DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 6 NOV 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 6 NOV 2017

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      FOUNDATION FOR POVERTY-FREE INDIA TO BE LAID BY 2022: NITI AAYOG

i. NITI Aayog has said in a presentation that, the foundation for freedom from six problems namely poverty, corruption, dirt, terrorism, casteism and communalism will be laid by 2022 when India celebrates 75 years of Independence.

ii. The presentation was published on NITI Aayog website. The presentation was made by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar at Conference of Governors in October 2017. It talked about connecting all villages with habitations over 500 with all-weather roads by 2019 under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

iii. It said that, India should have 20 world class higher education institutions by 2022. It also visualised that, all villages selected under Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana should attain model village status by 2022.

2.      FIRST HELI EXPO INDIA & INTERNATIONAL CIVIL HELICOPTER CONCLAVE IN NEW DELHI

i. The 1st Heli Expo India and International Civil Helicopter Conclave-2017 was held at the Pawan Hans Heliport, Rohini, New Delhi. The 1st Heli Expo India and International Civil Helicopter Conclave-2017 was inaugurated by Uttrakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaja ji.

ii. The theme of this conclave was ‘Enhancing Connectivity’. It was organised by Pawan Hans Limited in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

iii. Experts from Industry and Defence Forces and representatives from International Civil Aviation Organization and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries attended the conclave.

iv. The first issue of Pawan Hans Magazine ‘Aviation Today’ was also unveiled by the chief guests on this occasion. On the second day people were allowed to pre-book the Delhi Darshan joy rides by Helicopter.

3.      BALIJATRA FESTIVAL BEGINS IN CUTTACK, ODISHA

i. The annual Balijatra festival began on the banks of river Mahanadi in Cuttack at Gadagadia ghat. Odisha Health and Law minister Pratap Jena, Culture minister Ashok Panda and Sports minister Chandra Sarathi Behera inaugurated the Balijatra festival in the presence of city mayor Meenakshi Behera.

ii. The week-long fair will continue till 10th November 2017. Over one lakh people are estimated to have arrived at the fair ground to witness the yatra.

iii .The local administration is staging the festival over an area of 30 acres on the river bank. There are around 300 makeshift stalls that showcase ethnic household items ranging from wearing apparels to decorative stuffs.

4.      ASSAM CM SONOWAL LAUNCHES 647 SCHEMES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MAJULI

i. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal launched 647 schemes with a total financial outlay of Rs. 24.57 cr to boost Majuli’s development. Majuli is  is a river island in the Brahmaputra River, Assam. It is India’s first island district and world’s largest river island.

ii. Out of the 647 schemes, 448 schemes are under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme which entails an investment of Rs. 21.90 cr.

iii. Other 199 schemes are to be executed with grants of Rs 2.67 awarded by 14th Finance Commission. In Assam, 26000 gaon sabhas will be held in all villages under Amar Gaon, Amar Achoni plan. Through these gaon sabhas, the villagers will be involved in monitoring various development programmes being executed in their villages.

iv. Assam State Government has also decided to strengthen the embankment of Majuli to save the villages from the onslaught of floods and erosion.

5.      ARMY LAUNCHES JOINT TRAINING NODE IN MEGHALAYA

i. The Indian Army today launched an independent and fully-integrated Joint Training Node at Umroi cantonment, Meghalaya. The JTN is the first of its kind in eastern command and is different from other joint training centres in Belgaum, Varangte and Bakloh.

ii. The Army has chosen the Umroi cantonment for the JTN keeping mind its proximity to Guwahati and the Shillong airports. All infrastructure is ecofriendly and confirms to the highest standards maintaining the fragile ecosystem of Umroi Cantonment.

iii. This Joint Training Node will pave away for projecting the States of Meghalaya and Assam on the World map of Foreign Armies and adds an another feather in the cap of the Indian Army”.

iv. The Indian Army has other joint training centres in Belgaum, Varangte and Baklohbut Umroi is Eastern Command’s first of its kind independent & fully integrated Joint Training Node for Foreign Armies.

6.      ICICI BANK TEAMS WITH APPLE TO LAUNCH VOICE-BASED INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE SERVICE FOR NRIS

i. ICICI Bank launched of India’s first voice-based international remittance service to enable non-resident Indians to send money to any bank in India.

ii. A Non-Resident Indian customer of ICICI Bank to send money to any bank in India via just a simple voice command to Apple’s virtual voice assistant, Siri, on Apple iPhone/iPad.

iii. A first-of-its-kind cross border remittance service by a bank in the country, it improves customer’s convenience significantly as it replaces a five step process, which was required to initiate a remittance to India earlier. The customer needs to simply speak out the ‘nickname’ of the registered payee in the Money2India app to whom he/she wants to send money.

iv. For example, the customer can initiate the process by simply saying “Send USD 100 to dad with Money2India.”Based on this voice instruction, Siri will convert the voice command to text using Natural Language Processing and populate an interface for confirmation with the details.

v.The customer is no longer required to enter the payee name or amount to be transferred since he/she would be using a voice command to provide instructions to Siri.

7.      DELHI PWD SECRETARY ASHWANI KUMAR TO BE NEW CHIEF SECRETARY OF PUDUCHERRY

i. Ashwani Kumar, Principal Secretary in the Delhi Public Works Department, has been appointed as Chief Secretary for Puducherry.

ii. The current Puducherry Chief Secretary, Manjo Kumar Parida, who has in the past worked in the Delhi government will return to Delhi. The new postings become effective immediately. Also, Delhi’s urban development secretary Renu Sharma has also been given charge of PWD.

iii. Finance secretary S N Sahai has been given additional charge of home. Another senior IAS officer, G Narendra Kumar, has been transferred to Delhi from Puducherry.

8.      INDIA’S SHARATH KAMAL & SATHIYAN BAG BRONZE IN BELGIUM OPEN

i. Indian table tennis players Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran have won bronze medal in the men’s doubles category of the 2017 Challenge Belgium Open. Sharath Kamal & Sathiyan lost in the semi-finals to the German pair of Patrick Franziska and Ricardo Walther.

ii. In men’s singles category, India’s Sanil Shetty performed well and reached quarterfinals by defeating better-ranked players than him. In quarter final he lost against Germany’s Ricardo Walther.

iii. In women’s doubles category, Indian pair of Manika Batra and Mouma Das too performed well and reached quarter finals. In quarter finals they lost to Taiwan’s Hsien-Tzu Cheng and Hsing-Yin Liu.

9.      WORLD TSUNAMI AWARENESS DAY – NOVEMBER 5

i. World Tsunami Awareness Day was observed all over the world. In December 2015, the UN General Assembly designated 5 November as World Tsunami Awareness Day. The first Tsunami Awareness Day was observed in 2016.

ii. The focus of World Tsunami Awareness Day 2017 will be at reducing the number of affected people globally by disasters.

iii. For the second consecutive year, the World Tsunami Awareness Day aligned with the International Day for Disaster Reduction and the “Sendai Seven Campaign”.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. WHERE DID THE 1ST HELI EXPO INDIA AND INTERNATIONAL CIVIL HELICOPTER CONCLAVE-2017 WAS HELD AT?

a)  Srinagar

b)  Kolkata

c)  New Delhi

d)  Hyderabad

Q2. THE ANNUAL BALIJATRA FESTIVAL IS CONDUCTED IN THE BANK OF WHICH RIVER?

a)  Mahanadi

b)  Ganga

c)  Cauvery

d)  Godavari

Q3. IN WHICH STATE, THE INDIAN ARMY TODAY LAUNCHED AN INDEPENDENT AND FULLY-INTEGRATED JOINT TRAINING NODE?

Q4. WHO IS APPOINTED AS NEW CHIEF SECRETARY OF PUDUCHERRY?

a)  R Kamalakannan

b)  Ashwani Kumar

c)  Kiran Bedi

d)  Malladi Krishna

Q5. WHEN IS WORLD TSUNAMI AWARENESS DAY OBSERVED ALL OVER THE WORLD?

a)  6th November

b)  7th November

c)  5th November

d)  8th November

ANSWERS: 

1 - C    2 - A    3 - D    4 - B    5 - C