Current Affairs: 17th Jan 2017

25 children including 13 girls selected for National Bravery Awards
i.Twenty-five children have been selected for the national bravery awards 2016. These include 13 girls. Four of the awards have been given posthumously.
ii.The coveted Bharat award has been conferred on 8-year-old Late Kumari Tarh Peju of Arunachal Pradesh, who sacrificed her life while saving two of her friends from drowning.
iii.The prestigious Geeta Chopra award has been conferred on 18 year old Tejasweeta Pradhan and 17-year-old Shivani Gond of West Bengal who showed immense courage fearlessly helping police and NGO in uncovering an international sex racket leading to the arrest of the mastermind in Delhi.
iv.The Sanjya Chopra award has been given to 15-year-old Sumit Mamgain of Uttarakhand who displayed outstanding bravery in fighting a leopard to save his cousin.
v. The children will receive their awards from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 23rd of this month. They will participate in the parade. President Pranab Mukherjee will host reception in their honor.

India Signs Financing Agreement of $48 million with World Bank for Nagaland Health Project
i.India has signed a financing agreement with World Bank for 48 million dollars for Nagaland Health Project.
ii.About six lakh people will directly benefit from the Health Project with improvements in higher-level facilities as well as system-wide investments.
iii.The objective of the project is to improve health services in Nagaland. Communities in targeted locations will benefit from project activities at the community and health facility levels.

Mysuru Printing Press Breaks Record by Printing Highest No. of Currency Notes in a December 2016
i.The Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran PvtLtd, a fully controlled subsidiary of RBI has set records in currency note printing.The RBI Note Mudran printing press in Mysuru printing highest number of currency notes in December 2016 breaking all its past record.
ii.It printed 10.9 million currency note in a day that even broke the world record made an American currency printing press of printing 8.7 million notes in a day.As per the data, 1350 million currency notes were printed in December 2016 in Mysuru which employess 650 workers who work for 12 hours in two shifts.

Market Regulator SEBI Tightens Mergers & Acquisitions Norms Among Unlisted Firms
i.The Capital market regulator of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on January 14 tightened the norms associated to Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) of Indian companies.
ii.The public shareholding of the resultant entity created by the merger of an unlisted and a listed company has to be more than 25%. iii.The unlisted entity can only merge with those companies that are listed on exchanges such as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE.

IMF cuts India’s growth rate to 6.6% due to Demonetization
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal by one percentage point, citing demonetisation woes from 7.6% to 6.6%. It sees India ceding the tag of the world’s fastest growing major economy to China in FY17.

Tamil Nadu: 170th Sadguru Sri Thyagaraja Aaradhana festival ends on 17 January 2017
i.In Tamil Nadu, the 170th Sadguru Sri Thyagaraja Aaradhana festival at Tiruvaiyaru ends today(17 January 2017).
ii.The Aaradhana festival which was inaugurated on 13th of this month was a treat to carnatic music lovers. Sadguru Thyagaraja is one of the great musical trinity alongwith Muthusamy Dikshithar and Shyama Sastrigal.

BHEL Commissions 500 MW Thermal Unit In West Bengal
i.Government owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited(BHEL) has commissioned new 500 MW Thermal Unit in West Bengal.
ii.This was the second 500 MW at Sagardighi Thermal Power Station (TPS) Phase II project in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

IIMC to start post graduate course in Urdu journalism
i.Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu launching a post graduate course in Urdu journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi .
ii.The Executive Council of the IIMC, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has recently approved the course.

Kozhikode Corporation becomes 1st Elederly-friendly corporation in Kerala
i.Kozhikode Corporation was declared as the first Elderly-Friendly Corporation in Kerala.
ii.The Kozhikode Corporationstate government has planned to setup Senior citizen’s club, Day care centres as a part of Vayomitram project for the welfare of the elder people in the state.
iii.As part of the elderly friendly status, the Corporation has begun to collect basic details of all the senior citizens in the city through its 543 Anganwa

Pakistan Navy Receives Two Ships From China to Ensure Security along Gwadar Port
i.China has sold two naval ships to Pakistan to protect the strategic Gwadar port and trade routes under the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
ii.The ships named Hingol and Basol gets its name from nearby rivers in Pakistan.China will provide two more ships to Pakistan Navy named Dasht and Zhob after two districts in Balochistan.

Future Group’s & SBI Card launch premium co-branded card
i.Future Group’s fashion and lifestyle departmental store Central joined with SBI Card launched a second co-branded credit card to offer benefits to consumers in the premium lifestyle and fashion space.
ii.The Central SBI SELECT and SELECT+ Cards will offer an accelerated reward points structure

Rajeev Singh to Take Charge as Interim CEO of Prasar Bharati after S C Panda
i.Rajeev Singh, Member of Prasar Bharati Board will take charge as interim CEO of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati in February, 2017. He will replace S C Panda.
ii.Rajeev was elected as Interim CEO during the Prasar Bharati Board meeting held in Hyderabad on January 15, 2017.

Kiran Doshi won The Hindu Prize 2016
i.Kiran Doshi won The Hindu Prize 2016 at the 7th edition of The Hindu Lit for Life festival 2017 held in Chennai from January 14-16, 2017.
ii.The festival was inaugurated by contemporary artist Gulamohammed Sheikh at Sir Mutha Kiran Doshi Conferred ‘The Hindu Prize 2016’ for Jinnah Often Came to Our HouseVenkatasubba Rao Concert Hall in Chennai.

National award-winning filmmaker Deepak Roy dead at 67
Deepak Roy, known for his movie “Limit to Freedom” which won him a National award in 1996 under the category of best investigative film, has passed away at the age of 67 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Valtteri Bottas replaces Nico Rosberg at Mercedes and joins Lewis Hamilton
i.Valtteri Bottas has been confirmed as Lewis Hamilton’s new team-mate for the forthcoming Formula One season after he was finally unveiled by Mercedes at their headquarters.
ii.Bottas, who replaces world champion Nico Rosberg following his shock decision to retire from the sport, had long been favorite for the vacant seat.

Sports Minister Vijay Goel inaugurates Khelo India competitions
i.The Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Vijay Goel inaugurated the Khelo India National level Competitions on various sports for Under-14 and Under-17 children in New Delhi.
ii.The competition has been organized by Sports Authority of India under aegis of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in Swimming, Cycling and Wrestling.