Dear Readers,

We bring you the (GK)General Knowledge and Current Affairs Today  27th Jan 2017 Section in PDF (English & Hindi), a section which outlines the latest news headlines which are hardly covered elsewhere. This will help you with the GK and Current Affairs  asked in various competitive exams of Banking & Government  like IBPS, SBI (PO and Clerk), SSC, Railways, LAW (CLAT) entrance exams, UPSC -IASetc. and will help you score good marks. We recommend all our aspirants to go through the section and boost your general awareness before.

National News

Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan Resigns 

Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan resigned from his position on 27 January 2017. 

His resignation came following a controversy that was triggered against him, accusing him of sexual misconduct.

●    Moreover, a letter was sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the staff of the Meghalaya Governor's House, accusing the Governor of compromising with the dignity of his office.
●    Civil society groups in Meghalaya like the Civil Society Women's Organisation and a progressive political outfit of Meghalaya 'Thma U Rangli' launched a signature campaign following the reports of inappropriate behaviour by the Governor. The campaign was launched to demand Governor's resignation.
●    However, Shanmuganathan, who also holds the additional charge of Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, denied such media allegations.

SPORTS

David Warner Breaks Tendulkar's Record of Scoring 150 or More 5 Times in ODIs

Sachin Tendulkar, in his illustrious career that spanned over two decades, has set many a records in cricketing history. 

●    Although many of these records are set to stand for some while, one man who has been tipped to break at least some of them is India skipper Virat Kohli.
●    However, as the swashbuckling Indian top-order batsman gears up for his first T20I as the Team India captain, it was an Aussie, who matched one of the ‘Little Master’s’ unique records.
●    Australia opener David Warner absolutely clobbered the Pakistan bowlers all around the Adelaide Oval, to help his side to a massive total of 369. 
●    While he set a record-breaking opening partnership of 284 runs with Travis Head, there was another record that brought Warner on the same level as Tendulkar.
●    Warner’s 179 runs off 128 balls was his fifth 150 plus score in one-day cricket. 
●    This brought him level with Tendulkar, who had also scored 150 or more five times in his ODI career.

DEFENCE

Improved Pinaka Rockets Test-Fired

The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on 24 January 2017 successfully test fired the Guided PINAKA from Launch Complex-III at ITR, Chandipur.

●    Guided PINAKA is the enhanced version of PINAKA Rocket Mark-II which has been equipped with navigation, guidance and control kit. 
●    The conversion from PINAKA Rocket Mark-II to Guided PINAKA facilitated the enhancement in the range and improvement in the accuracy of PINAKA. 
●    The flight of this upgraded rocket was tracked and monitored by Radars, Electro Optical and Telemetry Systems at ITR Chandipur. 
●    The guided version of Pinaka was developed jointly by Armament Research and Development Establishment, Pune and Imarat and Defence Research and Development Laboratory, the Hyderabad-based Research Centre. 

SPACE SCIENCE

NASA'a New Horizons to Explore Ancient Object Beyond Pluto

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to explore a small, ancient object located about 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto, nearly two years after its historic encounter with the icy dwarf planet.

●    The new target was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014 and it was dubbed 2014 MU69.
●    It took the spacecraft about 16 months to beam back all of its data from the Pluto flyby, and planetary scientists have had a ball with that data.
●    The next big stage of the mission, the flyby of 2014 MU69, will occur in January 2019. 
●    MU69 is much smaller and more representative of the trillions of other KBOs. 
●    Pluto is comparable to the size of North America at 2,370 km in diameter, while MU69 is less than 45 km across.

RANKINGS & REPORTS

India in Red Zone on Transparency List

A major international index of corruption and transparency has placed India on the watch list for its inability to curb mega corruption scandals and petty bribery. 

●    The annual index of Transparency International issued on Wednesday for 2016 placed India with Brazil and China in the 40th position. India’s condition showed growth with inequality.
●    “The impact of corruption on poverty, illiteracy and policy brutality showed that not only was the economy growing but so was inequality.
●    India’s current ranking, putting it in the high corruption zone, has drawn critical observations from transparency campaigners. 
●    Nikhil Dey of People’s Campaign for Right to Information said the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not done enough on the issue of Lokpal and whistleblower protection.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

India to Fill Strategic Reserve Facility at Mangaluru with Oil from UAE

●    India signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday that allows the Gulf nation to fill half of an underground crude oil storage facility at Mangalore that is part of New Delhi's strategic reserve system. 
●    New Delhi announced a series of pacts with the UAE ranging from defence, trade, maritime cooperation to energy after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. 
●    UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co will store about 6 million barrels of oil at Mangalore, taking up about half of the site's capacity, said Sunjay Sudhir, joint secretary for international cooperation at the Indian oil ministry. 
●    India, hedging against energy security risks as it imports most of its oil needs, is building emergency storage in underground caverns to hold 36.87 million barrels of crude, or about 10 days of its average daily oil demand in 2016. 

GLOBAL NEWS
 

Japan Successfully Launches First Military Communications Satellite

Japan on 24 January 2017 launched its first military communications satellite Kirameki-2 to boost the broadband capacity of its armed forces with an aim to reinforce its presence at the southern edge of the East China Sea.

●    The satellite was launched through Mistubishi H-IIA rocket from southern-most islands of Japan, an area in which Tokyo and Beijing have clashed over the gas-rich East China Sea.
●    Kirameki-2 is one of three planned X-band satellites that will allow communications across wider territory. It has a lifespan of 15 years. It was built by DSN Corporation for the Japanese Ministry of Defence.
●    The Kirameki-1 satellite was damaged in 2016 during transportation to the launch site and is expected to be launched in March 2018. On the other hand, Kirameki-3 is intended to be launched in 2021.
●    The country expects to send three X-band satellites into orbit over the coming years in order to quadruple the country’s broadband capacity.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
 

India, France Sign Pact on Maritime Info Sharing in IOR

India and France has signed White Shipping agreement to enable information sharing on maritime traffic and maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) amid China's expanding naval forays in the area where India wants to establish itself as the net security provider.

●    The agreement was signed on January 19 here when the two sides held their second dialogue on maritime cooperation for the Indian Ocean Region.
●    The White Shipping Agreement will be implemented over the next few months enabling Navies of India and France to coordinate their roles in stabilizing Indo-Pacific region, persons familiar with the developments indicated. It will enhance Indo-French maritime security cooperation in the 
region.
●    The Indo-French dialogue also emphasized on Freedom of Navigation in IOR and Pacific in the backdrop of China's territorial claims and dominance in the South China Sea region.

Awards

Padma Awards 2017 announced

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 25 January 2017 announced the winners of the Padma Awards 2017. 

The list comprises of 7 Padma Vibhushan, 7 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri Awardees.  

19 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 5 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 6 posthumous awardees.

●    List of Padma Vibhushan Awardees
●    K J Yesudas
●    Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
●    Sharad Pawar
●    Murli Manohar Joshi
●    Prof. Udipi Ramachandra Rao
●    Late Sunder Lal Patwa (Posthumous)
●    Late PA Sangma (Posthumous)
●    Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian Awards of India. 

The awards are conferred in three categories namely - Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

On This Day

On 27 January 1888, the National Geographic Society was incorporated at Washington DC, USA. Gardiner Greene Hubbard became its first president and his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell, succeeded him in 1897. The current National Geographic Society president and CEO is Gary E. Knell. The chairman of the board of trustees is John Fahey. The editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine is Susan Goldberg. It is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history.