Important Current Affairs 4th January 2019

National

Ten-day Indian Panorama Film Festival to open on 4th January, 2019 
•    The Indian Panorama Film Festival is being organized from 4th to 13th January, 2019. The ten-day Festival is being organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting at Siri Fort Auditorium II, New Delhi.
•    The directors of the opening feature film ‘Olu’ and of the opening non-feature film ‘Kharvas’ viz. Shri Shaji N Karun and Shri Aditya Suhas Jambhale will be present on the occasion.
•    All the films selected under the Indian Panorama section in the 49th International Film Festival of India will be screened during the Festival. A total of 26 Feature Films and 21 Non-Feature Films will be screened.

Setting up of Space Technology Park and Museums
•    The ISRO has plans to set up Space Galleries in various locations in the country. The Space Galleries are expected to disseminate the knowledge about space science and technology amongst the citizens of our country. 
•    The Gallery will consist of interactive methods/ models describing the principles of Space science and technology.
•    Initially, Space Galleries are planned to be established at Birla Science Centre at Hyderabad, Nehru Science Centre at Mumbai and National Science Centre at PragatiMaidan in New Delhi. In addition to this, ISRO has taken initiatives to establish space gallery in all the national museums/science centres (under Ministry of Culture) across the country in a phased manner.
•    In addition to the Space Galleries, ISRO is planning to establish Knowledge centres, mobile exhibitions, competitions amongst students and various talks/ lectures on Space Science/ technology related aspects.

Parliament passes NCTE amendment Bill 
•    Parliament has passed the National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018, with the Rajya Sabha approving it on Thursday.
•    The bill seeks to grant retrospective recognition to Central and State institutions which had conducted teacher education courses without approval by the Council.
•    This will be a one-time measure to ensure that the future of about 17 thousand students having degrees from such institutions is secured.
•    All institutions running teacher education courses, such as B.Ed, have to obtain recognition from the Council.

First-ever Kisan Cricket League to commence on Feb 20
•    In a bid to encourage cricket among rural Indian aspirants, the first-ever Kisan Cricket League - The Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Cup of Hope - will be held from February 20 to March 20.
•    The event introduces a fresh short format cricket tournament aimed at engaging rural dwellers between 17-24 years of age to take up the sport.
•    Kisan Cricket League will have eight teams - Mighty Himalayans, Frontier Gabroos, Awadhi Brothers, Eastern Eagles, Western Tharyans, Oruvan Thalaivas, Sahyadri Rangers and a special team for tribal youngsters, The Birsa Boys.

East Siang District achieves 100% electrification under Saubhagya Scheme 
•    In Arunachal Pradesh, East Siang District has achieved 100 percent electrification under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana- Saubhagya Scheme.
•    Pasighat Electrical division has electrified 2,662 households which were earlier left out till the end of December last year. The power department has electrified 1,483 villages under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya-Gram Jyoti Yojana in the state so far.

Cyclonic storm PABUK likely to cross Andaman Sea on Jan 5
•    Cyclonic storm “PABUK” is very likely to emerge into the Andaman Sea around forenoon on 5th January.
•    India Meteorological Department IMD said thereafter it is very likely to cross the Andaman Islands around Sunday evening.

Sports

Arunima Sinha becomes world’s first woman amputee to scale Mount Vinson 
•    Arunima Sinha, the Indian mountaineer who became the world’s first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest in 2013, has now become the first woman amputee to climb Mount Vinson (highest peak of Antarctica).
•    Sinha is a national level volleyball player who had one of her legs amputated in 2011 after she was pushed from a running train by dacoits she had resisted. She had earlier said that she planned to scale six peaks in six continents.