25 January 2017 - Daily Current Affairs
Important Dates
Himachal Pradesh celebrates 48th Statehood Day today
- Today, Himachal Pradesh is celebrating its 48th Full Statehood day.
- The Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has unfurled the tricolor and take the salute from police, home-guards, NCC cadets, students at a state-level function in Aani Sub Division of Kullu district.
- In 1971, on this day Himachal Pradesh was declared as an 18th state of the Indian Union.
8th National Voters Day is being observed today
- Today, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is celebrating the 8th National Voters’ Day across the country for enhanced participation of citizens in the electoral process.
- President Ram Nath Kovind has given awards for best electoral practices to District Collectors, Superintendents of Police and other functionaries involved in election management.
Note:
- The significance of this day is to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has decided to celebrate 25th January every year as 'National Voters' Day'.
- It started from 25th January 2011 to mark Commission's foundation day.
National Appointment
S Somanath takes charge as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre's Director
- ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) director S Somanath has taken charge as the new director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
- He succeeded K Sivan who joined as ISRO's Chairman.
- Somanath was the associate director (Projects) of VSSC and also the project director of GSLV Mk-III Launch vehicle until June 2015.
Note: The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research center of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme, located in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
National Affairs
Maharashtra bans sale of tobacco at shops selling FMCG items
- The Maharashtra state govt. has become the first state to enforce the ban on the sale of tobacco in shops selling FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) items like chocolates, chips and other edible items.
- The move is aimed at ensuring youngsters do not get addicted to tobacco products.
- Children tend to get influenced a lot by the presence of tobacco and other items while they are out shopping for food items like chocolates and chips.
- FDA has also extended the ban on scented supari (areca nut) by six months until July 2018.
Note: Shops and establishments caught selling both tobacco and FMCG items would face penal action, including cancellation of their license, up to six months imprisonment, and a fine.
Jaipur Literature Festival begins today
- Today, the five-day Jaipur Literature Festival (11th edition) kicks off at Diggi Palace in the pink city Jaipur, Rajasthan.
- The ‘Kumbh of literature’ will feature over 200 sessions on a multitude of topics, trends, ideas and genres, ranging from fiction, poetry, nonfiction, gender equality, environmental protection, science, history, liberal arts, journalism, economics, travel, and cinema.
- The renowned personalities of literature, cinema, music, art, and culture will be attending the festival.
Note: The Jaipur Literature Festival is an annual literary festival which takes place in the Indian city of Jaipur each January.
73 new airport and helipads to be set up under regional connectivity scheme UDAN
- According to the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the name of 73 new airports and helipads to be set-up under the Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik).
- Out of 73, forty-three will be constructed in North-East, Uttarakhand (15), Uttar Pradesh (9), Arunachal Pradesh (8), Himachal Pradesh (6) and five each in Assam & Manipur.
- The ambitious scheme UDAN seeks to boost regional air connectivity and provides various incentives to airlines.
Note: The fare for a one-hour journey of approximately 500 kilometers on a fixed-wing aircraft or for a 30-minute journey on a helicopter will be capped at Rs. 2500 under the scheme.
Govt announces 4 new schemes to promote young scientists
- The Union government has announced four new schemes (TARE, Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship of SERB, DIA, AWSAR) to promote young scientists and researchers in the country.
- The Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE) Scheme will connect the educators to leading public funded institutions like IIT, IISc or national institutions like CSIR to pursue research.
- The Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship offers support to 100 Ph.D. scholars for training in universities/laboratories abroad up to 12 months during their doctoral research.
- The Distinguished Investigator Award (DIA)offers a maximum of 100 fellowships to principal investigators of Science and Engineering Research Board and Department of Science and Technology projects.
- The Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research(AWSAR) aims to encourage science writing.
Government to infuse over Rs 88 thousand crores in 20 PSB
- The union govt. has announced Rs. 88,139 crore capital infusion in 20 public sector banks, PSBs during the current fiscal to boost lending and revive growth.
- The 20 banks that will receive the capital infusion during this phase include IDBI Bank (Rs. 10,610 crores), State Bank of India (Rs. 8,800 crores), Bank of India, UCO Bank, BOB (Rs. 5375 crores) and Punjab National Bank (Rs. 5473 Crore).
- Earlier, the union government had announced over two lakh crore rupees bank recapitalization plan spread over spread over two financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Sports
Simona & Wozniacki set up final clash in the Women's Singles Australian Open Tennis
- In Tennis, Romania's Simona Halep will take on Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the Women's singles in the 2018 Australian Open.
- Wozniacki defeated unseeded Belgian Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-6 to reach her first Australian Open final in Melbourne.
- Simon Halep had to fight it out to defeat 2016 winner Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 9-7.
Australian Open: Bopanna-Babos enter mixed doubles semis
- The pair of India's Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos (Hungary) has entered the semi-finals in the mixed doubles of the Australian Open Tennis tournament in Melbourne.
- In the quarterfinals, the pair beat the duo of Jean Sebastian Cobal (Columbia) and Abigail Spears (United States) 6-4, 7-6.
