GK and Current Affairs Updates

Nine-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt on 2 December 2016 won the IAAF male Athlete of the Year award. 
●    He won the award for the record sixth time.Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana won the IAAF women Athlete of the Year award. 
●    Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter.
●    He is regarded as the fastest human ever timed.
●    He is the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time became mandatory. 
●    He is also the world record holder as a part of the 4 × 100 metres relay. He is the reigning World and Olympic champion in these three events.
●    She competes in the 3000 metres, 5000 metres and 10000 metres events.
●    At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,  she set a new 10000 metres world record and won the gold in the event.

India women’s cricket team on 4 December 2016 defeated Pakistan to win the 2016 Asia Cup T20 at Bangkok, Thailand.
●    India defeated Pakistan in the final of the regional tournament by 17 runs. The win is India’s sixth Asia Cup crown.
●    In the final, India, who remained undefeated during the tournament, batted first and scored 121/5.
●    Player of the Series: Mithali Raj (India)
●    Most runs in the Series: 220 by Mithali Raj (India)
●    Most wickets in the Series: 12 by Sana Mir (Pakistan)
●    The Women's Asia Cup is an international One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament.
●    It is contested by women's cricket teams from Asia.
●    It has been played six times to date.
●    In 2012, Indian team had defeated Pakistan by 19 runs in the final of T20 in Guangzhou, China.

J Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and one of India's most powerful and popular politicians, died on Monday in a Chennai hospital, nearly three months after she was admitted there. She was 68.
●    Ms Jayalalithaa had a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening and was rushed back to the Intensive Care Unit or ICU. 
●    Barely two weeks ago, after doctors and her party said she was fully recovered from a respiratory illness, she was moved from the critical care unit to a private room kitted out with emergency equipment.
●    Ms Jayalalithaa, a former movie star, served four times as Chief Minister, alternating in office with her arch-rival, M Karunanidhi, who heads the DMK. 
●    But earlier this year, she broke that pattern with a decisive win - for the first time in over three decades, an incumbent Chief Minister was re-elected, a tribute to her hold over Tamil Nadu.
●    After acting in more than 100 films, Ms Jayalalithaa rose to political leadership with the backing of MG Ramachandran, her co-star who founded the AIADMK. 
●    After his death, she became its chief in 1988.

Former India footballer and coach Syed Abdus Salam, who was named the best defender in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, died at his Salarjung Colony residence here on Saturday.
●    The 77-year-old was bed-ridden for more than five years after a hip injury, and died around 11am on Saturday.
●    Salam is survived by two sons and two daughters.
●    Salam represented India under Badru Banerjee at the Melbourne Games, where the team finished fourth.
●    At club level, Salam represented Mohammedan Sporting and led the team to win both the Calcutta Football League and IFA Shield in 1957.
●    Mohammedan Sporting President Sultan Ahmed condoled Salam's death and the club kept the flag at half-mast.
●    Salam had guided India to become joint winners with Iran in the Asian Youth U-19 Cup in Bangkok in 1974.
●    He also coached Andhra Pradesh and was the first coach of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh in 1981 and retired there as a deputy director.

World renowned Urdu poet Mohammad Shafi Khan popularly known as Bekal Utsahi passed away in New Delhi on 3rd December. He was 88.
●    Known for his distinct poetry promoting Hindu-Muslim unity and celebrating composite Indian culture Bekal Utsahi had been a Rajya Sabha MP and a member of National Integration Council.
●    Bekal Utsahi apart from promoting peace building through his poetry wrote extensively against the British rule and served prison sentences several times during India’s freedom struggle.
●    The introduction of Mushaira Tahzeeb is greatly attributed to Bekal Utsahi who was part of the first delegation of Indian Urdu poets who went outside the country for a Mushaira.
●    In 1976 Utsahi received the Padma Shri which is the fourth highest civilian award in India.
●    He had become Bekal Varsi after a visit to Dargah of Hazrat Vaaris Ali Shah Dewa Shareef in 1945. 
●    A few years later in 1952 Jawahar Lal Nehru impressed by his composition ‘Kisan Bharat Ka’ called him an Utsahi Shayar (enthusiastic poet). 

Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today inaugurated the Petrotech 2016 Exhibition at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The Petrotech -2016 Exhibition is one of the biggest oil & gas exhibitions held with participation of nearly 600 exhibitors from over 50 countries covering 15,000 square metres of exhibition area. This year's Exhibition is much grander in scale with participation from more overseas companies and 15 country. Also, top oil & gas companies from across the world are participating in the exhibition. The exhibition is scheduled from 4th to 7th December, 2016 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The Petrotech 2016 main Conference is scheduled to be inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi on 5th December, 2016. 
●    The theme of the conference is “Hydrocarbons to fuel the future - Choices & Challenges” and the Petrotech 2016 Exhibition is providing opportunities for promotion of organizations, products and services. Exclusive pavilions have also been set up to showcase initiatives like 'Make in India' and Renewable Energy and several of the focus areas of Government policy. There are dedicated pavilions for the upstream, downstream and international exhibitors.
●    Inaugurating the exhibition, Shri Pradhan said that it provides a convergence point to every element, dimension, product, technology to congregate at one point and there has been enthusiastic response from various stake holders. It also offers a unique platform to the international companies, service providers and technology companies to have interface with all India stakeholders at one place. Shri Pradhan said that the oil and gas sector today is emerging as a vehicle for socio economic change in India and under the leadership of Hon'ble PM the sector has aligned itself with common people of the country. Over the years it has played its part in making energy affordable and accessible through the length and breadth of the country to drive the Indian economy in an inclusive and equitable manner in terms of generating employment, skill development, bringing in FDI, enhancing trade and boosting strategic partnerships.
●    The Minister said that internationally, the hydrocarbon sector is witnessing unprecedented technological developments. He added that discoveries of better technologies are regularly transforming the sector which offer opportunities for those who are ahead of the curve but also pose challenges to companies who follow conventional approach to this dynamic subject.

The Union Government on 30 December 2016 gave its approval for the inclusion of 15 new castes and modification of 13 others in the Central Other Backward Castes (OBC) list.
●    The amendments were approved by the Union Cabinet in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This move follows the proposal put forward by the National Commission of Backward Classes (NCBC).
●    It suggested 28 changes with respect to 8 states including Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand.
●    In the 28 changes, 15 were new additions, 9 were synonyms or sub-castes of the already existing castes and 4 were corrections.
●    These amendments will enable people belonging to these newly added castes to avail the benefits of reservation in both Government services and Central Educational Institutions.
●    These people will also be entitled to enjoy the benefits of various welfare schemes launched by the Union Government.

The Supreme Court on 30 November 2016 ordered status quo on land acquired for the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal’s stretch in Punjab. 
●    Moreover, the court also appointed Union Home Secretary, Chief Secretary of Punjab and the Director General of Punjab Police as receivers in the dispute between Punjab and Haryana and sought a report from them by 15 December on the present status of land.
●    A bench comprising Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy also made it clear that receivers cannot take over the possession of the land meant for the SYL canal project. They have been appointed only for the purpose of submitting a report on the ground situation.
●    Earlier in November 2016, a five-judge bench had set aside the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004, which unilaterally terminated the 1981 water-sharing pact with Haryana.
●    Following this, Punjab government denotified the land acquired for the SYL canal project with immediate effect and returned it to the owners free of charge. 
●    The controversial 1981 water-sharing agreement came into force after Haryana was removed out of Punjab in 1966. For effective allocation of water, the SYL canal link was planned and both the states were required to construct their portions in their territory. 
●    Haryana had already constructed the portion of the SYL canal in its territory. However, Punjab stopped the construction. In 2004, the Congress government formulated Punjab Termination of Agreement Act with an intention to terminate the 1981 agreement relating to sharing of waters of rivers Ravi and Beas.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 1 December 2016 apologised for the first time to the people of Haiti for its role in the 2010 cholera outbreak in the country.
●    As per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ongoing Haiti cholera outbreak is the worst epidemic of cholera in recent history.
●    The country has been dealing with a cholera outbreak since October 2010, some nine months after it suffered a devastating earthquake.
●    The outbreak began in mid October 2010 in the rural Center Department of Haiti.
●    The outbreak occurred ten months after a powerful earthquake which devastated the nation's capital and southern towns on 12 January 2010.
●    It is widely believed to have been introduced by Nepalese peacekeepers from the UN.
●    The peacekeepers lived on a base that often leaked waste into a river, and the first cholera cases in the country appeared in Haitians who lived nearby.
●    The outbreak has affected an estimated 788000 people and claimed the lives of more than 9000 people in the country.

In an unexpected move, Nico Rosberg announced his retirement from Formula One on 2 December 2016, just five days after he grabbed his first-ever F1 World Champion title in the season’s final race at Abu Dhabi.
●    The 31-year-old, who beat his Mercedes team-mate and three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton by five points, stated that he was retiring from the sport to spend more quality time with his wife, Vivian and baby daughter, Alaia.
●    This is the first time that a reigning world champion has decided to quit the sport. Last time something similar happened was in 1993 when Alain Prost announced his retirement after winning his fourth driver’s title.
●    He is the son of former F1 world champion, Keke Rosberg, who won the title in 1982.
●    He won the 2005 GP2 series for the French motor racing team, ART
●    He made his F1 debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2006 for Williams, his father’s old team.
●    He raced for the team from 2006- 2009 and then joined Mercedes from 2010 until 2016. 
●    He raced in 206 Grand Prix competitions and has 23 Formula one wins and 30 Formula one pole positions to his name. 
●    He is also the fourth driver in the history of Formula one to win the Monaco Grand Prix thrice in a row and to have 7 consecutive Grand Prix wins.
●    He has also won the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy in 2011, FIA Pole Trophy in 2014 and DHL Fastest Lap.