Daily Current Affairs for Competitive Exams: October 4, 2016
Hello readers,
Here are today’s important headlines with key details for UPSC, SSC, IBPS and other competitive examinations.
1. Nobel Prize in Medicine 2016 awarded to Yoshinori OhsumiThe Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet on October 3, 2016, decided to award the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi.Ohsumi is bestowed with the prize for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy. He discovered and elucidated mechanisms underlying autophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.What is autophagy?
- Autophagy is a natural, destructive mechanism that disassembles the unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components.
- It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components.
- During this process, targeted cytoplasmic constituents are isolated from the rest of the cell within a double-membraned vesicle known as an autophagosome.
- The autophagosome then fuses with a lysosome and the contents are degraded and recycled.
- Three different forms of autophagy are commonly described as macroautophagy, microautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy.
- The name autophagy was coined by Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve in 1963.
2. SBI becomes the first bank to open branch in Yangon
- The State Bank of India (SBI) on became the first national bank of India to open a branch in the capital city of Yangon, Myanmar, on October 3, 2016. Ghanshyam Srivastava is the Chief Executive Officer of the SBI Yangon branch.
- This was made possible only with the permission of Myanmar’s central bank, which allowed SBI to open a branch with the primary objective of extending wholesale banking services to foreign corporates.
- The Yangon branch is the 54th foreign branch of the SBI, nation’s largest lender. This branch extends the global presence of SBI in 37 countries through 198 offices,
3.Wildlife film-maker Prajna Chowta conferred knighthood by France
- Film-maker and elephant researcher Prajna Chowta was recently awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (Knight in the National Order of Merit) by the French Government. The official ceremony is expected to be held later in 2016 in Bengaluru.
- The appointment of Chowta by the President of the French Republic comes in recognition of a life devoted to caring for wild Asian elephants.
About National Order of Merit
- The National Order of Merit is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on December 3, 1963, by the French President Charles de Gaulle.
- The reason for the order’s establishment was twofold: to replace a large number of ministerial orders previously awarded by the ministries; and to create an award that can be awarded at a lower level than the Legion of Honour, which is generally reserved for French citizens.
4.MS Sahoo assumes charge as Chairman of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India
- MS Sahoo was appointed as the Chairman of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), on October 2, 2016. The oath of the office was administered by Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley.
- Sahoo was recently serving as a member of anti-trust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) and was earlier a member of capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
About Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India
- IBBI is a four-member Board. The members of the IBBI are Ajay Tyagi, Amardeep Singh Bhatia, GS Yadav and Unnikrishnan.
- The main activity of IBBI is to regulate the functioning of insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.
- The Board will be expanded to 10 Members (including the Chairman) in the future.
5.Kersti Kaljulaid elected as first female President of Estonia
- On October 2, 2016, the Estonian Parliament elected Kersti Kaljulaid as the first female President of Estonia. Kaljulaid won the vote 81-0, with 20 members absent or abstaining. Her selection follows two failed votes and weeks of heated debate.
- Kaljulaid will also be the youngest person elected President, aged 46.
6.World Space Week observed with theme Remote Sensing: Enabling our Future
- World Space Week is an annual event that is observed from October 4 to 10, 2016, in various parts of the world. 2016 World Space Week is being observed with the theme, Remote Sensing: Enabling our Future.
- This year’s theme celebrates Earth Observation from Space for the betterment of the human race.
- By Resolution 54/68 of 6 December 1999, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed World Space Week, to celebrate the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition. World Space Week is the largest annual space event in the world.
Background
- Since 2007, more than 94 nations have participated in more than 2250 events with more than 1.3 million attendees.
- Each year a theme is selected by the World Space Week Association Board of Directors in close coordination with the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs.
- The theme provides broad guidance to World Space Week participants on the content of their programs.
- The theme is selected to increase the impact of World Space Week on all humanity further, by using a uniform theme globally.
7.Jharkhand becomes the first state to implement Direct Benefit Transfer in Kerosene
- Jharkhand on October 2, 2016, became India’s first state to implement the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for Kerosene. The scheme is being implemented in four identified districts of the state namely, Chatra, Hazaribagh, Khunti, and Jamtara.
- In a statement, Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry said that under the DBT Scheme, Public Distribution System (PDS) kerosene is being sold at a non-subsidised price and the subsidy is being transferred to consumers directly into their bank accounts. This initiative is aimed at rationalising subsidy and plugging the leakages.
Here is a list of last few articles on Current Affairs and the Monthly Bullet on Current Affairs for SSC
Monthly Bullet Pdf for October 2016
Current Affairs Bullet for October 2,3
Current Affairs Bullet for October 1
Current Affairs Bullet for September 29, 30
Current Affairs Bullet for September 28
Current Affairs Bullet for September 27
Current Affairs Bullet for September 26