DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 20TH JAN 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 20TH JAN 2017
(Daily News India)
Shared By: WWW.DailyGk.IN

1. 30 MORE COUNTRIES TO JOIN ASIA INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK
i. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson of China, Hua Chunying informed that thirty more countries have applied for joining the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank besides 57 founding members.
ii. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is an international financial institution that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
iii. China is the largest shareholder having 26.6% voting shares. India is the second largest shareholder with 7.5% followed by Russia 5.93% and Germany with 4.5%.

2. UN REPORT ESTIMATES INDIA’S GDP TO GROW BY 7.7% IN 2017
i. Based on the UN report on World Economic Situation and Prospects, India’s economy is projected to grow by 7.7% in the fiscal 2017 because of being the fastest growing large developing economy.
ii. The United Nations report projected that India is going to be benefitted due to its strong private consumption and gradual introduction of significant domestic reforms.
iii. The growth estimate for 2018 has been projected at 7.6%. However, it also stated that low capacity utilization and stressed balance sheets of banks and businesses will have negative effect on strong investment revival in the short term.
v. Earlier the IMF cut India’s growth rate for the current fiscal year to 6.6% from its previous estimate of 7.6% while the World Bank too lowered India’s GDP growth for 2016-17 fiscal to 7% from its previous estimate of 7.6%.

3. ANTONIO TAJANI ELECTED NEW PRESIDENT OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
i. Italian Political Leader Antonio Tajani has been elected as the new president of the  European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
ii. He will replace Germany’s Martin Schulz.Tajani won 351 votes to defeat his Italian counterpart Gianni Pitella against 282 votes in four rounds of voting.

4. BHARTI AXA GENERAL APPOINTS SANJEEV SRINIVASAN AS CEO, MD
i. Sanjeev Srinivasan has been appointed as CEO and MD of Bharti AXA General Insurance.
ii. Srinivasan was currently working as Chief Commercial and Principal Officer of General Insurance.
iii. He will focus to driving new distribution tie-ups, create a balanced portfolio, and creating a customer centric brand to drive profitable growth.

5. ICICI PRU ACQUIRES 8.41% STAKE IN FINO PAYTECH FOR RS 100 CRORE
i. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has acquired 8.41% stake in Fino Paytech Ltd for a total consideration of Rs 100 crore.
ii. Fino Paytech Ltd provides technology-based solutions and services related to financial inclusion. Earlier, FPL was granted payment bank licence by the RBI.


6. KAPIL DEV INDUCTED INTO LEGENDS CLUB HALL OF FAME
i. Cricket icon Kapil Dev was inducted into Legends Club ‘Hall of Fame’ at the Cricket Club of India. Former India player and Legends Club president Madhav Apte presented Kapil with a citation.
ii. He was already inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame on July 11, 2013.

7. C.V. VISHVESHWARA, PIONEER OF BLACK HOLE DISCOVERY DIED
i. Veteran Indian Scientist CV Vishveshwara and pioneer in the discovery of black hole in India died in Bengaluru.
ii. The Black Hole Man of India, CV Vishveshwara contributed in the physics of black hole even before the word black hole was coined.
iii. He had published three ground-breaking single-author papers in the late 1960s for better understanding of black holes.

8. CABINET CLEARS PROPOSALS FOR LISTING 5 PSU GENERAL INSURERS
i. The Cabinet has given its in-principle nod for listing of all the 5 general insurance companies.
ii. The 5 general insurance companies are the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, New India Assurance Company Ltd, National Insurance Company Ltd, General Insurance Company Ltd and United India Insurance Company Ltd,.
iii. The Centre's shareholding would be divested from 100% to 75% in one or more tranches over a period of time, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.

9. PREZ MUKHERJEE INAUGURATE 28TH DANTAN GRAMIN MELA IN WB
i. President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the 28th Dantan Gramin Mela in West Midnapore district in West Bengal.
ii. The fair will display the rural handicraft skills of the people of the region.

10. ISRO SUCCESSFULLY REALIGNS ORBIT OF MARS MISSION “MANGALYAAN”
i. The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully realigned the orbit of its Mars Orbiter Mission ‘Mangalyaan’ since it could not withstand long duration eclipse.
ii. The need for changing the orbit of Mangalyaan was felt to protect it from the long duration eclipse otherwise the Mangalyaan’s battery capacity would have got exhausted due to lack of sun rays.
iii. The spacecraft has 30kg fuel left as per the scientists and with realignment it is expected to work for a very long time to come.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. WHICH INDIAN CRICKETER HAS BEEN INDUCTED INTO THE LEGENDS CLUB ‘HALL OF FAME’?
a)  Ravi Shastri
b)  Kapil Dev
c)  Mohammad Azharuddin
d)  Javagal Srinath
Q2. WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE CEO AND MD OF BHARTI AXA GENERAL INSURANCE?
a)  Pankaj Murarka
b)  Anoop Rao
c)  V.K. Sharma
d)  Sanjeev Srinivasan
Q3. WHICH INDIAN SCIENTIST DIED RECENTLY WHO WAS WELL-KNOWN AS THE BLACK HOLE MAN OF INDIA?
a)  CV Vishveshwara
b)  M.G.K. Menon
c)  Raja Ramanna
d)  Soumya Swaminathan
Q4. FOR WHAT AMOUNT THE ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE HAS ACQUIRED 8.41% STAKE IN FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICE PROVIDER FINO PAYTECH LTD?
a)  Rs. 170 crore
b)  Rs. 100 crore
c)  Rs. 155 crroe
d)  Rs. 120 crore
Q5. WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ON JANUARY 17, 2017?
a)  François Hollande
b)  Sergio Mattarella
c)  Antonio Tajani
d)  Petro Poroshenko

ANSWER: 

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