CURRENT AFFAIRS SMART LINES 

 2017 January 1 -8

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 74TH GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

APPOINTMENTS

NATIONAL ROUND-UP

• India has successfully tested the Agni-IV ballistic missile, which has a strike range of 4,000km, from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.
• AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) Delhi has partnered with MobiKwik to go cashless.
• In exotic variety of Black rice or purple rice recently has gained popularity in Assam. It was recently sown by the local farmers for the first time in Barak Valley. The Black rice is also known as world super food because of its high nutrition value, unique texture and intriguing nutty flavor.
• India has ranked third among the countries offering the highest average annual salary to expatriates, according to HSBC Holdings data.
• Four biology start-up firms have signed up with the city-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to incubate their companies at Innovation Hub (iHUB).
• The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs has launched Mobile App for Haj Pilgrimage. The app will provide information and facilitate e-payments for the pilgrimage.
• Maharashtra government has decided to allot a 20-acre plot to set up India’s first training institute for gaming, visual effects, animation and comics at Film City in Mumbai.
• The Union Ministry of Urban Development launched Swachh Survekshan 2017 to rank 500 cities/towns across the country on cleanliness with a population of 1 lakh and above.
• Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an agreement between India and Portugal for cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors.
• The Union Cabinet has approved signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Kenya on bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an agreement between India and Uruguay for cooperation in matters related to customs.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 104th Indian Science Congress at Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. Theme: Science and Technology for National Development.
• India and Kazakhstan signed a Protocol to amend the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) between the two countries.
• The 16th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was held in New Delhi.
• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has issued a notification amending a trade policy to prohibit the import of skins of reptiles and fur of chinchillas, minks and foxes.
• The government has approved of 26% strategic sale in state run BEML Ltd. The company in a notification to stock exchanges informed that the government, ministry of defence has approved of the strategic sale plan.
• Retirement fund body EPFO has made it mandatory for its about 50 lakh pensioners and around four crore subscribers to provide either Aadhaar or a proof that they have applied for it till month-end to remain the beneficiary of its social security schemes. 
• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Limited will soon launch a new ticketing App which will have several features added to the existing one for faster booking of tickets.
• The 25th edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair themed ‘Manushi – writings on and by women’ begun with over 800 participating publishers.
• According to growth projection released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected to grow at a slower pace at 7.1% in 2016-17 as compared to 7.6% in 2015-16.
• India asked the World Bank not to rush in brokering a deal on its dispute with Pakistan over Ratle and Kishenganga projects coming up in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Air India, with a nearly 39% chance of a flight delay, has been rated the third worst international airline of 2016 by aviation insights company FlightStats
• The Pravasi Kaushalya Vikas Yojana (PKVY), a skill development scheme, is aimed at boosting the confidence level of the Indian youth, Modi said, addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Bengaluru.
• The national carrier Air India (AI) launched a ‘Fly For Sure’ scheme under which passengers can board any other AI flight on the same sector on the same day on missing their booked flight.
• The Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) has announced that the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) will start from April 1, 2017 to check tax evasion and avoidance.
• The Supreme Court has reiterated the necessity to implement the Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in electronic voting machines (EVMs) to ensure 100% transparency in elections.
• he Budget session of Parliament will start from 31 January 2017 and is likely to conclude on the 12 April 2017. President Pranab Mukherjee will address a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the first day of the session.
• Indian citizens who are not residing in the country have been allowed to exchange their old 500 and 1,000 rupees notes at Reserve Bank of India (RBII) offices till the 30 June 2017.
• The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Limited will soon launch new ticketing app IRCTC Rail Connect. The app will be equipped with latest technology and will be based on next generation e-ticketing system.
• The Revenue Department under the Union Finance Ministry has extended SWIFT (single window interface for facilitation of trade), a single window customs clearance facility for export consignments.
• The Union Government will soon roll out Trade Infrastructure for export Scheme (TIES) to boost export infrastructure by tying up with States.
• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed into three unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) pertaining to the Engineering Goods and Shipping sectors of the economy.

SNIPPETS FROM THE STATES

• Mori, a tiny village in of Andhra Pradesh has by transforming completely into a Smart Digital Village, in every sense of the term.
• The Union Government has approved an assistance of over Rs. 1782.44 crore rupees for Karnataka as drought relief. The state will get this sum from the National Disaster Relief Fund.
• The world’s second largest zinc producer Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) of Vedanta Group has received environment clearance for its Rs. 1,200 crore Zawar Mines expansion project in Rajasthan.
• The Island Tourism Festival 2017 began at Port Blair, capital of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
• The international Kite festival started in Ahmedabad at Sabarmati River Front in Ahmedabad.
• The 20th Edition of the National Conference for e-Governance 2016-17 has started in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
• Andhra Pradesh Government has announced a monetary reward of Rs 100 crore to anyone from the state government who wins Nobel Prize.
• Delhi Government has approved ‘Good Samaritan Policy to encourage people to help road accident victims in emergency situation.
• Delhi government has approved the Phase IV of the Metro project, featuring six corridors and measuring over 103 kilometres.
• Odisha’s World famous 11-day gala festival Bargarh Dhanua Jatra is all set to begin on 2 January 2017.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Nobel Prize Series Exhibition in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It is the first-of-its-kind conclave of Nobel laureates to be held in India.
• The 20^thNational Conference on e-Governance began in Visakhapatnam.  A film on e- governance “Transforming India” was screened on the occasion.
• Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani dedicated India’s first laser technology-based advanced AVMS RTO check-post at Shamlaji of Aravalli district.
• Sikkim became India’s first fully organic state, besides being adjudged the cleanest state, overall best in education and as a tourist destination.
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu launched ‘Arogya Raksha’, a health insurance scheme.
• Tamil Nadu became 21st state to join Central Government’s power utility turnaround scheme Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY).
• The Assam Government will launch its indigenously-developed e-Wallet Tokapoisa.in to enable the people of the state for hassle-free online transactions in local language.
• Maharashtra Government launched India’s largest public WiFi service called “MumbaiWifi” in state capital Mumbai with aim to empower people digitally.
• The Government has imposed an anti-dumping duty on imports of jute and its products from Nepal and Bangladesh for five years period to protect the domestic industry.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

• Making trading in mutual funds more convenient for investors, top stock exchange BSE has announced the launch of the ‘BSE StAR MF’ mobile application.
• In a bid to strengthen capital base of public sector banks (PSBs), the government has allowed 12 lenders to raise nearly Rs 3,000 crore via preferential shares over and above the Rs 22,915 crore capital support committed to them in July last year.
• According to latest data released by Finance Ministry over 26 crore accounts have been opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) across the country till date.
• Mobile payment service Paytm has received a formal nod from the Reserve Bank of India to launch its Paytm Payments Bank. Paytm Payments Bank will notably offer loans, wealth management and insurance.
• HDFC bank has launched a chatbot service called ‘OnChat’ to allow users to make payments through Facebook Messenger. The chatbot will allow users to recharge their phones, pay electricity and DTH bills, and even book Uber and Ola taxis.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first international stock exchange at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat International Financial Tech City (GIFT) located in Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat.

INTERNATIONAL ROUND-UP

• Russia has sent two warships to the Philippines in the first official navy-to-navy contact between the countries.
• Indonesia has suspended military cooperation with Australia, which had been a close partner in the fight against terrorism, after material deemed offensive to Indonesians was found on an Australian military base
• China has launched its first freight train to London over 12,000 kms away as part of efforts by the world’s second largest economy to expand rail links to different areas across the globe to improve its dwindling exports and stabilise slowdown.
• Afghan authorities at the Torkham international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan announced that Pakistani nationals without a valid passport and visa will not be permitted to enter Afghanistan starting January 1, 2017.
• Russia began withdrawing its forces from Syria in a move that will leave the Syrian government to fend for itself to a much greater extent — but with a greatly strengthened hand in negotiations over the country’s future.
• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has declared the year 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
• Norway is set to become the first nation to start switching off its FM radio network, in a risky and unpopular leap to digital technology.
• A 5,000-square-kilometre iceberg is poised to break away from Antarctica. Just 20 kilometres of ice is preventing iceberg Larsen C from floating away, as a rift growing for over a decade has suddenly widened.
• NASA is sending an African-American astronaut to the International Space Station for the first time.
• Scientists have spotted a rare double-ringed elliptical galaxy, approximately 359 light years away from the Earth. Identified as PGC 1000714, it has a 5.5 billion-year-old core at its heart that looks red and is circled by a faint blue ring.
• The year 2016 saw the second hottest December in the last 10 years in Coimbatore.
• Pakistan has successfully test-fired its first Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead up to 450km from an undisclosed location in the Indian Ocean, giving the country a “credible” second-strike capability.
• Director Damien Chazelle’s musical romance “La La Land” registered four early wins at the Golden Globes with its lead star Ryan Gosling bagging the best actor trophy in the musical or comedy category.
• India and Portugal signed six agreements – including one on defence cooperation – after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
• Norway is set to become the first country in the world to switch off its FM radio network. In this regard, Scandinavian country’s parliament has approved a proposal to shift to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• A breakthrough in the race to make useful products out of planet-heating CO2 emissions has been made in southern India.
• American tech giant Dell has unveiled ‘Latitude 7285’, the world’s first LAPTOP that charges wirelessly. It is convertible laptop with detachable tablet. It is embedded with wireless receiving coil based on magnetic resonance technology developed by wireless charging company WiTricity.
• Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who is in a short trip to India unveiled two initiatives – Digital Unlocked and My Business Website – to provide technological edge to the small and medium businesses (SMBs).
• NASA has announced two missions, Lucy and Psyche to explore the early solar system. They were chosen out of 27 submissions.
• The three day International Conference on “Yoga for Diabetes” was held in New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Union Minister of State (MoS) for AYUSH (Independent Charge) Shripad Yesso Naik.
• Japanese startup Cerevo has developed ‘Taclim’, a pair of what it claims to be the world’s first virtual reality shoes for simulating different surfaces like desert, grassland or water in a game.
• Irish scientists have recently identified a new human organ that has existed in the digestive system for hundreds of years.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and French Space agency (CNES) have signed a partnership agreement in satellite launch technology.
• The Indian Army has successfully conducted ‘user-validation’ trials of indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) Dhanush in the Himalayas.
• Scientists for the first time found potential evidence of the Ebola virus replication in the lungs of a person recovering from infection.
• China is setting up the world’s highest altitude gravitational wave observatory in a Tibet prefecture close to Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India.
• Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed 3D version of graphene by compressing and fusing flakes of graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon.
• China has launched its longest bullet train ‘Shangri-la of the World’ connecting Kunming in Yunnan Province to Shanghai. The 2252 km Shanghai-Kunming line links China’s prosperous eastern coast with the less-developed south-western part.

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