Current Affairs January 05-06, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of January 05-06, 2019 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. Saurabh Kumar, a 1982-batch Indian Ordnance Factory Service officer, has taken charge as new Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in Kolkata. An expert in the manufacture of ordnance, Kumar was on deputation to the Ministry of Defense as the director of planning and coordination from 2002 to 2009. During this period, he was involved in drafting the Indian offset policy for defence purchases and the 'Make' procedure in the Defence Procurement Procedure of 2003-04. He was also instrumental in piloting the proposals and obtaining the approval of the government for setting up two new greenfield ordnance factories at Nalanda and Korwa in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh respectively.
2. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) hosted third edition of the National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) in New Delhi on January 4, 2019. The awards aim to recognize and honor outstanding young first-generation entrepreneurs and those who have contributed immensely in building the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Total of 43 awards will be presented this year. These include 39 awards for Young Entrepreneurs in different sectors and four awards for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builders. The winners will receive trophy, certificate and cash prizes ranging from Rs. 5 to 10 lakhs. There are special awards for women, persons with disability, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and entrepreneurs from areas with limited opportunities. The NEA is a platform focused on driving innovation, ushering in a positive change for youth in entrepreneurship across all the industries. The awards will inspire and promote growth of entrepreneurs in India.
3. The World Braille Day (WBD) is observed every year on January 4 to remember the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille - for the people with visual disabilities. Louis Braille was born on 4th January 1809 in the town of Coupvray in northern France. At the age of just 3, he lost his both eyes in an accident. This resulted into the invention of the 6 dots- which is popularly known as braille. The day is also observed to raise awareness on the importance of Braille for approximately 1.3 billion people living with some form of distance or near vision impairment. It is a means of realizing fully the human rights of visually-impaired and partially-sighted people, and bringing written language to the forefront as a critical prerequisite for promoting fundamental freedoms. Around the world, 39 million people are blind, and another 253 million have some sort of vision impairment.
4. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the introduction of a Bill to modify the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs) of Arunachal Pradesh. Now, the bill - Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2018 - will be introduced in the Parliament for certain amendments in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. The bill proposes deletion of the Abor tribe from the state's ST list "as it is the same as Adi" tribe. The bill seeks to include the Mishmi-Kaman (Miju Mishmi), Idu (Mishmi) and Taraon (Digaru Mishmi) tribes in the list. It also proposes inclusion of "Monpa, Memba, Sartang, Sajolong in lieu of the Momba" tribe. The Nocte, Tangsa, Tutsa and Wancho tribes would replace the words "any Naga tribe" in the state's ST list. As there is no tribe called "Khampti", the bill replaces it with "Tai Khamti" on the list.
5. Prof. Jayanta Kumar Ghosh of IIT Roorkee was conferred with ISRS National Geospatial Award for Excellence-2017 (Life Time Achievement Award) at the Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad. He won the award for his contribution towards the development of geospatial science and applications. The award comprised a citation, a medal and Rs 1 lakh. The Indian Society for Remote Sensing (ISRS ) is an organization known in the area of space science, remote sensing and geo-spatial technology.
6. The Indian Panorama Film Festival (IPFF) has started at Siri Fort Auditorium II, New Delhi from 4th January. The 10-day Festival is being organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B). The directors of the opening feature film ‘Olu’ and of the opening non-feature film ‘Kharvas’ viz. Shri Shaji N Karun and Shri Aditya Suhas Jambhale were presented at the inauguration of the fest. All the films selected under the Indian Panorama section in the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2018) will be screened during the Festival. The entry for the Festival is free and seating is on the first-come-first-served basis.
7. Hemant Bhargava, the senior-most MD at LIC, has been appointed acting Chairman of LIC. The move comes after VK Sharma retired from the top job at LIC on 31st December 2018. In order to select new chairman and one MD, selection process will be conducted by Banks Board Bureau (BBB) and 8 officials will be interviewed for both the posts on January 4 in Delhi. One MD post was vacant since Usha Sangwan retired on September 30. The top management of LIC consists of chairman and four MDs.
8. C. H. Lokanath (91), a noted Indian Kannada language veteran stage and cine artist, has passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka on 31st December 2018. He had acted in more than 1000 plays and 650 films. He is affectionately addressed as "Uncle Lokanath" or "Uppinakayi" by the industry people. Some of his noted characters he has played are: Galileo in "Galileo", Rajaram in "Aspota", Dr. Faustus in "Dr. Faustus", Dushtabudhi in "Chandrahasa" and many such plays. His most famous films include "Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu", "Collegu Ranga", "Hosa Neeru” and Mane Mane Kathe. He has even acted in several episodes of Malgudi Days.
9. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) declared six structures to the list of monuments of national importance in 2018. These are – the 125-year-old Old High Court Building in Nagpur (Maharashtra), two Mughal-era monuments in Agra — Haveli of Agha Khan and Hathi Khana, the ancient Neemrana Baori in Rajasthan's Alwar district; the Group of Temples at Ranipur Jharail in Odisha's Bolangir district; and the Vishnu Temple in Kotali, Pithoragarh district, Uttarkhand. According to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958, an “Ancient Monument means any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years”. There were 3,686 centrally protected monuments/sites under the ASI in the country; the number has now increased to 3,693. Uttar Pradesh (745 monuments/sites), Karnataka (506) and Tamil Nadu (413) have the highest number of ASI-maintained sites.
10. On 2 January 2019, President Arif Alvi appointed Justice Asif Saeed Khosa as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). Khosa will succeed Mian Saqib Nisar on 18th January and will remain at seat till December 20, 2019. The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) is the head of the court system of Pakistan (the judicature branch of government) and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is responsible for supervising federal judicial policies, and conducting judicial business in the Supreme Court.
