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11th January 2017 – Current Affairs Today

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National Current Affairs

Supreme Court Directs Election Commission for Paper Audit Trail in EVMs

  • Supreme Court is set to re-introduce the Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for 100 % transparency in elections.
  • The VVPAT in EVM would ensure free and fair polls besides sorting out disputes.
  • In VVPAT system, as the voter presses the button for desired candidate in the EVM, a paper ballot containing the serial number, name of the candidate and poll symbol is printed for the voter.

Gujarat Government Launches Student Startup and Innovation Policy

  • Gujarat government has introduced India’s first Student Startup and Innovation Policy to provide financial support to enable the students in developing their innovative ideas
  • Student Startup and Innovation Policy has been developed under the aegis of Education Department.
  • The policy will support student-led startups & innovations and create an Innovation and Pre-incubation Ecosystem Support (IPIES)across all universities of the state.
  • Under the pre-incubation support the policy would help the students to convert their ideas from proof of concept (PoC) to minimum viable proto-type (MVP),and also  provide support for patent filing.
  • The Gujarat government would provide Rs 200 crore as State Innovation Fund for the next five years, of which Rs 100 crore will be allocated by the state government and the remaining amount will be created by internal sources

Maharashtra Government Launches Country’s Largest WiFi Service

  • Maharashtra Government launched India’s largest Public wifi service, “MumbaiWifi”
  • MumbaiWifi is also considered as one of the largest wifi facility in the world. The wifi facility will be covered in a phased manner.
  • Phase I:Initially 500 wifi hotspots have been launched for the service including office of the Commissioner of Police, Vidhan Bhawan, Kalanagar in Bandra, Bombay High Court among others.
  • Phase II:From May 1, 2017, 1200 wifi hotspots will be active.

Non Fare Revenue Policy to boost Additional Revenue for Railways

  • Non Fare Revenue Policy  to boost up additional revenue and reduce its dependence on traditional revenue system such as passenger and freight traffic.
  • Railway has decided to sell outdoor spaces at railway stations to media agencies for installing advertising hoardings and billboards, provide radio and video content through wifi on stations and trains, lease out spaces at platforms to set up over 2000 ATMs and sell branding of rights of trains and stations to FMCG and other companies.
  • Railway expects that the policy would boost the railway non-fare revenues within a year by nearly six times from  300 crore to nearly Rs. 18000 crore.

Nobel Prize exhibition in Gujarat

  • The Noble Prize Series 2017 is being conducted by Nobel Media for the first time in India and is coordinated by the Department of Biotechnology in Delhi.
  • During the five-week long exhibition set up by the Nobel Foundation, the Nobel laureates will interact with students, scientists, industry leaders and policy makers through conference and meeting events, such as lectures, roundtables and other activities.

20th National Conference for e-Governance Held in Andhra Pradesh

  • The theme for the conference was Internet of Things and e-Governance.
  • Basic aim of NCeG was to use digital innovations for transforming India.
  • The conference was organised by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITy) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in partnership with Information Technology, Electronics and Communication (ITE&C) Department, Andhra Pradesh Government.
  • The main areas discussed during the conference included cyber security policy for future, technology led-monetary transaction leading to financial inclusion and digital economy through last mile connectivity among others.

Income Tax Department receives Silver Award for e-filing of Income Tax Returns project 

  • Income Tax Department has won a Silver Award at the National Awards on e-Governance 2016-17 for its e-filing initiative.
  • It has been conferred the National Awards on e-Governance for the e-filing of Income Tax returns and other forms project in the category Incremental Innovations
  • The award is in recognition of the achievements of the Department in the area of e-Governance and for significant innovations in successful e-Governance programs.

Business & Economy

Axis Bank Becomes Third Lender to Use Block Chain Solution

  • Axis Bankhas joined the group as the third bank to use block chain solutions in its operations after YES Bank and ICICI bank.
  • Blockchain is a secured way of conducting online transactions.
  • It is a decentralized digital ledger that records transactions on thousands of computers globally in such a way that the registered transactions cannot be altered retrospectively.
  • The use of a blockchain removes the characteristic of infinite reproducibility from a digital asset.
  • Block-Chain technology would be used for cross border remittances which is a key area of concern for the banks. Use of the new technology would enable instant transfer of money as against the current system that takes about a week for the same.

Lufthansa becomes first carrier to launch commercial operations with Airbus A350 to India

  • German airline company Lufthansa has become the first carrierto launch commercial operations with Airbus A350 to India after it announced that the first flight to Delhi from Munich
  • The first flight will be launching Airbus A350 between Delhi andMunich on February 11, 2017

PropTiger, Housing merge, to raise $55 mn

  • The largest online residential real estate brokerage firm PropTiger.Com and Housing.Com announced a merger to create India’s largest online real estate servicescompany .
  • REA Group Ltd will invest USD 50 million with an affiliate of SoftBank Group Corp will invest USD 5 million for this merging operation.
  • After merging also, News Corps remains the largest shareholder of PropTiger with 61.6% of REA Group.

People in News

Kalyan Krishnamurthy appointed as Flipkart’s new CEO

  • Kalyan Krishnamurthyhas been named the new Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Flipkart.
  • He will replace Sachin Bansal who will retain his position and work closely with Binny Bansal to drive businesses in areas such as fintech, private brands, business-to-business services, and logistics.
  • He will be responsible for Flipkart’s profit and losses, marking a first for the Indian startup sector.

Polish-born sociologist Zygmunt Bauman dies in UK at age 91

  • The most prominent and prolific European sociologists, Zygmunt Bauman has died at the age of 91.
  • He was a strong moral voice for the poor and dispossessed in a world upended by globalization.
  • Bauman’s works explored the fluidity of identity in the modern world, the Holocaust, consumerism and globalization.
  • He wrote more than 50 books, notably “Modernity and the Holocaust,” a 1989 release in which he differed with many other thinkers who saw the barbarism of the Holocaust as a breakdown in modernity.

Former German President Roman Herzog Dies Aged 82

  • Roman was a former conservative regional politician and chief judge of Germany’s constitutional court, served as head of state from 1994-99.
  • He was well known for the phrase “Germany needs a jolt” from his 1997Berlin speech “Moving into the 21st century” in which he warned that a country scared of change would go under in a globalized world.

Awards

Cristiano Ronaldo Named FIFA Best Player of the Year 2016’

  • Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world’s best player at the inaugural Best FIFA Football Awards 2016
The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award Carli Lloyd.
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach Award Claudio Ranieri.
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach Award Silvia Neid.
The FIFA Puskás Award 2016 Mohd Faiz Subri.
The FIFA Fair Play Award Atletico National.
The FIFA Fan Award Dortmund fans and Liverpool fans.
The FIFA lifetime achievement award Falcao.
The FIFA FIFPro World11 Neuer, Dani Alves, Pique, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Iniesta, Messi, Suarez, Ronaldo.

 

US President Obama Selects 4 Indian-American Scientists for Presidential Awards

  • Four Indian–American scientists have been selected by the US President Barack Obama for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
  • The four Indian origin scientists are Pankaj Lal from Montclair State University, Kaushik Chowdhury from Northeastern University, Manish Arora from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Aradhna Tripati from University of California, Los Angeles.
  • The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Science & Technology

Trials of Indigenous Artillery Gun System Dhanush in the Himalayas

  • Indian Army is successfully conducted the user-validation trials of indigenous artillery gun Dhanush in the Himalayas so that they are ready to be inducted into the Army.
  • A total of six guns are being tested-fired in snow and in conditions where temperatures are at minus 10 degrees.
  • With the successful test-firing the Ordnance Factory Board will start its bulk production.

ISRO and CNES ink pact for satellite launch technology

  • ISRO signed a partnership agreement in satellite launch technology in the presence of visiting French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault in Bengaluru.
  • Space cooperation between France and India spans over 50 years,this partnership will enable France to benefit from the Indian model of streamlining the costs of space programs.

Chinese Kuaizhou-1A Rocket Successfully Launches First Commercial Mission

  • Chinese rocket Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A)successfully launched three satellites into space in its first commercial mission.
  • The KZ-1A is an advanced version of the Kuaizhou-1 rocket with improvements in adaptability.
  • The three satellites launched by KZ-1A included JL-1, CubeSats XY-S1 and Caton-1
  • The JL-1 is a multifunctional remote-sensing satellite to provide high-definition video images mainly for land resource and forestry surveying, environmental protection, transport and disaster prevention and relief purposes.
  • The XY-S1 is used to test technologies of low-orbit narrow-band communication and Caton-1for testing VHF Data Exchange System

Measles-Rubella vaccine to be launched by Health Ministry

  • Health Ministry is all set to introduce the measles-rubella vaccine (MR)from February 2017 in five states and Union territories in the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) to provide preventive medications to every child born in India.
  • An additional vaccine, Pneumococcal conjugate(pneumococcal pneumonia) will also become a part of the UIP basket from March 2017 in three other states.
  • Rubella, commonly known as German Measles is an infection that is believed to affect approximately 25,000 children born in India every year. Symptoms of the infection can include cataracts and deafness. It can also affect the heart and the brain.

Environment & Ecology

Chilika lake encounters 176 species of migratory birds this year

  • The number of migratory birds in the Chilika lake, Odisha has substantially gone up this year.
  • According to Chilika Wildlife DFO,88,264 more birds have visited the brackish water lake this year than the last year. Last year, 8,58,855 birds were sighted in the lake while the number has gone up to 9,47,119 this year.
  • A total of 176 species of migratory birds were seen in the largest brackish water lake in Asia this year.
  • About 20 teams were engaged in the bird census in the 11,000 sq km area of the lake.

Scientists finds New Ginger species with medicinal properties in Andamans

  • Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI)have discovered a new species of ginger in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
  • The new species named as Zingiber pseudosquarrosum belongs to genus Zingiber.
  • It was already used by the local Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)of the Andamans for its medicinal values.

Sports Current Affairs 

Roberto Bautista Wins 2017 Chennai Open Single Title

  • Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain clinched the men’s singles title of the 2017 Chennai Open
  • The 20-year-old has won five ATP singles titles till date and has achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 13
  • This is the second time Bautista played a final at the Chennai Open. Earlier in 2013, he was the runner-up to Janko Tipsarevic.

Eight-year old Kashmiri boy Abbu Ammaz becomes national boxing champion

  • Abbu Ammaz (8),a class 2 studentfrom Jammu and Kashmir has bagged the gold medal in Thai Boxing Championshipat the national level.

India’s Shreyas Wins Scottish Junior Open title

  • Mumbai youngster, Shreyas Mehta, won the Scottish Junior Open Squash championship at Edinburgh
  • The Indian U-13 top squash player Shreyas Mehta defeated Colombia’s Juan Jose Torres Lara 9/12. Earlier he has won US Junior open.
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