1.
Union Railway Ministry inaugurated Implementation of E-enabled Track Management
System
i. Union Railway
Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on 11 January 2016 inaugurated implementation
of E-enabled Track Management System (TMS) and Mobile Application of TMS on
Indian Railway at Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.
ii. Indian Railways
brought in these initiatives to bring efficiency and effectiveness in
management practices which involve handling of huge volumes of data statistics
as well as dynamic analysis of various measurement and defects and planning,
deployment of large resources.
iii. Along with these
two initiatives, the minister also inaugurated pilot implementation of Track
Inventory Management System on Northern Railway to track materials inventory,
construction and track machines organization in entire 225 units of Northern
Railway.
iv. It is an important
milestone in promoting e-working in civil engineering department of Indian
Railways. It is implemented on all the 68 divisions of Indian Railways. With
the implementation of this system, various activities of Track Inspection,
Monitoring and Maintenance came on IT platform. It is the first of its kind
Organization Wide Asset Management IT Application.
v. It is designed for
decentralization of data capturing and speedy information dissemination along
with centralized data keeping and analysis. It will eliminate more than 100000
manual record keeping registers and make the area of working almost paperless.
It provides alerts in the form of Short Message Services (SMS) and E-mails to
all concerned officials right from Junior Engineer in field upto the Railway
Board.
vi. Database and
application servers are established in CRIS Data Center at Delhi. Required
infrastructure like Netbooks/mini laptops along with requisite Internet
connectivity/mobile data cards provided to all Junior and Senior Engineers.
2.
ADB to fund $840-m corridor between Vizag, Chennai
i. The Asian Development
Bank will extend a $625 million loan to the proposed $840 million
Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, according to Teresa Kho, Country
Director – India, ADB. She said the industrial corridor, meant to boost
manufacturing activity and help economic growth of the hinterland, will have
four nodes: Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Gannavaram-Kankipadu, and
Yerpedu-Srikalahasti.
ii. The building blocks
of the corridor would be node-centred development and trade and transport. The
VCIC, she said, was anchored on nearly 800 km of National Highway 16, which was
highly congested. Arterial roads would have to be developed. The VCIC would be
part of the proposed East Coast Economic Corridor, from Kolkata in West Bengal
to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, Kho said, addressing a plenary session, ‘Sunrise
Andhra Pradesh: turning aspirations into reality’, at the CII Partnership
Summit now underway here.
iii. M Venkaiah Naidu,
Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister, said the Housing and
Urban Development Corporation would help build Andhra Pradesh’s capital at
Amaravati with an assistance of Rs. 7,500 crore. Naidu said a metro rail was under
consideration for Visakhapatnam, while tenders would be invited for one in
Vijayawada.
iv. He and Union
Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha emphasised that the Centre would
provide assistance to Andhra Pradesh. They pointed out that like Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, the State had an able and decisive leader in Chief Minister
Chandrababu Naidu. Thanks to this, Andhra Pradesh would be at the forefront of
India’s economic growth, he said.
v. Outlining his vision
for Andhra Pradesh’s development, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said this
time around his strategy would be to go in for inclusive growth.
3.
Constro 2016 to focus on 'Smart City' concept
i. The 2016 edition of
the Constro exhibition will be held in Pune from January 14-17 and will focus
on the Smart City concept. Organised by the Pune Construction Engineering
Research Foundation (PCERF), this is the 14th edition of the bi-annual event
which is one of the biggest international fairs on construction machinery,
materials, methods and projects.
ii. Shrikant Nivasarkar,
President, PCERF, said, “In view of Government’s mission of creating 100 smart
cities, ‘Constro 2016’ will focus on two themes: 'Emerging Technologies for
Smart City’ and ‘Skill Development'.”
iii. The exhibition will
provide an insight of the current state of the modern city and the measures
that need to be taken to create a smart city. It will consist of six pavilions,
and 250 stalls with a special focus on featuring the tools and materials
connected with skill development.
iv. The other highlights
include a seminar series and a display and demonstration of wall & floor
tiling and bricklaying by Parshuram Naik, a bronze medallist who won the
Bricklaying Medallion of Excellence in Brazil.
4.
Telangana became first State to make gender education compulsory at graduate
level
i. Telangana became the
first State in India to introduce compulsory gender education at the graduate
level. In this regard, the state in second week of January 2016 introduced a
bilingual textbook titled, Towards a World of Equals. The book was introduced
on a pilot basis in engineering colleges affiliated to the Jawaharlal Nehru
Technological University (JNTU-Hyderabad).
ii. The book discusses
gender in its composite form without limiting itself to crime against women.
The book attempts to cover information on unacknowledged women writers of
Telangana to problems of sex selection and women’s work in politics and
economics.
iii. It also
touches upon complex subjects like female-centric history and male-female
relationships. The book is structured in simple language and form to suit
under-graduates. The book discusses different strands of women’s movements
across the world, introducing students to political movements of Afro-American,
Caribbean, African, Dalit and minority women.
iv. The book is coupled
with a collection of visual teaching tools which include documentary films. The
book is being taught over 14 weeks in a semester at the rate of two classes per
week.
5.
Ashish Saraf appointed as Airbus Group’s vice president
i. Airbus Group on 11
January 2016 announced the appointment of Ashish Saraf as Vice-President -
Industry Development, Strategic Partnerships and Offsets.
ii. Saraf will look over
the Group's existing Make in India initiatives and conceive new ones for all
the businesses of Airbus Group India with the aim to increase their industrial
footprint in the country. The move comes close on the heels of Airbus Group
uniting its Divisions in India under a single company.
iii. Ashish Saraf holds
an extensive experience in offsets, industrial relations, greenfield start-up
development and strategic partnerships. Prior to joining Airbus Group, he was
the India head of the Tata Sikorsky joint venture since 2010. He led Sikorsky's
industrialisation and strategic partnerships in India.
iv. He started his
career with Dassault Systems and Deloitte Consulting. He is an alumnus of the
Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune and the National
Institute of Technology (NIT), Nagpur.
6.
RINL inked MoU with Andhra Pradesh Government for investment of 38500 crore
rupees
i. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam
Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, on 11
January 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh
government.
ii. The MoU envisages
investment of around 38500 crore rupees to take up various projects at
Visakhapatnam. The deal was signed during the 22nd CII Partnership Summit &
1st Sunrise AP Investment Meet, which is being held in Visakhapatnam.
iii. The investments by
RINL will include expansion capacity of Vizag Steel to 7.3 million tonnes per
annum (MTPA) with a modernisation that may cost approximately 3600 crore
rupees. At an investment of 3400 crore rupees, construction of Coke Oven
Battery and other projects are also expected to be modernised.
iv. The overall
investment figure of 38500 crore rupees also includes further total expansion
capacity of RINL to around 11.5 MTPA to 12 MTPA. The company will also spend
6100 crore rupees on a slurry pipeline and pellet plant in a joint venture with
NMDC & others.
v. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam
Limited, also known as Vizag Steel, is an Indian government-owned steel
producer. The company is based in Visakhapatnam. It has been awarded the
Navaratna status, with accompanying autonomy of operations, due to its strong
financial performance.
vi. The plans for a
steel plant in Visakhapatnam were announced in 1971 by then Prime Minister of
India, Indira Gandhi. Originally, intended as a plant of the state-owned Steel
Authority of India Limited, RINL was established as a separate company in 1982.
7.
Illumina, Bill Gates & Jeff Bezos launched startup GRAIL to develop
blood-based cancer tests
i. Illumina, the world’s
largest DNA sequencing company, on 10 January 2015 announced the launch of the
startup named GRAIL to develop blood-based cancer tests. The company was
launched in association with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff
Bezo’s venture fund Bezos Expeditions and Arch Venture Partners.
ii. The company will
develop blood tests that cost 1000 US dollars or less for detecting many types
of cancer before symptoms arise. The test, which is also called as liquid
biopsy, will use high-speed DNA sequencing machines to scour a person’s blood
for fragments of DNA released by cancer cells.
iii. All the partners in
the startup raised around 100 million US dollars among themselves, in which
Illumina will have the majority stake holder. The newly developed tests are
expected to reach the market by 2019. GRAIL will operate from San Diego in
California, the USA.
8.
Binny Bansal appointed as CEO of Flipkart
i. India's biggest
e-commerce company, Flipkart, on 11 January 2016 announced the promotion of
current Chief Operating Officer Binny Bansal to the post of Chief Executive
Officer (CEO). On the other hand, Sachin Bansal, who has been the CEO since
inception, will now take on the newly-created role of Executive Chairman.
ii. The major
restructuring of its top management will see Mukesh Bansal report to Binny.
Mukesh will continue to be chairman of Myntra, which he co-founded, and head
Flipkart's commerce platform. He has also been given additional responsibility
of the overall ads business.
iii. The current ads
business head Ravi Garikipati will report to Mukesh. Binny Bansal is an Indian
Software engineer and Internet entrepreneur. In 2007, he co-founded the
e-commerce platform Flipkart with Sachin Bansal.
iv. Before co-founding
Flipkart, Binny was previously employed with Amazon for 9 months. Prior to
joining Amazon, he was rejected by Google twice. He graduated from the Indian
Institute of Technology Delhi with a degree in Computer Science and
Engineering.
9.
Kullu Folk Dance Finds Place in Guinness Book of World Records
i. The colourful Kullu
folk dance (Nati), which saw participation of 20,000 dancers during Kullu
Dussehra festival on October 26 last year, has entered the Guinness book of
world records. In the Nati, 10,000 men and women attired in traditional Kullu
dress performed at Dhalpur Ground during Kullu Dussehra festival on October 26
last year.
ii. The jamboree of over
20,000 people danced to spread the message of 'Beti Hai Anmol' (Girl child is
precious). The Guinness Book authorities were informed about the show and the
entire programme which lasted about an hour was monitored.
iii. The intimation
regarding recording the event in Guinness Book was received today by Kullu
Deputy Commissioner, Rakesh Kumar, the man behind the show.
iv. Kanwar confirmed the
information and said that it was possible due to initiative and enthusiasm of
the people who participated enthusiastically in the programme, rehearsed for
days and made it successful.
v. Similar folk dance
was performed last year (2014) also in which 8,600 dancers participated and it
was recorded in Limca book of World records.
10.
Balkrishna Garg conferred with 2015 Harikrishna Devsare Baalsahitya Award
i. Veteran hindi poet
Balkrishna Garg was on 8 January 2016 conferred with the 2015 Harikrishna
Devsare Baalsahitya Award in New Delhi. He received the award for his Baa Geet,
which is a collection of poems for children.
ii. The award was
presented by Sahitya Akademi President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari and National
Book Trust (NBT) Chairman Baldeo Bhai Sharma.
iii. It was the second
award to be conferred since its inception in 2014 and consists of a cash prize
of 75000 rupees, a shawl and a citation.
iv. The award was
instituted in the memory of Harikrishna Devsare, a renowned Hindi writer known
for his work in the field of children’s literature, who passed away in 2013.
11.
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi wins Ballon d'Or award for world's best player
for fifth time
i. The Barcelona and
Argentina forward finished ahead of Ronaldo and Brazil forward Neymar as he
scooped the award for the fifth time overall, having previously won it four
years in a row from 2009 to 2012. Messi helped Barcelona to a Spanish league,
domestic cup and Champions League treble plus the Club World Cup and also led
Argentina to the Copa America final, where they lost to Germany.
ii. "It's
incredible, much more than anything I dreamed of as a kid," said Messi as
he received the award. "I want to thank my team-mates, without them none
of this would have been possible." Barcelona's Luis Enrique was voted
coach of the year.
iii. United States World
Cup winner Carli Lloyd, who scored a hat-trick in the final against Japan, was
named women's player of the year. Ronaldo ended last season trophyless with
Real Madrid, although he helped Portugal qualify for Euro 2016.
iv. Neymar won a treble
alongside Messi at Barcelona but had a less happy time with Brazil, receiving a
four-match international ban after he was sent off during the Copa America.
Brazilian footballer Wendell Lira received the Puskas Award for best goal of
the year, for his bicycle kick goal for Goianesia against Atletico-GO in March
2015.
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