Current Affairs Questions & Answers: February 25, 2017

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh for the development of Sylhet city. As per the MoU, the Indian government will provide financial aid for the construction of a five-storey Kinder Garten and High School Building, a six-storey cleaner colony building; and for some development work in Dhupa Dighirpar area at a total cost of around Taka 240 million.

Notes:
The Ministry of Minority Affairs will host Cultural Harmony Conclave under Hamari Dharohar Scheme in New Delhi on April-May 2017. It has been decided recently in the first meeting of high-level committee on Cultural Harmony Conclave under “Hamari Dharohar (Our Heritage)” scheme of Minority Affairs Ministry. The meeting was chaired by Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in New Delhi. It was attended by several renowned artists, musicians, writers.

Notes:
C K Mishra, the secretary of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has recently launched “Saathiya Resource Kit” and “Saathiya Salah” Mobile App for adolescents as part of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program. The kit and app will help peer educators (Saathiyas) to act as a catalyst for generating demand for the adolescent health services and imparting age appropriate knowledge on key adolescent health issues to their peer groups.

Notes:
The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated an International conference on ‘Bharat Bodh’ (Idea of Bharat) on February 23, 2017 in New Delhi. The 3-day conference is organized by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal (BSM).

Notes:
The book “Kohinoor: The Story of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond” has been authored by William Dalrymple, an acclaimed historian and a bestselling and award-winning author. This riveting story of the Kohinoor unearths fascinating new information as it moves from the Mughal court to Persia to Afghanistan, from Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s durbar in Punjab to the Crown of the Queen of England.

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Vivek Chaand Sehgal, the chairman of auto parts maker Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd, has been named Indian entrepreneur of the year 2016 by EY, the consulting firm formerly known as Ernst & Young. Apart from him, Infosys Ltd co-founder Nandan Nilekani was honoured with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Notes:
The IATA is a trade association of the world’s airlines. It is headquartered at Montreal, Canada with Executive Offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

Notes:
The dance festival ‘Brahan Natyanjali 2017’ has started at ancient Big temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu from February 24, which will continue till March 2. More than 600 artistes from all different parts of the world will take part in the festival, being organised by the Brahan Natyanjali Foundation. Besides Bharatanatiyam, ‘Kathak’, ‘Odissi’, ‘Mohiniyattam,’ and Kuchipudi would also be performed. Classical dancers from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Manipal, Guruvayur and countries like Dubai, Australia, England and Malaysia would be among those taking part in the fest.

Notes:
The Haryana government has made it mandatory for all private schools to install solar systems in order to make them self-sufficient in managing their energy needs. A special grant at the rate of Rs 20,000 per kilowatt will be given to the schools for installing solar power plants. The electricity generated from the solar power plants at schools during the summer vacations in June and July would be added to the grid, the record of which would be maintained through net metering. The schools would be required to pay only for the electricity consumed in excess of that generated by the solar power plants.

Notes:
The Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has become the new Brand Ambassador for “Swachh Bharat Mission”. She will feature in TV and radio campaigns aimed at discouraging people from littering on roads. Shetty is the latest entrant in the list of the mission’s ambassadors like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shankar Mahadevan and Sachin Tendulkar.