is covered for the whole policy term.
The plan is available from ages 8 to 59 years with a choice of policy term of 16, 21 and 25 years and premium-paying terms of 10,15 and 16 years respectively.
The maximum age at maturity is 75 years, said Shaji M Shankar, Senior Divisional Manager, LIC, Thiruvananthapuram Division.

NABARD , NRSC signs MoU for web based monitoring of Indo German

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on 1 January 2016 signed MoU with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for web-based monitoring of Indo-German Watershed Development projects.
The web-based monitoring of Indo-German Watershed Development projects will happen in three states- Gujarat, Rajasthan and Telangana.
Under the MoU, NRSC will create a separate page for NABARD on Bhuvan web-portal.

Mountaineer Arunima Sinha scales Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.

Arunima Sinha, the amputee mountaineer set a record by climbing the Mount Everest on 25 December 2015, conquered Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.
Arunima started her mission on the morning of 12 December 2015 and hoisted the Indian tricolour on 25 December 2015.
With this, Arunima has successfully completed the 5th summit of the Mission 7 Summits and also became the first female amputee to climb 5 Mountains of the World.

Atul Sobti taken charge as CMD of state owned power equipment maker BHEL for 5 yrs.

Union Govt approved his appointement as CMD of BHEL in Sept 2015.
Has has also headed two crucial portfolios of Power and Finance prior to his appointment.
He also held Additional Charge of the post of Director (Engineering, Research and Development).

India wins 2015 SAFF Championships.

India on 3 January 2016 won of the South Asian Football Federation Cup (SAFF) championships.
India defeated defending champions Afghanistam 2-1 in the title clash played at Trivandrum International Stadium of Kerala.