Current affairs : February 1, 2017 for all competitive exams
The Central Statistics Office (CSO),
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the First
Revised Estimates of National Income, Consumption Expenditure, Saving and
Capital Formation for the financial year 2015-16 (with Base Year 2011-12) as
per the revision policy.
- Nominal GDP or GDP at current prices for the year 2015-16 is estimated as Rs. 136.75 lakh crore exhibiting a growth of 10.0% during 2015-16.
- Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for the
years 2015-16 stands at Rs. 113.58 lakh crore and showing growth of 7.9%
during 2015-16.
- In terms of real GVA, i.e., GVA at constant
(2011-12) basic prices, there has been a growth of 7.8% in 2015-16, as
against growth of 6.9% in 2014-15.
- Nominal Net National Income (NNI) at current prices
for the year 2015-16 stands at Rs. 120.83 lakh crore as against Rs. 109.61
lakh crore in 2014-15, showing an increase of 10.2% during 2015-16 as
against an increase of 10.7% in the previous year.
Income Tax Department (ITD)
launches Operation Clean Money:
Income Tax Department (ITD) has
initiated Operation Clean Money.
- Initial phase of the operation involves
e-verification of large cash deposits made during 9th November to 30th
December 2016.
- Data analytics has been used for comparing the
demonetisation data with information in ITD databases.
Rs 1500-crore defence unit to be
set up in MP district:
The
Defence Ministry would be setting up its unit of national importance in Madhya
Pradesh.
- The Defence Ministry would spend Rs 1500 crore on
the proposed unit.
- The government has already sent the proposal for the
diversion of forest land to the Union Environment Ministry for the purpose
and the same is in the last phase of approval.
Trai recommends shutting down of
analog transmission by 2023
The broadcast regulator Trai has
recommended introduction of digital terrestrial transmission for broadcast
services in a phased manner and complete shut down of analog transmission by
end of 2023.
- This is a move that may lead a combination of multiple DTT transmitters at a location, which can provide a rich bouquet of SDTV, HDTV, UHTV, mobile TV channels, radio service and other value added services.
India business partnership summit
to take place in Bahrain:
The first Indian Business Partnership
Summit will shortly be held in Bahrain to further cement bilateral trade and
economic ties.
- The summit is organised by India’s PHD Chamber of
Commerce and Industry in association with Hilal Conferences and
Exhibitions (HCE).
- India and Bahrain enjoy excellent bilateral relations characterised by strong political, economic and cultural contacts. This positive relationship is seen in the latest trade figures which valued trade between the two countries to be over 1 billion US dollars.
Vasundhara pips
Kejriwal as most ‘liked’ CM
Rajasthan
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has become the “most liked Chief Minister” on
social media platforms, leaving behind Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and
U.P. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
- Her official Facebook page has notched up more than
71 lakh ‘likes’ so far.
- Mr. Kejriwal's Facebook page has 70.87 lakh ‘likes’,
while Mr. Yadav has 54.85 lakh ‘likes’.
Dubai launches programme to promote
trade with India
In a bid to promote bilateral trade
relations with India, Dubai’s Department of Economic Development has launched a
programme that allows commercial disputes to be resolved quickly at minimal
costs.
- Dubai Exports, the economic development departments
promotion agency, launched the initiative Buyer Protection Programme,
designed by the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP), as a
pilot project through its Overseas Trade Office in India.
- The programme allows commercial disputes to be
resolved quickly and at minimal costs. Traders in India can now approach
the Dubai Exports representative office in their country to submit
complaints following which CCCP will start working towards an amicable
settlement.
H-1B visa reform bill introduced in
US House of Representatives
With a hard stance on immigration, the
High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 that will overhaul the popular
H1B and L1 visas has been tabled in the US Congress. This reform bill, if
passed, would mean significant changes in the way the H1B visas are granted to
companies and allocated to employees by them.
- Some of the worst hit by the new H1B bill will be
Indian companies such as Infosys, TCS, and Wipro, as well as US tech
giants like Apple, Facebook and Google, who use the H1B visa to fill
positions that cannot be filled by American workers.
- The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows
companies to employ foreigners for a period of up to six years.
Kathmandu meet
to finalise SAARC budget, agenda
Indian
and Pakistani officials will meet to finalise the budget and agenda of the
SAARC during the February 1-2 meeting in Kathmandu.
- The meeting will mark the beginning of the annual
calendar of events of the organisation which failed to meet in Islamabad
for a summit and is in focus as it is the first time high officials of
member-countries will meet since the cancellation of the summit.
Austria to ban
full-face veil in public places
Austria’s
governing coalition has agreed to prohibit full-face veils in courts, schools
and other “public places” as part of a package of reforms drawn up after more
than a week of negotiations.
- The coalition of Social Democrats and the centrist
People’s party also agreed on Monday to ban police officers, judges and
magistrates and public prosecutors from wearing head scarves in the
interest of appearing “ideologically and religiously neutral”.
- Austria’s Chancellor Christian Kern had said on Monday that the ban was part of a wide-ranging programme aimed at fending off the challenge of the far-right.
NASA telescope spots most extreme
blazars yet
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray space telescope
has identified the farthest gamma-ray blazars, a type of galaxy whose intense
emissions are powered by super-sized black holes.
- These luminous galaxies, known as
blazars are the most distant ever detected and are expected to shed light
on the cosmic evolution of black holes.
- Blazars constitute roughly half of
the gamma-ray sources detected by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope (LAT).
National Entrepreneurship Awards
2016:
National Entrepreneurship Awards 2016
were recently presented. The awards have been presented in order to recognise
the entrepreneurial spirit of India’s youth and encourage more young Indians to
become entrepreneurs.
- The Entrepreneurship Awards system
has been created through a partnership between MSDE and a number of
reputed institutions across the country including, Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT – Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur and Chennai), Tata Institute of
Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and XLRI, Jamshedpur.
- Every year, one such institution will play the role of the lead institution to anchor the awards. For 2016-2017, the lead institution is IIT, Delhi.
