9th February 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (9th February) is Safer Internet Day. 
• This day is observed  each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people across the world
  
• Canada's PM Justin Trudeau today announced an end to the country's involvement in bombing missions against the Islamic State across Iraq and Syria by February 22nd.  
• Note : PM Trudeau's Liberals had promised to withdraw the Canadian jets before being elected in October.

National Affairs

• The Indian Army has observed 68th 'Nowshera Day' to commemorate the sacrifice of jawans who laid down their lives while fighting Pakistani intruders in the frontier town of Nowshera
  
  in 1947.
• International Fleet Review (IFR) 2016 of the Indian Navy was concluded along the coast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
• Theme of IFR 2016 : “United through Oceans”
• Objective : To enhance mutual trust and confidence with neighbouring navies by inviting their ships to participate in the event.
• Note :  The last International Fleet Review by Indian Navy was conducted in January 2001 at Mumbai.
• India is set to get its first ever aviation park in Gujarat, that will include an airstrip, training school, helipad and space for setting up small manufacturing units. 
• To be opened about 30 kilometres from Ahmedabad, the first phase may get operational by the end of financial year 2016-17. The park will also conduct air-shows and other aviation-related adventure sports.
• The union power ministry electrified 245 villages in India during the first week of February under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna.
• Note : 
• Under this scheme, A total of 5,027 villages have been electrified during 2015-16, till date.
• The government has recently announced that it has decided to electrify the remaining 18,452 un-electrified villages by May 1, 2018.
• According to recently released MHRD data, 96 million schoolchildren were covered under the Midday Meal Scheme in 2015-16. 
• The 2.8 million MT of foodgrain were covered under an estimated budget of 92.36 billion rupees. 
• Also in 2015, the Government of India gave 717,195 spectacles to schoolchildren (out of a target of 900,000 spectacles).

MOUs

• The  Ministry of Railways signed an MoU with Government of Chhattisgarh for “Formation of Joint Venture Companies for Development of Railway Infrastructure in Chhattisgarh State".
• India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are going to sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement during the visit of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. 
• Note : UAE has signed similar pacts for peaceful use of nuclear power with UK, Russia, France, US, Japan and South Korea among others.

Business & Economy

• Union Minister Piyush Goyal today announced that India is likely to spend about $1 trillion by 2030 on power infrastructure to provide 24/7 affordable electricity supply to its citizens. 
• The government is going to focus on developing the North-East Indian region as a petroleum and hydrocarbon hub. 
• The plan reportedly proposes capacity addition in the existing oil refineries and building a network of oil and natural gas pipelines eyeing markets such as Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand.
• Punjab National Bank reported a 93% fall in net profit to ₹51 crore for the quarter ended December from ₹775 crore in the year-ago period. 
• Online food delivery platform Foodpanda has partnered with Hardcastle Restaurants to deliver food from McDonald’s in west and south India. 
• Important Points to Note : 
• Hardcastle Restaurants owns and operates McDonald’s chain of restaurants in the regions. 
• This is the first time that people will be available to access the chain's menu through an online food aggregator.

Books & Authors

• Author Ruskin Bond has announced that he will be writing his autobiography in three volumes. 
• The first book will be based on Bond's writing life and the second one based on his personal life. 
• The third book will be on "invented life" - the life, which the writer would like to have.

New Appointments

• The government today announced the transfer of the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela, to the Bombay High Court to assume office as Chief Justice from February 16.
• RK Pachauri was promoted as TERI's Executive Vice-Chairman.
• Ajay Mathur took charge as TERI's new Director General. 
• Bollywood actress Kajol has been chosen to be a part-time member of the Prasar Bharati board. 
• Her name was finalised by a committee headed by Vice President Hamid Ansari. 
• Other than Kajol, the committee has also chosen Shashi Shekhar Vempati, a former Infosys employee and head of an online media company, as another part-time board member.
• Indian-origin academician Sumitra Dutta will become the Dean of the prestigious Cornell University’s new College of Business, which is going to be established during the 2016-17 academic year as a world-class centre of teaching and research for business management and entrepreneurship.
• Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh has been appointed as the President of the South Asian Wrestling Federation.

Deaths

• Nepal’s former prime minister and president of the Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala (78) passed away.

Awards & Honors

• Maharashtra has emerged as the top ranking state in terms of the overall Internet readiness index, followed by Karnataka, Gujarat, Telengana and Tamil Nadu, according to a report released today.
• The report, ‘Index of Internet Readiness of Indian States’, was published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indicus Analytics. 
• The Internet readiness index is a composite index on components like e-infrastructure index, e-participation index, IT services and e-governance index.
• The Chettinad cotton saree, which inherited the intricacies of now out-of-vogue and over a century-old‘Kandangi’ pure silk sarees, has won the ‘India Handloom’ tag for its unique designs and identity.
• Note : The Textiles Committee, Union Ministry of Handlooms and Textiles, Mumbai, registered the Chettinad cotton saree under the India Handloom Brand Scheme after checking various quality parameters stipulated by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and offered a logo.

Science & Technology

• Google today added flood alerts to its Google Public Alerts service in India. 
• Google will use data from the Central Water Commission (CWC) to inform users about flood, river level and expected timeline in more than 170 areas. 
• The alerts along with safety tips will be available on Google's web search, mobile app, Google Maps and Google Public Alerts homepage.

Sports

• Three-time champions India enter Under 19 Cricket World Cup finals with a 97 run victory over Sri Lanka.
• South Asian Games 2016 Medals Tally
• India
• Gold - 76
• Silver - 36
• Bronze - 10
• Total - 122
• Sri Lanka
• Gold - 17
• Silver - 37
• Bronze - 33
• Total - 87
• Pakistan
• Gold - 5
• Silver - 12
• Bronze - 20
• Total - 37
• Deepika Kumari wins Gold and Bombayia Devi clinches Silver in Recurve Archery.

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