10th January 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

sponsored links

International Affairs

• For the first time in the history of India, a strong contingent of French Army will march down the Rajpath on Republic Day along with Indian troops.
• Important Points to Note :
• They will march in the presence of French President Francois Hollande who is the chief guest for this year’s Republic Day celebrations. 
• French Army is already in India for a joint military exercise, ‘Shakti 2016′.
• This will be the fifth time that a French leader will be a Chief Guest at India's Republic Day celebrations, the maximum number from any country so far.
• Earlier leaders from that country had presided in 1976, 1980, 1998 and 2008.
• Bhutan has presided four times so far in 1954, 1984, 2005 and 2013.

National Affairs

• Today (10th January) is World Hindi Day.
• The day is commemorated every year with the objective to promote use of Hindi language abroad.
• The First World Hindi Conference was organized in Nagpur, India on January 10, 2006, since then every year 10th January is being observed as the World Hindi Day.
• The Indian Army today asked civilians to avoid wearing "Army-pattern" dresses and shopkeepers to refrain from selling combat clothes, as it issued fresh guidelines to the public to prevent terror attacks.
• The guidelines, to be followed across the country, come nearly a week after six terrorists infiltrated through the border and launched attack at the Air Force station in Pathankot, claiming the lives of seven security personnel.
• Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative, four techies from Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district have turned three remote villages into first free Wi-Fi hamlets in the country without government funding.
• These techies Shakeel Anjum, Tushar Barthare, Bhanu Yadav and Abhishek have launched the service at Shivnathpura village on October 4 and later extended the facility to Bawadikheda Jagir, Devria on 1st January 2016.
• Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today unveiled “Laman Diva” as the logo of the
  
  first Make in India Week.
• Important Points to Note : 
• The Laman Diva or Nanda Deep, has great relevance in our culture as a symbol of auspicious beginning, peace, prosperity, growth.
• This is also the logo of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. The only added elements are the cogs and parts of the Make in India Lion logo to signify the manufacturing potential of Maharashtra.
• First Make in India week is  scheduled to be held in Mumbai during 13th February 2016 to  18th February 2016.
• This will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Appointments

• Urjit Patel, the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in-charge of the monetary policy department, has been re-appointed for a term of three years. 
• He will complete his three-year term on January 10th, could become the longest serving deputy governor in recent times if he serves the full three-year term. 
• Most of recent deputy governors served a maximum of five years. 
• Important Points to Note :
• RBI has four Deputy Governors, two are from outside, a commercial banker and an economist while two others are promoted from within its ranks. 
• The other three Deputy Governors of RBI are: H.R. Khan, S.S. Mundra and R. Gandhi.
• Economist Paul Kaba Thieba was named as the Prime Minister of West African Country Burkina Faso by the President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
• The announcement was made a week after the president was sworn in as the country's first new leader in almost three decades following his election in November 2015.

Business & Economy

• Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (HZL) is going to invest Rs.8,000 crore in the next 3-5 years as the Vedanta Group firm looks to expand operations and capacity.
• Offline travel agency Trans India Holidays Group has announced that it has forayed in the online travel space with the launch of ‘BigBreaks’ with an aim to allow customisation of travel plans.
• Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, has announced that he is going to invest in West Bengal.
• These Investments will come mostly through its telecom arm, Reliance Jio.
• Note : Around Rs. 5,000 crore has already been invested through the arm in laying high-speed optical fibre (for faster broadband connections) and connecting various parts of the State.

Awards & Honors

• Wipro Ltd chairman Azim Premji has named as the 'Most Generous Indian' in the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2015, a ranking of the most generous individuals from India released today. 
• This is the third successive year that Premji has topped the philanthropy list.
• Important Points to Note :
• Premji donated Rs 27,514 crore for education through The Azim Premji foundation. 
• The foundation works in 8 states and has more than 350,000 schools.
• Tata Steel Limited has been declared as the winner of Prime Minister's Trophy for being the 'Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant' in the country for the performance year 2013 - 2014. 
• This Award has been conferred on the Company for the eighth time.

Deaths

• Rhythm and blues artist Otis Clay (73), a Blues Hall of Fame musician who also was a community activist on Chicago’s West Side, passed away.

Science & Technology

• China’s country code domain ‘.cn’ has become the world’s most commonly used in the internet, surpassing Germany’s ‘.de’ domain.
• According to the data released by the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC), which manages the domain, ‘.cn’ had 16.36 million users by the end of 2015.

Sports

• Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland clinches third consecutive Chennai Open tennis title by beating Borna Coric of Croatia.
• The Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena was voted as the Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of Month for December 2015.
• Tabuena won the award by beating Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai and India’s Himmat Rai. 

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here

sponsored links