DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 2ND MAY 2017
1.
PRESIDENT OF CYPRUS NICOS ANASTASIADES HAS ARRIVED IN INDIA ON A 5-DAY VISIT
i. The President of Cyprus, Nicos
Anastasiades, was on an official visit to India. During his stay in Mumbai, he
met Governor of Maharashtra, Vidyasagar Rao. He also gave a keynote address at
a Business Forum.
ii. Mr. Anastasiades conferred the Grand
Collar of the Order of Makarios III (Cyprus’s highest civilian honour) on
President Pranab Mukherjee.
iii. India and Cyprus signed 4 MoUs –
Executive programme on education, culture and scientific cooperation for the
period 2017-2020. This agreement was exchanged between Indian External Affairs.
2.
SEBI FINALISES NORMS FOR LISTING OF GREEN BONDS
i. Securities and Exchange Board of India has
finalized norms for issuance and listing of green bonds.
ii. It will help in raising funds from
capital markets for investment in the renewable energy.
iii. The rules have been finalised by the
SEBI after taking into account inputs from the Finance and Environment
ministries from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
iv. Green bonds help to meet an ambitious
target India has of building 175 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by 2022.
3.
PM NARENDRA MODI RELEASES STAMP ON RAMANUJACHARYA’S 1000TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY
i. PM Narendra Modi released a commemorative
stamp on the 1,000th birth anniversary of Saint Ramanujacharya in New Delhi.
ii. The central message of Saint
Ramanujacharya’s life was inclusive society, religion and philosophy.
iii. Ramanujacharya saw manifestation of God
in human beings and saw all devotees of God as equal.
4.
MAHARASHTRA BECOMES 1ST INDIAN STATE TO USE AUTOMATED WEATHER STATIONS
i. Devendra Fadnavis, a Maharashtra chief
minister has inaugurated the state’s 1st automatic weather station at
Dongargaon in Nagpur.
ii. The state government will install 2,065
weather stations across the state on a public private partnership mode in 2017 and 1000 in next year.
iii. It aims to measure the wind direction,
air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and record amount of rainfall.
iv. It will be available on Mahavedh portal
as well as on the mobile application of Skymet.
5.
INDIA’S FOREX RESERVES INCREASES BY $1.25 BILLION
i. India’s foreign exchange reserves have
increased by $1.25 billion on April 21 according to the Reserve Bank of India.
ii. The components of India’s Foreign
Exchange Reserves includes Foreign currency assets, Gold Special Drawing
Rights, RBI’s Reserve position with International Monetary Fund.
iii. SDRs’ value has increased $5 million to
$1.45 billion. The gold reserves stand at $19.86 billion.
iv. RBI’s reserve position with the IMF
stands to $2.33 billion.
6.
SHOBANA KAMINENI TO TAKE OVER AS NEW CII PRESIDENT
i. Shobana Kamineni has been appointed as 1st
Woman President of Confederation of Indian Industry.
ii. Shobana is an executive vice chairperson
of the Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited. She also serves as an Advisor to
CISCO India’s External Board.
iii. She is also vice-chairperson of the KEI
Group, a diversified logistics, leisure & infrastructure business.
7.
SPACEX LAUNCHES INTELLIGENCE MISSION ON FALCON 9
i. US based rocket manufacturing company SpaceX
successfully launched and landed a rocket carrying NROL-76 for US
intelligence from the Kennedy Space
Centre in Florida.
ii. This was the 4th SpaceX booster landing
at Cape Canaveral and 5th successful
mission in 2017.
8.
VALTTERI BOTTAS STUNS VETTEL AND HAMILTON TO WIN F1’S RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX
i.
Mercedes’ Finnish driver, Valtteri Bottas claimed his 1st Formula 1 victory,
taking the flag at the Russian Grand Prix after a close chase from Ferrari’s
Sebastian Vettel, who finished at 2nd position.
ii.
Sebastian Vettel, who came at 2nd position in this race, has now extended his
lead by 13 points over Lewis Hamilton in the title fight.
9.
JOSHNA CHINAPPA BECOMES 1ST INDIAN TO WIN ASIAN SQUASH TITLE
i. Joshna Chinappa created history by
becoming the 1st Indian to clinch the Asian Squash title with a thrilling win
over compatriot Dipika Pallikal Karthik in the women’s final held in Chennai,
India.
ii. It is to be noted that, Joshna Chinappa
and Dipika Pallikal Karthik, both train together at the Indian Squash Academy
in Chennai.
iii. India’s Saurav Ghosal lost to Hong
Kong’s Max Lee to finish 2nd best in the men’s final of 19th Asian Squash
Championship in Chennai,.
10.
AAMIR LAUNCHES ASHA PAREKH’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY ‘THE HIT GIRL’
i. Aamir Khan has launched actress Asha
Parekh’s autobiography ‘The Hit Girl’ in New Delhi.
ii. The book will be a source of inspiration
for budding talents. Film critic-writer Khalid Mohamed has composed the
autobiography.
iii. Veteran actor- politician Shatrughan
Sinha also attended the book launch.
11.
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY: MAY 1, 2017
i. International labour Day is being observed
on 1st of May. It is celebrated to pay tribute to workers’ sacrifices in
achieving economic and social rights all over the world.
ii. Theme of Labour Day 2017 was “Celebrating
the International Labour Movement”.
iii. Shri Bandaru Dattatreya Launches
“Aadhaar Based Online Claim Submission” and “One IP- Two Dispensaries” Schemes
on International Labour Day.
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED
ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1.
NICOS ANASTASIADES, WHO WAS ON AN OFFICIAL VISIT TO INDIA IN APRIL 2017, IS THE
PRESIDENT OF:
a)
Belgium
b)
Cyprus
c)
Finland
d)
Austria
Q2.
WHICH COMPANY HAS ANNOUNCED A NEW “SOLVE FOR INDIA” INITIATIVE THAT AIMS TO
EXPAND AND ENERGISE THE START-UP ECOSYSTEM IN TIER II CITIES ACROSS INDIA?
a)
Amazon
b)
Facebook
c)
Microsoft
d)
Google
Q3.
WHICH STATE BECAME FIRST INDIAN STATE TO USE AUTOMATED WEATHER STATIONS?
a)
Maharashtra
b)
Gujarat
c)
Odisha
d)
Uttarakhand
Q4.
WHO AMONG THE FOLLOWING WILL TAKE OVER AS NEW PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATION OF INDIAN
INDUSTRY?
a)
Tina Biswas
b)
Manisha Chainani
c)
Shobana Kamineni
d)
Kalyani Thakkar
Q5.
SPACEX LAUNCHED ______ROCKET CARRYING NROL-76, A CLASSIFIED PAYLOAD FOR THE US
NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE?
a)
Falcon 9
b)
Falcon 8
c)
Falcon 10
d)
Falcon 12
ANSWERS:
1 - B 2 - D 3 - A 4 - C 5
- A
