Download : 20th January, 2017 – Current Affairs PDF
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h2>National Current Affairs
Second Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi
- The conference has been organized by the Ministry of External Affairsand Delhi based prestigious think tank Observer Research Foundation.
- The theme of the three day conference is “The New Normal: Multilateralism in a multipolar world”.
- More than 250 participants from 65 countries attended the flagship geo-political conference.
58th India International Garment Fair Begins in New Delhi
- The events is Asia’s largest apparel Fair providing a platform for the overseas buyers to source garments products and develop business relationships with Indiain the apparel and fashion accessories sector.
- The Fair will witness a total of 312 participants from 14 statesincluding Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka.
- Sellers would showcase products ranging from women’s wear, accessories, kids wear and menswear.
J&K Assembly Unanimously Passes Resolution for Return of Kashmiri Migrants to Valley
- Jammu & Kashmir Assembly unanimously passed a resolution for the return of Kashmiri Pandits and other migrants to the Valley.
- Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit families had left the Valley when militancy broke out in
- The assembly agreed upon creation of good conducive atmosphere for the safe return of the Kashmiri migrants to the valley.
Karnataka allows sale of white kerosene in open market
- The dealers who have interest in selling white kerosene in open market can approach the office of the Food and Civil Supplies in their districts.
Entrepreneurship Development Scheme inaugurated in Mizoram
- The State government has allocated 2 Crore for New Economic Development Policy (NEDP)
- EDS would be instrumental in the state government’s efforts to achieve market economy from subsistence economy.
- It could be instrumental in implementation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations with minimum harm to the environment.
Indian Railways Unveils ‘Mission 41K’ to Save Energy Worth Rs 41,000 crore
- The mission aims to save the Indian Railways’ expenditure of Rs 41,000 crore on energy consumption over the next 10 years.
- To achieve this target, the railway has planned a series of measures that includes: switching over 90 percent of traffic to electric traction from diesel, procure electricityat cheaper rates through open market instead of sourcing it through DISCOMs.
- This would save about 25 percent of energy expenses.
- The railway is exploring new technologies to bring down electric consumption.
- The railways have already set a target of generating 1000 MW of solar power and 200 MW of wind energy in the last Budget.
Govt inks MoU to set up 1,000 ‘Janaushadhi Kendras’
- Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India(BPPI) has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Yuva Cooperative Society to set up 1,000 ‘Janaushadhi.
- Aim : To provide medicines at an affordable price.
- The central government has targeted to open 3,000 such centers across India by the end of this fiscal year. Nearly 750 Janaushadhi Kendras are opened still now.
Govt gets 45 initial bids for more than 200 regional routes
- The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has received 45 initial proposals coming in from 11 bidders covering more than 200 regional routes under Regional Connectivity Scheme
- The Regional Connectivity Scheme, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik)was launched on October, 2016 to enhance air passenger traffic in the country by stimulating demand on regional routes.
Business & Economy
CBDT Clarifies No TDS or Advance Tax Credit for Income under PMGKY
- Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)on January 18, 2017 cleared that income declared under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY) would not be entitled to get any credit by way of advance tax paid or the tax deducted at source (TDS) or tax collected at source (TCS)
- PMGKY was set up to give an opportunity to those who deposited tax-evaded money in bank-demonetised currencies. It was opened on December 17, 2016 and will remain open till March 31.
- Under the scheme, a person declaring undisclosed income would need to pay a tax of 30%, in addition to a penalty of 10% and a Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan cess of 33% on the tax.
- Under the Income Declaration Scheme (‘IDS’), the government has allowed TDS credit in those cases where such credit has not already been claimed in the income-tax return.
Lloyd’s Gets Final Approval from IRDAI to Open First Branch in India
- London’s insurance giantLloyd has received the final approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to set up its first branch in India.
- Lloyd’s will bring expertise and specialist capacity to India’s insurance market and work in partnership with local insurance businesses to develop innovative solutions that meet the unique needs of the growing economy.
PNB and IPPB team up for technology support
- The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been recently incorporated as a Public Limited Company under the Department of Posts with 100% GOI equity.
- The total corpus of the payments bank is of Rs 800 crore
- Punjab National Banksigned a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with India Post Payments Bank(IPPB) to provide technology platform for pilot launch of IPPB on receipt of regulatory nod from the Reserve Bank of India.
World Bank Sanctions Rs 1,376 Cr For Tripura Power Upgradation
- World Bank has sanctioned Rs 1,376 crore for upgrade and improvement of the Tripura power system network.
- The Power Upgradation project is divided into5 phases. SPML Infra Ltd has got the contract of the first phase with the budget of Rs 461 crore .
- A large number of 132 KV and 33 KV substations will be constructed and upgraded under the project across Tripura.
Alphabet’s Google Buys Mobile App Tool Fabric From Twitter
- US based Google is announced to acquire Twitter’s mobile application developer platform Fabric for an undisclosed amount.
- Fabric was launched in 2014 to provide the best tools to help developers create amazing apps.
Science & Technology
Government Launches Web-Portal ‘ShaGun’ for Monitoring Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
- This is for continuous monitoring of the elementary education scheme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)and promote the development of education sector of India.
- The portal has been developed by World Bank in collaboration with Ministry of Human Resource Development.
- It would focus on displaying positive stories in the field of education in the form of videos, testimonials, case studies, and images on the web portal for further improvement in performance under SSA.
- Secondly it provides an online monitoring module to measure state-level performance and progress against key educational indicators to enable the government and administrators to track the efficiency with which SSA funds are being utilised and the results that this is delivering.
- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a centrally sponsored scheme providing universal access to education to children in the age group of six to fourteen years of age.
ISRO Successfully Realignes Orbit of Mars Mission “Mangalyaan”
- The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) successfully realigned the orbit of its Mars Orbiter Mission ‘Mangalyaan’
- The need for changing the orbit of Mangalyaan was felt to protect it from the long duration eclipse otherwise the Mangalyaan’s battery capacity would have got exhausted due to lack of sun rays.
- It would help to keep the power supply strong during the eclipse caused by shadow of Mars falling on it for 7-8 hours so that Mangalyaan could continue to function longer.
- The spacecraft has 30kg fuel left as per the scientists and with realignment it is expected to work for a very long time to come.
High Resolution Weather Prediction System Commissioned by Ministry of Earth Sciences
- A very high resolution of 12km global deterministic weather prediction model, Ensemble Prediction System (EPS), that will be used to generate operational weather forecasts has been commissioned.
- Aim:The new system would be beneficial to overcome the problem of uncertainties in the forecasts.
- Besides the existing systems that are operating under MoES will also be upgraded to 12 km resolution that has an operating horizontal resolution of 25 km.
- The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is responsible to provide Weather, Climate and Hydrological Services to users throughout the year which are implemented by India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System (INCOIS).
Sports Current Affairs
Babar Azam Becomes Fastest Pakistani Player to Reach 1000 ODI runs
- Pakistani batsman Babar Azambecame the fastest player in Pakistan’s One Day International (ODI) history to score 1,000 runs in 21 innings during the 3rd ODI against Australia at WACA Ground in Perth, Australia
- With this score the 22-year-old right hand batsman, Azam, became the joint-fastest player to reach 1000 runs in ODIs.
- The first such record was made by Sir Viv Richards of West Indiesin 1980 during an ODI against England in Sydney.
- Other in the list includes Kevin Pietersen (England), Jonathan Trott (England), Quinton de Kock (South Africa).
Alibaba Becomes Worldwide Sponsor of Olympic Games through 2028
- International Olympic Committee (IOC)and Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group entered into a long-term partnership through 2028 on January 19, 2017 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
- This makes Alibaba the worldwide sponsor of Olympic Games through 2028.
- With this Alibaba has become the first company in the worldto make a long-term commitment to the IOC through 2028 as well as first Chinese company to commit to the
Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.