Current Affairs 16th to 23th december 2015

• Justice Narasimha Reddy to Head Committee On OROP

  

         Former Chief Justice of Patna High Court L.Narasimha Reddy (Retd) took charge as thehead of judicial committee that looks into the One Rank One Pension (OROP) schemefor the ex-serviceman.
·The committee has been given a six-month deadline for submission of its recommendations.
· The committee will have its headquarters in Delhi and all administrative support to the committee will be provided by Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence.

• Reva Khetrapal takes oath as Delhi’s Lokayukta

Former Delhi High Court Judge Reva Khetrapal took oath as Lokayukta of Delhi. Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung administered the oath to office at a function held at Raj Niwas. She will become the fourth Lokayukta of Delhi and shall have five years terms as per Delhi Lokayukta and Uplokayukta Act, 1995. Her appointment comes after President Pranab Mukherjee chose her as head of anti-corruption ombudsman on the recommendations of Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung. Background Prior to Presidential approval, Justice Khetrapal was chosen as head of anti-corruption ombudsman unanimously by a four-member panel. The panel included Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Justice of Delhi High Court G Rohini and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta. About Reva Khetrapal Reva Khetrapal had practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court from 1975 to 1991. She was elevated to the HC in 2006 and she retired in September 2014. In 1991, she was appointed sessions judge and additional district.

• Lok Sabha passes Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015

The Lok Sabha passed the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by voice vote for speedy disposal of arbitration cases. The bill seeks to amend Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to make of commercial disputes more user-friendly and cost effective which in turn will lead to expeditious disposal of cases. Key Provisions of Bill Mandatory for arbitrators to settle disputes within 12 months. This period can be extended by 6 months only by a court on sufficient cause. Cut the fees of arbitrators if the court finds that the delay has been caused due to arbitrators.
Rewarding arbitrators with extra fees in case the matter is disposed of within 6 months and the parties agree to pay more. Empower arbitration tribunals to grant all kinds of interim measures that courts provide. Thus giving more teeth to them in order to make tribunals directives enforceable in the same manner as those of courts. Background The amendments to this Bill are based on the Law Commission’s recommendations and suggestions received from stakeholders. Law Commission of India (LCI) in its 246th Report had recommended various amendments in Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 in order to pave way for India to become a hub of International Commercial Arbitration

• R K Mathur appointed as Chief Information Commissioner

Former Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur (62) has been appointed as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). He will have tenure of about three years (2017) till he attain the age of 65. He succeeds Vijai Sharma as he has retired after completion of his tenure. Conventionally, the senior-most Information Commissioner is chosen as CIC. However, Mr Mathur appointment was made away from the convention of appointing senior-most serving Information Commissioner as CIC. Background President Pranab Mukherjee had approved the appointment R K Mathur as CIC after receiving proposal of Prime Minister led selection committee as per The Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The selection committee included Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Chairman), Leader of the Largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha, Mallikaarjun Kharge and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. About R K Mathur R K Mathur is a retired IAS officer of Tripura cadre. He had served as Defence Secretary for two years. He also had served as Secretary Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Defence Production and Supplies.

• India’s biggest wildlife rescue centre commissioned in Nagpur

India’s biggest Wildlife Rescue Centre named asGorewada Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Centre has been commissioned at Gorewada near Nagpur, Maharashtra.

The centre was inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in presence of State ForestMinister Sudhir Mungantiwar.

Key facts

• Gorewada Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Centre is managed by the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM).
• Nagpur based Maharashtra Animal and Fisheries (MAF) University is also part of this centre.
• The centre is spread over 30 hectres and has been created on the lines of Gujarat based Gir National Park which is also one of the biggest and best wildlife centre in the country.
• It has four wards veterinary hospital that would house sick, injured and rescued animals. It has burial ground in the same premises.
• The hospital has state-of-art facilities and is equipped with x-ray machine, operation theatre etc.
• It has cages for herbivorous animals and would house Deer, Sambars and Nilgais. It also has two enclosures to house 10 Tigers at a time and also separate enclosure for Panthers.
• It has enclosure that can house over 100 Birds of mixed species. It also has separated enclosure for housing Pythons including Cobra, Rat Snakes and vipers.
• The centre also has enclosures for housing 10 small mammals like Wolf, wild Dogs, Jackal.

Renowned British Novelist Peter Dickinson passes away

Renowned British Novelist Peter Dickinson passed away in Winchester, Hampshire. He was 88. He was a prolific novelist best known for children’s books and detective stories.

He was the first author to receive twice the prestigious Carnegie medal in 1979 and 19080 awarded annually by librarians for the outstanding new children’s book in Britain.

About Peter Dickinson

• Peter Dickinson was born on 16 December 1927 in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (Now Zambia).
• Writing Career: In his entire career, he had written around 60 books which have been translated into 53 different languages.
• His debut novel for children The Weathermonger was published in 1968 of Changes trilogy and was followed by Heartsease (1969) and The Devil’s Children (1970). His last novel In The Palace Of The Khans was published in 2012.
• Awards and Honours: He was the first and only author till date to win the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger award for two consecutive novels Skin Deep (1968) and A Pride Of (Heroes 1969). His two novels Tulku (1979) and City of Gold (1980) had won the Carnegie Medal.

• West Bengal Government approves proposal for formation of 5 new districts

West Bengal Government has approved proposal for formation of five new districts in the state. With this the total number of districts of Bengal will increase to 25.

Decision in this regard was taken by state Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.

Five new districts are

• Kalimpong district: It would be carved out by bifurcating Darjeeling district in north Bengal.
• Sundarbans district: Currently stretches across parts of the North and South 24 Parganas districts. It shall consists of part of world’s largest mangrove forest.
• Basirhat district: It would be formed out of North 24 Parganas district.
• Burdwan (Industrial) district: It would be established by bifurcating existing Burdwan district.
• Jhargram district: It will be carved out of West Midnapore district.

These new districts will take six months to one year’s time to come into existence after State administration gets formal permission from court and create the basic infrastructure.

• Afghanistan becomes 164th member of WTO

Afghanistan has become 164th member nation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), global trade body after 11 years of negotiations.

WTO has formally approved Afghanistan’s membership proposal at its ongoing 10th ministerial conference in the Nairobi, Kenya.

In this regard, Protocol of Accession (PoA) was signed by WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo and Afghanistan’s First Deputy Chief Executive Mohammad Khan Rahmani.

The final accession to become a full member will come in to effect after PoA is ratified by Afghanistan Parliament till June 2016. It will be the 36th least developed country (LDC) to join the global trade body.

Advantages for Afghanistan

• By joining WTO, landlocked war-shattered Afghanistan hopes to reap the benefits of the WTO membership for its post-conflict reconstruction.
• Trade-led growth will help to create new economic opportunities in world’s poorest economy and create jobs especially for women and in turn help to reduce poverty.
• Post-conflict reconstruction will certainly contribute in a major way to reduce extremism and achieve regional peace and security.

Special Note: During the 10th ministerial conference in the Nairobi, Kenya two new members were added viz. Liberia (163rd) and Afghanistan (164th).

• President Pranab Mukherjee awarded Garwood Award for Outstanding Global Leader

President Pranab Mukherjee has been awarded 2015 Garwood Award for Outstanding Global Leader in Open Innovation from UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business.

The award was presented by Prof. Solomon Darwin, Executive Director Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The award was presented to Pranab Mukherjee for

• Promoting open innovation, organizing first Festival of Innovation at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• Launching the first Innovations Scholars’ ‘In-Residence’ programme to promote the spirit of innovation
• Hosting and gathering global innovators at the first-ever Global Roundtable on the Inclusive Innovations at Rashtrapati Bhavan
• Providing a thriving creative atmosphere for grassroots innovation activities that will have the potential to transform the global landscape, etc.

The University of California, Berkeley is one of the most prestigious educational institutes in the world. It has established Garwood Award to acknowledge individuals who have embraced, supported and encouraged open innovation in a significant and impactful way.

• Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach crowned Miss Universe 2015

Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach has been 64th crowned Miss Universe after beating out contenders from the United States, France, Colombia and Australia.

She was crowned by 2014 Miss Universe winner Paulina Vega of Columbia. Miss USA Olivia Jordan has been named the second runner-up.

About Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach

• Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach is a Filipino-German actress, model, beauty writer and beauty pageant titleholder born to German father and Filipino mother.
• She had started working actress as at age 11 under the screen name Pia Romero. She had appeared in films such as Kung Ako Na Lang Sana (2003), All My Life (2004) and All About Love (2006).
• Presently, she is working as stylist and writer for the lifestyle section of a leading newspaper in the Philippines.

About Miss Universe

It is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the Miss Universe Organization. It was founded in 1952 by the California clothing company Pacific Mills.

Along with the Miss World and Miss Earth contests, Miss Universe is one of the three largest beauty pageants in the world and one of the most anticipated beauty pageants worldwide.

• Chennaiyin FC wins 2015 Indian Super League Football Champions

Chennaiyin FC has won the second edition of Indian Super League (ISL) Football tournament.

In the final played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa, they defeated hosts Goa FC by 3-2 goals score.

Till the 87th minute of final match Goa was leading by 2-1 goals but the self goal from their keeper Laxmikant Kattimani in the 90th minute and Colombian Stiven Mendoza’s strike seconds later helped Chennai win the title.

Awards of 2015 ISL

• Golden boot Award: John Stiven Mendoza Valencia (Chennaiyin FC). Scored tournament’s highest scorer of 13 goals.
• Golden Glove Award: Apoula Edima Edel Bete (Chennaiyin FC).
• Muthoot Group Fair Play Award: Mumbai FC.
• Hero of the League award: John Stiven Mendoza Valencia (Chennaiyin FC).

About Chennaiyin FC

Chennaiyin FC is Chennai (Tamil Nadu) based ISL franchise. The franchise is owned by Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Vita Dani and Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan.

About Indian Super League (ISL)

• The ISL football league was launched in 2013 to promote football in India on the lines of Indian Premier League and Twenty20 formats of Cricket.
• ISL’s mission is to make India a global football power and promote the game so that India qualifies for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
• It is supported by the AIFF (All India Football Federation). It uses a city based franchise system like IPL.
• Atletico de Kolkata had won the inaugural ISL football tournament in 2014.

• Barcelona FC wins FIFA Club World Cup for 3rd time

Barcelona FC has won the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup for a record third time.

In the final match played at International Stadium Yokoham in Japan the winning team defeated River Plate FC by 3-0 goals.

Three goals for Barcelona FC were scored by Lionel Messi (36 minute), Luis Suarez (49 minute) and Neymar (68 minute).

Earlier Barcelona FC had won the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 and 2011  and it is their  fifth trophy of season 2015.

About FIFA Club World Cup

• The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men’s association football competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
• It was established in 2000 and formerly was known as the FIFA Club World Championship.
• The inaugural FIFA Club World Cup was won by Corinthians FC of Brazil.

• Spain’s ruling conservative People’s Party wins 2015 general election

Ruling conservative People’s Party (PP) of Spain led Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy by has won the 2015 general election of the country.

In the general election, PP won the 123 seats by securing in the lower house of the 350-member Parliament and securing 28.7 percent vote share.

However, it has fallen short of absolute majority which can be achieved by any party that wins minimum 176 seats.  Now the People’s Party has to form a coalition government with support of other political parties to govern for another four-year term.

Results of other parties

• The Socialists which won 90 seats with 22 percent vote share.
• Anti-austerity Podemos Party along with its allies won 69 seats with 20.6 percent vote share.
• Liberal Ciudadanos party (LCP) won 40 seats with 13.8 percent vote share.

In the earlier outgoing parliament People’s Party was having 186 seats in the lower house of the Parliament.

• New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum announces retirement

New Zealand cricket team captain Brendon McCullum has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket viz., tests, ODIs and twenty20.

He will retire after playing the two home test series against Australia in February 2016. Presently, he is New Zealand’s captain in all three forms of the international cricket and also batsman and wicket-keeper.

About Brendon McCullum

• Brendon McCullum was born on 27 September 1981 in Otago. He hails from a cricketing family as his father Stuart McCullum had played first-class cricket for Otago and his brother Nathan McCullum had represented New Zealand.
• ODI Career: His debut was in 2001 against Australia at Sydney at age of 20. He had scored 5909 runs from 254 matches. This score include 5 centauries and 31 half-centauries. He had taken 258 catches and did 15 stumpings as a wicketkeeper.
• Test Career: His test debut was in 2003 against South Africa. Overall he has played 99 tests so far and scored 6273 runs.
• He has scored 11 centuries and 31 half-centuries at an average of 38.48. He is only New Zealand batsman to score only triple century. He had taken 194 catches and made 11 stumpings.
• T20 Internationals Career: He is the first and only player to score two Twenty20 International centuries so far and overall 2000 runs.
• Indian Premier League career : He had played for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise till 2014 and was picked up by Rajkot for 2016 and 2017 editions.
• Captaincy : He had successfully led the New Zealand team in its first ever ICC Cricket World cup final in 2015 against Australia.
• Awards and Honours :  He was conferred with the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for year 2014-15.

• 22nd December: National Mathematics Day

Every year 22nd December is observed as National Mathematics Day to celebrate birth anniversary of great Indian autodidact Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.

This year, it will be the 128th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

About Srinivasa Ramanujan

• Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on 22nd December, 1887 in Erode district of Tamil Nadu.
• He was considered as doyen of number theory, infinite series, mathematical analysis, and making formulas and equations without any formal training in pure mathematics.
• Key contributions: As a mathematical genius, he had compiled more than 3900 mathematical results and equations.
• His Ramanujan Prime and Ramanujan theta discoveries had inspired further research on this mathematical subject.
• Along with British Mathematician Hardy, Ramanujan had discovered the smallest number represented as sum of two cubes 1729 which is known as Hardy-Ramanujan number.

Background

In 2011, Union Government had declared 22nd December as ‘National Mathematics Day’ to celebrate Ramanujan’s 125th birth anniversary. Government also had declared year 2012 as National Mathematics Year.

• PM Narendra Modi flags off first prototype electric bus for MPs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off first prototype pollution free electric bus for Members of Parliament.

The bus powered by battery has been manufactured in the lines with Union Government’s flagship Make in India campaign.

Key facts

• The 15-seater eco-friendly bus is coloured in green and blue. It has Go Green message on it.
• It is powered by lithium battery developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and is very economical.
• The bus is a collaborative effort between the Union Transport Ministry and Pune-based technology company KPIT.
• It has been converted from diesel to electric and will be used to ferry Parliamentarians.
• The noiseless bus can save carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions up to 48,000 kg a year. That’s equal to planting 2400 plants annually and will also save diesel worth Rs. 10 lakh a year.