Current Affairs Roundup 2017 - Polity and Governance & Awards

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Polity and Governance

• The Union Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has initiated steps to bring the electronic and digital media journalists too under the ambit of the Working Journalists Act The Labour Ministry will ensure stringent enforcement of the labour laws and implementation of Wage board recommendations in the newspaper industry. 
• The Chief Minister of Manipur 'N Biren Singh' has launched the two web applications to check corruption and keep track of government activities. The two web applications were Anti-Corruption Cell and Digital Application for Review by Public and Nation (DARPAN). 'DARPAN' would upload details of projects right from the initial stage till sanction of the fund, progress of work and photos the work sites. 
• The Union Government has relaxed restrictions on exports of certain organic agricultural and processed products like wheat, non-basmati rice to boost their overseas shipments. It has also increased the annual quantitative ceiling on the export of organic pulses and lentils from existing 10,000 tons to 50,000 tons per annum. 
• The Supreme Court (SC) has set a bench-mark for maintenance to be paid by a husband to his estranged wife. According to Supreme Court, (a bench of Justices R Banumathi and M M Santanagoudar) direct-ed a resident of West Bengal to set aside 25% as maintenance for his former wife and their son. 
• India and South Korea have signed an Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Defence Industry cooperation between their shipbuilding yards In New Delhi. India has nominated Hindustan Shipyard at Vishakhapatnam whereas South Korea is yet to nominate its shipyard. This MoU is part of the 'Make in India' initiative of the union government. 0 The Union Minister Piyush Goya! and Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan have participated in the first Indian-Indonesia Energy Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia. Major Indian companies in oil and gas sector, like ONGC Videsh Limited, Petronet LNG Limited, Gas partici-pated in this forum.
• India has signed three MoU with Armenia in Yerevan, on peaceful uses of outer space, on cooperation in youth matters and a program of cultural cooperation for the years 2017-2020. The two countries are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. 
• The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has launched 'MyMSME app' and website portal of MSME facilitation council in New Delhi. My MSME mobile application is for all Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) in India and other stakeholders. This application acts as a source of all information related to MSME's Policies, Registration, Services, Schemes, etc. 
• India and Sri Lanka have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on economic co-operation in the presence of PM Modi and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wckremesinghe in New Delhi. The MoU pro-poses Indian investment in the development of ports and oil tank farms in Trincomalee, setting up of an LNG power plant, piped gas supply in Colombo and also aims to under-take highway, railway projects in Sri Lanka. 
• The International Road Federation (IRF) has announced that India will host the 18th World Road Meeting on 13th November 2017. The theme of World Road Meeting 2017 is 'Safe Roads and Smart Mobility: The Engines of Economic Growth'. Around 4000 delegates across the world will discuss important Issues facing in the mobility sector.
• Note : The International Road Federation is a global not-for-profit organization, head-quartered in Washington, DC since 1948 and supported by regional offices throughout the world. The IRF seeks to promote the benefits of a sustainable road transport infrastructure at all levels of society.
• In line with 'Ek Bharat- Shresht Bharat' con-cept of unity in diversity, the states - Telangana and Haryana have announced to work for mutual promotion of tourism and cul-ture.
• The Supreme Court ordered the sale by auc-tion of Sahara group's prized Lonavala asset in Maharashtra, the Aamby Valley property. Market regulator SEBI was asked to forward the courts order to the Official Liquidator and hand over all the details of the property to the latter. 
• Railway minister Suresh Prabhu digitally inaugurated the first steel coil-carrying Special Freight Train Operations (SFTO) rake of TM International Logistics Ltd (TMILL) from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi. 
• Note : TMILL, a joint venture of Tata Steel NYK Holding (Europe) B.V. and ICJ Martrade Holding GmbH of Germany, has commenced operations with three BFNSM1 rakes. The first rake carrying steel coils departed from Tata Steel's Jamshedpur plant for Channel. 
• As part of the innovative initiatives under the 'White Revolution' umbrella Schemes, an initiative of 'Quality Mark' Award Scheme has been taken for dairy Cooperatives to promote and encourage the enhancement of safety, quality and hygiene of milk and milk products manufactured by dairy cooperatives. 
• Indian Railways have announced to restore the Kolkata - Khulna passenger train service in July 2017 after a gap of nearly seventy years. A trail run of the service from Khulna to Kolkata from Benapole (on the Bangladesh side) inaugurated by the Prime Minister NarendraModi and the visiting Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh !tine on April 8, 2017 through video link from New Delhi. + India added 5,525 MW solar power generation capacity last fiscal, taking the total from this clean source to 12,288 MW. The Government has envisaged 4,800 MW from rooftop solar and 7,200 MW from large scale solar power projects in the country. Among states, Andhra Pradesh tops the chart with largest cumulative solar generation capacity of 1,867 MW as on March 31, 2017 followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu at 1,812 MW and 1,691 MW respectively. 
• The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of the Framework of Understanding (Fal) on Cooperation in the Hydrocarbon Sector with Bangladesh. The objective of the proposed FoU is to establish a cooperative institutional framework mechanism to facilitate and enhance India-Bangladesh bilateral cooperafion in the hydrocarbon sector on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The proposed FoU is non-binding in nature and will be valid for five years. 
• India has jumped one spot to 8th rank in the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index. Govemance and regulatory issues made up 7 of the top-10 factors that investors consider when deciding on an investment destination. While US topped the list, Germany and China were at the second and third respectively. United Kingdom and Canada make up the rest of top 5. 
• The Indian Railway has announced to provide Wi-Fi facility to railway stations making them digital hotspots. The plan, under the Pailwire Saathi' project will soon be rolled out across 7,000 stations. 
• As the risk of cyber threats looms over enterprises going digital, a Symantec study reveals that India ranks fourth when it comes to online security breaches, accounting for over 5 percent of global threat detections. The US and China occupy the top two slots and together make for almost 34 percent, fol-lowed by Brazil and then India.

Awards 

• Golden Peacock Award
• The Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GNFC) has woo the prestigious 'Golden Peacock Award 2017 in the category of Innovative Product/ Service for pioneering a cashless township transformation model. The GNFC has won from among 313 applicants for Golden Peacock Global Award for Innovative Product/ Service.
• Best film honour at Hong Kong International Film Festival
• Bollywood film "Newton" has won the Jury Prize for best film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (11th April - 25th April). 'Newton' Is Amit Masurkar's second film after 'Sulemani Keeda' in 2014. 
• Note : Newton is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language black comedy film directed by Anti! V Masurkar and produced by Manish Mundra of Drishyam Films. 
• P C Chandra Puraskaar 2017
• Nobel laureate (2014) Kailash Satyarthi (83-year) has been awarded the 'P C Chandra Puraskar 201T for his global crusade against child slavery and exploitative child labour in Kolkata. He was handed over a citation, a trophy and a cheque of Asia lakh. 
• Note : Satyarthi has founded the 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan' in 1980. He is the fifth Nobel Prize winner for India and only the second Indian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize after Mother Teresa in 1979.
• Honorary life membership of MCC
• The 'Marylebone Cricket Club' (MCC) has offered the honorary life membership to the for-mer captain of the Indian women's Test team 'Sandhya Agawar. Agarwal is being honoured - in recognition of her distinguished service to the game. She has played 13 Tests and 21 OD's from 1984 to 1995. Presently, she is the chairperson of girl's Under-19 and senior women's team of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA). 
• Note : Marylebone Cricket Club has been recognized as the sole authority on the laws of cricket since its foundation.
• BFJA lifetime achievement award
• Veteran actress Moushurni Chatterjee' has received the lifetime achievement award at the 80th Bengal Film Journalists' Association (BFJA) awards. Bengali film actor Prosenjit Chatterjee has given the best actor award for his role in Sankhachilr Ritunama Sengupta was given the best actress crown for her role in 'Rajkahini'.
• Note : BFJAAwards is given by the Bengal Rim Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism and film industry. 
• Goldman Environmental Prize
• Environmental activist Prafulla Samantara (65-year) has been selected for Goldman Environmental Prize' from Asia region for championing the cause of State's Dongria Kondh tribals and safeguarding their land & culture. The prize also known as Green Nobel prize and Samantare is the sixth Indian to win the prize. 
• Note : Green Nobel prize has been Instituted by the Goldman Environmental Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco. The prize includes a no-strings-attached award of t lakh 75 thou-sand US-dollar per recipient. Earlier, Indians who received the award are Medha Patkar, MC Mehta, Ramesh Agarwal and the duo Rashida Bi and Champs Devi Shukla.
• Sahitya Akademi Award for translation of Mathorubhagan
• Writer Perumal Murugan's novel Mathorubhagan (One Part Woman) has won the Sahitya Akademi award -2018 for transla-tion in English. The translation was done by 'Aniruddhan Vasudevan' and the book was published by Penguin'. The prize is in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cash component of Rs.50,000. The book One Part Woman' is a novel based on a possible ancient cultural practice among people living around Tiruchengode.
• Dinanath Mangeshkar Award 2017
• 'Aamir Khan' has honoured with the 75th Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award for his outstanding performance in film 'Danger. Cricket legend Kapil Dev and veteran actor Vyjayanthimala Bali were also honoured in the function. Earlier, Mr. Khan attended an award show 16 years ago when 'Lagaan' film was nominated in the Best Film category at the Academy Awards. 

Shared by Shravan Varma Gadhiraju

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