Current Affairs Update – 1st February, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 1st February, 2016. These are crucial for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016 Exam.

• State Bank of India (SBI) today
  launched a new home loan scheme which will enable young working professionals
  to get higher amount than they are eligible for.
• Under the scheme, ‘SBI FlexiPay
  Home Loan’, the additional loan amount will help such professionals in
  acquiring better and spacious living spaces for themselves and their families,
  the country’s largest lender said in a statement here.
• To lower the impact of such
  additional loan amount on monthly repayments in form of EMIs, the customers
  availing of loan under the scheme will also be offered the option of paying
  only interest during the moratorium (pre-EMI) period of 3 to 5 years.
  Thereafter, they will pay moderated EMIs.

• Union Ministry of Shipping
  exported a batch of six metro coaches to Australia on 29 January 2016 from
  Mumbai. The shipment was made as part of a deal with Australian government to
  export 450 made-in-India coaches in two and a half year period.
• The coaches were made in Baroda
  manufacturing plant. It created a history in the India’s manufacturing sector
  in exports as it is first of its kind.
•  The shipment was made from Mumbai port as it
  holds supremacy in handling of oversized precious cargo.

• Telecom regulator Trai has
  recommended a public private partnership (PPP) model for rolling out
  government’s ambitious project BharatNet — which involves setting up of a
  broadband network in rural India.
• A PPP model that aligns private
  incentives with long term service delivery in the vein of the
  build-own-operate-transfer/build-operate-transfer models of implementation be
  the preferred means of implementation, Trai said in its recommendations
  announced today.
• Currently, a special purpose
  vehicle Bharat Broadband Network Limited under telecom ministry is handling
  roll out of optical fibre network and being being executed by BSNL, Railtel and
  Power Grid.
• The previous government had
  approved a project cost of Rs 20,000 crore for laying optical fibre network in
  2011 but till now there has been only little progress.
• It is expected that BharatNet
  will be completed by 2017-18, after missing many deadlines. Even the project
  cost has increased to about Rs 70,000 crore over the years.
• The project was earlier named
  national optical fibre network (NOFN) and was renamed BharatNet by the current
  government.

• The government today banned duty-
  free import of capital goods for power generation and transmission projects
  under the EPCG Scheme.
• The decision is aimed at
  encouraging manufacturing of power equipment and giving a push to domestic
  capital goods sector, with an aim to boost the overall economy.
• Amending the Foreign Trade Policy
  2015-20, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in an order:
  “Authorisation under EPCG Scheme shall not be issued for import of any
  Capital Goods for generation/transmission of power (including Captive plants
  and Power Generator Sets of any kind)…”
• The Export Promotion Capital
  Goods (EPCG) scheme allows import of capital goods for pre-production, production
  and post-production at zero custom duty.
• The government has fixed a target
  of 88,537 MW power generation capacity addition for the 12th Plan period ending
  2016-17.
• Till December 2015, 72,240.12 MW
  or 81.59 per cent of the target has achieved, as per the Central Electricity
  Authority data.

• India and Afghanistan today inked
  a pact for visa-free travel by their diplomats following Afghan Chief Executive
  Abdullah Abdullah’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where they
  discussed ways to further deepen the strategic partnership, both in the bilateral
  and regional context.
• The Prime Minister also expressed
  deep gratitude to the Afghan Government and its the National Security Forces
  for their bravery and sacrifice in order to protect Indians living in the
  strife-torn nation, especially during the attack on the Indian Consulate in
  Mazar-e-Sharif on January 4-5, 2016.
• The minister also assured
  Abdullah of government’s help in facilitating participation of a strong Afghan
  contingent in the 12th SAF games to be held in Guwahati and Shillong.
• The Afghan leader’s visit comes
  nearly a month after Modi’s trip to Kabul during which he inaugurated the new
  Afghan Parliament building, constructed with India’s aid.

• Vietnam has formally lifted the
  ban on import of Indian groundnut, thereby providing market access after nine
  months, the Agriculture Ministry said today.
• The country had suspended import
  of Indian groundnuts from April 6, due to interception of quarantine pests —
  Caryedon serratus and Trogodrma granarium — in consignments exported since
  January, 2015.

• The 30th edition of the Surajkund
  International Crafts Mela began at Surajkund in Faridabad, Haryana on 1
  February 2016. The event that will continue till 15 February 2016 was inaugurated
  by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
• Telangana was selected as the
  Theme State and will showcase its unique culture and rich heritage and about
  300 artistes from the state will perform different folk arts. Chhattisgarh was
  chosen as the Theme State for the 29th Surajkund International Crafts
  Mela-2015.

• Senior IFS officer Muktesh Kumar
  Pardeshi was on 29 January 2016 appointed as India’s Ambassador to Mexico.
• Pardeshi is a Indian Foreign
  Service (IFS) officer of 1991 batch. He is currently posted as Joint Secretary
  (Passport division) in the Union Ministry of External Affairs.
• He served as the Deputy Head of
  Mission at the Embassy of India in Jakarta from 2007 to 2010. During 1993-2001,
  he worked with Indian Missions in Mexico, Colombia and Nepal.

• Kamlesh Kumar Pandey on 28
  January 2016 was appointed as the Chief Commissioner for Persons with
  Disabilities (CCPD) for a period of three years.
• Before joining the post of CCPD,
  Pandey was associated with Saksham, an NGO working in the field of disability.
• The CCPD is appointed by the
  Union Government from persons having special knowledge or practical experience
  in matters relating to rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities.

• To monitor the utilization of
  funds disbursed by the Union Government
• To take steps to safeguard the
  rights and facilities made available to persons with disabilities
• To submit reports to the Central
  Government on the implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995

• German retailer METRO Cash &
  Carry has appointed Arvind Mediratta, a former Walmart Executive as its India
  managing director, replacing Rajeev Bakshi.
• Mediratta joined from Walmart US,
  where he was working as corporate vice-president (merchandising). He was part
  of the team that set up Walmart’s India cash-and-carry business when he joined
  the retailer in 2007, before he was elevated as chief operating officer in the
  country. Later, he moved to the US, the company said in a statement.
• Metro Cash and Carry has 19
  wholesale distribution outlets in India, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi
  and Mumbai.

• Senior IPS officer Datta
  Padsalgikar was on 30 January 2016 appointed as the Commissioner of Police of
  Mumbai with effect from 31 January 2016. He succeeds Ahmed Javed, who was
  appointed as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
• With this, Padsalgikar became the
  40th Police Commissioner of Mumbai. He was on deputation to the Union
  Government in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for the past few years, but was
  repatriated in January 2016 in preparation for his new charge.

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
  on 29 January 2016 was selected for the prestigious K Veeramani Award for
  Social Justice 2015.
• Kumar is chosen for the award for
  his contribution towards social justice as Chief Minister.
• The award is given away by
  Periyar International, a Chicago-based voluntary organisation. However, the
  date and venue of the award function are yet to be decided.

• Veteran wildlife filmmaker Naresh
  Bedi on 28 January 2016 was honoured with the V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement
  Award at the 14th edition of the Mumbai International Festival for Documentary,
  Short and Animation Films (MIFF 2016).
• Bedi was honoured for his
  outstanding contribution to wildlife filmmaking. He is also credited with
  filming several rare wildlife moments.

• Virat Kohli was rewarded for his
  stupendous performance in India’s clean sweep against Australia in the T20
  internationals as he replaced Aaron Finch as the top-ranked batsman in the ICC
  list for the shortest format.
• According to the latest list
  released by the ICC, Kohli, who had scores of 90 not out, 59 not out and 50 in
  the three-match series, gained 47 ratings points to move ahead of Finch with 892
  ranking points to his credit.
• Finch gained 14 points himself
  thanks to scores of 44 and 74 in Adelaide and Melbourne, but his hamstring
  injury in game two ruled him out of the final match of the series at the SCG on
  Sunday.
• India’s Suresh Raina moved up
  three places to 13th after his impressive series, while opener Rohit Sharma
  also moved up four places to be placed 16th in the list.
• David Warner, who scored 17 in
  the opening match before heading to New Zealand for the one-day international
  series against the Black Caps, dropped six spots to 18th.

• Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi
  Srikanth on 31 January 2016 won the Men’s Singles title of the Syed Modi
  International Badminton Championships 2016. In the final played at Babu
  Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, Srikanth defeated China’s Huang Yuxiang,
  21-13, 14-21, 21-14.
• This was Srikanth’s fifth title
  overall, the other four titles include Thailand Grand Prix Gold, China Super
  Series premier, Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and India Super Series.

• Former Indian cricketer Virender
  Sehwag was appointed as mentor of the Kings XI Punjab team for season 9 of
  Indian Premier League (IPL) on 1 February 2016.
• In his new role, Sehwag will work
  along with head coach Sanjay Bangar and would be responsible for guiding and
  motivating the squad.

• Aditya Mehta on 31 January 2016
  won the 83rd Senior National Snooker Championship in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
• To win the title, he defeated
  Manan Chandra 6-3 in the final that was held as part of the National Billiards
  & Snooker Championship 2016.
• In another event, Vidya Pillai
  won the National Snooker Championship in the women’s category by defeating Amee
  Kamani 4-2. For 38-year-old Vidya, it was her ninth national title.

• The International Swimming
  Federation (FINA) on 31 January 2016 announced that the Japanese city of
  Fukuoka will host the 2021 World Aquatics Championships.
• On the other hand, the Qatari
  capital Doha will host the 2023 event.
• The decision was made after a
  vote of the FINA executive committee in Budapest.

• British television and radio
  personality Terry Wogan died of cancer on 31 January 2016 in Buckinghamshire,
  United Kingdom. He was 77.
• He was appointed an Honorary
  Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997 and elevated to an
  Honorary Knight Commander of the same order (KBE) in the Queen’s Birthday
  Honours in 2005.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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