Mehbooba Mufti to be first woman CM of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba-Mufti
1.Mehbooba Mufti, the daughter of the late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, will take over the reins as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba, 56, will be the first woman chief minister of the state.
2.As far as PDP is concerned, we are unanimous that Mehbooba shall succeed Mufti Sahib,” senior PDP leader and Lok Sabha member Muzaffar Hussain Baig told reporters.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed dies in New Delhi
1.Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away in New Delhi on Thursday morning.
2.Sayeed was admitted in AIIMS for the past 14 days and was on ventilator support.
3.79-year-old Sayeed, detected with sepsis, decreased blood counts and pneumonia, was admitted to the hospital on December 24, with complains of neck pain and fever.
4.Sayeed took over as chief minister of PDP-BJP coalition on March 1 last year.
First Sikh Lord Mayor Of British City Passes Away
1.The first Sikh mayor of UK’s Leicester city, Culdipp Singh Bhatti has passed away after a long struggle with cancer.
2.The 80-year-old died peacefully at his home on New Year’s Day.
3.Lord Bhatti represented the Rushey Mead ward on Leicester City Council for the Labour Party from 1983 until he stepped down before last year’s election.
4.He rose to become deputy council leader and in 1995 the city’s first Sikh Lord Mayor.
5.He was awarded the Order of Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June 2005, for his services to children in Leicester.
Cabinet approves MoU with Singapore to manage airports
1.The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore for operating and maintaining the terminal building of airports at Jaipur and Ahmedabad. This is the first time the Airports Authority of India will award operation and maintenance contract to any entity for terminal building. The city side and airside of Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports will continue to be managed by the AAI.
2.The MoU envisages collaboration with Singapore in areas such as traffic development, commercial development, master planning and design, training and development, cargo handling and management among others.
Black money amnesty scheme nets Rs 4,164 l GK Updates
1.The Union government has received 644 declarations for black money worth Rs. 4,164 crore under one-time, come-clean compliance window provided to evaders under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
2.In his Independence Day address in August 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said Rs. 6,500 crore had been disclosed under the window.
3.The final CBDT figure falls short of the figure Mr. Modi had cited. The government has also earned Rs 2,428.4 crore by way tax and penalty on the declared sums.64 crore
Ranchi to host semifinal, final of HIL 2016
1.Defending champions Ranchi Rays will play host to the semifinals and final of the fourth edition of the Coal India Hockey India League on February 20 and 21 respectively at the Birsa Mumnda hockey stadium.
2.The Hockey India League (HIL), the flagship event of Hockey India, is scheduled to be played across six venues in the country starting January 18.
3.The six franchises battling for supremacy in the richest field hockey league in the world are Jaypee Punjab
Warriors, Delhi Waveriders, Kalinga Lancers, Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Dabang Mumbai and title holders Ranchi Rays, co-owned by India limited overs cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Jharkhand Government inaugurated land bank web portal jharbhoom.nic.in
1.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.
2.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.
Former Chief Justice of India Sarosh Homi Kapadia died
1.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.
2.Born on 29 September 1947, Kapadia graduated from Government Law College, Mumbai. He was enrolled as an advocate at the Bombay High Court in 1974. In 1991, he was elevated to the Bench as an Additional Judge of the
Bombay High Court, and in 1993, he was appointed as a Permanent Judge.
LinkedIn names Akshay Kothari as India Country Manager
1.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.
2.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.
SC directed Gujarat government to make Gujarat State Cooperative Tribunal functional
i. The Supreme Court (SC) on 4 January 2016 directed the Gujarat government to make functional the Gujarat State Cooperative Tribunal by filling up the vacant posts including that of judicial members, which is the bone of contention.
ii. Further, the court directed that the tribunal cannot be allowed to be non-functional. The ruling was made by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur.
iii. The dispute has its origin in 2011, when the Gujarat Co-operative Bar Association moved the High Court challenging the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 and the Rules made there under with respect to the appointment of members of the State Co-operative Tribunal and members of Board of Nominees.
Nokia completed acquisition of Alca-Lucent for 15.6 billion euro
1.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.
2.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.
Mary Barra elected as Chairman of General Motors Board of Directors
1.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.
2.Earlier, Barra was serving as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GM since January 2014.
Kate Atkinson won 2015 Costa Novel Prize for A God in Ruins
1.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.
2.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.
Union Government to launch River Information System for Inland Waterways
1.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.
2.The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 21 December 2015 and is pending with the Rajya Sabha. It will be utilized for real time monitoring of ships plying on the inland waterways network. It will provide remote communication with vessels and real time meteorological data which will be available online.
Department of Posts formed Kamlesh Chandra Panel on Gramin Dak Sevaks
1.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.
2.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.
PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Indian Science Congress in Mysuru
1.prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the annual Indian Science Congress (ISC) at University of Mysore campus in Karnataka on Sunday. Theme of this edition (103rd) of the ISC is “Science & Technology for Indigenous Development in India”. The Congress will continue till January 7.
2.After inaugural of the Congress by Modi, eminent scientist CNR Rao will deliver the Bharat Ratna M Visvesvaraya Lecture on ‘Doing Science in India’ on the opening day on January 3.