GK and Current Affairs Updates

 The post of Executive Vice Chairman has been recently created and Pachauri will be the first to hold the post.

On the other hand, Ajay Mathur, former chief of Bureau of Energy Efficiency, was appointed as the Director General of TERI.

About Rajendra Kumar Pachauri

• Rajendra Kumar Pachauri began his career with the Indian Railways at the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi.

• He joined the North Carolina State University in Raleigh, USA, where he obtained an MS in Industrial Engineering in 1972, and a PhD with co-majors in Industrial Engineering and Economics in 1974.

• From August 1974 to May 1975, he served as Assistant Professor and Visiting Faculty Member (Summer 1976 and 1977) in the Department of Economics and Business at NC State.

• He was also a Visiting Professor of Resource Economics at the College of Mineral and Energy Resources, West Virginia University.

• On his return to India, he joined the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, as Member Senior Faculty and went on to become Director, Consulting and Applied Research Division.

• In 1982, he joined TERI as Director.

• On 20 April 2002, he was elected Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations panel established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

• In February 2015, a junior colleague had accused him of sexual harassment following which he had to proceed on leave but joined work in July 2015 with a court quashing the internal committee report that found him guilty of misconduct. He was removed as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

About The Energy and Resources Institute:

• The Energy and Resources Institute was established in 1974.

• It was formerly known as Tata Energy Research Institute.

• It is a research institute based in New Delhi that conducts research work in the fields of energy, environment and sustainable development.

• In 2013, the institute was ranked as the topmost global think-tank by the International Centre for Climate Governance (ICCG).

 Sonadia Island: A potential deepwater port lying on the Bay of Bengal 

It was in news because, as per newspaper reports, Bangladesh cancelled China’s proposal to develop a deep sea port on the island that lies in the Bay of Bengal.

Sonadia Island is a small island of about 9-sq.km offshore of the Cox's Bazaar coast in Chittagong Division, Bangladesh.

The island is seen as a potential deep water port that could serve the landlocked parts of India, Myanmar and China.

The island is of geo-strategic significance and development of the deep sea water port by China would have posed threat to India’s maritime interest because of proximity of Chittagong to Indian coastline.

In lieu of Bangladesh cancelling Chinese proposal, India, as it is claimed by reports, has expressed its keenness in developing Bangladesh newest deep sea port at Payra, which is close to Chittagong. This development is an indication of improving Indo-Bangladesh ties.

Also, there are reports that Japan too is expected to develop another deep sea port at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar for Bangladesh.

 The Operation Rahat came in news in second week of February 2016 after the Royal Navy of United Kingdom (UK) presented its desire to officially study India’s humanitarian rescue operation in Yemen.

The Royal Navy wants to study the Operation Rahat in all its details and understand the meticulous planning process that was followed. It also wants to learn the way the plans were executed.

Operation Rahat was one of the most stellar rescue missions ever conducted in a strife-torn area internationally. It was overseen by Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd.) VK Singh.

During the operation, the Indian forces rescued about 5600 people including 960 foreign nations from 41 countries in a short span of 10 days.

The operation was executed with the participation of INS Sumitra, INS Mumbai, INS Tarkash, merchant vessels namely, Kavaratti and Coral and two 180-seater Airbus A320 plane. The complete operation saw coordinated efforts of Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Air India, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Railways and the state governments.

The countries whose nationals were rescued includes United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Canada, France, Indonesia, Romania, Egypt, Hungary, Italy, Jordon, Nepal and many more.

 Shram awards were set up by the Union Government in 1985 to recognize the outstanding contributions of workers in both public and private sectors.

SHRAM RATNA

This is the highest award (one in number) among the Shram Awards and carries a cash award of 2 lakh rupees with a Sanad. For the year 2014, this prestigious award was not awarded to any one as screening committee did not consider any nominee eligible for the award.

SHRAM BHUSHAN

Total number of these awardees is nine. It carries a cash award of one lakh rupees and a Sanad. Nine nominations were found suitable for the award for the year 2014 in respect of Public Sector Undertaking and Private Sector.

And Shram Veer/Veerangana awards carry a cash prize of 60000 rupees and a Sanad. 

Shram Shree/Devi Awards comprise of a cash prize of 40000 rupees and a Sanad.

 About Joshna Chinappa

• Joshna Chinappa reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 13 in December 2015.

• She is the first Indian to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003 in the under 19 category and was also the youngest Indian women's national champion.

• She is the first beneficiary of Mittal Champions Trust.

• At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she along with Dipika Pallikal won the squash women’s doubles gold medal, making it India's first ever Commonwealth Games medal in the sport.

About 2016 South Asian Games

• The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event.

• A total of 2672 athletes are scheduled to compete in 228 events over 23 sports.

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati on 5^th February 2016.

• The event will be concluded on 16^th February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India.

 The Textiles Committee, Union Ministry of Handlooms and Textiles, Mumbai, registered the Chettinad cotton saree under the India Handloom Brand Scheme after checking various quality parameters stipulated by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

The Ministry authorised the Amarar Rajiv Gandhi Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society, which produced the sarees, to use the brand and logo for marketing the product.

About Chettinad saree

• The Chettinad cotton saree, also known as kandaangi, is unique in the dramatic and spontaneous use of colour and pattern with bold checks, stripes and contrasting hues.

• Its vibrancy and weight are its distinguishing factors.

• Records and old photographs show the use of saree by previous generations, before the advent of blouses and underskirts, which is worn rather differently from the regular sari.

About India Handloom Brand Scheme

• India Handloom Brand is an endorsement to quality of the handloom products in terms of raw material, processing, embellishments, weaving design and other parameters besides social and environmental compliances for earning the trust of the consumers.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the India Handloom Brand at Chennai on 7 August 2015 as part of the First ever National Handloom Day celebrations.

 During the General Body Meeting of South Asian Wrestling Federation held on 5 February 2016, Singh was unanimously elected as the president. Tabiur Rehman from Bangladesh was also unanimously elected Secretary General.

The House unanimously authorized Singh to appoint one joint secretary from India, a treasurer from Afghanistan and one executive member from each South Asia Foundation (SAF) countries.

Apart from the two members, Chawdhury Mohd. Ajgar of Pakistan, U.H. Neville Padmashri from Sri Lanka and Raj Mohammed Ansari of Nepal were elected vice presidents.

 India’s the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) were on 9^th February 2016 signed the grant agreement for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II in New Delhi.

The phase II of the project is aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA Category 1 status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on general aviation and business aviation.

Background

• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had raised certain safety concerns about Indian aviation in its 2012 audit. Following this the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of USA carried out an International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit in September 2013 and a review in December 2013.

• India was assigned Category 2 rating in January 2014.

• In March 2014, United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) in coordination with FAA approached DGCA and offered assistance under a USTDA Grant Agreement project to address the FAA IASA findings and help restore Category 1 status to India.

• Under the Grant Agreement, US based Contractor ‘The Wicks Group’(TWG) assisted DGCA in addressing the findings and prepared for a reassessment by FAA in December 2014.

• Based on this reassessment and a follow-up visit in March 2015, India’s Category 1 status was restored in April 2015.

 His most acclaimed shers include Duniya jise kehte hain jaadu kaa khilona hai, Mil jaaye to mitti hai, kho jaaye to sona hai. Of a few popular film songs written by him are Aa bhi jaa (Sur), Tu is tarah se meri zindagi mein (Aap To Aise Na The) and Hosh waalon ko khabar (Sarfarosh).

His couplet, Kabhi kisi to mukammal jahan nahin milta or Kahin zameen to kahin aasman nahi milta, has become an everyday phrase for articulating the imperfect human condition in modern times.

About Nida Fazli:

• Nida Fazli, the son of poet Murtaza Hasan Baidi, was born on 12 October 1938 in Delhi, to a Kashmiri family. 

At the time of partition, his parents migrated to Pakistan while young Nida preferred to stay in India. 
• He moved to Mumbai at an early age in search of job and started working for 'Blitz' and 'Dharamyug'. 
• He has also written several songs for Indian films.
• His poetry used both village and urban landscapes to explore nature and human relations.

Nida Fazli received various awards including:

a) Khusro Award

b) Best Poetry Award from Maharashtra Urdu Academy

c) Hindi Urdu Sangam Award 

d) Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of poems, Khoya Hua Sa Kuchh in 1998

e) He was honoured with National Harmony Award for writing on communal harmony.
f) He has 24 books to his credit in Urdu, Hindi and Gujarati - some of which are assigned as school textbooks in Maharashtra. 

g) He received the Mir Taqi Mir award for his autobiographical novel 'Deewaron Ke Beech'.
 
His works include

a) Lafzon ke Phool (collection of sher-o-shayari)

b) Mulaqaten (character-sketches)

c) Mor Naach (collected works) in 1978

d) Aankh aur Khwab ke Darmiyan

e)Safar Mein Dhuup to Hogi

 Now large shops and super markets will no longer throw away good quality food approaching its expiry date and  instead donate it to charities and food banks due to which charities and food banks will be able to give out millions more free meals each year to people struggling to afford to eat.

The law comes as a success to grassroots campaign in France by shoppers, anti-poverty campaigners and those opposed to food waste. The campaign, which led to a petition, was started by the councillor Arash Derambarsh. Campaigners now hope to persuade the EU to adopt similar legislation across member states.

Highlights of the new law:

Supermarkets will now be bound to make donations to charities and food banks, failing which they face a fine of 75000 euros and a jail term of 2 years.

Supermarkets spread across 400 square metres area and above will have to sign donation contracts with charities or face a penalty of 3,750 euros.