Current Affairs 4th jan 2016

• India won 2015 SAFF football championships

India has won the 2015 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship for record seventh time.

In the final match played at Thiruvanantapuram (Kerala), India defeated defending champion Afghanistan by 2-1 goal score. Jeje Lalpekhlua (72nd minute) and Sunil Chhetri (101th) had scored goals for India. For Afghanistan single goal was scored by Zubayr Amiri at 70th minute.

• Indian Team Captain: Sunil Chhetri.
• Afghanistan Team Captain: Faysal Shayesteh.

Earlier India had won the SAFF Football Championship in year 1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009 and 2011.

About SAFF Football Championship

• The SAFF Championship also called South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup is the biennial football competition of the men’s national football teams of 8 countries in South Asia region.
• The championship was established in 1993 and is governed by the South Asian Football Federation.
• 8 countries participating countries are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan (joined in 2005).

• Amputee mountaineer Arunima Sinha scales Mount Aconcagua in Argentina

India’s star amputee mountaineer Arunima Sinha has successfully scaled Mount Aconcagua in Argentina as part of her Mission 7 Summits.

It was her 5th successful summit of the Mission 7 Summits that she had climbed on December 25, 2016 after starting on December 12, 2015.

With this, she created World record by becoming First Female amputee to climb 5 Mountains of the World.

Mt. Aconcagua (6,960.8 metres) is the highest mountain outside Asia and is also known as second Everest. By extension it is the highest point in both Western Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere.

About Arunima Sinha

• In 2013, she made the world record by becoming first female amputee mountaineer to climb the Mount Everest (8,848 meters).
• Arunima had lost her left leg in a train accident in 2011 after she was pushed out of a running train by robbers.
• Prior to this accident she was a national-level volleyball player but this accident cost her sporting career.
• She was awarded the Padmashree for her achievement. Her autobiography is Born Again on the Mountain.

• President Pranab Mukherjee gives assent to 5 key bills

Presdent Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to five key bills as per the provisions of Article 111 of the Constitution of India.

These key five legislations were passed by both the houses of Parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the recently concluded Winter session of Parliament.

These five bills are

• Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015:Facilitates an arbitrator will have to settle a case within 18 months. After the completion of 1 year, certain restrictions will be put in place to ensure that the arbitration case does not linger on.
• Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015: It aims to prohibit the commission of offences against members of the SCs and STs and adds provisions for establishing special courts for the trial cases of such offences and the rehabilitation of victims. 
• The Atomic Energy (Amendment) Act, 2015: It will allow state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to have joint venture (JV) collaboration with other public sector undertakings in the nuclear field.
• The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2015: Enhances monthly bonus calculation ceiling to Rs. 7,000 per month from the existing Rs. 3,500. It also enhances the eligibility limit for payment of bonus from existing Rs. 10,000 per month to Rs. 21,000 per month. 
• Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015: This law enables setting up commercial benches in select high courts.

• NABARD inks MoU with NRSC for monitoring Watershed Projects

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for web-based monitoring of watershed projects.

Under this MoU

• Web-based monitoring will be undertaken for India-German Watershed Development (IGWDP) projects in three states viz. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Telangana.
• NRSC will create a separate page for NABARD on Bhuvan web-portal and also develop customised software tool and mobile application for real time monitoring projects.
• It will also seek to add feature in this page for online comparison and visualisation with respect to activities implemented in the projects sanctioned by NABARD.

NABARD will use this web-based monitoring technology to address problems of monitoring watershed projects in remote areas, apart from digitisation of the impact of watershed interventions for long term usage.

It should be noted that NABARD only assists the watershed projects of Union Ministry of Rural Development by providing funds under Watershed Development Fund (WDF).