Current affairs round-up

In today’s Current Affairs we will be seeing the important days and events that have happened in the month of February.

India ranks 39th in Asia Pacific on fixed broadband [Infrastructure]

• India ranks a low 39th in terms of fixed broadband adoption among Asia Pacific countries, with just 1.3 per cent of its citizens subscribing to such a service in 2015, according to a study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
• India ranks lower than countries such as Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in ESCAP countries in 2015, according to the report ‘State of ICT in Asia and the Pacific 2016: Uncovering the Widening Broadband Divide’.
• Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, Macao, Australia and Singapore topped the list of 53 countries covered in the report.
• According to the latest ITU data for 2015, more than half of the global fixed broadband subscriptions are from Asia and the Pacific (52.3 per cent). This is followed by Europe (21.9 per cent) and North America (14.1 per cent).
• The report pointed out that this was a dramatic increase from 2005 when subscriptions in the ESCAP region merely constituted 38.1% of the global total fixed broadband subscriptions, followed by Europe (28.6 per cent) and North America (26.5 per cent).
• However, the subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the ESCAP region is behind Latin America and the Caribbean, and far lower than Europe and North America.
• Fixed broadband penetration in Asia and the Pacific is even below the world’s average of 11.2 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2015.

ISB, IIMA And IIMB Among The Top 50 In FT Global MBA Ranking 2017

• Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore(IIMB) have been ranked among the top 50 in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2017.
• Management schools in the top 50 include INSEAD (France and Singapore), Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton Business School, Harvard Business School, University Cambridge Judge Business School and London Business School.
• ISB is the highest ranked B school from India which has been ranked in the 27th position which jumped two slots than last year's while IIMB is placed in the 29th position jumping five slots than last year's.

Kuwaiti visa ban on 5 Muslim-majority countries

• Kuwait has suspended the issuance of visas for nationals of Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
• The Kuwaiti government has told would-be migrants from the five banned nations to not apply for visas, as it is worried about the possible migration of radical Islamic terrorists.
• The order came at a time after refugees from all over the world will be denied US entry for 120 days by US Prsident Trump while all immigration from so-called "countries with terrorism concerns" will be suspended for 90 days. The countries included in the US ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

The world's most valuable brands revealed

• Google has snatched Apple’s title as the world’s most valuable brand, ending the iPhone maker’s five-year reign.
• The monetary value of Google’s brand rose by 24 per cent last year to $109.5bn, propelling it to the top spot for the first time since 2011.
• Apple’s value fell from $145.9bn in the previous year to $107.1bn.
• The study of 500 brands deemed Amazon the third most valuable.

Qatar Airways launches world's longest flight

• Qatar Airways launched the world's longest scheduled commercial service with its inaugural flight from Doha to Auckland.
• Flight QR920 left the Qatari capital at 05:02 (local time) and is set to land in New Zealand at 07:30 (local time).
• The Boeing 777 flight will take 16 hours and 20 minutes, pass over 10 time zones, five countries and travel 14,535 kilometres before reaching Auckland.

The World Cancer Day

• The World Cancer Day was observed on 4 February. World Cancer Day unites the world’s population in the fight against cancer.
• It aims to save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness and education about the disease, pressing governments and individuals across the world to take action.
• The theme of 2017 World Cancer Day is ‘We Can, I Can’.

Mobile app to monitor tiger reserves launched

• Monitoring of tiger reserves in the country will become much easier, quicker and transparent with the official launch of M-STrIPES (Monitoring System For Tigers-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) software-enabled mobile app at Corbett Tiger Reserve.
• Foresters of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are participating in three-day training workshop to learn about data collection and software entry under the guidance of scientists of Wildlife Institute of India at Corbett.
• After the successful trial at Panna Tiger Reserve, the app has now been launched in these five states in one go.

Vasundhara pips Kejriwal as most ‘liked’ CM

• Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has become the “most liked Chief Minister” on social media platforms, leaving behind Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and U.P. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
• Her official Facebook page has notched up more than 71 lakh ‘likes’ so far.
• Mr. Kejriwal's Facebook page has 70.87 lakh ‘likes’, while Mr. Yadav has 54.85 lakh ‘likes’.
• Ms. Raje's team closely monitors the opinions coming on social channels and takes follow-up action to ensure help for those who ask for it.

Government to build 2 crude oil storages in Odisha, Rajasthan

• In a bid to insulate the country from volatility in global oil market, the government will build two more underground crude oil storages at Chandikhol in Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan.
• India has already built underground storages in rock caverns at Visakhapatnam (1.33 million tonnes), Mangalore (1.5 MT) and Padur (2.5 MT).
• “For strengthening our energy sector, Government has decided to set up Strategic Crude Oil Reserves.

Madhya Pradesh: Rs 1500 crore defence unit to be set up in Morena district

• The Defence Ministry would be setting up its unit of national importance in Madhya Pradesh at Morena district’s Kailaras and Sabalgarh tehsil areas, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Narendra Singh Tomar said.
• The Defence Ministry would spend Rs 1500 crore on the proposed unit, the Minister said in a statement welcoming MP government’s decision to allot land for the same.

National Testing Agency To Be Set Up

• Asserting that quality of education will energise the youth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unleashed measures to revamp the country's education system, including setting up of a National Testing Agency to conduct all entrance examinations for higher education institutions.
• Unveiling the budgetary proposals for 2017-18 in Parliament, Jaitley said the government proposes to establish a National Testing Agency as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation to conduct all entrance examinations for higher education institutions.
• This would free CBSE, AICTE and other premier institutions from these administrative responsibilities so that they can focus more on academics.

Surajkund International Crafts Mela Kicked off in Faridabad

• The 31st edition of the annual Surajkund international crafts fair begun with artists from over 20 countries participating in the cultural extravaganza.
• The mela is being hosted jointly by the Haryana Tourism Corporation and Surajkund Mela Authority, in collaboration with the Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs.
• For the 31st edition of the much anticipated fair, Jharkhand has been chosen to be the Theme State.
• 19th Bharat Rang Mahotsav begins
• Offering a potpourri of plays from India as well as other countries, the 19th edition of National School of Drama's Bharat Rang Mahotsav began In New Delhi.
• The annual theatre extravaganza, slated to run through February 1-21, will see 14 foreign productions and participation of 12 countries.
• Renowned Bhartnatyam and Odissi dancer Sonal Mansingh, who was present at the event as the chief guest said she is excited for having been invited to perform in the festival.

Rail Museum celebrates 40th anniversary

• The National Rail Museum just entered into its 40th year.
• It houses the largest collection of life-size rail exhibits.
• It was recently renovated and reopened for public.
• The museum also has interactive screens, miniature working models to inform the visitors of its main attractions.

UIDAI clamps down on 50 fraud sites offering Aadhaar services

• In a massive crackdown on unauthorized agencies offering Aadhaar-related services illegally and charging excessive money from the public, UIDAI has got shut down 12 such websites and 12 mobile apps available on the Google Play store.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has further directed authorities for closure of another 26 such fraudulent and illegal websites and mobile applications.

Bihar introduces third gender category in school exams

• For the first time since the Supreme Court recognised transgender people as a third gender in 2014, as many as 18 students in Bihar have been allowed to appear for the Board exams conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) under the third-gender category.
• The exams for Class 12 begin on February 14 and for Class 10 from March 1.
• According to board officials, 10 third-gender students will be taking the Class 12 exams and eight would be writing the Class 10 exams.

Penalty of 100% amount for receiving cash over Rs 3 lakh

• In a bid to check generation of black money, a steep penalty awaits those accepting cash in excess of Rs 3 lakh, beginning April 1, to settle any transaction.
• A ban on cash transaction of more than Rs 3 lakh has been proposed in the Budget for 2017-18.
• Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the penalty for doing cash transaction will be steep and the receiver will have to pay an amount equivalent to the cash received.
• "Supposing you do a transaction of Rs 4 lakh in cash, then the penalty would be Rs 4 lakh. If you do a transaction of Rs 50 lakh, penalty would be Rs 50 lakh," he said, adding that the penalty will be levied on the receiver.

Telangana government launches India’s first social innovation center

• Telangana government launched the Kakatiya
• Hub for Social Innovation in Nizamabad, which is expected to be up and running by September.
• Funded by the Telangana government, Kakatiya Hub, which will function like a rural incubator to encourage entrepreneurship at grassroots level, is claimed to be India’s first social innovation centre.