14-15 January 2017 - Daily Current Affairs

Important Dates

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu held delegation-level talks in New Delhi
Both leaders discussed a lot of issues including defense cooperation, trade, innovation, terrorism, agriculture and water harvesting.
Nine Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), including in the fields of cybersecurity, oil and gas, space and science and technology, civil aviation, information and broadcasting and health, were signed after the talks.
Mr. Netanyahu will inaugurate the third edition of the annual Raisina Dialogue in Delhi tomorrow and also visit Agra, Ahmedabad & Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have attended a ceremony at the ‘Teen Murti Memorial’ to mark the renaming of ‘Teen Murti Chowk’ as ‘Teen Murti Haifa Chowk’.
The three bronze statues at ‘Teen Murti’ represent the Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers who were part of the 15 Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade.
The brigade carried out the victorious assault on the fortified city of Haifa on 23th September, 1918, during World War I.
The liberation of Haifa cleared a supply route for the Allies to the city through the sea.

Former Union minister Raghunath Jha (78-years) passed away at a Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
He is a sitting MLA from Sheohar and six consecutive times MP from Gopalganj and Betiya, respectively.
His career included stints with several different political parties, including the Socialist Party, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Samajwadi Party.

Veteran Tamil writer, journalist and theatre personality, Gnani Sankaran (64-year) passed away at his residence in Chennai.
Gnani is often recalled by his friends as a firebrand journalist of Madras of the early 1980s,
In 1981, One of his journalistic works that kicked up a major controversy was an interview of Jayendra Saraswathi that put the pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in trouble for his remarks of conducting prayers to make M Karunanidhi sick.
Gnani was seen joining AAP and unsuccessfully contesting from Alandur constituency in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Senior sports administrator Anil Khanna has been named Chairman of the Finance Commission of the Indian Olympic Association, which also formed a four-member advisory committee.
The IOA also formed a Medical Commission and Games Technical Conduct Committee and nominated office bearers of IOA and National Sports Federations (NSFs) to the Committees.
The advisory committee comprises Tarlochan Singh, GS Mander, S Regunathan and BS Landge.

Vijay Kumar has been appointed as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of the country’s largest agri-commodity bourse NCDEX.
He is an agro-industry veteran, having worked for Cargill and National Bulk Handling Corporation.
He will replace Samir Shah.

In the Talle Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, a new moth species ‘Elcysma Ziroensis’ has been discovered.
This discovery has been published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
This new species has been scientifically named Elcysma Ziroensis.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)'s India International Exchange listed the first bond on its Global Securities Market.
The bonds issued by Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) are one of the highest credit rated bonds issued by an Indian corporate and has been IRFC's first foray into the Green Bond market.
IRFC is going to expand its footprint into the newer lines of business and will be able to use its Minimum Alternate Tax better.

According to The World Economic Forum (WEF), India at 30th ranked on a global manufacturing index.
In the top ten, Japan has been found to have the best structure of production in the Geneva-based WEF’s first ‘Readiness for the future of production report’
It followed by South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, the US, Sweden, Austria and Ireland.
Overall, India is ranked better than its neighbour Sri Lanka (66th), Pakistan (74th) and Bangladesh (80th).

Indian Cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar has launched Cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar’s autobiography named ‘Imperfect’, in Mumbai.
The book was published by Harper Collins.
In Imperfect, Sanjay Manjrekar brings his famous analytic powers to look back at his own career as a cricketer.

Today, the first Grand Slam of the season 106th edition "Australian Open-2018" kicked off in Melbourne, Australia.
The men's draw features defending champ Roger Federer, 2017 runner-up Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka. while the women’s draw is wide open, with just two former champions in action.
From the Indian side, Yuki Bhambri (25-year) is a lone qualifier in the Men's Singles event.
Men's doubles from 17 January, features pairs of Leander Paes and Purav Raja and Rohan Bopanna along with his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Note:

The "2018 Australian Open" is a tennis tournament that will take place at Melbourne Park between 15–28th January 2018.
The tournament will consist of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play.\