Daily Current Affairs- 6th January 2016, Wednesday

1. Former Chief Justice of India, Sarosh Homi Kapadia passes away

1. Sarosh Homi Kapadia, the former Chief Justice of India, passed away due to cardiac arrest at the age of 68. Some of his notable judgements
   include, quashing of appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner PJ
   Thomas in 2011 and a dissenting judgement in Lalu Prasad Yadav’s bail
   cancellation case.
2. He was also the chairman of the
   General Council of the Gujarat National Law University and a visitor of
   the National Law School of India University during his tenure as the Chief
   Justice of India.
3. Justice Kapadia completed his
   graduation from the Government Law College in Mumbai, which is the oldest
   law institute in Asia.
4. Prior to becoming the Chief
   Justice of India, he was a judge of the Bombay High Court, Chief justice
   of the Uttarakhand High Court and a judge of the Supreme Court.

2.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra appointed as Chairman

1. General Motors CEO Mary Barra
   has been appointed as its Chairman, with immediate effect.
2. Barra will replace Tim Solso, who
   will continue to serve as the board’s lead independent director.
3. Barra was appointed the CEO of
   GM Motors in January 2014 and became the first female CEO of any major
   automaker.
4. Before
   taking charge as CEO, Barra served as executive Vice-President, Global
   Product Development, Purchasing & Supply Chain since August 2013, and
   as senior Vice-President, Global Product Development since February 2011.

3.
Nokia acquires Alcatel-Lucent in a €15.6 billion deal

1. Nokia has acquired Alcatel-Lucent in a €15.6 billion deal to become one
   of the largest broadband equipment providers in the world.
2. Nokia will hold a 79% stake in Alcatel-Lucent. This is likely to
   make Nokia a major player in the tech world once again, after it sold its
   mobile handset business to Microsoft in 2013.
3. Alcatel-Lucent has expertise in
   routers and broadband network materials that will add to Nokia’s wireless
   network experience.
4. The acquisition of the wireless business of Alcatel-Lucent will
   also strengthen Nokia’s business in North America significantly.

4.
Ratan Tata backs start-up intelligence platform Tracxn

1. Ratan Tata has invested an
   undisclosed amount in the intelligence platform start-up, Tracxn.
2. The Bengaluru-based start-up
   joins other companies such as Urban Ladder, Urbanclap, PayTm and Ola Cabs
   that Tata has invested in.
3. Tata has been associated with
   venture capital firms like Kalaari Capital, IDG Ventures India and Jungle
   Ventures as an advisor.
4. Tracxn, founded by former
   investors Neha Singh and Abhishek Goyal, has also received funding from
   Flipkart co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, Delhivery CEO Sahil Barua
   and SAIF Partners.
5. Tracxn tracks analysis in over
   100 sectors, including mobile, digital marketing, health and education.
   Its clients include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, SoftBank, Google
   Capital, VMWare, GE and LG.

5. Filippo Grandi assumes office as UNHCR Chief

1. Filippo Grandi has been
   appointed as the Chief of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
2. UNHCR is an
   agency to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or
   the UN itself and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
3. Grandi replaces Antonio
   Guterres, who retired on 31 December 2015 after heading the agency for 10
   years.
4. Grandi is an Italian diplomat,
   who started his career in UNHCR in 1988. He has worked in countries like
   Kenya, Ghana, Liberia, the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa, Yemen and
   Afghanistan.
5. He holds a bachelor’s degree in
   philosophy from the State Universities of Venice and Milan, and from the
   Gregorian University in Rome and has served the UNHCR in different
   capacities. Formerly, Grandi was the head of the UN Relief and Works
   Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

6.
Jharkhand government and JBVNL sign MoU under UDAY Scheme

1. The Government of India, the
   State of Jharkhand and the JBVNL (Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited)
   signed an MOU under the Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana.
2. This makes Jharkhand the first
   state sign an MoU under the UDAY scheme that will help provide electricity
   to 2200 villages in the state.
3. The signing of the MOU would
   have significant benefits for the JBVNL, with the state of Jharkhand
   taking over 100% liabilities of outstanding dues with CPSUs and 75% of the
   outstanding debts of JBVNL as existing on 30th September 2015.
4. Sustainability of operational
   and financial performance is at the core of the UDAY scheme. Signing of
   this MoU under UDAY will accelerate the process of reforms across the
   entire power sector and will ensure that power is accessible, affordable
   and available for all.

7.
2014-15 BCCI Awards conferred in Mumbai

1. The ninth edition of the BCCI
   Awards were conferred at a ceremony held in Mumbai.
2. The awards were presented by
   BCCI President Shashank Manohar, recognising various international and
   Indian players for their performance in the year 2014-15.
3. Former wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani
   was honoured with the prestigious Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement
   Award for his contribution to Indian cricket, while Indian Test captain
   Virat Kohli was conferred with the Polly Umrigar Trophy for Cricketer of
   the Year.
4. The list of the awardees are –

i)
Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award –  Syed
Kirmani

ii)
Polly Umrigar Trophy for International Cricketer-of-the-Year-  Virat
Kohli

iii)
Lala Amarnath Award for Best All-Rounder in Ranji Trophy –  Jalaj
Saxena

iv)
Lala Amarnath Award for Best all-Rounder in Domestic Limited-Over Competitions
Deepak Hooda

v)
Madhavrao Scindia Awards for Highest Scorer in Ranji Trophy –  Robin
Uthappa

vi)
Madhavrao Scindia Awards for Highest Wicket-Taker in Ranji Trophy – R.
Vinay Kumar and Shardul Thakur

vi)
MA Chidambaram Trophy for Best under-23 Cricketer –  Almas
Shaukat

vii)
MA Chidambaram Trophy for Best under-19 Cricketer-  Anmolpreet
Singh

viii)
MA Chidambaram Trophy for Best under-16 Cricketer –   Shubman
Gill

ix)
MA Chidambaram Trophy for Best Woman Cricketer-Senior –  Mithali
Raj

x) MA
Chidambaram Trophy for Best Woman Cricketer-Junior
Devika
Vaidya

xi)
Best Umpire in Domestic Cricket –  O.
Nandan

8.
Hitachi Solutions India acquires Ignify

1. Hitachi Solutions India, a subsidiary
   of the Japanese giant Hitachi, has acquired Ignify for an undisclosed
   amount.
2. IT solutions provider Ignify has
   offices in the US, India, the Philippines, Japan, Thailand and Singapore.
3. This acquisition will help
   Hitachi expand its presence in Asia Pacific and also add 450 technical and
   delivery resources.
4. Ignify will now become a part of
   Hitachi Solutions America and will be operating under the Business
   Solutions Group.

9. Markus
Sternberg appointed as Vice-President of GM India

1. General Motors India has
   appointed Markus Sternberg as the Vice-President for after-sales services.
2. Sternberg has more than 26 years
   of work experience in the automotive and engineering industries domain.
3. Sternberg moves to India from
   Germany, where he was the Director, Customer Services at Opel AG and
   Executive Director, Customer Experience (Europe) at Vauxhall Motors.

10.
Malini Parthasarathy resigns as the Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu

1. Malini Parthasarathy has
   resigned from the post of Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, even before the
   completion of one year.
2. Parthasarathy was the first
   woman editor of The Hindu.
3. She was appointed by the Board
   of Kasturi and Sons Ltd. on January 20, 2015 and took charge on February
   1.
4. According to reports, the
   resignation came owing to the difference Parthasarathy had with the
   company board over expenses for the newly-launched Mumbai edition of the
   paper.
5. National Editor Suresh Nambath
   will temporarily be in-charge of day-to-day affairs till a new chief is
   appointed.

11.
North Korea conducts its first hydrogen bomb test

1. North Korea has successfully
   conducted its first hydrogen bomb test.
2. As per the US Geological Survey
   that measured the event, seismologists recorded a magnitude of 5.1 and the
   bomb was tested 19 kilometres east-northeast of Sungjibaegam in North
   Korea.
3. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
   Abe has called the tests a threat to Japan’s security.
4. North Korea is already under
   United Nations Security Council’s sanctions for its missile tests
   conducted in 2006 and then again in 2009 and 2013 at Punggye-ri nuclear
   test site. With this, it faces the prospect of additional sanctions.

12.
World’s largest blue star sapphire discovered in Sri Lanka

1. The world’s largest blue star
   sapphire was recently mined in Sri Lanka.
2. The sapphire weighs about
   1,404.49 carats and is valued at $100 million.
3. The sapphire was found in the
   region of Ratnapura, which is known as the ‘City of Gems’ in southern Sri
   Lanka. It is estimated that the blue sapphire could be sold for $ 175
   million.

13.
World’s first slum museum to come up in Dharavi

1. Dharavi in Mumbai is set to get
   the world’s first slum museum.
2. The first-of-its-kind museum
   will showcase various objects from pottery to textiles, among other
   things, annually manufactured and produced in Dharavi.
3. Dharavi, which is one of Asia’s
   biggest slums, will showcase a small mobile museum starting February 2016
   for a period of two months.
4. Dharavi slums already are a
   tourist attraction and every year guides offer tours of the various
   workshops in Dharavi.

14.
Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ tops US bestseller list for 2015

1. Harper Lee’s second novel, Go
   Set a Watchman, which was published in July 2015, decades after her first
   Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was published in 1960,
   has topped the 2015 US bestseller list.
2. Her second novel features
   several characters from her first book, which was considered a masterpiece
   and became a standard reading in classrooms around the world to understand
   the issue of racial injustice during the Depression era in the US.
3. The second and third bestseller
   included Jeff Kinney’s Diary of Wimpy Kid series, which sold 1.48
   million and British author EL James’ Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey, which
   sold 1.4 million copies in US.

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