17 January 2017 - Daily Current Affairs

17 January 2017 - Daily Current Affairs

National Affairs

PM Modi & Netanyahu to hold roadshow in Ahmedabad

  • Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on an eight-km long roadshow from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport to Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat.
  • Around 50 stages have been erected on the roadside along the stretch to showcase performances by troupes of different states to welcome the guests.
  • Mr. Netanyahu is the third international leader (earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese premier Shinzo Abe) whom Modi is hosting in his home state of Gujarat.

Odisha CM launches ‘Mukhya Mantri Kalakar Sahayata Yojana’

  • The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik has launched the Mukhya Mantri Kalakar Sahayata Yojana (MMKSY) for the welfare of the artists in Odisha.
  • Under MMKSY Scheme, artists across the state will get a monthly assistance of Rs. 1200.
  • Around 50,000 artists across Odisha will be benefited from this scheme.
  • In new eligibility criteria, a male artist can avail assistance under the scheme after attaining the age of 50 years (earlier 60 years), the female artist has been reduced to 40 years (earlier 50 years).

Department of Commerce & CII sign MoU for development of Logistics sector

  • The Department of Commerce (DoC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for setting-up of an institutional mechanism for the integrated development of Logistics sector in the country.
  • The objective of the MoU to modernize India’s logistics sector and bring it to par with the global best.
  • The Union Govt. has also decided to reduce the Logistics cost in the country from the present 14% of GDP to less than 10% by 2022.
  • Recently, the union govt. has also granted infrastructure status to the number of logistics activities to avail cheaper and long-term commercial loans.

Kishtwar in J&K to get full-fledged Airport: Dr. Jitendra Singh

  • According to the Union Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh, Kishtwar (Jammu and Kashmir) will get a full-fledged Airport facility with provision for Aircraft landing and taking off.
  • The airstrip will be for the joint use, both by the civilian authorities as well as the Indian Army.

TCS bags over USD 690 million deal from M&G Prudential

  • Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a USD 690 million deal with M&G Prudential, the UK and European savings and investments business of Prudential plc.
  • Now, TCS will digitally transform M&G Prudential’s business and deliver enhanced service for its UK savings and retirement customers.
  • The value of this agreement exceeds over 10 years and covers the support of over 4 million customer policies.

International Affairs

BBIN pact: India, Bangladesh, Nepal okay vehicle movement procedure

  • Bangladesh, India, and Nepal agreed upon operating procedures for trans-border movement of passenger vehicles under Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) motor vehicles agreement.
  • The BBIN motor vehicles agreement (MVA) was signed by the transport ministers of the BBIN countries in Thimphu, Bhutan.
  • The objective of the agreement to facilitate seamless flow of passenger and cargo traffic in the sub-region.
  • Earlier, the trial runs for cargo vehicles were conducted along the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Delhi-Kolkata- Dhaka routes.

India & US to conduct joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’

  • The Indo-US joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle, USA.
  • A 45-member Special Forces team from Indian Army’s Southern Command will train alongside US soldiers in the third week of January.
Note:
  • ‘Vajra Prahar’ is an Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise, which is conducted alternately in India and the US.
  • The last edition of the exercise was held in Jodhpur in March 2017.

India & Sri Lanka sign four agreements for collaboration in ICT sector

  • India and Sri Lanka have signed four agreements for collaboration in the Information and communication technology (ICT) sector.
  • The MoU has been signed by the Union minister for Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad with his Sri Lankan counterpart in Colombo.
  • Now, Sri Lanka has become the first country to be connected to India’s National Knowledge Network (NKN) through a Gigabyte optical fiber network.
  • The internet connectivity will connect NKN to Sri Lanka’s education & research network (LEARN) through which academic institutions of both the nations.

Honours & Awards

CU confers honorary D.Litt. degree to Pranab Mukherjee

  • The Chittagong University (Bangladesh) honored former president Pranab Mukherjee (82year) with the Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degree for his "outstanding contributions to society and for being a genuine friend of Bangladesh".
  • The university’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury conferred the degree to Mr. Mukherjee at the university campus.
  • Mr. Mukherjee will join a three-day ‘International Bengali Literature Conference’ as the chief guest.

Sports

Ronaldinho confirms his retirement from football

  • Brazilian football player Ronaldinho (37-year) has formally confirmed his retirement from football.
  • Ronaldinho started his career with Gremio and spent five years with Barcelona (2003 – 2008).
  • He hasn't played professionally since leaving Fluminese in 2015.
Note: Ronaldinho played the bulk of his career at European clubs Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Milan as well as playing for the Brazilian national team.

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