JANUARY 2016 CURRENT AFFAIRS (PART-4)

• Sikkim has formally become India’s first fully organic state after it successfully implemented organic farming practices on around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land. The Sikkim Organic Festival 2016 has been organised on the sidelines of the National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• India has been ranked 76th out of 168 countries in the recently released 2015 Corruption Perception Index. The 2015 CPI was the 21st edition of the annual index and was published by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International. In this edition, India has scored 38 on a scale from 0 (most corrupt) to 100 (least corrupt). This score is same as 2014 edition indicating that country is showing lack of improvement. India has improved in its ranking compared to earlier position of 85 and 94 in 2014 and 2013, respectively.Denmark tops the index followed by Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, and the Netherlands while North Korea and Somalia remained at the bottom.
• India’s Dinesh Sharma has been elected to the board of directors of the China-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). He has been elected to the 12-member board through a secret ballot. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is the designated governor of the AIIB from India.
• The Election Commission of India has celebrated the 6th National Voters’ Day across the country. Theme for year 2016 is ‘Inclusive and Qualitative Participation’.
• Scientists at the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar, Haryana have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring named ‘Cirb Gaurav’. CIRB scientists have achieved this feat under the project entitled- Cloning for conservation and multiplication of superior buffalo germplasm. Cirb Gaurav cloned buffalo calf is distinct from the earlier clones produced in India. It has been produced from cells of ventral side of tail of superior bull buffalo. The ventral side of tail was chosen because it is least exposed to sunlight and might have less mutation rate. This part also can be a good choice to produce healthy clones by isolating donor cells. With this achievement, CIRB becomes the India’s second and world’s third institute to produce cloned buffalo. Karnal (Haryana) based National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) was the India’s first institute to produce a cloned calf.
• Telangana has become the first State in the country to introduce compulsory gender education at the graduate level. In this regard, state government has introduced bilingual textbook titled ‘Towards a World of Equals’ on a pilot basis in engineering colleges.
• In India, January 12 is being observed as National Youth Day. This day marks birth anniversary of social reformer, philosopher and thinker Swami Vivekananda.
• The Supreme Court has stayed the Union Government’s notification lifting ban on traditional bull taming sport Jallikattu during the festival of Pongal in Tamil Nadu. Jallikattu is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu on Mattu Pongal day as a part of Pongal celebrations i.e. harvest festival. It is one of the oldest living ancient traditions practiced in the modern era.
• India has decided to become member country of the International Energy Agency – Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) to boost for country’s quest for tapping ocean energy sources. Earth System Science Organisation – National Institute of Ocean Technology (ESSO-NIOT) under the aegis of Union Ministry of Earth Sciences will be the nodal agency for the membership.
• South Indian classical vocalists Sanjay Subrahmanyam has conferred with prestigious 2015 Sangita Kalanidhi award. It is a prestigious award bestowed annually upon an expert of Carnatic Music by the Madras Music Academy. This honour is considered one of the highest awards in Carnatic music.