The Daily Brief – 6th January, 2017

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• India and Kazakhstan have signed a Protocol to amend the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) between the two countries.

• Veteran actor Om Puri has passed away, following a massive cardiac arrest. He is known for revolutionary new wave cinema alongside actors such as Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. He won two National Awards for his roles in Arohan and Ardh Sathya. He was also honoured with the Padmashri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 1990.

• The Kerala High Court has declared unconstitutional the University Grants Commissions‘s (UGC) National Eligibility Test criterion that the top 15 per cent of candidates from each the four reserved categories on the merit list will be declared qualified for eligibility for the post of assistant professors.

• The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the largest and most influential philanthropies in the United States, has named Rajiv J. Shah as president. He succeeds Judith Rodin, who has been holding the post for 12 years.
• The Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Enforcement Toolkit for the Police. This toolkit will be provided to all state police departments across the nation to assist them in dealing with the cases relating to Trademarks and Copyrights infringements.

• Google, at its recent talk by CEO Sundar Pichai, launched two new initiatives My Business and Digital Unlocked to train and help small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India capitalise on the digitisation wave. Under it, Google will provide free websites and web tools to small businesses in order to bolster their digital presence. This will help SMBs create a free, mobile optimised website. In addition, Google also launched Primer, a free mobile application designed to teach digital marketing skills in a quick, easy and interactive way.

• The Union Cabinet has approved signing and ratifying an Agreement between India and Uruguay for cooperation and mutual assistance in Customs Matters.

• The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing of an Agreement of cooperation (AoC) between India and Portugal in the field of Agriculture and allied sectors.

• The Union Sports Ministry has constituted a committee to frame a comprehensive National Sports Development Code across sports disciplines. It will be headed by Injeti Srinivas, Sports Secretary. Other members include Prakash Padukone, Nandan Kamath, and Abhinav Bindra. The committee will study international best practices and suggest recommendations for sports governance in India.

• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has declared the year 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

• Scientists from Ireland have claimed the discovery of a new human organ named the mesentery that exists in the digestive system. It will be the human body’s 79th organ. It is a fold of the peritoneum which attaches the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, spleen,and other organs to the posterior wall of the abdomen.

• World Braille Day is observed very year across the world on 4 January to mark the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, inventor of Braille script or Braille code.

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