16th February 2017 Important Daily Current Affairs

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Dear Great Ambitionists, here are today's (16th February 2017) Important Current Affairs updates. Happy Reading :)

Daily Current Affairs of 16th February 2017

International Current Affairs

• US President Donald Trump today lifted anti-corruption rules which forced oil companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments to secure mining and drilling rights. 
• The regulations were a part of financial reforms passed by the Barack Obama administration after the 2008 financial crisis. 
• The oil industry had opposed the rules claiming they gave global rivals a competitive edge.

National Current Affairs

• Delhi Police today celebrated its 70th Raising Day with a ceremonial march at Kingsway Camp in New Delhi. 
• Note : February 16 is celebrated as the Raising Day to commemorate the day DW Mehra was appointed as Delhi's first Inspector General in 1948. 
• The Bihar Cabinet today passed a proposed amendment to the state service rules forbidding government employees from consuming alcohol anywhere in the state. 
• The service rules earlier prohibited government servants from consuming alcohol or any other intoxicant at workplace only. 
• Note : This comes after the Bihar government imposed a liquor-ban policy across the state in April last year.
• The Centre today launched an initiative to provide pre-loaded SIM cards to foreign tourists arriving in India on e-Visa. 
• The initiative was launched along with state-run telecom company BSNL. 
• The SIM cards will have ₹50 talk time and 50 MB data. 
• The SIM will be activated on an immediate basis so that tourists can use the facility instantly.

New Appointments

• Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup has been appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Canada. 
• He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986 and had served in countries like Turkey, the US, Ethiopia, the UK, and South Africa.
• Important Note : Swarup had also penned a novel, 'Q & A', which served as the inspiration for Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.
• AIADMK chief Sasikala Natarajan's choice, Edappadi K Palanisamy, was today sworn in as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, along with 30 ministers of the state cabinet. 
• He has been given 15 days to prove his majority in the Assembly. 
• Note : Palanisamy previously served as the Minister for Highways and Minor Ports in the state.
• Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp has hired Matt Idema, its first ever Chief Operating Officer (COO), since its initial release back in 2009. 
• Until now, Idema was leading product marketing for all of Facebook's business products worldwide. 
• 5 new judges were appointed to the Supreme Court today, taking its working strength to 28. 
• The new judges elevated to the apex court include four chief justices of state high courts and a sitting Karnataka High Court judge. Notably, the Supreme Court has a total sanctioned strength of 31 judges.
• The Newly Appointed Judges are : 
• Sanjay Kishan Kaul - Chief Justices of the High Court of Madras
• Dipak Gupta - Chief Justices of the High Court of Chhattisgarh
• Mohan M. Shantanagoudar - Chief Justices of the High Court of Kerala
• S. Abdul Nazeer - Chief Justices of the High Court of Karnataka
• Navin Sinha - Chief Justices of the High Court of Rajasthan

Awards & Honors

• Shand Panesar, an Indian-origin constable with Scotland Yard, has been awarded 2017's Outstanding Bravery of the Year Award. 
• Panesar was given the award for risking his life with a colleague to rescue a couple from a burning building in London last September. 
• The AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), New Delhi has won the first prize among all central government hospitals and a ₹5 crore cash reward for maintaining high standards of sanitation and hygiene under the Centre's Kayakalp awards. 
• North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences in Shillong bagged the second prize while PGIMER, Chandigarh received the third prize.
• Veteran actress Rekha will hand over actor Shah Rukh Khan the 4th Yash Chopra Memorial Award during a ceremony which will be held on February 25. 
• The award commemorates the late director-producer by honouring excellence in various spheres of cinema like acting and music.

Business & Economic Affairs

• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced that the Cabinet has approved the merger of State Bank of India with its 5 subsidiary banks. 
• The associate banks include State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore, and State Bank of Hyderabad. 
• The proposal was cleared by SBI last year.
• India's foodgrain production is expected to rise by 8.1% from last year to a record high of 271.98 million tonnes. 
• The rise has been attributed to good monsoon rains, which have ultimately improved yields. 
• The production of wheat is likely to rise by 4.7% from last year to 96.64 million tonnes, Agriculture Ministry announced in a statement.
• Tata Motors today announced a partnership with technology major Microsoft to develop India's first cloud-connected smart cars. 
• The first vehicle showcasing the companies' technology will be unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show on March 7 under the newly launched 'TAMO' brand. 
• This comes after Tata Motors said it would premiere its first sports car 'Futuro' at the event.

Sports Current Affairs

• Indian professional boxer Vijender Singh is set to face WBO Oriental Super Middleweight champion China's Zulpikar Maimaitiali on April 1 in Mumbai for the title. 
• The 31-year-old Olympic bronze medal winner, who defeated Tanzania's Francis Cheka in his title defence in December last year, is undefeated in the circuit so far. 
• Zulpikar has fought in eight bouts so far.

Science & Technology

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released a video footage from the onboard camera of the PSLV-C37, providing a ‘selfie’ view of the 104 satellite launch mission. 
• You can watch that video from HERE
• Note : ISRO created history by successfully launching 104 earth-observation satellites, which were placed in their orbits within 28 minutes, on a single mission on February 15.

Question of the Day

• How many foreign satellites has ISRO launched since 1999 ?
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched a total of 180 foreign satellites through its launch vehicles since 1999.
• The US has been the biggest customer of the Indian space agency with 114 satellites launched while Canada comes second on the list with 11 launches. 
• Important Note :  India became the sixth nation to launch its own rocket in 1980.

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