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INDIAN AFFAIRS
Union Government announced 13 cities as Smart Cities
Urban Development Ministry announced 13 cities as Smart Cities where highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate, communications and market viability
Ministry: Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty
i. Venkaiah Naidu conferred that seven more capital cities will be entered to the smart city competition.The above 13 cities are announced as Smart Cities.
ii. They are Patna, Shimla, Naya Raipur, Itanagar, Amaravati, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.
iii. The ‘Fast Track Competition’ from which these 13 were selected.
Odisha Official Language (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 promulgated
i. Odisha Governor SC Jamir promulgated Odisha Official Language (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 for use of Odia language as a tool for communication in official matters.
ii. As per the promulgation the state government to formulate laws to implement the Odisha Official Language Act 1954.
iii. Council of ministers meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed it to the ministers also emphasized that Rules are in advanced stage of formulation for use of Odia in official business.
iv. In the side-lines the state government also announced to set up a University of Odia language and literature to facilitate teaching and research on the same.
Odisha:
♦ Capital: Bhubaneswar
♦ Governor: S.C. Jamir
♦ Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik
Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated five new activities
Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated five new activities in Mumbai.
| S.No | New Iniatives |
| 1 | New AC Weekly Express train between H. Nizamuddin-Pune |
| 2 | Expansion of VIKALP Scheme of Alternate Train Reservation to Delhi-Howrah, Delhi- Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Secunderabad Circuits, |
| 3 | Hand Held Terminals that makes Sale of Unreserved Tickets in Pilot Basis. |
| 4 | Launching of Ergonomically Redesigned & Optimised Tools for Track Gangs, Keymen & Patrolmen |
| 5 | Improving Safety at Unmanned Level Crossing in pilot basis. |
Telangana govt signs MoU with Eclat Health Solns
i. Telangana government has signed a MoU with US-based healthcare tech firm Eclat Health Solutions, which will invest USD 15 million in the state to provide 1,000 jobs, it was signed by IT Minister K T Rama Rao On behalf the state.
ii. The State touring US has also signed another agreement with Genesis Pharmaceuticals Chairman Monif Matouk, and Safye Holdings CEO Afi Hasan.
iii. The team comprising State Principal Secretary, Industries, Commerce and Power Arvind Kumar, IT department Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and the IT minister.
Telangana:
♦ Capital: Hyderabad
♦ Governor: E. S. L. Narasimhan
♦ Chief minister: Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao.
NGT bans over 10-year-old light, heavy diesel vehicles in six Kerala cities
i. National Green Tribunal has banned light and heavy diesel vehicles, which are passed more than 10 years old, in six major cities in Kerala.
ii. The tribunal also directed the state government not to register any diesel vehicle in the capacity of 2000 CC and more, except public transport and local authority vehicles.
iii. The Bench, comprising NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar and expert member Bikram Singh Sajwan directed the following cities where the ban will be in force, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur.
iv. If any violations found on the road, the vehicle bearer shall pay Rs. 5000 as environmental compensation and this will be collected by traffic police/pollution control board.
Kerala
♦ Capital: Thiruvananthapuram
♦ Governor: Sathasivam
♦Chief Minister: Pinarayi Vijayan
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
World Humanitarian Summit held at Istanbul
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurated the first world humanitarian summit
Purpose: World leaders to be committed to improving the humanitarian responses to crises
Venue: Istanbul
Features of the Summit:
i. World leaders to align themselves with the five core responsibilities
ii. Preventing and ending conflicts
iii. Respecting the rules of war
40 million Indians at risk from rising sea levels: UNEP
According to the UN environment report over 40 millionpeople in India will be put at risk from rising sea levels by 2050.
i. The Report points out Mumbai and Kolkata having the maximum exposure to coastal flooding in future due to rapid urbanisation and economic growth.
ii. Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines,are expected to have storm surge with a combined total of over 58 million people at risk by 2050.
iii. The report alsoe mphasized that global urban populations are projected to scale up by 5 billion by 2050, with nearly 90 per cent of the increase in Asia and Africa.
IIM-A, IIM-B climb positions on Financial Terms Executive Education rankings
Institutes: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and Bangalore (IIMB)
Achievements: They improved their positions on the Financial Times global rankings for Executive Education programs in custom and Open categories for 2016.
Ranking Status:
i) Open Category
IIM-B shifted the rank from 53rd to 57th in the year 2016
IIM-A debuted at 67th rank
ii)Custom category
IIM-B top ranked among Indian B Schools
iii) Custom executive education category
For executive education at 47th rank from 57th rank in 2015
IIMA was ranked at 74th position from 83rd rank in 2015
India bans nationals from travelling to strife-torn Libya
i. Indian External Affairs Ministry has banned Indian nationals from travelling to Libya in view of prevailing security situation in the country, irrespective of the purpose of the visit.
ii. This decision has been notified to all immigration authorities by the Ministry of External affairs led by Sushma Swaraj.
iii. This move comes after reports of a Libyan former minister being killed in clashes between unity government forces and fighters of the ISIS group in Sirte.
Libya
♦ Capital: Tripoli
♦ Currency: Libyan dinar
♦ Prime minister: Fayez al-Sarraj
BANKING & FINANCE
India signs loan agreement with World Bank for IBRD loan of US$ 100 million for ‘Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization project’
i. The Loan and Project Agreements for World Bank (IBRD) assistance of US$ 100 million for the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization project were signed between Government of India/Government of Karnataka and the World Bank here today.
ii. The Project is aimed to provide city-wide access to a continuous piped water supply in the eligible cities in Karnataka and also to reinforce the service delivery arrangements across the city.
iii. Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation is the fulfilling agency for the project. It will hold four key components such as (i) Capital Investment Program (ii) Institution Building (iii) Technical Assistance for Sector Development and (iv) Project Management.
iv. The project set to be executed over a period of 6 years, to begin with the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad, with provision for other eligible cities to join the project later.
India Post payments bank to be operational from March 2017
i. Union IT & Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed that India Posts payments bank will start functioning from March 2017.
ii. The minister stated that the proposal to start the Payments will be kept before the cabinet and postal payments bank will become operational from next march.
iii. The ministry will invest about Rs.800 crore ,Rs.400 crore by the department and the remaining amount will be equity part which is aimed for financial inclusion.
iv. The payment bank approval from the Reserve Bank is valid for 18 months and all the entities are required to submit a detailed business plan after they get final nod.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Getting in rhythm: Over 31,000 in China set dance record
i. 31,697 people sets a Guinness World Records for mass plaza dancing in multiple location.
ii. Over 31,000 people in Beijing, Shanghai and four other cities in china have created a new feet by performing choreographed dance moves together for more than five minutes.
iii. The participants include generally middle-aged and elderly women, such dancers are a common site in parks, plazas and other public areas.
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS
Sarbananda Sonowal to be sworn in as Assam CM and becomes first BJP Government in Assam
BJP government formed the Legislative Assembly andSarbananda Sonowal took charge as the Chief Minister of the state along with 11 ministers.
i. Assembly Constituencies: 126
ii. Ruling Party: BharatiyaJanata Party
iii. Opposition Party: Indian National Congress
iv. Chief Minister: Sarbananda Sonowal
v. Governor: Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya
vi. BJP Government has won 60 seats out 126 seats
FIFA’s acting Secretary General Markus Kattner sacked
i. Football governing body’s Deputy Secretary General Markus Kattner has been dismissed from his position with the immediate effect after a probe found violations in his fiduciary responsibilities in employment contract.
ii. German hailed Markus took over as acting general secretary after Jerome Valcke was sacked due to irregularities in his administration in the illegal sale of tickets for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
iii. He joined Fifa in 2003 as director of finance, being promoted as deputy secretary general in 2007. However no other current directors of FIFA are said to be involved.
FIFA
♦ Founded: 1904.
♦ Headquarters: Zürich, Switzerland.
♦ President: Gianni Infantino.
F45 India appoints ex-cricketer Brett Lee as brand ambassador
i. Australia based Functional training system F45 announced the appointment of former Australian cricketer Brett Lee as brand ambassador for Indian operations.
ii. F45 also making its entry into the launching its first fitness studio in Hyderabad also planning to open as many as 300 outlets under the franchise model also mulling to expand its studios over the span of next 5 years.
iii. F45 is expanded as Functional 45, now has over 400 franchises sold in under three years.
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
Mahindra incorporates Trringo as wholly-owned subsidiary
i. Mumbai-based utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra has incorporated its agricultural equipment rental services arm Trringo.com as a wholly-owned subsidiary.Its operations will be initially will be in India.
ii. The Vehicles major has incorporated with an initial subscription of 50,000 shares of Rs 10 each aggregating Rs 5 lakh as a wholly-owned subsidiary of it.
iii. Upon this move Trringo will utilise a proprietary digital platform as a platform to process orders and pass them on to the nearest franchisee through location-based mapping.
Mahindra & Mahindra
♦ Headquarter: Mumbai
♦ CEO: Anand Mahindra
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Scientists detect faintest galaxy ever
i. A team of Scientists has discovered and definite about the faintest early-universe galaxy ever furthest galaxy that is 13 billion light years far from Earth.
ii. Los Angeles based California University scientists made the discovery that could be a step toward unravelling one of the biggest mysteries in space science, which is a finding that can help explain how the cosmic dark ages ended.
iii. Space scientists believe that the existence of the faint object would outhouse light on the reionization time, when stars were first seen. The telescopes at the Keck Observatory were instrumental in the findings.
OBITUARY
Afghan Taliban sources confirm death of leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour
i. According to the Afghan reliable sources Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone airstrike attack in a remote area of south-west Pakistan, near the Afghan border.
ii. He assumed the leadership in July last year filling the shoes of Taliban founder and spiritual head Mullah Mohammad Omar.
iii. The UN reports claiming that he had an active role in drug trafficking.
iv. Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan currently waging war within that country.
