4th January 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

Today is World Braille Day.
- World Braille Day celebrates the 207th Birth anniversary of French Innovator Louis Braille (4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852).
- He was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use by the visually impaired.
- His system remains known worldwide simply as braille.
Myanmar celebrates its 68th Independence Day today.
A friendship bus service between India and Nepal via Champawat in Uttarakhand resumed today after a gap of 27 years, much to the delight of people on either side of the border who have family and trade ties with each other.
- The service had been suspended 27 years back in the wake of the Indo-Nepal Trade and Transit Treaty.

National Affairs

Telangana today became the first State in the country where electronic motor insurance
policies were legally accepted by police and transport departments with the launch of e-Vahan Bima.
- The e-Vahan Bima is an electronic motor insurance policy issued in digital form with Quick Response (QR) code to scan for verification of policy details. An SMS-based verification was also installed, which can be stored and accessed on smart phones to make the process of verification easier for commuters as well as police.

Committees in News

The Justice RM Lodha Committee today submitted its report suggesting reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the Supreme Court.
- Important recommendations of the committee are,
- - Separate governing bodies for IBPS and BCCI, with limited autonomy for the IPL Governing Council.
  - To legalise betting.
  - No Minister or government servant should become a BCCI office-bearer.
  - BCCI office-bearer's term should not exceed more than two consecutive terms and he / she cannot hold 2 posts at the same time.
  - Constitution and establishment of a player's association.
  - Steering committee headed by G K Pillai with Mohinder Amarnath, Diana Eduljee and Anil Kumble as members.
The government has constituted a One-man committee to examine the wage structure and service conditions of gramin dak sevaks
- Kamlesh Chandra, a retired member of the postal services board, will constitute the committee, which will be assisted by T Q Mohammad, a senior administrative grade officer, who will act as secretary

Business & Economy

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced 16,500 crore rupees highway package for Telangana.
- Note : 1,670 kms of New National Highway projects will be developed in Telangana.

Science & Technology

Two Australians, Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski have designed a device called 'Seabin' with an aim to clean up the ocean trash.
- As per the reports, the device has been designed in such a way that it aims to clean up marinas, coves and harbors of the trash that floats around in those areas, before the tides take it out, to be deposited at the bottom of the river, sea or lake, again.
- The device will collect all the trash falling off the boats or blowing into the ocean from the shore, without harming the fish.
ISRO will launch a regional navigation satellite IRNSS-1E on 20th January 2016 to provide terrestrial and aerial services.
- This is the fifth navigational satellite and forms part of a constellation of seven satellites meant for setting up the regional navigation satellite system in the country.
- The navigational system will help navigate aircrafts and ships around the Indian sub-continent.
- It can track movement of vehicles and capture geodetic data similar to the Global Positioning System of USA.

Deaths

Congress leader and former Speaker of Punjab Assembly Harnam Dass Johar passed away.
Hungarian-born cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond passed away.
- He had won Oscar for his achievements on “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and a nominee for “The Deer Hunter,” “The River” (1984) and the “The Black Dahlia” (2006).

New Appointments

Former Defence Secretary R K Mathur sworn in as the Chief Information Commissioner.
Important Points to Note :
- At present, there are seven Information Commissioners : Basant Seth, Yashovardhan Azad, Sharat Sabharwal, Manjula Prasher, MA Khan Yusufi, Madabhushanam Sridhar Acharyulu and Sudhir Bhargava.
- The Commission is made up of one chief and 10 Information Commissioners.
- The posts of three Information Commissioners are still vacant.

Sports

The Indian team has won the 2015 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship for the seventh time.