www.gradeup.co 1 | P a g e www.gradeup.co Current Affairs January – April 2017 Dear readers, Recently, in many SSC & Railways examinations a change in trend is seen when it comes to current affairs. All these examinations are now laying more stress on current affairs by increasing the volume of questions. Not only this, questions were also asked from events held last year. Many of you have requested us for the PDF of last year's current affairs. As per the request, we are providing you with the Current Affairs PDF which covers all news events from the month January to April 2017. Current Affairs International 1. ‘Aoba Velox-III’ satellite belongs to the country -- Sin- 8. The Union Cabinet has agreed to sign an agreement gapore. for cooperation in field of agriculture and allied sec- Note: Aoba Velox-III is a joint project between tors -- Portugal. Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) 9. The company who has launched the training program, and Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech). named Digital Unlocked, for Indian small and medium 2. The world’s largest solar park -- Longyangxia Dam businesses is -- Google. Solar Park (China). 10. India has approved to sign a MoU with this country in Note: The Longyangxia Dam Solar Park occupies 27 sq the field of agriculture and allied sectors -- Kenya. km and built at a cost of about 6bn yuan. The solar park can produce about 850 MW of power in Qinghai 11. Three-year ban on import of some vegetables (bitter province. gourd, snake gourd and aubergines) from India-- Eu- ropean Union (EU). 3. As per The American Interest magazine India’s rank in the list of ‘Eight Great Powers of 2017’-- 6th. 12. ISRO has signed pact with the country’s space agency on satellite launch technology -- France. 4. India has signed a Protocol to amend the Double Taxa- tion Avoidance Convention in January this year -- Ka- Note: The space programmes of both countries are zakhstan. complementary in terms of comparable size and shar- ing similar objectives. ISRO is the second partner of 5. The first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citi- CNES, in terms of volume, after NASA. zens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros (USD 587) --Finland. 13. The world’s first country to shut-down the Frequency Modulation (FM) radio broadcasting network and 6. NASA is sending first African-American space station started its’ switching to Digital Audio Broadcasting crew member to space station in 2018 --Jeanette (DAB)-- Norway. Epps. 14. India and Sri Lanka have signed MoU to construct rain 7. The Union Government has imposed an anti-dumping water harvesting system at a cost of 30 crore Sri duty ranging from USD 6.30 to USD 351. 72 per tonne Lankan Rupees in northern Jaffana District -- 3000. on imports of jute and its products from -- Bangla- desh and Nepal. 15. The International conference for peace talks between Israel and Palestinians will be held in -- Paris (France). 2 | P a g e www.gradeup.co Note: Around 70 nations delegates are expected to 25. The world’s first country to completely divest from re-affirm support for a two-state solution to the fossil fuels -- Ireland. decades-old conflict. 26. Who has successfully test a new version of missile 16. The first country in the world to officially recognize Dongfeng-5C missile -- China. parkour as a sport -- The United Kingdom. 27. The country hosted the Mobile World Congress 2017 - 17. National order of knighthood honour on former Union - Spain. Minister of State for External Affairs Eduardo Faleiro - - Portugal. Note:The 2017 Mobile World Congress was held in Barcelona, Spain from 27th February to 2nd March. 18. The Country has test-fired the first submarine- The MWC is the world’s largest gathering for the mo- launched Cruise Missile Babur-3 -- Pakistan. bile industry. 19. The country has become an associate member of Eu- 28. The Airways has launched the world's longest sched- ropean Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) -- uled commercial airline route with the arrival of its India. flight from Doha to Auckland, New Zealand -- Qatar Note: The CERN operates the largest particle physics Airways. laboratory in the world and the headquarters is located at Geneva, Switzerland. Note: The airliner 777-200LR is 259-seat Boeing crossed 10 time zones before landing in Auckland 20. The India Innovation Index (III) will be developed by after taking off from Doha covering distance of 7848 the international organization to measure innovation nautical miles. performance of Indian states -- World Intellectual 29. Japan's Scientists have announced the development of Property Organization (WIPO). transmitter which can transmit digital data at a rate Note: The index will be based on key pillars of exceeding 100 gigabits per second over a single chan- innovation and sub-indices that together will assist in nel using the 300-gigahertz band -- Terahertz (THz). tailoring policies that promote inclusive growth. Note: It is a next generation system which can 21. The International Symposium on Medicinal and Aro- transmit digital data over 10 times faster than 5G matic plants of India was held in the city -- New Delhi. mobile networks expected to appear around 2020 Note: The 2-day International Symposium on 30. The International Conference on NexGen Technolo- Medicinal and Aromatic plants of India was held in gies for Mining and Fuel Industries at -- Vigyan Bha- New Delhi. wan in New Delhi. 22. An appeal for 3 billion US Dollar to help 48 million Note: The conference has covered areas like children caught up in crises worldwide amid fears of a Innovative mining technology for sustainable funding cut from top donor the United States -- development and advances in mine design mine UNICEF. planning recent advancement in drilling and blasting. Note: The United States is the top donor to UNICEF, 31. International organization has opened the South Asia followed by Germany, Britain and the European. Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center 23. The programming committee meeting of South Asian (SARTTAC) in India -- International Monetary Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was Fund(IMF). held at -- Kathmandu (Nepal). Note: The center is a collaborative venture between the IMF, the member countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Note: Indian delegation leads by Joint Secretary India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and (SAARC) Shri Prashant Agarwal and issues including development partners. budget of SAARC secretariat and its 5 regional centers and regular activities of the association has been 32. The Minister of State for Communications (Independ- discussed. ent Charge) Manoj Sinha has inaugurated the two-day ASEAN India Digital connectivity summit in -- New 24. Who hosted the 4th BIMSTEC Summit-2017 -- Nepal. Delhi. Note: The BIMSTEC was founded in 1997 and is an Note: Around 30 countries delegates explore areas of international organization involving a group of cooperation in the area of telecommunication and net- countries in South Asia and South East Asia. work technology. 3 | P a g e www.gradeup.co 33. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has 42. The country has won the 'Most Popular Tourism Des- successfully ground tested its indigenously developed tination Award' at the Guangzhou International Travel Cryogenic Upper Stage engine for -- GSLV Mark III. Fair (GITF) in China -- Sri Lanka. Note: The test was last in the series before going for Note: Sri Lanka won the award is the testament to the an actual rocket launch and the engine will be put into country's growing popularity among Chinese travel use in April. enthusiasts for the second consecutive year. 34. The Pakistan army has launched nationwide military 43. The two-week long joint military exercise between In- operation to eliminate terrorists and consolidate gains dia and Nepal has begun in Pithoragarh area of Utta- of its counter-terrorism operations -- Radd-ul- rakhand -- SURYA KIRAN-XI. Fasaad. Note: The Surya Kiran series of exercises are being Note: The operation aims include the elimination of conducted biannually, alternatively in India and the residual and latent threat of terrorism, Nepal. consolidating gains of operations made so far and 44. Indian and Royal Oman armies joint exercise “Al Na- ensuring the security of Pakistan's borders. gah-two” in Bakloh area -- Chamba district,HP. 35. Astronomers have discovered for the first-time new Note: Total sixty contingents from both sides are Earth-sized exoplanets that may be able to sustain life taking part in the exercise. The exercise would be -- seven. mainly focused on counter-terrorism and forest Note: The stunning discovery of seven Earth-like warfare. planets orbiting a small star in the galaxy open up the most promising hunting ground so far for life beyond 45. The Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) meeting was the Solar System. held in the city -- Lahore. 36. The world's first robot table tennis tutor in Japan has Note: The PIC is a bilateral commission of officials set a new Guinness World Record for its uncanny abil- from India-Pakistan, created to implement and manage goals of Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). ity of being able to play the game better than most hu- mans -- FOPHEUS. 46. The Constitutional court has removed South Korean President from the office -- Park Geun-Hye. Note: FORPHEUS (Future Omron Robotics Technology for Exploring Possibility of Harmonised Note: The impeachment was carried out over Automation with Sinic Theoretics) has officially been allegations of corruption and cronyism on Park. given the Guinness title for its unique technological 47. The cultural festival ‘India by the Nile’ has started in intelligence and educational capabilities. the country -- Egypt. 37. The country to host the 9th edition of BRICS Summit- Note: The event is a special moment as this year India 2017--China.