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27th February 2017 – Current Affairs Today

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National Current Affairs

Centre frames infrastructure policy to check challenges of urbanization

  • Centre has formulated the infrastructure policy to promote living close to mass public transport corridors like metro, monorail and bus rapid transit (BRT)
  • Aim:To addressing the challenges of urbanisation.
  • The new Policy seeks to promote Transit-Oriented Development(TOD).
  • The Policy is also incentivizing the TOD under new Metro Policy and Green Urban Mobility Scheme that seeks to create non-motorised transport infrastructure in cities like footpaths and cycle-tracks.
  • TOD policy is being taken up in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Naya Raipur, Nagpur and Navi Mumbai.

Medical Project RAHAT for Prompt Treatment of Heart Disease

  • RAHAT program aims to provide people in remote and rural areas with timely treatment during heart attacks. It has been launched by the private hospitals in Rajasthan.
  • Under the program, the patients facing heart attack would be provided with emergency ambulance service and telemedicine service through Eternal Heart Care Centre Hospital.
  • Rajasthan has launched several initiatives to boost the medical and health sector of the state such as Arogya Rajasthan, new medical colleges and Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana etc.

International Current Affairs

Mumbai Named Richest Indian City with Total Wealth of $820 bn

  • According to the New World Wealth report, Mumbai, the financial capital of India has been named as the Richest Indian city with a total wealth of $ 820 billion.
  • Mumbai is followed by Delhi at second place with a total wealth of $ 450 billion and having 23,000 millionaires and 18 billionaires.
  • Bengaluru stands at third place  with a total wealth of $ 320 billion and houses 7,700 millionaires and 8 billionaires.
  • The report estimated about 11,000 millionaires moved to Australia in 2016 which marks the highest such inflow in any country. Besides, 10,000 moved to the US and 3,000 moved to the UK.

Business & Economy

NCAER Lowers India’s GDP Growth Forecast to 6.9 per cent for FY17

  • National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has lowered India’s GDP growth to 6.9 percent for the fiscal 2016-17 compared to previous estimation of 7.6 percent.
  • The decline in the growth forecast is based on the demonetization effect.
  • According to NCAER, the growth rate would rebound to 3 percent for 2017-18.
  • It also predicted the Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic price would grow at 6.3 percent in 2016-17 and 7 percent in 2017-18.
  • Real Agriculture GVA is estimated to grow at 3.7 percent, Real Industry GVA at 5.5 percent and Real Services GVA at 7.3 percent in 2016-17.
  • Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation is projected at 3.6 percent for 2016-17. However, the inflation is projected to accelerate in 2017-18 due to rising crude oil inflation.

India To Remain Fastest Growing Economy Among G-20 Nations Despite Demonetization

  • Moody’s Investors Service report states that despite the currency demonetisation drive by Government of India, the country will continue to be the fastest growing economy among G-20 countries in 2017.
  • India is expected to have the fastest-growing economy among all G-20 countries with growth rate at 1% for 2017, though lower as compared to previous expectation of 7.5%.
  • With respect to the global growth, G-20 countries is expected to have a growth rate of 3 percent in 2017 and 2018 from 2.6 percent in 2016.
  • The report also observed that China’s economy of 6.7% in 2016 may continue to decelerate to 3% and 6% in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
  • Moody’s has revised the US’s GDP growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.2% in 2017 and 2.5% from 2.1% in 2018.

DIPP Reports FDI Inflow Grows by 18% to USD 46 billion in 2016

  • According to the data by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)in India grew 18 percent during 2016 to attract $46 billion as compared to $39.32 billion in 2015
  • The main sectors which attracted the maximum foreign inflows include services, telecom, trading, computer hardware and software and automobile.
  • The major FDI contributing countries were Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Japan.

Foxconn and SoftBank Forms $1.2B Joint Venture

  • Under the agreement, Foxconn would buy 5% stake in SoftBank Group Capital Apac Pte Ltd for $600 million while the remaining would be controlled by SBG.
  • Investments would be made in initiatives that will integrate SoftBank’s expertise in investments and the Foxconn’s manufacturing and technology services to maximize the profitability of the venture.
  • Foxconn will also be responsible for management of the operation as a whole.

Gorb Partners with Ola Cab to Offer Food at Discounted Rates to Riders

  • Food technology start-up Gorb has partnered with online cab aggregator Ola to offer food to consumers at discounted rates in Mumbai.
  • Under the deal, with every booking of Ola cab, the rider will receive a code via SMS and mail which can be availed on the Gorb app or website to order food at discounted rate.
  • The aim of the partnership is to make available the meals at affordable prices to consumers in Mumbai.

TCS Ranked Among Top Three IT Services Brands Globally by Brand Finance

  • India’s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) has been rated as one of the top three most-valuable brands in the information technology (IT) service sector by Brand Finance, the leading global brand valuation firm.
  • The overall global position of the company dropped down by one spot to 25th from 2016 when it was 24.
  • Other Indian origin IT services companies that made it to the top 10 of the brand value list are Infosys at number 6 and HCL Tech at number 8.
  • The global top 3 most valuable brands in the list includes Google, Apple and Amazon.com respectively.

People in News

Three Poets From Maharashtra Conferred with Vishakha Awards

  • The first prize of Rs 21,000 was given to Dr Yogini Satarkar-Pande from Nanded for her book ‘Janivanche Hirve Komb’. She is an English professor at Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University.
  • The second prize of Rs 15,000 was given to Mohan Kumbhar from Sindhudurg for his book ‘Jagnyache Gatha’. He is a professor at B V Desai College, Kankavli.
  • The third prize of Rs 10,000 was given to Vishnu Thore of Nashik for his book ‘Dhulpera Usvata’. He is a farmer and an artist from Chandwad tehsil town and has designed over 450 book covers.

Japan Creates Guinness Record by Launching World’s First Robot Table Tennis Tutor

  • Japan has unveiled the world’s first robot table tennis tutor FORPHEUS (Future Omron Robotics Technology for Exploring Possibility of Harmonised automation with Sinic Theoretics) which has the ability to play the game better than humans.
  • The FORPHEUS aims to create a harmonious environment between humans and robots through teaching the game of table tennis to human players.
  • The machine has been equipped with sensors and cameras that will help the robot to detect the movement of the ball during the match to better guide as a coach.
  • It also allows human student to see a projected image as to where the return ball will land so that they may improve their skills.

Normani Kordei Named American Cancer Society Global Ambassador

  • Aim :To raise awareness about breast cancer screenings and HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines.
  • The American Cancer Society is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer.

Former CM T R Zeliang appointed Finance Advisor to Nagaland government 

  • Former Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang was appointed as Finance Advisor to the Nagaland government in the rank of a cabinet minister
  • Zeliang had resigned from the chief ministership on February 19, 2017.

Science & Technology

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur Develops Prototype to Protect IoT Devices

  • A team of researchers at the Indian Institute Of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT Kgp)have designed ‘Physically Unclonable Functions’ (PUF) based on fingerprint generator circuits to protect Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure from being hacked.
  • PUF are light weight and require little power. They can be easily installed in any electronic device.
  • The fingerprint generator circuits will enable the receiving device to read the command, verify the authenticity of the sender and then operate.
  • It will help to uniquely identify each object and thus enable authenticating the commands sent to connected IoT devices

Air India’s New Fuel-Efficient Airbus A320 Neo Makes Maiden Flight

  • The Airbus A320 Neo aircraft is fuel-efficient and highly environmental-friendly. It has reduced noise levels and emits 50 percent less carbon.
  • Air India has plans to induct a total of 29 A320 Neos into its fleet by March 2019 out of which it has planned to induct 13 planes by 2017 calendar year.

Sports Current Affairs

R Ashwin Breaks Kapil Dev’s Record to Become Highest Test Wicket Taker in Home Season

  • Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin surpassed India’s former legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev to become the highest wicket-taker in a home Test season.
  • Ashwin has scored 67 wickets from 10 Tests in 2016-17 season played in India. Former Indian captain Kapil Dev took 63 wickets from 13 matches in the 1979-80 season.

Gopi & Athare Wins Men’s and Women’s Full Marathon in New Delhi

  • Rio Olympian Thanackal Gopi won the Men’s Full Marathon title in the second edition of the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon with a time of 2:15:37.
  • Bahadur Singh Dhoni clocked 2:16:09 to finish second while T H Sanjith was third by covering the 42.195 km distance in 2:17:20.
  • All of them have also qualified for the World Athletics Championships to be held in London in August 2017.
  • Other Category Winner
Half Marathon Men G Lakshamanan (1:04:29)
Man Singh (1:04:39)
Kheta Ram (1:06:15).
Half Marathon Women Manju Yadav (1:21:02)
Arpita Saini (1:25:34)
Neetu Singh (1:27:11).
10K Run Men Mohan Saini (31:08)
Dinesh Kumar Bind (31:17)
Somong Raman (31:17).
10K Run Women Reeta Bisht (42:13)
Jayanti Thapliyal (42:35)
Nikki Rai (45:22).

 

Saina Nehwal to Represent IOC Athletes’ Commission in BWF

  • Saina Nehwal has been named to represent the panel of International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission (AC) in the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
  • Saina was appointed as a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission soon after the Rio Olympics in 2016.
  • She would join the BWF Athletes’ Commission as a representative of the IOC AC.