Current Affairs Questions & Answers: March 7, 2017

Notes:
Mobile manufacturer OPPO Mobiles India Pvt Ltd has become the new team sponsor for the Indian cricket team for 5 years. The company in association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will start from April 2017 for a period of five years. The team sponsor gets to have its commercial logo on the both the men’s and women’s kits. Oppo will replace broadcasting giants Star India, whose tenure will expire in March 2017.

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The Global rating agency Fitch has forecasted India’s GDP growth for FY 17 to 7.1% and for both FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 to 7.7%. Fitch stated that the December quarter GDP number suggests that economic activity was hardly hit by the cash crunch after the government’s move to remove 86% of currency in circulation overnight. It expects the policy interest rate to stay at its current level of 6.25%. Fitch projection of growth for this fiscal is in line with the estimates of global think-tank Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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The 2nd edition of joint military exercise “Al Nagah-II” has started between India and Oman in the Dhauladhar Ranges at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh from March 6, 2017. The purpose of the 14-day exercise is to build and promote bilateral Army-to-Army relations and enhance inter-operability while exchanging skills and experiences between the Indian Army and the Royal Army of Oman. The exercise would be mainly focused on counter terrorism and forest warfare and approx 60 troops from both countries will participate in the exercise.

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The 10th edition of International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV) has started with the theme “Building knowledge Societies: From Digital Government to Digital Empowerment” in New Delhi from March 7, 2017. The conference will discuss the role of technology in transforming relation between government and its citizens, businesses and civil society. The key objective of ICEGOV 2017 is to explore how digital government can lead to digital empowerment by local knowledge. It is recognition of India’s emerging role as a massive cyber power, accelerated by the Digital India push which has acquired international acknowledgement. The 3-day event is organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in collaboration with United Nations University and UNESCO and has inaugurated by the Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Minister of Electronics and IT, Law & Justice.

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Rabi Ray (91), the noted socialist leader and former Lok Sabha speaker, has recently passed away in Cuttack, Odisha. Ray was the Union Minister of health and family welfare in the Morarji Desai ministry from January 1979 to January 1980 and the speaker of 9th Lok Sabha from 1989-1991. In 1991, he was re-elected to the 10th Lok Sabha from Kendrapada in Odisha. He was also a former chairman of Common Wealth Speakers Forum.

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The 11th edition of joint military exercise “SURYA KIRAN-XI” has started between India and Nepal in Pithoragarh area of Uttarakhand from March 7, 2017. This is a battalion level joint exercise between the two armies. The purpose of the two week long exercise is to train both the troops in the area of various counter insurgency operations over a prolonged period. It will also focus on other important aspects such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations and environmental conservation. Both the armies will mutually benefit from the varied experiences gained during the exercise. The exercise is part of a series of joint training with friendly foreign countries by the Indian armed forces.

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The book “Numbers Do Lie: 61 Hidden Cricket Stories” has been authored by former Indian cricketer Akash Chopra along with Impact Index statistical system so that all the stories are fact based and backed by statistics. This new book has facts about cricket that even the biggest cricket fan might not know. It is an attempt to challenge and enrich conventional readings and redefine them by looking at the big picture. The Impact Index is a statistical system that examines every performance in a cricket match and series context. The book combines 7 years of Impact Index’s work resulting in a book backed by statistical facts.

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Sam Querrey, an American professional tennis player, has won the 2017 ATP Mexico Open hard court tennis tournament by defeating Rafael Nadal in the final by 6-3, 7-6 at Acapulco in Mexico.

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Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru has been ranked at 8th among top 10 in Times Higher Education 2017 list of world’s best small universities. The list is topped by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (United States), followed by Ecole Normale Superrieure (France), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (South Korea) and Ecole Polytechnique (France). According to Times Higher Education (THE), to be eligible for the Best Small Universities rankings, the institutions must appear in Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2016-17, teach at least four subjects, and have fewer than 5,000 students. The Best Small Universities in the World for 2017 highlights that small universities provide high student satisfaction and good working relationships between students and their professors.

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The Haryana government has recently launched “Tirtha Darshan” scheme for senior citizens. As per the scheme, senior citizens above 60 years of age and of Haryana domicile would be able to go on a pilgrimage within the country at government expense. Under the scheme, the government would bear the entire cost of the tour of senior citizens belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The senior citizens would be selected for the pilgrimage on the basis of draw of lots. Over 400 destinations can be visited under the scheme.