i. The
Centre has formed a six-member committee to give a report on ways to improve
India's Haj policy and also look into the issue of subsidy to the
pilgrimage in light of 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and
abolishing it by 2022.
ii. Former
Consulate General of India (CGI), Jeddah, Afzal Amanullah has been appointed as
convener of the high-level panel, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs
(Independent Charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters in New Delhi that the
committee will submit its report in a month or two on how India's Haj policy
can be improved and how the pilgrims can get maximum concessions.
2. ‘President
Pranab’ to bloom at Delhi’s Mughal Gardens by March first week
i. As
the Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan has reopened on 05th February 2017,
visitors will for the first time see roses named after the Indian President and
his wife, growing next to ‘ Abraham Lincoln’, ‘Christian Dior’ and ‘Queen Elizabeth’
. ‘President Pranab’, a crossbred variety of rose which was planted last
month along with another variety of rose named ‘Suvra Mukherjee’, will blossom
in spring. The President’s wife passed away in August 2015.
ii. The
entire complex comprising spiritual garden, herbal garden, bonsai garden and
musical garden will remain open from February 5-March 12 (except on Mondays
which are maintenance days) between 9.30am to 4.00pm.
3. Virat Kohli features in latest cover
star of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
i. Indian
skipper Virat Kohli, who led his side to victory against England in all three
formats of the game recently, has featured in the latest cover star of the
bible of cricket - Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.
ii. Kohli
becomes only the third Asian origin player after Tendulkar and England
all-rounder Moeen Ali to be featured on the cover of the magazine.
4. BCCI
opposes ICC's proposals on financial model, governance structure
i. Despite
the change of guard at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the
Indian board continued to oppose the International Cricket Council's (ICC) new
changes to the financial model and governance structure on 04th February 2017.
ii. The
changes that the BCCI, represented by Vikram Limaye, a member of the new
Committee of Administrators, is currently opposing are amongst the same changes
that were recommended in 2014 with respect to a larger share of ICC's revenue
to be given to India.
5. Sasikala Natarajan to take over as Tamil
Nadu's next CM
i.AIADMK
chief Sasikala Natarajan will take over as the next Chief Minister of Tamil
Nadu from O Panneerselvam, the party announced.
ii. The
AIADMK MLAs also elected Sasikala Natarajan as the Legislative party leader.
Notably, the party said in a tweet that current Chief Minister Panneerselvam
had himself proposed Sasikala's name as the leader of AIADMK Legislature Party.
6. Vijay Goel lays foundation stone of 1st
centre of excellence for differently abled sportsmen
i. The Union
Minister for Sports Vijay Goel laid the foundation stone of the country's first
centre of excellence for differently abled sportsmen at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
ii. The
centre is proposed with an estimate of 50 crores rupees and will provide World
class facilities such as indoor halls, dedicated tracks and 100 bedded hostel
where para athletes will be trained for various internationalcompetitions
including Paralympics.
iii. The
Minister also inaugurated a sports training centre at Sports Authority of India
campus in Gandhinagar. Around 50 differently abled sportspersons between age
group 8-12 will be imparted training in Athletics, Swimming and power lifting
at the training centre.
7. Startup
acquires Google's satellite imaging business
i. American
startup Planet Labs, that launches small satellites into orbit and sells the
imagery, has announced its acquisition of Google's 'Terra Bella' satellite
business. As part of the agreement, 60 Google employees will join the startup
founded by ex-NASA scientists. Terra Bella, formerly Skybox, was acquired by
Google in 2014 for $500 million.
8. Alastair
Cook awarded Order of the British Empire
i. England
Test captain AlastairCook has been honoured with Commander of the Most
Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was awarded the CBE at the
Buckingham Palace by Prince Charles.
ii. Cook
is the only England player to have scored over 10,000 runs in Tests and has
also led England in the most number of Tests. Cook said, receiving the CBE was
a very proud moment for him, his family and friends.
9. Alibaba-made
app helps find 611 missing Chinese children
i. A
mobile app developed by Alibaba helped Chinese authorities recover 611 missing
children last year. The 'Tuanyuan' app, which means 'reunion' in Chinese, sends
push notifications with photos and descriptions to users who are close to the
location of a child's disappearance. The notifications are sent to users
farther from the location of the disappearance till the child is found.
10. Arun Kumar succeeds Richard Rekhy as KPMG India chairman
i. KPMG
India board has elected Arun M Kumar as chairman and CEO to lead the India
operations of the consulting and accounting major. He succeeds Richard Rekhy,
who stepped down in November last year following a large-scale exodus of key
people from the advisory team.
ii. Earlier
in January 2016, Rekhy had been re-elected for a four-year term. Kumar, who
spent the majority of his career with KPMG in the US, will take charge from
05th February 2017 for a five-year term.
11. Corp Bank pact with Religare
i.
Corporation Bank has signed an agreement with Religare Health Insurance Co Ltd
to market its products and services through the distribution network of the
bank across India. A press release said that Corporation Bank holds around 5
per cent stake in Religare Health Insurance.
ii. The
Executive Directors of the bank Sunil Mehta and Gopal Murli Bhagat, and
Managing Director & CEO of Religare Health Anuj Gulati were present at an
event to sign the agreement in Mangaluru
12. India to host FIBA Women's Asia Cup
basketball tournament
i. India to
host FIBA Women's Asia Cup basketball tournament at Bengaluru in July, 2017.
Basketball Federation of India (BFI) President KGovindaraj stated that
continental flagship tournament for women will be hled from July 23 to 29,
2017.
ii. India
has also been given another continental level tournament-the FIBA U-16 Women's
Asian Championship - which will be held from October 22 to 28, 2017 in
Hyderabad.
iii. This
will be the first time since 2009 that India will host a major FIBA
(International Basketball Federation) event.
13. Health
Ministry launches Measles Rubella vaccination campaign
i. Health
Ministry launched Measles Rubella vaccination campaign in the country at a
function in Bengaluru.
ii. The
campaign against these two diseases Measles and Rubella will start from
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Goa and Lakshadweep, covering nearly 3.6
crore children.
iii.
Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Faggan Singh Kulaste launched
this initiative at a function in Bengaluru, Speaking on the occasion, Mr
Kulaste stated that the centre is committed to eradicating Measles and Rubella
from the country.
14. Nagaland
cabinet to submit memorandum to PM to exempt it from Part IX A of Constitution
i. Nagaland
cabinet has decided to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister to issue an
ordinance to exempt the state from the provision of Part IX A of the
Constitution which deals with the municipalities.
ii.
According to a communique issued by the media cell of Chief Minister's Office,
the decision was taken in an emergency meeting of the state Cabinet, was attended
by special invitees comprising legislators from all tribes.
15. World’s longest flight lands in New
Zealand
i. The
world’s longest commercial flight landed in New Zealand on 6 February 2017 with
the arrival of Qatar Airways’s 14,535km (9,032-mile) Doha-Auckland service.
ii. The
long-range Boeing 777-200LR crossed 10 time zones on its marathon flight.
iii. There
were four pilots on board as well as 15 cabin crew who served 1,100 cups of tea
and coffee, 2,000 cold drinks and 1,036 meals during the flight.
16. 2% reservation to sports persons in
govt jobs: CM Raghubar Das
i. Jharkhand
Chief Minister Raghubar Das stated that state will give two per cent
reservation to sports persons in government jobs and nutritious food to them.
ii. He said
efforts were also being taken to give nutritious food to the sports persons, an
official release in Ranchi.
17. Sarbananda
Sonowal launches CMSGUY in Guwahati
i. In a move
to bring about paradigm shift towards holistic development of villages, Assam
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched the Chief Minister Samagra
Gramya Unnayan Yojana, CMSGUY in Guwahati this
evening.
ii. This
scheme is a mega mission with a financial outlay of 30,000 crore rupees and it
will be implemented in all the villages of the state. It will culminate in
2021-22.
18. Telangana
launches India's first social innovation hub in Nizamabad
i. The
Telangana government has launched India's first social innovation centre The
‘Kakatiya Hub For Social Innovation’ in Nizamabad, Telangana.
ii.
Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan made this announcement at the one-day
Development Dialogue, an international social entrepreneurship ecosystem
conference hosted by Kakatiya Sandbox.
iii. Jayesh
Ranjan said the ‘Kakatiya Hub For Social Innovation’ funded by the Telangana
government and implemented through Kakatiya Sandbox will function like a rural
incubator to encourage entrepreneurship at the grassroots level.
19. Bureau
of Civil Aviation Security suspends IndiGo's security training centre licence
i. Bureau of
Civil Aviation Security, BCAS has suspended the licence of budget carrier
IndiGo's aviation security training facility.
ii. The
regulatory authority took the decision after several lapses were detected in
the examination procedure that it was following. PTI quoting sources stated,
the orders issued by the apex aviation security agency BCAS the Gurgaon-based
airline from conducting security training programme for its employees any
further.
iii. The
training academy is run by IndiGo's parent company, InterGlobe Aviation.
20. CESC
wins Bikaner power distribution franchise
i. CESC Ltd,
a part of the Rs. 19,000-crore RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, has received a letter of
intent for appointment as a power distribution franchisee to supply electricity
in Bikaner, Rajasthan.
ii. This is
the group’s third distribution operation in Rajasthan, the other two being in
Kota and Bharatpur
21. Renowned
Urdu author Bano Qudsia passes away
Renowned
Pakistani Urdu novelist and playwright Bano Qudsia has passed away here. She
was 88. She was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2003 and Hilal-i-Imtiaz in
2010.
22. Uber launches taxi hiring service
UberHIRE
i. Global
taxi-hailing platform Uber announced it has launched a new category UberHIRE
that allows customers to hire a taxi for the day, to cover several
destinations, and is targetting senior citizens, business travellers and
tourists.
ii.
Currently, UberHIRE works only on cash payments.After a pilot run in
Kochi,UberHIRE will go live in New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune,
Ahmedabad, Vizag and Nagpur, with more cities slated for launch in the weeks to
come, it added.