Current Affairs Update – 7th and 8th February, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 7th and 8th February, 2016. These are important for the upcoming LIC AAO Exam.

• In a big blow for social media
  giant Facebook, India’s telecom regulator on Monday ruled out differential
  pricing for internet service providers.
• “Telecom service providers will
  be prohibited from offering different/discriminatory tariffs based on content,
  service, application or any other data which user is accessing or transmitting
  on the internet,” Trai said in its recommendations on differential pricing for
  data services.
• However, providing limited free
  data that enables user to access entire internet will be allowed and even in
  emergency situations such as floods and earthquake, operators will be allowed
  to offer free data plans.
• Operators will be fined if they
  violate any rules fixed by the Trai — financial disincentive of Rs 50,000 for
  each day of contravention subject to maximum Rs 50 lakh. Also, operators cannot
  enter into any arrangement based on discriminatory pricing and would be fined
  if they do otherwise.

• The Reserve Bank of India on
  Monday said that it has cancelled the certificate of registration of four non-banking
  financial companies.
• No details were given by the apex
  bank for cancellation of the certificates of these firms.
• “The Reserve Bank has cancelled
  the certificate of registration of four non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)
  in exercise of the powers under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934”, it said
  in a notification on Monday.
• Goyal Commercial Pvt Ltd and
  First Debt Management Co. of India Ltd are the NBFCs belonging to Kolkata,
  while Nostalgia Finvest Private Limited and Narad Realtors Private Limited
  belong to Mumbai.
• The registration certificate of
  these NBFCs were cancelled in November and December of 2015.
• “Following the cancellation of
  registration certificate, the above companies cannot transact the business of a
  non-banking financial institution”, RBI added.

• With Larsen & Toubro being
  awarded the Rs. 1,734-crore EPC contract, work on the construction of ancient
  port-city of Dholera in Gujarat, touted as India’s largest green-field smart
  city under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is all set to role out
  with a SPV created to manage the new township on a sustainable basis.
• Cube Construction Engineering Ltd
  will construct the Administrative and Business Centre at Dholera, a company
  spokesman said.
• The ambitious project is being
  jointly promoted by the DMIC and Dholera Special Investment Regional
  Development Authority (DSIRDA). The first Board meeting of the Dholera
  Industrial City Development Ltd (DICDL), held on January 30, had approved the
  EPC (Engineering Procurement Construction) contract for Rs. 1,734.04 crore for
  construction of roads and services by Larsen & Toubro.
• A second contract for Rs. 72.31
  crore for construction of the Administration and Business Centre of Dholera
  (ABCD) was approved for Cube Construction Engineering Ltd.

• HCL Technologies has launched an
  Internet of Things (IoT) incubation center in Redmond, Washington, USA,
  designed to leverage Microsoft Azure IoT Suite to accelerate enterprise IoT
  adoption.
• The HCL incubation center will
  build vertical solutions focused on two key growth areas – industrial &
  manufacturing and life sciences & healthcare, with use cases around
  industrial automation, remote patient monitoring and fleet management, among
  others.
• The center will also deploy a new
  model of innovation leveraging real-time analytics, sensory data and rapid
  co-creation allowing customers to experience the impact IoT can have on their
  ability to create sustainable business value.

• Central Pollution Control Board
  (CPCB) in the first week of February 2016 published National Air Quality
  Indices (NAQI) for 24 cities. The AQI published with a colour code and a
  numerical value will help in comparing pollution levels in each cities.
• The NAQI is determined on the
  basis of concentration of eight pollutants, including Particulate Matter (PM2.5
  fine, respirable particles), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2),
  carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), ammonia (NH3) and lead (Pb).

• Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and
  Muzzafarpur in Bihar topped the list and were coded as ‘severe’ in terms of air
  pollution in January 2016 with an AQI value of 409 points each.
• These two cities are followed by
  Faridabad (399), Patna (388) and Agra (372) at 3rd, 4th and 5th position
  respectively.
• The national capital Delhi stood
  at the sixth position with 362 points and was coded as ‘very poor’.
• Earlier in December 2015, Delhi
  was coded as ‘Poor’ in AQI with 293 points. Seven other Indian cities were
  ahead of it and rated as ‘very poor’ and they were Agra (342), Faridabad (345),
  Kanpur (347), Lucknow (353), Muzzaffarpur (400), Patna (373) and Varanasi
  (366).

• To strengthen the aviation sector
  in Gujarat, the state government has planned to set up the country’s first-ever
  aviation park here, having a slew of facilities, including an airstrip, training
  school, helipad and space for setting up small manufacturing units among others.
• According to officials of
  government-owned Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Ltd (GUJSAIL),
  this integrated park aims to raise awareness about the potential of the
  aviation sector among students, professionals, policymakers and business
  entities.
• GUJSAIL, which is given the task
  by the government to carry out the project, has recently identified a piece of
  land near Bagodara village, about 30 km from here.

• India and China on 6 February
  2016 held first joint tactical military exercise Sino-India 2016.
• The one-day long exercise was
  held in Chusul-Moldo area that is located along the Line of Actual Control
  (LoAC) in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

• The exercise is part of the
  ongoing initiatives taken by India and China to ensure greater interaction
  between troops stationed along the LoAC.
• The focus of the exercise was on
  joint actions to tackle aspects of humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
• It was participated by 30 border
  troops each from both the countries.
• It complements the Hand-in-Hand
  series of India-China joint exercises which started in 2007.

• Union government on 8 February
  2016 launched the 24×7 Toll Free Tourist Infoline in 12 International Languages
  including Hindi and English in New Delhi.
• The languages handled by the
  contact centers include ten International languages besides English and Hindi,
  namely, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese,
  Russian and Spanish.

• This project is being implemented
  by the Union Ministry of Tourism through M/s TATA BSS who have been associated
  with the work after open bidding process.
• This Infoline service will
  provide information relating to Travel and Tourism in India to the domestic and
  International tourists or visitors.
• And it will assist the callers
  with advice on action to be taken during times of distress while travelling in
  India and if need be alert the concerned authorities.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7
  February 2016 inaugurated the Paradip Oil Refinery in Odisha. It is Indian Oil
  Corporation Limited’s 11th refinery, which was dedicated to the nation by PM
  Modi.
• Built over a period of 16 years
  at a cost of 34555 crore rupees, the foundation stone for the Paradip Oil
  Refinery was laid by ex-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 24 May 2000.
• The refinery was expected to
  start production in the third quarter of 2013. Due to delays the cost of
  refinery project has increased by 2.5 per cent.

• Located 140 km from the state
  capital Bhubaneswar, Paradip refinery is one of the most modern refineries in
  the world which can process cheaper high sulphur heavy crude oils. It has a
  complexity factor of 12.2 based on Nelson index.
• The refinery is equipped to
  produce fuels of premium grade Euro-IV and Euro-V quality.

• Union Minister of Health and
  Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda on 6 February 2016 launched the Project
  Sunrise in Imphal, Manipur.
• The project seeks to improve
  interventions against human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired
  immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) among people who inject drugs (PWID) in
  eight north east States.

• It seeks to improve coverage,
  quality and scale of HIV interventions among PWID, Female Injecting Drug Users
  (FIDU) and spouses of PWID.
• It is a 5-year programme aimed at
  complementing the ongoing National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).
• It will be implemented in 20
  districts of 8 north eastern states at an estimated cost of 70 crore rupees.

• External Affairs Minister Sushma
  Swaraj on 6 February 2016 inaugurated the Rise of Digital India Exhibition in
  Colombo. The exhibition was a part of Sangam -The Festival of India in Sri
  Lanka 2015-16.
• Swaraj was on a two day visit to
  Sri Lanka to co-chair the 9th session of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission
  meeting along with her Sri Lankan counterpart, Mangala Samaraweera.
• The Rise of Digital India
  exhibition showcases the initiative of Indian government to take the benefits
  of Information Technology to the common man. The exhibition is a part of six
  month long Festival of India celebrations in Sri Lanka.

• Brendon McCullum marked his last
  one-day international for New Zealand with a match and series victory over
  Australia today.
• McCullum’s farewell seemed likely
  to be soured by a dramatic batting collapse which saw New Zealand lose its last
  six wickets for 23 runs to be all out for 246, but the bowlers dismissed
  Australia for 191 with more than six overs to spare, winning by 55 runs to
  clinch a 2-1 series victory.
• Australia had been on target for
  victory when on 164-5 but the controversial dismissal of Mitch Marsh exposed
  the tail and New Zealand’s bowlers quickly wrapped up the win.
• Marsh was given out caught and
  bowled by Matt Henry when his forcing shot hit the toe of his boot and carried
  to the bowler who took the ball low down.

• Sapna Devi on 7 February 2016
  clinched gold for India in the women Wushu Taulu (Changquan) Competition of the
  12th South Asian Games held at the Rising Sun Sports Complex, Assam Rifles,
  Laitkor in Shillong.
• Sapna bagged gold after scoring
  9.45 points. The silver went to Susmita Tamang of Nepal with a score of 8.72.
  Pakistan’s Nazia Parvaiz had to settle for the bronze with a score of 6:30
  points.
• In the men’s section, India’s
  Anjul Namdeo was able to bag a bronze medal after scoring 8:66 points. The gold
  went to Sri Lankan player P.L. H Lakshan with a score of 8:86, the silver went
  to Bijay Sinjali of Nepal with a score of 8:80 points.

• International Cricket Council
  (ICC) on 7 February 2016 suspended Pakistan’s leg-spinner Yasir Shah for three
  months after he tested positive for a banned substance, chlortalidone.
• The 29-year-old Yasir was
  suspended from Cricket after he pleaded guilty to breaching the ICC’s
  Anti-Doping Code that relates to the presence of a banned substance in a
  player’s sample.
• Chlortalidone, also used to treat
  high blood pressure, is on WADA’s prohibited list of diuretics and masking
  agents and is prohibited both in-competition and out-of-competition.

• The French Senate on 3 February
  2016 unanimously passed a law to ban large food stores from throwing away food
  that is approaching its expiration date. The National Assembly, France’s other
  legislative chamber, had unanimously voted on the same measures in December
  2015.
• With this, France has become the
  first country in the world to ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying
  unsold food, forcing them instead to donate it to charities and food banks.
• The law came into being after a
  petition was launched by anti-poverty campaigners led by Councillor Arash
  Derambarsh.
• With the new law, supermarkets
  are bound to make donations to charities and food banks, failing which they
  face a fine of 75000 euros and a jail term of 2 years.
• Stores of 400 square metres and
  above will have to sign contracts promising that they will give unsold food due
  to be thrown away before its best before date to charities and food banks.

• The Revenant director Alejandro
  Gonzalez was on 6 February 2016 received his second consecutive Directors Guild
  of America (DGA) award for best feature film at the 68th annual DGA Awards.
• Previously he won the same award
  for the movie Birdman which went on to win three Oscars for best picture,
  original screenplay and director.
• He has joined a select group of
  directors who have won the DGA trophy twice including Ang Lee, Francis Ford
  Coppola, Clint Eastwood, George Stevens, David Lean, Ron Howard and Joseph
  Mankiewicz.
• Steven Spielberg is the only
  director to have won the DGA feature trophy three times.

• Vishal Mehta on 4 February 2016
  was appointed as the President of the newly- formed International Grown Diamond
  Association (IGDA).
• Mehta is the Chief Executive
  Officer (CEO) of IIa Technologies, which grows diamonds at its state-of-the-art
  facility in Singapore.

• Renowned poet and lyricist Nida
  Fazli, who penned several soulful compositions like ‘Kabhie kisi ko mukamil
  jahan nahi milta’, passed away today after he complained of breathlessness at
  his residence in suburban Mumbai. He was 78.
• Muqtida Hasan Nida Fazli,
  popularly known as Nida Fazli, was a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award.
• Born in Delhi in a Kashmiri
  family, Fazli did his schooling in Gwalior. During the partition, his parents
  migrated to Pakistan, but Fazli decided to stay in India.
• Some of his famous ghazals
  include “Kabhie Kisi Ko Mukamil Jahan Nahi Milta”, ‘Aa Bhi Jaa, Aa
  Bhi Jaa’ (“Sur”), “Tu Is Tarah Se Meri Zindagi Mein”
  (“Aap Toh Aise Na They”) and ‘Hosh Waalon Ko Khabar Kya’ (“Sarfarosh”).

Regards

Team ExamPundit

Sponsored

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});