GK and Current Affairs Updates

India’s first transgender band, has released its debut single “Hum hain happy” along with its music video.The band was launched by Yash Raj Films’s youth films wing Y-Films in association with Brooke Bond Red Label. Through this, they want to spread the message that all living beings should be treated with the same respect and dignity. Also, according to them, where words fail, music speaks.
Trans-genders
Transgender people are individuals of any age or sex whose appearance, personal characteristics, or behaviors differ from stereotypes about how men and women are ‘supposed’ to be. 
Problems faced by transgender
1. Discrimination, 
2. Unemployment, 
3. Lack of educational facilities, 
4. Homelessness, 
5. Lack of medical facilities
6. Neglected in inheritance of property or adoption of a child.
Judgement of Supreme Court in favour of Transgender
1.  Legal Recognition for Third Gender
2. Legal Recognition for people transitioning within male/female binary
3. Centre and State Governments have been asked to take steps to create public awareness so that Transgender people will feel that they are also part and parcel of the social life and not be treated as untouchables.
4. Centre and State Governments have been directed to take proper measures to provide medical care to Transgender people in the hospitals and also provide to them separate public toilets and other facilities.

India’s Neel Joshi capped his brilliant run at the prestigious British Junior Open Squash Championships by clinching the bronze medal in the Boys U13 category in Sheffield.Last year, India had captured another bronze through Kush Kumar in the Boys U19 category.Neel Joshi is presently ranked number 1 in the Under -13 category of the Indian Junior Rankings.
British Junior Open squash championship
-British Junior Open squash championship is considered the second most prestigious junior open squash championship in the squash history after the World Junior Squash Championship.
- It takes place at Sheffield in England.
- The Under-19 boys category was known as the Drysdale Cup before 1999.

North Korea has successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test.After the test, South Korea is in talks with the United States to deploy U.S. strategic assets on the Korean peninsula. The test also alarmed Japan and the White House. Hours after the nuclear test, The U.N. Security Council announced it would work immediately on significant new measures against North Korea.
Convention on Nuclear Safety
-The Convention on Nuclear Safety was adopted in Vienna on 17 June 1994.
-Its aim is to legally commit participating States operating land-based nuclear power plants to maintain a high level of safety by setting international benchmarks to which States would subscribe.
-The Convention is based on Parties’ common interest to achieve higher levels of safety which will be developed and promoted through regular meetings.
-The Diplomatic Conference to consider a Proposal by Switzerland to amend the Convention on Nuclear Safety was held on 9th February 2015 at the IAEA Headquarters, in Vienna, Austria.
Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM)
-The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material entered into force on 8th February 1987. 
-The Convention is the only legally binding international instrument in the area of physical protection of nuclear material and one of the 13 international counter-terrorism instruments. 

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed , Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, passed away of multiple organ failure in New Delhi. Mr Sayeed, a two-time chief minister, started his second tenure on March 1st, 2015 in alliance with the BJP.
- He founded the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (JKPDP) in 1999.
- In a long career in politics, Mr Sayeed was a Congressman till 1987. 
- He was Minister for Tourism in the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1986, after which he joined former Prime Minister V P Singh's National Front government as Home Minister.
Past Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir
2005-2008: Ghulam Nabi Azad
2009-2015: Omar Abdullah
March, 2015- Jan,2016: Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
During this time, J&K was under the President’s rule for three times.
The last President’s Rule (Jan, 2015-March 2015) was due to the delay by political parties in forming the government.

Union Government approved the “Stand Up India Scheme”.It is under Department of Financial Services.
Aim: to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and Women entrepreneurs.
Objectives:
1.Re-finance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of Rs. 10,000 crore. 
2.Creation of a credit guarantee mechanism through the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC). 
3.Handholding support for borrowers both at the pre loan stage and during operations. This would include increasing their familiarity with factoring services, registration with online platforms and e-market places as well as sessions on best practices and problem solving.  
Features:
1.Focus is on handholding support for both SC/ST and Women borrowers. 
2.The overall intent of the approval is to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to these under-served sectors of the population by facilitating bank loans repayable up to 7 years and between Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 100 lakh for greenfield enterprises in the non farm sector set up by such SC, ST and Women borrowers. 
3.The loan under the scheme would be appropriately secured and backed by a credit guarantee through a credit guarantee scheme for which Department of Financial Services would be the settler and National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd. (NCGTC) would be the operating agency. 
4.Margin money of the composite loan would be up to 25%. Convergence with state schemes is expected to reduce the actual requirement of margin money for a number of borrowers. Over a period of time, it is proposed that a credit history of the borrower be built up through Credit Bureaus.

Former CJI Justice Kapadia passed away. He was the 38th Chief Justice of India.He was succeded by Altamas Kabir and preceded by K. G. Balakrishnan. He Was a graduate from Government Law College, Mumbai.He served as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court, Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court and a judge of the Supreme court.
On the administrative side, The Chief Justice carries out the following functions;
1. Allocation of matters to various other judges of The Supreme Court
2. Maintenance of roaster
3. Appointment of court officials
4. General and other miscellaneous matters relating to supervision and functioning of The Supreme Court.
5. Acts as The Chief Justice of India.

Pranav Dhanawade, a mumbai teen became the first batsman in the history of cricket to cross the 1000-run mark. He has completed 1000 runs in 323 balls. With this he has become the first-ever cricketer to cross 1000-run mark. This record made against Kalyan’s Arya Gurukul School in the H T Bhandari Cup, an under-16 inter-school tournament organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).

Australia withdrew from the U19 World Cup due to security concerns. According to the officials of Australia there is a high threat to Australian interests in Bangladesh. This statement came on the basis of report of ICC security adviser who was monitoring the security of Australian players for a long time.
About Under-19 Cricket World Cup
- It is a one day international cricket tournament contested by national Under-19 teams.
- Its administrator is International Cricket council.
- It was started in 1988.
- The last tournament was in the year 2014.
The winners of the last 3 tournaments are:
2010: Australia
2012: India
2014: South Africa
- The 2016 edition of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup will be held in Bangladesh from 27 January to 14 February.The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup will feature the 10 Full Members, alongside six of the leading Associate and Affiliate teams: Afghanistan, Canada, Namibia, Scotland, Fiji and Nepal.

BCCI has honoured Virat Kohli with Polly Umrigar Trophy for Cricketer of the Year. Along with this, former stumper Syed Kirmani was bestowed with the prestigious Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.
These awards were given at the annual ceremony of BCCI.
The other awards are:
1. Jalaj Saxena, Madhya Pradesh: The best all-rounder in domestic limited-overs competitions
2. Deepak Hooda: Baroda Madhavrao Scindia Awards for feats in Ranji Trophy, 
3. The highest run-getter: Robin Uthappa, Karnataka 
4. The highest wicket-takers: R Vinay Kumar, Karnataka and Shardul Thakur, Mumbai 
5. M A Chidambaram Trophy Award for 2014-15: The best under-23 cricketer: Almas Shaukat, Uttar Pradesh; The best under-19 cricketer: Anmolpreet Singh, Punjab The best under-16 cricketer: Shubman Gill, Punjab; 
6. The best senior woman cricketer: Mithali Raj, Railways; 
7. The best junior woman cricketer: Devika Vaidya, Maharashtra 
8. The best umpire in domestic cricket in 2014-15: O Nandan, Karnataka.

India-Nepal bus service resumed from 4th January, 2016 after the gap of 27 years.The service was suspended due to the signing of Indo-Nepal Trade and Transit Treaty.
Benefits:
1. It will heal up gap between India-Nepal which was developed due to the blockade at the border.
2. It tends to increase the ties between people of both the countries.
3. It will support the trade and tourism.
4. It will generate the reveues from Tanakpur depot which is also considered one of the major sources of funds for Uttarakhand Parivahan Nigam.
- Route of the Bus:
It will run runs between Kanchanpur in Nepal close to Banbasa border in Champavat district of Uttarakhand and Anand Vihar in Delhi.Nepal Districts covered under this bus service- Kanchanpur district, Dandel Dhura, Voti, Sapen, Acham, Kalali, Jagbuddha and Siddhartha Nagar.Trade and Commerce Relation between India and Nepal
Exports.Ready made garments are Nepal’s topmost export items to overseas countries, followed by woollen carpets and pashmina products. Other traditional export items to overseas countries are hides and skin, lentils, metal and wooden handicrafts, agro- and forest-based primary and secondary goods, leather, raw jute, large cardamom, ginger, tea and medicinal herbs. Coffee, honey, terry towels, micro transformers, blankets and buttons are emerging as new export items.
Imports...
Over the years, Nepalese imports have increased substantially and undergone major structural changes. The major import items include petroleum products, machinery and spare parts, transport equipment, pharmaceuticals, textiles, chemicals, electrical goods, vehicles and spare parts, medicines and medicinal equipment, raw wool, betel nuts, aircraft and spares parts, raw silk, threads, fertilizers, telecommunication equipment, etc.
Treaty of Trade-Under this treaty, India provides, on a non-reciprocal basis, duty free access into the Indian market for all Nepalese-manufactured articles barring a short negative list (cigarettes, alcohol and cosmetics), subject to the conditions, since March 2002.
 India-Nepal Treaty of Transit- For bilateral trade, 22 entry/exit points are provided along the Indo- Nepal border. The Transit Treaty was last renewed in March 2006.