Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday reaffirmed the lowest investment grade rating—Baa3—for India with a positive outlook, holding that the reform efforts of the government were yet to accelerate private investment.
●    The rating update comes days after S&P Global Ratings kept its sovereign credit rating for India unchanged at the lowest investment grade—BBB- with a stable outlook—and ruled out an upgrade till 2017-end.
●    Brics is a grouping comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
●    Moody’s upgraded India’s rating outlook to positive from stable in April 2015 to reflect continuous focus on reforms by the Narendra Modi government.
●    Moody’s lauded the government’s broad range of policy measures that are conducive to moderating inflation and limiting current account deficit. 
●    This assessment is also supported by higher rankings in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index and World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators.
 

The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on 16 November 2016 successfully carried out maiden flight of TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM – II), a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
●    The test flight took place from Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) at Chitradurga, a newly developed flight test range for the testing of UAVs and manned aircraft. 
●    It was designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), the Bangalore-based premier lab of DRDO. 
●    It is the first R&D prototype UAV which got the certification and qualification for the first flight from the Center for Military Airworthiness & Certification and Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance.
●    It will carry out the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) roles for the three Armed Forces with an endurance of 24 hours. 
●    It is capable to carry diverse combinations of payloads like Medium Range Electro Optic (MREO), Long Range Electro Optic (LREO), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and Situational Awareness Payloads (SAP). 
●    The data link for the UAV was developed by Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) of DRDO.

Industry body Nasscom on Wednesday downgraded the growth prospects for India’s IT exports this year to a range of 8 per cent to 10 per cent, from its earlier forecast of 10 per cent to 12 per cent, citing uncertainties arising from growing anti-globalisation rhetoric in the developed world.
●    Specifically, the lack of clarity about the Brexit process and the Donald Trump regime’s policies in the U.S are aggravating factors.
●    Global clients are delaying decisions on IT spends and many have also deferred existing assignments, although there have been no cancellations yet.
●    Industry verticals like banking, financial services and energy have slowed down spending in the U.S. due to political uncertainties and interest rate expectations from the U.S. Federal Reserve that didn’t materialise.
●    Nasscom will re-assess the industry’s prospects when more clarity emerges on both the Brexit roadmap and Mr. Trump’s approach to governance in the U.S.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today attended a function organized by the Press Council of India on the occasion of National Press Day. 
●    The occasion also marks the Golden Jubilee of the Press Council of India. 
●    Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister emphasized on the importance of freedom of press, and said press should self-regulate, adding that any external interference or regulation on press is not called for. 
●    The Prime Minister expressed concern over the recent killings of journalists in some parts of the country. 
●    He said that journalists losing their lives in the quest for telling the truth, is an extremely serious development. 
●    Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister emphasized on the importance of freedom of press, and said press should self-regulate, adding that any external interference or regulation on press is not called for. 
●    The Prime Minister expressed concern over the recent killings of journalists in some parts of the country. He said that journalists losing their lives in the quest for telling the truth, is an extremely serious development.

In pursuit of India’s ‘Act East’ policy and outreach to friendly countries, the Indian Navy’s Offshore Patrol Vessel Sumitra, has arrived at Auckland, New Zealand today on a six day visit from 16-22 Nov 16. 
●    The ship would represent the Indian Navy at the Royal New Zealand Navy International Naval Review 2016. 
●    The ship’s visit to New Zealand is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing maritime security cooperation between the two countries. 
●    Sumitra, is the fourth of the Saryu class ships, based on an indigenous design and constructed by M/s Goa Shipyard Ltd, India.
●    The ship has a range of 6,500 nautical miles and is capable of embarking one Dhruv / Chetak helicopter. The ship is commanded by Cdr KP Shreeshan. 
●    The ship’s crew would interact professionally as well as participate in sports events and social fixtures, and all other activities as part of the International Naval Review. 

Aligarh leads 500 cities in undertaking Swachh awareness generation activities under the fortnightly thematic activities as required under the Swachh Survekshan-2017, launched by the Ministry of Urban Development. During the evaluation of IEC (Information, Education and Communication) activities by the Ministry, Aligarh has scored the maximum marks. IEC performance has been assessed by the Ministry while evaluation of other parameters of Swachh Survekshan-2017 will be done by the Quality Council of India. 

●    All the cities were required to furnish reports on IEC activities involving citizens along with evidence of media coverage relating to ensuring cleanliness at parks, government of offices, residential colonies, tourist places, schools etc., and welfare of sanitary workers, for evaluation. 
●    The other cities in the top 10 in this regard are : Vasai-Virar (Maharashtra), Hyderabad, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Vadodara and Rajkot (Gujarat), Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) and Mysuru (Karnataka). 
●    These cities were given scores under the 50% of weightage allocated for IEC under Survey-2017. 
●    Ministry of Urban Development has informed all the 500 cities included in Swachh Survekshan-2017 that remaining 50% of the weightage for IEC component under this ranking will be given to the efforts towards community participation for making individual, community and public toilets functional during the current cleanliness fortnight that commenced yesterday. 
●    Final results of Swachh Survekshan-2017 will be announced in January, 2017. 
 

The Board of Tata Global Beverages on 15 November 2016 voted to remove Cyrus Mistry as the Chairman of the company.
●    The Board voted to appoint Harish Bhat as the Chairman of the company. Bhat is the Non-Executive Director on the board of the company.
●    Tata Global Beverages Limited is an Indian multinational non-alcoholic beverages company.
●    It was formerly known as Tata Tea Limited.
●    It is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.
●    It is the world's second-largest manufacturer and distributor of tea.
●    It markets tea under the major brands Tata Tea, Tetley, Good Earth Teas and JEMCA.
●    Tata Tea is the biggest-selling tea brand in India, whereas Tetley is the biggest-selling tea brand in Canada. JEMCA is the biggest-selling tea brand in the Czech Republic.
●    Tata Global Beverages ventured into the Indian cafe market with a 50/50 joint venture with Starbucks Coffee Company.

India overtook the US to become the world's second largest internet consumer base behind China last year.
●    Internet freedom has declined slightly in the country.
●    According to the “Freedom on the Net 2016” report by Freedom House, a US-based think tank, both government and non-governmental entities made efforts to bridge the digital divide in India. 
●    After effective digital campaigning, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) introduced strong net neutrality protections in 2016, prohibiting differential pricing by service providers for different content or applications.
●    Overall, internet freedom around the world declined in 2016 for the sixth consecutive year. 
●    Two-thirds of all internet users — 67 percent — live in countries where criticism of the government, military or ruling family are subject to censorship.
●    According to the report, social media users face unprecedented penalties, as authorities in 38 countries made arrests based on social media posts over the past year.

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group on Tuesday launched UNLIMIT, an independent unit, which will provide Internet of Things (IoT) services.
●    Reliance Group, including its mobile network, has partnered with Cisco Jasper for the launch of this venture. 
●    With this, Reliance becomes the first telco in India to have an independent IoT unit.
●    Reliance Communication's mobile networks and cloud services along with Cisco Jasper 's IoT connectivity management platform aim to provide a fill suite of solutions for smart city initiatives throughout India, a statement said.
●    The new IoT services aim to enable business transformation for companies in India and also play a key role in the Digital India project.
●    Companies using the Cisco Jasper platform outside of India can expand their connected services into India on Reliance's network.
●    RCom’s merger of MTS with itself and the ongoing merger of its wireless business with Aircel will make the new entity’s 2G and 3G network more powerful.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India on 15 November 2016 signed a 500 million US dollar loan to build a 9.8 km long road bridge across the Ganges River. This will be India’s longest river bridge.
●    Along with ADB’s loan and 900000 US dollar in technical assistance to improve bridge operation and management, the Bihar Government will provide support equivalent to 215 million US dollar.
●    The project is expected to be completed by the end of December 2020.
●    The proposed bridge will improve transport connectivity between North and South Bihar. It will also improve the link between Patna and the surrounding areas.
●    It will cover both channels of the Ganges River and will also serve as an alternate route to the existing Ganga Bridge.
●    The project will also build viaducts, embankments, and toll and service facilities. It will link to national highway networks.
●    The bridge will significantly reduce travel time to Patna from the surrounding regions, in particular north Bihar. 
●    It is expected that the bridge will benefit over 9 million people.