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Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Ips officers compulsory retirement due to poor performance sikkim jan 18 2017
International jan 14 2017
i. India and Sri Lanka has signed an MoU on January 13, 2017 for the construction of 3000 rain water harvesting systems in northern Jaffna District of Sri Lanka at a cost of 30 crore Sri Lankan Rupees.
Sri Lanka
♦ President: Maithripala Sirisena ♦ Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
Indian affairs
i. PM Narendra Modi was on a 2 day visit to Gujarat from January 9-10, 2017 to inaugurate the eighth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit 2017 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on January 10, 2017.
ii. theme of 3 day Summit was “Vibrant Gujarat: Connecting India to the World”
iii. Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first international exchange –India INX — at the International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) of GIFT City in Gandhinagar.
iv. Prime Minister inaugurated the Nobel Prize Series exhibition at Gujarat Science city near Ahmedabad on January 9, 2017 . This exhibition featured works of nine Nobel laureates from across the world who were invited by the Gujarat government to be a part of the Vibrant Summit.
v. As a part of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani addressed the ‘Make in Gujarat’ theme seminar on Trends and Innovation impacting the Textile Value Chain on January 12, 2017
i. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has called for a review of the provisions of the Right To Education (RTE) Act that specifies that children who don’t perform well cannot be held back up to class VIII regardless of his performance.
ii. This means that a child is entitled to an eighth grade diploma even if he cannot recognise a single letter or a number if he has spent eight years in school.
iii. The move is aimed to minimise the drop-out rate. However, the negative impact of the decision will lower the learning process as it would take away the pressure to learn and to compete.
iv .The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014 report, the proportion of children aged 6-14 years enrolled in school in rural areas has been above 96% for the past six years however more than 50% of the 5th graders cannot read second standard level text.
i. The three day International Kite Festival was inaugurated by Delhi Tourim Minister Kapil Mishra at Dwarka’s DDA Ground in New Delhi on January 14, 2017. The festival was organised by Delhi Tourism department
ii. Professional kite flying experts from Germany, Korea, the US, China, Thailand, Ukraine, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands and Malaysia participated and demonstrated their talent during the fourth Delhi International Kite Festival.
iii. Expert kite flyers from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jaipur, Chennai, Kerala, Punjab and Delhi also displayed their skills in the kite festival.
i. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of US and Development Partnership Administration (DPA) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India on January 13, 2017 have signed an MoU for collaboration in the fields of developmental activities and assist the third world countries.
ii .Under the MoU the two countries would collaborate on exchange of information and experience in issues pertaining to project development or implementation in partner countries.
iii. The agreement also includes providing advisory or technical assistance to third countries regarding sector policy reform, project and sector management, project implementation, and economic growth promotion strategies in relevant sectors.
iv. MCC is a US agency providing eligible countries with grants to fund country-led solutions for reducing poverty through sustainable economic growth.
v. DPA looks after implementation of India’s development cooperation programmes with partner countries.
i. The Ken-Betwa River Linking Project received clearance from the green panel and Tribal Affairs Ministr
Jan 17 India at 60 IDI Among other countries
“Inclusive Development Index,” is released by the World Economic Forum to assess the living standard of the economies.
The Index measures 109 countries for inclusive development.
30 - advanced economies
79 -developing countries.
It is not due to difference in the poverty level of the two economies.
The results are based on 12 key performance indicators of inclusive development under three pillars:
Growth and Development,
Inclusion and Intergenerational Equity, and Sustainability and rated on a scale between 1-7.
Growth and Development
GDP per capita
Labor Productivity
Healthy life expectancy
Employment
Inclusion
Net income inequality
Poverty rate
Wealth inequality
Median income
Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability
Adjusted net savings
Carbon intensity of GDP
Public Debt
Dependency ratio
Tuesday, 17 January 2017
Capital and Currencies of Various Asian Countries
Sl.No | Country | Capital | Currency | Language |
1 | Abkhazia | Sukhumi | Russian ruble(RUB) | Georgian |
Abkhaz | ||||
Russian | ||||
2 | Afghanistan | Kabul | Afghani(AFN) | Pashto |
Dari (Persian) | ||||
3 | Akrotiri and Dhekelia | Episkopi Cantonment | Euro (EUR) | English |
Greek | ||||
4 | Armenia | Yerevan | Dram (AMD) | Armenian |
5 | Azerbaijan | Baku | Manat (AZN) | Azerbaijani |
6 | Bahrain | Manama | Bahraini dinar (BHD) | Arabic |
7 | Bangladesh | Dhaka | Taka(BDT) | Bengali |
8 | Bhutan | Thimphu | Bhutanese ngultrumb(BTN) | Dzongkha |
9 | British Indian Ocean Territory | Diego Garcia | UK pound | English |
10 | Brunei | Bandar Seri Begawan | Brunei dollar (BND) | Bahasa Melayu |
11 | Cambodia | Phnom Penh | Riela (KHR) | Khmer |
12 | China | Beijing | Renminbi (yuan)(CNY) | Standard Chinese |
13 | Christmas Island | Flying Fish Cove | Australian dollar (AUD) | English |
14 | Cocos (Keeling) Islands | West Island | Australian dollar (AUD) | English |
15 | Cyprus | Nicosia | Euro (EUR) | Greek |
Turkish | ||||
16 | East Timor | Dili | United States dollarc(USD) | Portuguese |
Tetum | ||||
17 | Georgia | Tbilisi | Lari (GEL) | Georgian |
18 | Hong Kong | Special administrative region of China | Hong Kong dollar(HKD) | English |
Cantonese | ||||
19 | India | New Delhi | Indian rupee (INR) | Hindi |
English | ||||
20 | Indonesia | Jakarta | Indonesian rupiah (IDR) | Indonesian |
21 | Iran | Tehran | Rial (IRR) | Persian |
22 | Iraq | Baghdad | Iraqi dinar (IQD) | Kurdish |
Arabic | ||||
23 | Israel | Jerusalem | Israeli new shekel (ILS) | Hebrew |
English | ||||
Arabic | ||||
24 | Japan | Tokyo | Yen (JPY) | Japanese |
25 | Jordan | Amman | Jordanian dinar (JOD) | Arabic |
26 | Kazakhstan | Astana | Tenge (KZT) | Kazakh |
Russian | ||||
27 | Kurdistan | Erbil | Dinar | Kurdish |
28 | Kuwait | Kuwait City | Kuwaiti dinar (KWD) | Arabic |
29 | Kyrgyzstan | Bishkek | Som (KGS) | Kyrgyz |
Russian | ||||
30 | Laos | Vientiane | Kip (LAK) | Lao |
31 | Lebanon | Beirut | Lebanese pound (LBP) | Arabic |
32 | Macau | Special administrative region of China | Macanese pataca(MOP) | Portuguese |
Cantonese | ||||
33 | Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | Ringgit (MYR) | Malaysian |
34 | Maldives | Malé | Maldivian rufiyaa(MVR) | Maldivian |
35 | Mongolia | Ulaanbaatar | Tögrög (MNT) | Mongolian |
36 | Myanmar (Burma) | Naypyidaw | Kyat (MMK) | Burmese |
37 | Nagorno-Karabakh | Stepanakert | Armenian dram (AMD) | Armenian |
38 | Nepal | Kathmandu | Nepalese rupee (NPR) | Nepali |
39 | Northern Cyprus | Nicosia | Turkish lira (TRY) | Turkish |
40 | North Korea | Pyongyang | North Korean won (KPW) | Korean |
41 | Oman | Muscat | Rial (OMR) | Arabic |
42 | Pakistan | Islamabad | Pakistani rupee (PKR) | English |
Urdu | ||||
43 | Palestine | East Jerusalem | Egyptian pound (EGP) | Arabic |
Israeli new sheqel (ILS) | ||||
Jordanian dinar(JOD) | ||||
44 | Philippines | Manila | Philippine Peso (PHP) | Filipino |
English | ||||
45 | Qatar | Doha | Riyal (QAR) | Arabic |
46 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Saudi riyal (SAR) | Arabic |
47 | Singapore | Singapore | Singapore dollar (SGD) | English |
Chinese | ||||
Malay | ||||
Tamil | ||||
48 | South Korea | Seoul | South Korean won | Korean |
(KRW) | ||||
49 | South Ossetia | Tskhinvali | Russian ruble (RUB) | Ossetic |
Georgian | ||||
Russian | ||||
50 | Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) | Sinhala | |
Tamil | ||||
51 | Syria | Damascus | Syrian pound (SYP) | Arabic |
52 | Taiwan | Taipei | New Taiwan dollar(TWD) | Standard Chinese |
53 | Tajikistan | Dushanbe | Somoni (TJS) | Tajik |
54 | Thailand | Bangkok | Baht (THB) | Thai |
55 | Turkey | Ankara | Turkish lira(TRY) | Turkish |
56 | Turkmenistan | Ashgabat | Turkmen new manat(TMT) | Turkmen |
57 | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | UAE dirham (AED) | Arabic |
58 | Uzbekistan | Tashkent | Uzbekistan som(UZS) | Uzbek |
59 | Vietnam | Hanoi | đồng (VND) | Vietnamese |
60 | Yemen | Sana’a | Yemeni rial (YER) | Arabic |
General awareness
- 8th BRICS Summit – Goa
- Niti Aayog CEO – Amitabh Kant
- UN Day – Oct 24
- GST – Constitutional Amendment Bill
- International Renewable Energy Agency HQ – Abu Dhabi
- Bombela Devi related to – Archery
- Ajanta Caves – Maharashtra
- Lalitha Babar related to – Long Distance Runner
- The first Indian to go into the space – Rakesh Sharma
- Mahabodhi Temple located – Bihar, Bodhgaya
- Abhinav Bharat Society Founder– Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
- Mt. Helena located – California
- Name the Holy book of Judaism – Torah
- Full Form of GUI – Graphical User Interface
- Environment Protection Act – 1986
Important Days
i. Tamil Nadu government celebrate the birth centenary of Former CM of Tamil Nadu, M G Ramachandran on January 17, 2017

ii. AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala and CM O Panneerselvam were organised the birth centenary celebrations in Chennai.Sasikala gave away welfare assistance to many persons.
iii. T Murthy, Director General of Postal Services, India Post released the special postage stamp as a part of this celebration
About MGR :
♦ MGR is a legendary hero in Tamil cinema. He is well Known for his flamboyant acting and songs preaching values and virtues.
♦ He was the AIADMK founder and he has served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu between 1977 and 1987
Obituary
i. Veteran actress Gita Sen who was the wife of renowned filmmaker Mrinal Sen passed away on January 16, 2017 in Kolkata of cerebral hemorrhage. She was 86.
ii. He is known for her excellent work in films like “Chorus”, “Calcutta 71”, “Kharij”, “Akaler Sandhane”, “Ekdin Pratidin” and “Khandahar”.
i. The commander of Apollo 17 and the last man who walk on the moon, Astronaut

ii. Cernan was flied to space three times and to moon twice.He was one of 14 astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963. He piloted the Gemini 9 mission with Commander Thomas P. Stafford.
iii. He ended his historic space exploration career as commander of the last human mission to the moon in December 1972
i. Senior Congress leader and former state minister of Chhattisgarh, Tarun Prasad Chatterjee passed away in Raipur,Chhattisgarh on January 17, 2017. He was 68.
ii. Tarun was elected as member of Legislative Assembly for the first time from Raipur rural constituency in 1980, 1990, 1993 and 1998
iii. He was the Public Works Department (PWD) minister between 2002 and 2003 during the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh.
iv. He was the general secretary of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee from 2003 to 2013
Sports
i. The Indian Women’s boxing team coached by Gurbax Singh Sandhu was placed third at the 6th Nations Cup held in Vrbas, Serbia on January 15, 2017. India won total six medals comprising of one gold, four silver and one bronze.
ii. Kazakhstan won the tournament at first spot followed by Russia at second in the elite category.
iii .The gold medal was clinched by national champion Neeraj (51 kg) of Haryana by defeating Jaina Shekerbekova of Kazakhstan.
iv. Similarly, Sarjubala Devi (48 Kg), Priyanka Chowdhary(60kg), Pooja(69 Kg) and Seema

Serbia:
♦ Capital: Belgrade
♦ Currency: Serbian dinar
♦ Prime minister: Aleksandar Vučić
i. Chennai Smashers won the Premier Badminton League season 2 title after defeating Mumbai Rockets 4-3 in the final match held at Siri Fort Complex in New Delhi.
ii. It consists of 15 league ties, both the teams winning two matches each.
iii. The final match was held between India’s Ajay Jayaram of Mumbai and Thailand’s Tanongsak S.
i. Mercedes named the new teammate Valtteri Bottas who replaced Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg on January 17, 2017
ii. Bottas signed one year contract with Mercedes for the 2017 campaign and Rosberg will stay on with Mercedes in an ambassadorial role.
iii. Felipe Massa has been persuaded to extend his career by one more season to replace the Finn.
i. Tajikistan’s chess player Grandmaster (GM) Farrukh Amonatov won the 15th Parsvnath Delhi International Chess tournament on January 16, 2017.
ii. The player scored 8.5 points out of 10 to win after a draw with the Indian counterpart

iii .Dzhumaev Marat of Uzbekistan also scored 8 points at second spot but due to better tie breaker Diptayan Ghosh was declared runner-up
iv. Amonatov was awarded by Rs. 4 lakh, Diptayan received Rs. 3 lakh and Dzhumaev got Rs. 2 lakh prize money.
Science and Technology
i. Researchers from Tohoku University in Japan have claimed that they have discovered the unidentified element that formed the 5 percent of earth’s core after Iron and Nickel leading to new ways for better understanding of earths formation.
ii. According to the researchers, earth’s core is composed of 85 percent Iron, 10 percent Nickel and the rest 5 percent was composed of Silicon.
iii. To study the missing element, the researchers created a very high temperatures and pressures as found in the deep interior of the Earth.
iv. They then created alloys of iron and nickel and mixed them with silicon and subjected them to the immense pressures and temperatures that exist in the inner core. They discovered that the mixture matched with the Earth’s interior with seismic data.
i. Indian state-owned telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has launched mobile TV service ‘Ditto TV‘ and ‘Limited Fixed Mobile Telephony’ in New Delhi on January 16, 2017.
ii. Ditto TV is a mobile TV service wherein subscriber can view live TV for 80 plus channels with 7 days back-up facility .
iii. The service also comes with various additional features i.e. single sign-in across multiple devices, persistent play back, interactive search, electronic program guide, easy channel switching for Live TV, intuitive user interface consistent across all devices, social login.
iv. Limited Fixed Mobile Telephone is facility of fixed telephone number with O/G and I/C calls on smart mobile devices such as smart phones with Wi-Fi facility.
i. The world’s ultralight high-performance mechanical watch RM 50-03 was inaugurated on January 16, 2017 at the 27th edition of the Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva.
ii. The watch made up of graphene composite has been developed by the University of

iii. The RM 50-03 watch was made using a unique composite incorporating graphene to manufacture a strong but lightweight new case to house the delicate watch mechanism.
iv. The graphene composite “Graph TPT” is very light weight as compared to previous materials used in watchmaking.
v. Besides the watch, the strap of the new watch has also been improved with the addition of graphene material. Grapheme was also injected into the rubber of the strap to improve its mechanical properties and its wear and tear properties.
Graphene
♦ Graphene is the world’s thinnest and lightweight material having the potential to enhance the quality of composites. Scientists and researchers have named it “a miracle material”.
♦ The presence of graphene can enhance the conductivity and strength of bulk materials and create composites that are conductive and resistant to heat and pressure.
Awards and Recognitions
i. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has registered Sitalpati or cool mat from the Cooch Behar district, West Bengal as an

ii. The Sitalpati are the mats that are used for siting or hanging on the doors or windows during summer season. They are made up of weaved green cane slips of murta plants widely found in the region.
iii. The traditional weaving culture of the reagion was facing gradual decline, as a result it was placed in a project by UNESCO “Rural Craft Hub project”.
iv. The project envisages setting up of training, marketing centres and museums in 10 locations across nine districts of the state to help in promoting and marketing crafts famous in the regions to national and international tourists.
i. Jacob Polley, a British Poet was Conferred with the 2016 T.S. Eliot prize for poetry at a ceremony at the Wallace Collection gallery in London on January 16, 2017 for his poetry collection “Jackself”.
ii. Jackself is his fourth collection that consists of various poems that is inspired from his childhood in Cumbria, England. Polley is the 23rd winner of the award and received £20,000 ($24,000) prize money.
iii. The selection panel called the book as a “firework of a book”. It was chosen from 10 competeting books.
Banking and Finanace
i. As per a report titled ‘An economy for the 99 per cent’ released by rights group Oxfam on January 16, 2017, the richest 1 percent of the population in India holds 58 percent of the country’s total wealth which is higher than the global figure of 50 percent.
ii. The report found that since 2015, the richest 1 percent population in India has continued to own more wealth than the rest of the countries.
iii. Besides, it also discovered that 57 billionaires in India having collective wealth of USD 216 billion was equal to the wealth that lowest 70 percent population held. However, when taken globally only 8 billionaires have the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50 percent of the world population.
iv. The study stated that India has 84 billionaires with a collective wealth of USD 248 billion. The total Indian wealth in the country was calculated at USD 3.1 trillion. Top 3 billionaires comprised of Mukesh Ambani (USD 19.3 billion), Dilip Shanghvi (USD 16.7 billion) and Azim Premji (USD 15 billion).
i. According to the World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on January 16, 2017 has lowered the India’s GDP growth rate for the current fiscal year by one point to 6.6 percent from its previous estimate of 7.6 percent due to the effect of demonetization on consumption and expenditure.
ii. IMF also cut India’s GDP forecast for 2017-18 by 0.4 points to 7.2 percent as against previous forecast of 7.6 percent. For the year 2018-19, the projected growth rate remained unchanged at 7.7 percent.
iii. Besides, IMF estimated the growth rate of China at 6.7 percent for 2016-17, 6.5 percent for 2017-18 and 6 percent for 2018-19.
iv. The global growth for 2016 was estimated at 3.1 percent that remained unchanged from previous forecast while for 2017 the global forecast is estimated at 3.4 percent for advanced and 3.6 percent for developing economies.
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
♦ Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
♦ CEO: Christine Lagarde
♦ Founded: 27 December 1945
i. Private sector lender YES BANK in collaboration with T-Hub, Anthill and Lets Talk Payments launched a unique business accelerator program “YES FINTECH” to provide start-ups a platform for creating sustainable and market ready products as well as provide innovative banking solutions to the customers.
ii. YES FINTECH has invited start-ups applications from across the global community, till

iii. The 15-week programme would be conducted in four phases with three weeks of on-site interventions and 11 weeks off-site interventions. Each stage will be focussed on creating a market-ready product and a sustainable business model.
iv. The focus areas will be payments, forex & treasury, capital markets, lending, trade finance, customer value added services, government risk & compliance, and enterprise software.
v. T-Hub is India’s fastest growing start-up engine specialized in innovation, scale and deal flow. Anthill and LetsTalkPayments are global platform for financial technology (Fintech).
i. YES Bank has launched a first of its kind unique Customizable Savings Account to enable the customers to design an account as per their convenience.
ii. Mumbai based bank has become the first bank in India to launch such type of account that enables the customer to choose various features of a savings accounts that suits one’s own lifestyle.
iii. The Customizable Savings Account will also protect the customer from unwarranted charges by eliminating unnecessary account features.
iv. Customers can choose options like debit cards, alternatives to minimum balance requirements, and banking benefits such as ATM usage, digital banking products, branch banking and family grouping.
YES BANK
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai
♦ Founded: 2004
♦ CEO: Rana Kapoor
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from January 16, 2017 has increased the limit of cash withdrawal from ATMs to Rs 10,000 per day from the current Rs 4,500 with immediate effect.
ii. However the bank made no changes to the weekly withdrawal limits which is Rs 24,000.
iii. Besides, the total limit to withdraw from current accounts has also been increased to Rs 1,00,000 per week from the current limit of Rs 50,000 per week which will also be applicable on the overdraft and cash credit accounts.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
♦ Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra
♦ Founded: April 1, 1935
♦ Governor: Urjit R Patel
International Current Affairs Jan 17 2017
i. India has been ranked at 60th position among 79 developing economies with a score of only 3.38 in the Inclusive Development Index (IDI) of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
ii. WEF released its ‘Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2017’ on January 16, 2017 in Davos, Switzerland. The list has been topped by Lithuania among the 79 developing countries.
Top 5 developing economies in IDI
1 | Lithuania |
2 | Azerbaijan |
3 | Hungary |
4 | Poland |
5 | Romania |