1. Indian-origin cancer researcher Harpal Singh Kumar knighted
1. Indian-origin cancer researcher Harpal Singh Kumar received a knighthood
from Queen Elizabeth II for his pathbreaking work on prevention and treatment of cancer. Presently, he is the chief executive of Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
2. A Cambridge and Harvard alumnus, Kumar is a trained chemical engineer, who began
as a healthcare consultant with McKinsey in 1992 and went on to work at senior
positions in healthcare.
3. He has chaired the Independent Cancer Taskforce and authored
the NHS Cancer Strategy ‘Achieving World Class Cancer Outcomes. A Strategy for
England 2015-20’, which was published in July 2015.
4. He also played a vital role to establish the Francis Crick Institute as a global centre of
biomedical research and innovation.
2. Rakhi Haldar, Kavita Devi bag gold at
National Weightlifting Championships
1. Rakhi Haldar and Kavita Devi won gold in the Senior National Weightlifting
Championships held in Patiala.
2. In women’s 69kg, Rakhi lifted 94kg in the snatch and 119kg in clean and jerk to achieve
a total lift of 213kg. Lalchhanhimi and Rajwant Kaur won the silver and bronze medal in this category.
3. In women’s 75kg, Kavita lifted 95kg in snatch and 122kg in clean and
jerk for a total of 217kg. Sushila Panwar and Daljit Kaur claimed the silver and bronze medal in this
category.
3. WHO declares
Guinea Ebola free
1. The World Health Organisation has officially declared the
Republic of Guinea as Ebola free, two years after the outbreak of the epidemic, due to absence of new cases in the last 42
days.
2. The country will observe a 90-day period of
heightened surveillance to identify new cases before they spread to other people.
3. Ebola killed over 2,500 Guineans, and another 9,000 in the neighbouring Liberia and
Sierra Leone.
4. Liberia and Sierra Leone were declared Ebola free in September and November
respectively. However, Liberia has had new cases since WHO’s announcement.
4. Jetha Bharwad is first Vice-Chairman of
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation
1. Jetha Bharwad has been elected as the first Vice-Chairman
of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation since its inception in 1973.
2. Bharwad is a BJP MLA from Sehra constituency and also
the chairman of Panchmahal District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd.
3. GCMMF is considered to be India’s largest food products
marketing organisation with an annual turnover of Rs.21000 crore.
4. Jethabhai Patel is the chairman of GCMMF.
5. Yuvraj Singh invests in Rahul Yadav’s start-up
Intelligent Interfaces
1.
cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s investment firm YouWeCan Ventures made a seed
investment in former Housing.com CEO and co-founder Rahul Yadav’s new start-up
Intelligent Interfaces. The latter aims to improve government efficiency.
2.
This investment comes two weeks after Flipkart co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal
were reported to have invested an undisclosed amount in Yadav’s venture.
3.
Yadav,
who was fired from Housing.com due to objectionable behaviour towards investors
and the media, is aiming to raise $15 million for his company.
6. G D
Bandgaiyan to head National Centre for Good Governance
1. Economist and former IAS officer G D Bandgaiyan has been
appointed as the head of National Centre for Good Governance.
2. The 54-year-old has been appointed for three years, which is extendable by another two
years or till he attains 60 years of age.
3. The NCGG is a think-tank under the DoPT
that helps to execute good governance reforms through research, policy analysis,
advocacy, and capacity-building.
7. SpiceJet launches travel solutions
platform SpiceVacations.com
1. Low-cost airline SpiceJet launched an end-to-end travel solutions platform
SpiceVacations.com to offer customised travel packages to travellers.
2. The platform provides
customers with thousands of travel packages to domestic and international
destinations for pilgrimage, honeymoon or even wildlife tours.
3. It also includes a variety of deals in terms of location,
hotel arrangements, local sight-seeing tours and car rentals, among others.
8. Sony Pictures Networks wins rights for
Masters Champions League
1. Sony Pictures Networks India won exclusive rights to the first edition of the
Masters Champions League, a T20 cricket league, which will commence on January 28,
2016.
2. Sony SIX, the sports entertainment arm of Sony Pictures, will broadcast all 18 matches
of the tournament’s first edition live and exclusive from Dubai and Sharjah. Six teams, each
named after the zodiac signs, will compete in the league.
3. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been roped in as the brand ambassador
of the league.
4. Sony has earlier broadcasted Vivo Indian Premier League,
Karnataka Premier League, Ram Slam T20 Challenge and Caribbean Premier League.
9. Ministry of Women and Child
Development launches e-office
1. The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) launched the e-
office, an initiative to provide efficient services to people by digitising over 12,000 files.
2. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi
launched the ‘e-office’ to increase efficiency, transparency and accountability.
3. It was
officially launched by WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi. Various modules of this e-office are
Knowledge Management System, File Management System, Leave Management
System and Tour Management System.
10. Indian Navy successfully test fires LR-SAM
1. Indian Navy’s indigenous stealth
destroyer, INS Kolkata successfully test-fired the Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM),
an air defence missile.
2. It has
the capability to shoot down incoming aerial threats – aircrafts and missiles –
while they are 70 kms away and with more than 95% reliability.
3. It
includes leading-edge radar called the MF-STAR (multi-function surveillance,
tracking and acquisition radar), which tracks incoming hostile aircraft and
missiles at ranges out to 200 kms.
4. The
LR-SAM has been jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the
Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO). The Israelis, however, call the missile
system the Barak-8.
11. Bjorn Isberg named director of 2016
Hockey India League
1.
Sweden’s Bjorn Isberg will continue as the tournament director of the 4th
edition of Hockey India League (HIL), which will be held across six venues
starting January 10, 2016.
2.
Muthukumar Balakrisnan from Malaysia has been made assistant tournament
director.
3. Andy
Mair from Scotland was named the umpire’s manager for the league.
4. The
tournament will see participation of six teams, namely Jaypee Punjab Warriors,
Delhi Waveriders, Kalinga Lancers, Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Dabang Mumbai and
Ranchi Rays.
12. Cabinet
approves signing of the Raptor MoU
1. The Union Cabinet presided
over by PM Narendra Modi has approved signing of the Raptor MoU for
conservation of migratory birds of prey in Africa and Eurasia.
2. It is a global, legally non-binding
agreement to protect migratory birds of prey.
3. With this, India will become the
54th signatory to the MoU, which will enable the nation to gather knowledge in
efficiently managing the habitats of raptors.
4. The MoU covers 76 species of birds of prey, of which 46
species, including vultures, falcons, eagles, owls, hawks, kites, harriers, etc
are also found in India.
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