Current Affairs Questions & Answers: February 17, 2017

Notes:
The 10th edition of International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV-2017) will take place in New Delhi, India from 7th to 9th March 2017. The ICEGOV series brings together academia, governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector to share the insights and experiences in theory and practice of Digital Government. The 2017 theme is “Building Knowledge Societies – From Digital Government to Digital Empowerment”.

Notes:
Shand Panesar, an Indian-origin constable with Scotland Yard, has been awarded 2017 United Kingdom’s (UK) Outstanding Bravery of the Year Award for risking his life with a colleague to rescue a couple from a burning building in London in September 2016. Panesar and Craig Nicholson were jointly awarded after the public voted for them in the Total Excellence in Policing Awards, which were presented by Metropolitan Police police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe.

Notes:
Shah Rukh Khan will be honoured with the 4th National Yash Chopra Memorial Award-2017 on February 24. The award commemorates the director-producer by honouring excellence in various spheres of cinema like acting, music etc.

Notes:
The book “Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl” has been penned by author-columnist Ram Kamal Mukherjee. It’s about actress achievement as a politician apart from her sojourn as an actor, danseuse and filmmaker. It will offer a new perspective on Bollywood’s first female superstar.

Notes:
Vikas Swarup, an officer of the Indian Foreign Service batch of 1986, has been appointed as new High Commissioner of India to Canada. He is famous for penning down the novel Q & A, adapted in film as Slumdog Millionaire. Currently, Swarup is working as Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. He will replace Arun Kumar Sahu who is currently working as acting Indian envoy in Canada.

Notes:
The Kerala government has recently launched the public health program “Aardram” to restructure and revamp the public health system so that government hospitals become more patient-friendly and efficient and deliver optimum level of care. The purpose of the health program is to reduce the high out-of-pocket expenditure on health in the State by upgrading the facilities and infrastructure in public health facilities and thus reduce the dependence on private health facilities.

Notes:
India’s first sports literature festival ‘SporTale’ will be held in Pune on February 2, 2017. The 2-day event will feature approx 38 luminaries from the field of sports, media, cinema, books and photography.

Notes:
Simone Biles, an American artistic gymnast, has won the Laureus World Sports Awards for Sportswoman of the Year 2017 at a ceremony in Monaco. She is the first woman to win four gymnastics gold medals in a single Olympic Games, Beside this, the Sportsman of the Year 2017 goes to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Chicago Cubs (Basket Ball) won the 2017 Team of the Year award.

Notes:
Edappadi K Palaniswamy has become the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on February 16, 2017. He is a senior leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). He has to seek the vote confidence of the Tamil Nadu assembly within 15 days. Palaniswamy belong to Gounder community, which is one of the main communities along with the Thevars (or Mukkulathors) that have influenced the AIADMK.

Notes:
India has been ranked 143rd in the 2017 Economic Freedom Index (EFI). The annual index was released by a conservative US political think tank “the Heritage Foundation”. It measures the degree of economic freedom in the countries of the world. The 2017 index is topped by Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand, respectively. Among South Asian countries, only Afghanistan (163) and Maldives (157) were ranked below India. Nepal (125), Sri Lanka (112), Pakistan (141), Bhutan (107), and Bangladesh (128) surpassed India in economic freedom.