DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 11TH FEB 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 11TH FEB 2017
(Daily News India)
Shared By: WWW.DailyGk.IN

1. ANDHRA PRADESH GOVERNMENT CONSTITUTES 33 MEMBER COMMITTEE FOR SAGARMALA PROJECT
i. A 33 member committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Andhra Pradesh’s CM N Chandrababu Naidu for the speedy implementation of the Sagarmala Project in Andhra Pradesh.
ii. Sagarmala project aims to improve the state’s coastline and inland waterways.
iii. The committee will be responsible for overseeing the entire project and will bring together all the concerned departments and review their work on a daily basis for timely completion of the project.
iv. During the 1st meeting Naidu stressed on the opportunities that Andhra Pradesh has to develop a coast-led industrial economy.
v .The Andhra Pradesh Government and Visakhapatnam Port Trust have submitted proposals for 90 projects with an outlay of Rs.1,30,763 cr under the Sagarmala project.

2. GOVERNMENT TO OPEN 56 MORE POST OFFICE PASSPORT SEVA KENDRAS ACROSS INDIA
i. With the successful operationalization of the 2 pilot projects of utilizing Head Post Offices as the Passport Seva Kendra, the government has now decided to Open 56 More Post Office Passport Seva Kendras across India.
ii. The Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Posts are working to start the operation of the new centers as early as possible in various states including Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
iii. The pilot projects were launched in Mysuru and Gujarat.

3. CHINA RELEASES THEME FOR BRICS SUMMIT 2017
i. 2017 BRICS summit to be held in Xiamen, China in Sept 2017.
ii. The theme of the summit will be “BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future “.
iii. The main focus of the summit will be on 5 key things Deepening cooperation, Carrying out people-to-people exchanges, Strengthening global governance, Building broader partnerships and Making institutional improvements.

4. GOVT.  SELLS 2% STAKE IN ITC TO RAISE RS. 6,690 CRORE
i. As a part of its disinvestment plan for 2016-17, the central government sold 2 % of its stake in ITC to Life Insurance Corporation of India and earned Rs 6,690 cr.
ii. Held under the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India, the stake was sold at Rs 275.85 per share through block deals.
iii. This is the 2nd SUUTI disinvestment of 2016-17. Earlier in November, Centre divested 1.63 % stake in Larsen & Toubro to raise Rs 2,100 cr.


5. HEMANT BHARGAVA APPOINTED AS LIC’S MANAGING DIRECTOR
i. Hemant Bhargava has been appointed as one of the 3 managing director of Mumbai based Life Insurance Corporation of India till July 31, 2019 by the Cabinet Appointments Committee.
ii. Prior to this, Bhargava was working as the zonal manager Delhi.

6. PIYUSH GOYAL LAUNCHES TAMRA PORTAL AND MOBILE APPLICATION FOR TRANSPARENCY IN STATUTORY CLEARANCES FOR MINING OPERATIONS
i. The Union Minister of State for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal launched the Transparency, Auction Monitoring and Resource Augmentation portal and Mobile Application in New Delhi.
ii. TAMRA Portal and Mobile Application aims to enhance the transparency and accountability in the mining sector as a part of the Ease of Doing Business.
iii. The initiative will speed up mining activity in India. TAMRA provides block-wise, state-wise and mineral-wise information of the blocks to be auctioned; monitors various statutory clearances and also highlights the additional resources generated through e-Auction.

7. VIRAT KOHLI BREAKS RECORD TO BECOME FIRST INDIAN CAPTAIN TO SCORE FOUR DOUBLE CENTURIES IN 4 STRAIGHT SERIES
i. Virat Kohli became the 1st player to score double century in 4 consecutive Test series while playing against Bangladesh in Hyderabad.
ii. Virat also became the 2nd captain to score 4 double centuries for his country.
iii. Kohli began the trend while playing against West Indies in June 2016 to score his 1st double century where he scored exactly 200. 2nd with New Zealand in November 2016. The 3rd record came against England the latest against Bangladesh.

8. WORLD’S FIRST BRAILLE ATLAS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS LAUNCHED BY NATMO IN NEW DELHI
i. The Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan released the world’s 1st comprehensive Braille atlas for nearly 50 lakh visually challenged people in India in New Delhi.
ii. This is for the 1st time that such atlas has been prepared for physically challenged with such minute details. The Braille Atlas has been prepared by National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation under Department of Science & Technology.
iii. Aniruddha Bhattacharya, scientific officer with NATMO and Amitava Chakraborty and Devnath Sengupta, research officers, played a key role in preparing the atlas. Bhattarcharya passed away last month.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1.  WHO IS THE HEAD OF THE 33 MEMBER COMMITTEE FORMED FOR THE SPEEDY IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SAGARMALA PROJECT IN ANDHRA PRADESH?
a)  Siddaramaiah
b)  Piyush Goyal
c)  M. Venkaiah Naidu
d)  N Chandrababu Naidu
Q2. THE FIRST PILOT BRANCH OF THE POST OFFICE PASSPORT SEVA KENDRA WAS LAUNCHED IN WHICH CITY?
a)  Kolkata
b)  Mysuru
c)  Banglaore
d)  Indore
Q3. WHAT IS THE THEME OF THE 2017 BRICS SUMMIT?
a)  BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future.
b)  BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation
c)  Inclusive Growth: Sustainable Solutions
d)  Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions
Q4. WHICH MINISTRY LAUNCHED THE WORLD’S FIRST COMPREHENSIVE BRAILLE ATLAS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED IN NEW DELHI?
a)  Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
b)  Ministry of Human Resource Development
c)  Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences
d)  Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
Q5. WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION?
a)  Shaktikanta Das
b)  Hemant Bhargava
c)  Girish Chandra Murmu
d)  Ashwani Kumar

ANSWERS: 

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