Download : 17th January, 2017 – Current Affairs PDF
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National Current Affairs
Supreme Court Grants Permission to 24-Week Pregnant Woman for Abortion
- The court gave the verdict after a panel of seven doctors from KEM Hospital, Mumbai declared that the skull and brain tissue development of the fetus were absent and there was no chance of the fetus surviving outside the uterus.
- Abortion is legal in India only up to 20 weeks of pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 that too if it involves a risk to the life of the pregnant woman physically or mentally or involves a substantial risk to the health of the child.
Kozhikode Corporation becomes First Elderly-friendly corporation in Kerala
- Kozhikode Corporation has started to collect basic details of all the senior citizens through its 543 Anganwadis, in 75 wards.
- Senior citizen’s club will be set up under every Anganwadi and it will be running through a ward-level apex committee.
- The Corporation has allocated 1.75 crore for the project.
Adoption Regulations 2017 Effective From January 16, 2017
- The Adoption Regulation 2017 implements the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. It has been framed by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to be mandatory under section 68 I of the Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and will replace the existing Adoption Guidelines, 2015.
- The Adoption Regulation 2017 provides to address delay in the adoption procedure in time bound and speedy manner while protecting the interest of the Adoption Agencies and Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs)
- It also specifies the procedure wherein child is adopted by relatives both within the country and abroad.
- The new regulation has relaxed the norms for adoption for certain categories of parents like those who lost child due to sickness or accident or one who want to adopt children with special needs.
- Number of days for Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) for completing the procedures of adoption after reserving the child has been increased to twenty from the existing fifteen.
- CARA shall be the nodal agency to take care of the adoption process under the JJ Act, 2015 through Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System (CARINGS).
International Current Affairs
India Ranks 92 in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index
- India dropped to 92nd rankin the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI)released by INSEAD in partnership with The Adecco Group and the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI).
- Last year India stood at 89. The global index of talent competitiveness measures the ability of the countries to grow, attract and retain talent.
| Top 5 nations in the Index | |
| 1 | Switzerland |
| 2 | Singapore |
| 3 | United Kingdom |
| 4 | United States |
| 5 | Sweden |
Indonesia and Japan to deepen defence ties amid China challenge
- Japan will encourage cooperation on maritime security and encourage the development of the remote islands of Indonesia as both nations face dispute with China over maritime issues.
- Japan has won bids to construct Indonesia’s largest coal-fired power plant and a mass rapid transit system for Jakarta.
Pakistan Navy Receives Two Ships From China to Ensure Security along Gwadar Port
- China has handed over two ships to Pakistan Navy in order to ensure joint security along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Gwadar port.
- The Gwadar port is built in Balochistan province of Pakistan under CPEC and links western China through Pakistan with the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Business & Economy
SEBI Tightens Mergers & Acquisitions Norms Among Unlisted Firms
- The public shareholdingof the resultant entity created by the merger of an unlisted and a listed company has to be more than 25 per cent.
- The unlisted entity can only merge with those companies that are listed on exchanges such as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE.
- Sebi has permitted the mutual fundsector to invest in instruments such as real estate investment trusts (ReITs). It has also permitted them to use celebrities for industry-level advertisements.
- Celebrities can only be used for industry-level ads and not at the fund house or the scheme level.
- The involvement of Celebrities would enable growth of MF sector and simplify communication between investors and companies.
Mysuru Printing Press Breaks Record by Printing Highest No. of Currency Notes in a Month
- It printed 9 million currency notein a day that even broke the world record made an American currency printing press of printing 8.7 million notes in a day.
- 1350 million currency noteswere printed in December 2016 in Mysuru which employs 650 workers who work for 12 hours in two shifts.
- The printing wastagewas also reduced to 2 percent which in America was 4 percent. Similarly, cost of printing in American Press was Rs. 4 per currency while in Mysuru, printing a single currency at a cost just 3.40.
India Signs Financing Agreement with World Bank for US$ 48 Million for “Nagaland Health Project”
- Aim :To improve health services and increase their utilization by communities in targeted locations in Nagaland.
- The project will support an existing systems and mechanisms involving communities under the National Health Mission.
IRDAI forms panel to review life insurance product norms
- The committee will analysis the existing framework of IRDA-linked andnon-linked insurance product regulations
- They will review other key aspects like changing economic and insurance market environment, customers’ needs and expectations and insurance product flexibility and innovations.
WPI Based Inflation Increases to 3.39% in December 2016
- Wholesale Price Index (WPI)inflation rose to 39 percent in December 2016 breaking the record of last three months. The rise was due to increase in prices of manufactured items.
- WPI based inflation in vegetablesdeclined by11 percent in December 2016 mainly because of a substantial fall in price of onions which stood at -37.20 percent.
- overall food inflation declined by -0.70 percent from 1.54 percent in November.
- Pulse inflation remained high at 12 percentin December, Potato showed maximum price increase by 26.42 percent. Rate of price increase in egg, meat and fish was 2.73 percent.
- The rate of price rise in sugar was 28.04 percent, for petrol it was 8.52 per cent, and for high speed diesel it was 20.25 percent.
BHEL Commissions 500 MW Thermal Unit In West Bengal
- This was the second 500 MW at Sagardighi Thermal Power Station (TPS) Phase II project in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
- BHEL has so far contributed 83 per centof the total coal-based generating capacity of WBPDCL.
People in News
Rajeev Singh to Take Charge as Interim CEO of Prasar Bharati after S C Panda
- Rajeev Singh, Member of Prasar Bharati Board will take charge as interim CEO of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
- He will replace S C Panda.
- Prasar Bharati is India’s largest public broadcasting agency.
- It is an autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises Doordarshan Television Network and All India Radio
Science & Technology
Indian Superbug Resistant to all Available Antibiotics: Study
- According to a research work published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a multidrug-resistant organism has been identified known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)which is resistant to all available antibiotics.
- The organism leads to high rate of death as thus has been labeled as “nightmare” bacteria.
- The work was based on a case where-in a 70 year old American lady was infected by a superbug biting on her tour to India and eventually died due to the resistant capacity of the organism.
- These bacteria were resistant to 26 different antibiotics available to treat drug-resistant organisms.
- NDM-1 was first discovered when a Swedish patient was infected in 2009 in India.
Facebook to Rollout Fake News Tools for Germany
- Facebook announced to introduce Fake News Tools for Germany Facebook to help the residents in combating the spread of unrealistic news stories.
- Under the fake news tool would pass the story that is believed to be false for testing.
- It will be send to a German non-profit body of investigative journalists, “Correctiv”to check the fact.
- If they find the story to be false, it will be marked on Facebook as “disputed”and will appear lower in users’ news feeds.
Environment and Ecology
IMD Reports 2016 as the Hottest Year Since 1901 in India
- Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) released its statement of climate of India, 2016 and informed that the year 2016 was the hottest year since 1901 for the country.
- The annual mean land surface air temperature was above normal by 04 degree Celsiusin the last two years.
- More than 1,600 persons died last year due to extreme weather conditions across the country. Out of which 700 persons died alone in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
- The reasons cited for the warmer temperatures were a strong El-Nino effect and global warming.
Sports Current Affairs
Khelo India National level Competition inaugurated by Sports Ministry
- The competition was organized by Sports Authority of India under aegis of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in Swimming, Cycling and Wrestling.
- Aim:Provide a platform for the budding talents in the country to play at national level and help to build up the potential to further achieve excellence at international level. It would also promote sports besides developing infrastructure for such sports in the nation.
- The Ministry would also launch a National portal for Sports Talent Search.