DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 20TH JAN 2017
(Daily News India)
1.
30 MORE COUNTRIES TO JOIN ASIA INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK
i. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson of China, Hua
Chunying informed that thirty more countries have applied for joining the Asia
Infrastructure Investment Bank besides 57 founding members.
ii. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is an
international financial institution that aims to support the building of infrastructure
in the Asia-Pacific region.
iii. China is the largest shareholder having 26.6%
voting shares. India is the second largest shareholder with 7.5% followed by
Russia 5.93% and Germany with 4.5%.
2.
UN REPORT ESTIMATES INDIA’S GDP TO GROW BY 7.7% IN 2017
i. Based on the UN report on World Economic
Situation and Prospects, India’s economy is projected to grow by 7.7% in the
fiscal 2017 because of being the fastest growing large developing economy.
ii. The United Nations report projected that India
is going to be benefitted due to its strong private consumption and gradual
introduction of significant domestic reforms.
iii. The growth estimate for 2018 has been
projected at 7.6%. However, it also stated that low capacity utilization and
stressed balance sheets of banks and businesses will have negative effect on
strong investment revival in the short term.
v. Earlier the IMF cut India’s growth rate for the
current fiscal year to 6.6% from its previous estimate of 7.6% while the World
Bank too lowered India’s GDP growth for 2016-17 fiscal to 7% from its previous
estimate of 7.6%.
3.
ANTONIO TAJANI ELECTED NEW PRESIDENT OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
i. Italian Political Leader Antonio Tajani has been
elected as the new president of the
European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
ii. He will replace Germany’s Martin Schulz.Tajani
won 351 votes to defeat his Italian counterpart Gianni Pitella against 282
votes in four rounds of voting.
4.
BHARTI AXA GENERAL APPOINTS SANJEEV SRINIVASAN AS CEO, MD
i. Sanjeev Srinivasan has been appointed as CEO and
MD of Bharti AXA General Insurance.
ii. Srinivasan was currently working as Chief
Commercial and Principal Officer of General Insurance.
iii. He will focus to driving new distribution
tie-ups, create a balanced portfolio, and creating a customer centric brand to
drive profitable growth.
5.
ICICI PRU ACQUIRES 8.41% STAKE IN FINO PAYTECH FOR RS 100 CRORE
i. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has acquired
8.41% stake in Fino Paytech Ltd for a total consideration of Rs 100 crore.
ii. Fino Paytech Ltd provides technology-based
solutions and services related to financial inclusion. Earlier, FPL was granted
payment bank licence by the RBI.
6.
KAPIL DEV INDUCTED INTO LEGENDS CLUB HALL OF FAME
i. Cricket icon Kapil Dev was inducted into Legends
Club ‘Hall of Fame’ at the Cricket Club of India. Former India player and
Legends Club president Madhav Apte presented Kapil with a citation.
ii. He was already inducted into the club’s Hall of
Fame on July 11, 2013.
7.
C.V. VISHVESHWARA, PIONEER OF BLACK HOLE DISCOVERY DIED
i. Veteran Indian Scientist CV Vishveshwara and
pioneer in the discovery of black hole in India died in Bengaluru.
ii. The Black Hole Man of India, CV Vishveshwara
contributed in the physics of black hole even before the word black hole was
coined.
iii. He had published three ground-breaking
single-author papers in the late 1960s for better understanding of black holes.
8.
CABINET CLEARS PROPOSALS FOR LISTING 5 PSU GENERAL INSURERS
i. The Cabinet has given its in-principle nod for
listing of all the 5 general insurance companies.
ii. The 5 general insurance companies are the
Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, New India Assurance Company Ltd, National
Insurance Company Ltd, General Insurance Company Ltd and United India Insurance
Company Ltd,.
iii. The Centre's shareholding would be divested
from 100% to 75% in one or more tranches over a period of time, Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
9.
PREZ MUKHERJEE INAUGURATE 28TH DANTAN GRAMIN MELA IN WB
i. President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the
28th Dantan Gramin Mela in West Midnapore district in West Bengal.
ii. The fair will display the rural handicraft
skills of the people of the region.
10.
ISRO SUCCESSFULLY REALIGNS ORBIT OF MARS MISSION “MANGALYAAN”
i. The Indian Space Research Organisation
successfully realigned the orbit of its Mars Orbiter Mission ‘Mangalyaan’ since
it could not withstand long duration eclipse.
ii. The need for changing the orbit of Mangalyaan
was felt to protect it from the long duration eclipse otherwise the
Mangalyaan’s battery capacity would have got exhausted due to lack of sun rays.
iii. The spacecraft has 30kg fuel left as per the
scientists and with realignment it is expected to work for a very long time to
come.
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED
ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1.
WHICH INDIAN CRICKETER HAS BEEN INDUCTED INTO THE LEGENDS CLUB ‘HALL OF FAME’?
a) Ravi
Shastri
b) Kapil Dev
c) Mohammad
Azharuddin
d) Javagal
Srinath
Q2.
WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE CEO AND MD OF BHARTI AXA GENERAL INSURANCE?
a) Pankaj Murarka
b) Anoop Rao
c) V.K.
Sharma
d) Sanjeev
Srinivasan
Q3.
WHICH INDIAN SCIENTIST DIED RECENTLY WHO WAS WELL-KNOWN AS THE BLACK HOLE MAN
OF INDIA?
a) CV
Vishveshwara
b) M.G.K.
Menon
c) Raja
Ramanna
d) Soumya
Swaminathan
Q4.
FOR WHAT AMOUNT THE ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE HAS ACQUIRED 8.41% STAKE IN
FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICE PROVIDER FINO PAYTECH LTD?
a) Rs. 170
crore
b) Rs. 100
crore
c) Rs. 155
crroe
d) Rs. 120
crore
Q5.
WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ON
JANUARY 17, 2017?
a) François
Hollande
b) Sergio
Mattarella
c) Antonio
Tajani
d) Petro
Poroshenko
ANSWER:
1 - B 2 - D 3
- A 4 - B 5 - C
