Important Current Affairs 24 Feb 2017 PDF Capsule

Dear Aspirants,

We bring you the Latest  (Gk)General Knowledge, Daily Current Affairs news, Events, General awareness Today  24th February 2017 Section in FREE PDF (English & Hindi), a section which outlines the latest important news, Events headlines which are hardly covered elsewhere.

Download Daily Gk and Current Affairs PDF (English)

Download Daily Gk and Current Affairs PDF (HINDI)

APPOINTMENTS

Abhijit Sarkar appointed Vice Chairman of Asian Hockey Federation

The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) on 21 February 2017 confirmed the appointment of Abhijit Sarkar as its new Vice Chairman.
●    Sarkar was also appointed the Chairman of the AHF Commercial and TV Committee with immediate effect.
●    The decision to appoint Sarkar was taken after an Executive Board Meeting held on 7 February 2017.
●    Sarkar has been associated with the Sahara India Pariwar since 2004. 
●    He has also served as the Head of Corporate Communications, Corporate Affairs and Relations, and the Sports Division at Sahara India Pariwar.
●    The Asian Hockey Federation is the governing body for the sport of field hockey in Asia.
●    At present, it has 30 member associations.
●    It is affiliated to the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
●    The current president of AHF is Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.

AWARDS

Sahitya Akademi awards 2016 presented to 24 authors

Sahitya Akademi Awards 2016 were conferred on twenty-four writers on 22 February 2017. 
●    The eminent authors were conferred with the award/honour for writing in as different Indian languages.
●    The awards were conferred on them at the annual Festival of Letters. The festival, which began 21 February 2017, will continue till 26 February 2017. 
●    The distinguished physicist and Marathi writer Jayant Vishnu Narlikar was the chief guest of the award ceremony.
●    The awards were conferred in different genres and they included poetry, essay, short story, novel, criticism and play.
●    Sahitya Akademi award is a literary honour that is conferred annually on Indian authors/writers for their outstanding works of literary merit. 
●    The award established in 1954 is given on books of literary merit written in any of the major languages of India. 
●    Indian film-maker Satyajit Ray is the designer of the plaque awarded by the Sahitya Akademi.

Click for Daily Gk and Current Affairs Qui

NATIONAL NEWS

 Ministry of Railways dedicated Antyodaya Express to the nation

Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on 22 February 2017 dedicated Antyodaya Express to the nation at the Delhi Safdarjung Station. 
●    The Railway Board Chairman AK Mital was present on this occasion.
●    Antyodaya Express is a long-distance, fully unreserved and super fast train service for the common man. 
●    These trains, which will be operated only on dense routes, were proposed for the first time by Suresh Prabhu in his 2016-17 Railway Budget speech.
●    These coaches are fully unreserved Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) second class coaches with the following additional amenities:
●    Cushioned luggage racks which can serve as seats
●    Additional hand holds in doorway area
●    J-hook near longitudinal luggage racks
●    Multiple unit cables at both ends of the coach
●    Vestibuled ends for internal movement of the passengers
●    Potable drinking water dispenser
●    Mobile charging points
●    Fire extinguisher with anti-theft lock
●    FRP (Fibre Reinforced Plastic) Modular Toilets
●    Pleasing interior colour scheme
●    Display boards to indicate toilet occupancy
●    Light Emitting Diodes
●    SS Slip-free flooring at doorway and gangway
●    Anti-graffiti coating for exterior painting

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Union Cabinet approved signing of bilateral Air Services Agreement with Greece

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for signing of a bilateral Air Services Agreement (ASA) with Greece.
●    The approval was given at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 February 2017 in New Delhi.
●    Under the agreement, both the countries shall be entitled to designate one or more airline.
●    The designated airlines of either country shall have the right to establish offices in the territory of the other country for the promotion and sale of air
services.
●    The designated airlines of the two countries shall have fair and equal opportunity to operate on specified routes.
●    As per the Route Schedule, the Indian carriers can operate to Athens, Thessaloniki, HerakIion and any 3 points to be specified later in Greece from points in
India.
●    The carriers of Greece can establish direct operation to 6 metros - New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai.
●    Any points shall be available as ‘intermediate’ as well as ‘beyond point’ destinations for the designated carriers of India as well as the designated carriers
of Greece.

OBITUARY

Hindi novelist Ved Prakash Sharma breathes his last

Popular Hindi novelist Ved Prakash Sharma, who has 176 novels to his credit, breathed his last on February 17. 
●    The 62-year-old wasn’t keeping well since the last few months and had developed some infection and complications which led to his demise. 
●    His family members confirmed the news on Saturday.
●    Born on June 10, 1955 in Meerut city of Uttar Pradesh, India, he started his career as a ghost writer. 
●    After penning down as many as 23 novels, he got credit as a writer for the novel Dahekte Shaher in the year 1973. 
●    His other books which broke records and added to his popularity included Qaidi No 100 and Vardi Wala Gunda.
●    Sharma had also written scripts for about half-a-dozen Hindi movies. His novel Bahu Maange Insaaf was made into a Bollywood film in 1985. 
●    The 1992 film “Anaam” and the 1995 Akshay Kumar starrer “Sabse Bada Khiladi” were made on stories based on Sharma’s novels. 
●    Later, he also wrote the screenplay for the movie “International Khiladi” which released in the year 1999.

APPOINTMENTS

London Appoints First Woman Scotland Yard Chief in 187 Years

Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced that a female police officer would be the next Commissioner of the Scotland Yard
●    Cressida Dick's appointment to the top job at Scotland Yard means that for the first time in its history, Britain's biggest police force will be run by a
woman, Xinhua news agency reported.
●    So important is the role of 'Britain's top cop' that Dick was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II following a recommendation from the Home Secretary.
●    The Metropolitan Police or Met, as it is commonly known, is the largest police force in Britain, with more than 43,000 employees and an annual budget of over 3
billion pounds ($3.74 billion).
●    Rudd said the new police chief was taking on one of the most demanding, high-profile and important jobs in British policing, against the backdrop of a
heightened terror alert and evolving threats from fraud and cyber crime.

NATIONAL NEWS

India is world’s largest arms importer: SIPRI

India was the world’s largest importer of major arms in the last five years and its overseas procurement was far greater than that of China and Pakistan, a Stockholm-
based think-tank said on Monday. 
●    As per latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India accounted for 13 per cent of the total global arms import between
2012–16 which is highest among all the countries.
●    UP Assembly Elections 2017: Booked In Rape Case, SP's Gayatri Prajapati Breaks Down During Rally
●    The report said while China was increasingly able to substitute arms imports with indigenous products, India remained dependent on weapons technology from
Russia, the US, Europe, Israel and South Korea.
●    It said India increased its arms imports by 43 per cent between 2007–11 and 2012–16 and in the last four years its global procurement was far greater than
those of its regional rivals China and Pakistan.
●    Saudi Arabia was the second largest arms importer in 2012-16, with an increase of 212 per cent compared with 2007–11. Arms imports by Qatar went up by 245 per
cent.

GLOBAL NEWS

Brazilian Foreign Minister Jose Serra resigns

 Brazilian Foreign Minister Jose Serra resigned over health reasons, according to a letter he sent to President Michel Temer.
●    Serra, 74, who in December underwent spinal surgery, on Wednesday said that his health problems prevent him from "maintaining the pace of international trips
that go with the duties of Foreign Minister".
●    Serra took over as foreign minister for the Temer government on May 12, 2016, after former President Dilma Rousseff was barred from carrying out her
presidential duties, being deposed in August over irregularities in the public accounts.
●    Serra's departure poses yet another obstacle for Temer, who for the past several weeks has been seeking a new attorney general to replace Alexandre de Moraes,
who was named a Supreme Court justice.
●    Serra ran as the presidential candidate for the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) in 2002 and 2010, and there had been speculation that he might run
again in 2018, although his health problems now would appear to make such a move out of the question.