Current Affairs 26 Feb, 2017-India
Current Affairs 26 Feb, 2017-India
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Noida Metro enters Limca book:
The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) has entered the Limca book of records by putting 200 Ushaped girders in a month on the 30-km metro line. Uttar Pradesh principal secretary (industries) and chairman of the Noida Authority Rama Raman. The Noida-Greater Noida metro link and City Center to Sector 62 trial run to take place this year, however commercial run of both the lines will start in 2018.
Blind people an inspiration: Sampla
A programme to celebrate the achievements of visually impaired people was organised at the India Islamic Cultural Centre. The event, Anhad, was inaugurated by Vijay Sampla, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.
Blind people were an inspiration. “The recent spectacular performances by our blind teams in the cricket world cup and other sporting events are an example,” he added.
Mr. Sampla launched a portal www.thinkforblind.com to spread awareness about blindness.
Rajasthan appoints panel on 7th Pay Commission:
The Rajasthan government has appointed a three-member committee, headed by former Chief Secretary D.C. Samant, to study and implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for employees in the State.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje may announce implementation of the Pay Commission’s recommendations in her upcoming Budget speech during the ongoing State Assembly session.
Railways to manufacture own trainsets that can run at 160 kmph speed:
The railways has decided to go ahead with manufacturing on its own trainsets that can run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph. Suitable named ‘Train-2018’, the first trainset — a rake without a separate locomotive — is expected to be ready by March next year and likely to be pressed into service in Delhi-Lucknow or Delhi-Chandigarh sector.
Mumbai India’s richest city with $820 bn; Delhi distant second with $450 bn:
India’s financial capital Mumbai, which is home to 46,000 millionaires and 28 billionaires, is the richest Indian city with a total wealth of $820 billion, says a report. According to New World Wealth, Mumbai is the richest city in the country followed by Delhi and Bengaluru in the second and third place, respectively.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
India, Germany ratify social security agreement:
India and Germany have ratified the Social Security Agreement (SSA), which will come into force from May 1 this year, to help promote more investment flows between the two countries.
The requirements to be entitled to a pension can be met by aggregating the periods of insurance completed in India and Germany, whereby each country pays only the pension for the insurance periods covered by its laws. The period of posting will be up to 48 calendar months.
Pak., Turkey sign 10 agreements:
Pakistan has signed 10 agreements with Turkey to enhance bilateral cooperation in various fields, including exchange of financial intelligence and defence cooperation. They were signed during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Turkey from February 22-24 during which he co-chaired the 5th Session of Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
‘BRICS Bank to finance technological innovation projects’
The New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the BRICS plans to provide lending to technological innovation projects. The bank aims to foster technological innovation in developing nations through its financing, capability building and knowledge sharing, its vice president Zhu Xian said at a financing forum held in Xiamen city.
Indonesia, Australia agree to closer naval cooperation:
Indonesian and Australian leaders committed to free trade and closer naval cooperation as they urged countries in the Asia Pacific region with competing territorial claims to obey international law. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo arrived in Sydney. It his first visit to Australia as his nation’s leader. He and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said they had agreed to finalize a free trade agreement this year
NASA mulls possibility of sending astronauts on test light of Orion:
The U.S. space agency is considering putting astronauts on an upcoming test flight of the deep space capsule Orion as it aims to orbit the Moon. Orion is being built with an eye to one day ferrying astronauts to Earth’s neighboring planet, Mars, perhaps by the 2030s. Until now, the Orion test flight known as Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) was scheduled for 2018 and was expected to be unmanned.
The current plan is to send astronauts on Orion’s second flight, EM-2, an eight day mission in 2021.
French ports know-how on offer:
Top officials of HAROPA, the largest French port consortium for container trade, are willing to extend their expertise to major ports authorities in India to boost maritime container trade between the two nations. During 2016, the maritime container trade between India and HAROPA grew by over 7%. We would like to achieve double-digit growth soon said by Herve Martel, CEO, Le Havre Port.
BANKING AND BUSINESS
United Bank of India ties-up with IRCTC:
United Bank of India BSE -0.60 % has announced a tie-up with IRCTC to offer its customers facility to buy railway tickets using the bank’s debit card.
The Kolkata-based lender is the 14th bank & 10th among government banks to provide the ticket booking facility by having direct tie- up with IRCTC, UBI managing director Pawan Bajaj said. The government waived service charges on train ticket booking on the IRCTC website to promote digital transaction.
L&T arm bags Rs.1,100 cr. contract from IOC:
Larsen & Toubro Hydrocarbon Engineering said it had bagged orders worth Rs.1,100 crore from IOC for its Bongaigaon refinery in Assam. The orders are for IOC’s Indane Maximisation project, under which it would set up a fluidised cracking unit including an LPG treatment facility. The firm is a wholly—owned subsidiary of L&T Ltd.
Verizon, Yahoo cut deal size after cyber attacks:
Verizon Communications Inc said it would buy Yahoo Inc’s core business for $4.48 billion, lowering its original offer by $350 million in the wake of two massive cyber attacks at the Internet Company. The deal’s closing had been delayed as the firms assessed the fallout from two data breaches at Yahoo.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Scientists discover a large Mayan jade pendant with carved inscriptions:
Scientists have discovered a large piece of carved jade that once belonged to an ancient Maya king, inscribed with a historical text describing its first owner. The jewel – a jade pendant worn on a king’s chest during key religious ceremonies – was first unearthed in 2015, in Nim Li Punit in southern Belize. The T-shaped pendant is remarkable for being the second largest Maya jade found in Belize to date, said Geoffrey Braswell, a professor at University of California, San Diego in the US.
SPORTS
South Africa captain becomes fastest to 9000 ODI runs:
South Africa captain A.B. de Villiers became the fastest man to score 9,000 One Day International runs as he led his side to a 159-run victory over New Zealand in the third one-day match. A.B. de Villiers scored 85, having needed just five runs to surpass former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who took 228 innings to achieve the milestone. De Villiers did it in his 205th innings.
Harika settles for bronze after losing semis at World Championship:
Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli had to settle for the bronze medal after a heartbreaking defeat against Tan Zhongyi of China via the tie-breaker in the semi-finals of the FIDE World Women’s Chess Championship in Tehran.
This was the third bronze medal for the Indian Grandmaster at the FIDE World Women’s Chess Championship.
Table Tennis players rack up unbelievable 766-shot rally:
Netherlands’ Li Jie and Hitomi Sato featured an in incredible rally at the Qatar. They produced a 766-shot table tennis rally, lasting for ten minutes during an ITTF World Tour match. Because of the rally’s length, the ‘Expedite System’ was instated. Under this rule, the server is forced to win every point of the remainder of the match in under 13 shots or they lose that particular point.
