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SADHANA ACADEMY PH:9290699996 Current Affairs Today Current Affairs – February 2 2017 INDIAN AFFAIRS Amitabh Kant Inaugurates India Innovation Index in New Delhi i. The Indian Policy Think Tank, NITI Aayog together with Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)\has launched a first of its kind online portal, India Innovation Index in India to rank the states on the basis of innovation. ii. The Index has been developed by the Indian sides in consultation with the World Economic Forum, the World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University, OECD, UNIDO, ILO, UNESCO, ITU and others. iii .The portal was inaugurated by Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog on February 2, 2017 in New Delhi. iv. The Index would rank Indian states as per their innovation capability and provide them necessary feedback to build their respective innovation ecosystems and further instill innovation spirit among institutions and people. v. The index would consider Global Innovation Index indicators and other India–centric data from various states to determine the ranking which will be updated periodically. vi. These would enable the international agencies to collect India’s up to date data points for ranking global indices. 31st Surajkund International Crafts Mela being held in Gurgaon Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurates the 31st Surajkund International Crafts Mela in Gurgaon, Haryana on February 1, 2017.The mela will end on 15th February, 2017. Highlights of Mela : i. 2017 Surajkund International Crafts Mela is known as ‘Cashless Mela’ because all stakeholders have been provided option to opt for cashless transactions ii. A team of volunteers called ‘Mela Mitra’ are appointed to help and guide visitors for Mela iii. The freedom fighter Jharkhand Birsa Munda’s statue has been constructed and people from 21 countries are expecting to participating at the mela. Neeti Mohan collaborates with United Nations for women empowerment i. Noted Indian singer Neeti Mohan to collaborate with UN for women empowerment project titled “Music To Inspire – Artists UNited Against Human Trafficking” which is managed by the UNODC. ii. Neeti is the first Indian female singer to collaborate with UN .She has joined the ranks of Ashton Kutcher, Nicholas Cage, Demi Moore, Ashley Judd, Gillian Anderson . iii. She has composed Udne De as a tribute to all the women and in support of equality for all. iv. Over 60 renowned artists and dignitaries from various countries have collaborated with Rukus Avenue to participate in the “Music To Inspire – Artists UNited Against Human Trafficking” v. Some of the other notable participants are AR Rahman, former President Jimmy Carter, actress Tatyana Ali and bands include Joss Stone, Michael Franti, Vanessa Carlton, Anoushka Shankar, Ellis Hall, Garbage, Karmin as well as Daryl Hall & John Oates among many others UNODC : ♦ Head : Yuri Fedotov ♦ Headquarters: Vienna India & Sri Lanka signs MoU for multi-ethnic tri-lingual Secondary School i. India and Sri Lanka has signed an MoU on February 2, 2017 for the construction of amulti-ethnic tri-lingual www.sadhanaedu.co.in Dilsukh nagar Page 1 SADHANA ACADEMY PH:9290699996 school in a north central district of the island nation. ii. The school would provide an opportunity to Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim students to learn in a multi-cultural environment and thus promote reconciliation and unity in Sri Lanka. iii. The MoU was signed between India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Secretary to the Ministry of Education Sunil Hettiarachchi. iv. The Indian Government would provide a grant of SLR 300 million for the island school to be constructed in Polonnaruwa district. v. Under the project class rooms, laboratories and library would be constructed as well as furniture and other equipment would be procured. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Indian School of Business Ranked Top Indian B-School in FT Global MBA Ranking 2017 i. The 2017 Financial Times Global MBA ranking was released on January 30, 2017. This year 4 Indian Business Schools have been listed in the World’s 100 best Full Time MBA Programme List. ii. The Four Schools listed includes: Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) Top Three B-Schools 1 INSEAD, (France/Singapore) 2 Stanford Graduate School of Business 3 University of Pennsylvania, (Wharton/US) SAARC Programming Committee Meeting Concluded in Kathmandu i. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s (SAARCs) 53rd Programming Committee Meeting began on February 1, 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal.The two day meeting was attended by joint secretary/director general of the eight member nations. ii. The meeting that concluded on February 2, 2017 was organized as a part of the annual activities of the group that mandates to have at-least two meeting of the committee in a year. iii. The main area of discussion revolved around Budget allocation for the management of SAARC. iv. The meeting hosted by Nepal was in the name of 19th Summit which was earlier scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan in November 2016. However, the country postponed the Summit over Nepal. v. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan too declined attending the Summit. As a result Pakistan announced postponing summit to Nepal. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ♦ The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of nations in South Asia that promotes development of economic and regional integration. ♦ The eight member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. ♦ SAARC was founded in 1985 by seven states. In 2005, Afghanistan also became the member. ♦ Founded: December 8, 1985 ♦ Headquarter: Kathmandu ♦ General-Secretary: Arjun Bahadur Thapa www.sadhanaedu.co.in Dilsukh nagar Page 2 SADHANA ACADEMY PH:9290699996 Kuwait Suspends Visa for 5 Muslim-majority Countries i. Kuwait has banned the Visas for five Muslim majority countries on February 1, 2017 over security issues. The five countries include Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. ii. The suspension of the Visas was taken to stop illegal entry of Islamic terrorists in the country. iii. The ban would apply on any reason of visit ranging from tourism, visit and trade visas as well as visas sponsored by spouses. Kuwait : ♦ Capital: Kuwait City ♦ Currency: Kuwaiti dinar U.K. Parliament Clears Brexit Bill with 498 Votes i. Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May successfully held the first stage of passing the Bill in the Parliament on February 1, 2017 to pull Britain out of the European Union. ii. British MPs approved passing the bill with 498 to 114 votes empowering May to start the process of pulling Britain out of the European Union. iii. The Bill would now allow the government to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treatywhich the Supreme Court ruled that she could not take that decision alone. iv. The bill could complete the legislative process by March 7. Now the PM may progress to the next and more detailed legislative stage. BANKING & FINANCE HSBC Estimates India’s GDP Growth at 7.1% in 2017-18 i. HSBC has estimated the GDP growth rate of India at 7.1 percent for the year 2017-18which is up from the 6.3 percent in the year 2016-17. ii. The main reason for this increase is cited to sufficient remonetization by April end, thus boosting the consumption level in the country to normal. Besides, the schemes announced in Budget 2017-18 are also seen to play major role in the growth rate. iii. Besides, the investment is projected to remain weak within a range of 7.5-8 percent. NABARD Sanctions Rs 157 crore Loan to Haryana for Drinking Water Project i. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on February 2, 2017 sanctioned a loan amount of Rs. 157 crore to the Government of Haryana to undertake drinking water project. ii. Under the project, the government would undertake drinking water supply scheme in 84 villages of districts Palwal and Faridabad. iii. As per the project, portable drinking water would be supplied in selected villages in blocks Prithla, Palwal and Ballabhgarh from Yamuna flood plain by constructing ranney wells and deep tubewells. iv .The project is likely to benefit 3,06,814 persons. The loan amount has been sanctioned from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). v. Till date NABARD has provided Rs 5,794 croreassistance to Harayana government under RIDF since its inception in 1995-96. NABRAD : ♦ Chairperson: Harsh Kumar Bhanwala ♦ Headquarters: Mumbai ♦ Founded: 12 July 1982. www.sadhanaedu.co.in Dilsukh nagar Page 3 SADHANA ACADEMY PH:9290699996 India and World Bank signs Financing Agreement Worth US$ 201.50 Million for TEQIP III i. The Government of India has signed a USD 201.50 million credit agreement with the World Bank on February 1, 2017 to improve the quality and equity of engineering education across several states in India. ii. The agreement was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India and Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank India, on behalf of the World Bank. iii. The agreement signed was for the third phase of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Project (TEQIP III). iv. The project aims to strengthen engineering education in low-income group, hill states and states of the North East. TEQIP III will support nearly 200 engineering education institutes across India to produce higher quality engineers. v. The project will also boost post-graduate education, research, development and innovation at these institutions. For the first time, the project would also support in Affiliating Technical Universities. AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS India’s SpiceJet Honored at Asia One Awards in Singapore i.