GK and Current Affairs Updates

M. Balamuralikrishna, an Indian Carnatic vocalist, died on 22 November 2016 in Chennai. He was 86. 
●    Balamuralikrishna, a recipient of Padma Vibhusan, was suffering from age-related geriatric problems.
●    Hailing from the Sankaraguptham village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Balamuralikrishna began his musical journey at the age of 8. Since then, he has performed in over 25 thousand concerts.
●    During his long musical career, he excelled as a prominent Carnatic vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer and composer as well as an actor.
●    Many Universities decorated him with honorary doctorates.
●    He is the person, who is credited for creation of ragas like Ganapathi, Sarvashri, Mahati, Lavangi and others
●    He was a recipient of by the French award Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal from UNESCO.

Central Government announced that it has so far approved construction of 12,83,616 affordable houses for urban poor in 2,329 cities and towns crossing the 12,40,968 mark approved under the ten years of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
●    Making the announcement at a media conference here today, Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu said that his ministry today cleared construction of 1,97,402 housed for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban) in seven States and there by crossing the JNNURM mark in a very short period.
●    States sanctioned affordable houses by the Ministry of HUPA today are: Tamil Nadu-1,13,327 houses with an investment of Rs.3,714 cr, Karnataka- 31,880 (Rs.1,186 cr), Gujarat-18,248 (Rs.1,096 cr), Madhya Pradesh-16,448 (Rs.813 cr), Punjab-16,187 (Rs.447 cr), Rajasthan-1,280 (Rs.50 cr) and Meghalaya-32 (Rs.1.00 cr).
●    Shri Venkaiah Naidu stated that withdrawal of high value currency notes announced by the Government would have a positive impact on real estate sector, ultimately benefitting the sector and all stakeholders. He said it will lead to stabilization of prices and result in a ‘new normal’ in the sector. Since the fixed income and salaried people are the main buyers of affordable housing, this move would help affordable housing segment where in unaccounted transactions are almost non-extant. Shri Naidu said that he would soon have a meeting with sector representatives to hear their point of view. 

This year IITF through its Digital India Theme is aligned to fulfil the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. The theme assumes special significance in order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology.
●    The Government has launched the Digital India programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has also emphasised on bringing transparency and accountability in all its activities. Few of them are signing of GSTN MOU, creation of EXIM Analytics Dashboard, etc.
●    As part of Digital India programme, ITPO has shown how fair as big as IITF having 7000 participants spread over 1 lakh Sqm exhibition area can be made digitally. ITPO for the first time introduced online space booking system. The system enabled participants across countries and states to seamlessly book space of their choice by paying online through use of payment gateways. Further, till last year purchase of online tickets was for business days only, however, online sale of tickets has been mainstreamed for all days of IITF 2016. Introduction of online sale of tickets facilitated visitors to purchase of tickets conveniently and quickly without standing in queues. Many visitors have opted for purchase of tickets through online this year. The number of online ticket sales has increased from 2896 to 15574 till 21.11.2016. 
●    ITPO has also developed Mobile Application for IITF 2016 which is user-friendly and provide trade fair information available on finger tips. The mobile app is a fully enhanced catalogue in user’s pocket which provides contact access to exhibitor list, generation information, floor plan, search facility of product display, facilities to visitors and navigation facility.
●    The demonetization process further gave a fillip to Digital India initiatives. To assist small scale enterprises, artisan and Exhibitors/ participants ITPO tied up with SBI, AXIS bank, Paytm and Free-Charge for enabling cashless transactions by the visitors. Till 21.11.2016, SBI and Axis Bank, provided 292 nos. and 55 nos. respectively of swipe machines (POS) and Paytm and Free-Charge enabled 700 nos. and 370 nos. respectively of e-wallets.

The United Nations’ (UN) World Television Day was observed in countries across the world on 21 November 2016. The day is aimed at recognizing the important role television plays in presenting issues that affect people globally.
●    It is also meant to honor the role Television plays as the pillar of freedom of expression and as a promoter of cultural diversity. 
●    On 17 December 1996, during the United Nations General Assembly , it was decided that 21 November will be globally observed as World Television Day to commemorate the date on which the first World Television Forum was held in the same year. 
●    The universal body, UN then invited all its member states to observe the day by encouraging a global exchange of television programs focusing on global issues like peace, security, cultural exchange and economic and social development.
●    UN also acknowledged Television as one of the most influential forms of media for communication and broadcast of information and also as an important medium for imparting education to people across the globe.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a letter to the finance ministry has put forward a proposal to open an ‘Islamic window’ in conventional banks. The move is a stepping stone to its consideration of introducing Islamic banking in the country. 
●    The RBI and the Union Government have been exploring the possibility of  introducing the Sharia-based foundation since quite long in order to include even those sections of the society that remain outside the banking circuit due to religious reasons. 
●    The information was revealed when a copy of the letter was sent to Press Trust of India, in response to an RTI filed by it.  
●    Islamic banking may be introduced in the country in a gradual manner, considering the inexperience of Indian banks in the sphere and complexities of Islamic finance. 
●    At first, only products similar to those of conventional banking will be considered for introduction through an Islamic window at the conventional banks.
●    The full-fledged introduction of Islamic banking will be considered at a later stage, based on the experience gained during the time. 

India was on 19 November 2016 elected as Vice Chair of Kimberly Process Certificate Scheme (KPCS) 2018 and as the Chair for 2019 of KPCS. 
●    The announcement was made during the KP Plenary Meeting 2016 at Dubai.
●    Earlier, this position of KP Chair was held by India in 2008. 
●    The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme imposes widespread requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds.
●    India is one of the founding members of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).  
●    The Department of Commerce under Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry administers the scheme.
●    The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) is the Import and Export Authority within the meaning of Section IV(b) of the Scheme.

As expected, Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya’s reigning Olympic marathon champion bagged the winner’s title in Delhi Half Marathon on 20 November 2016. While he was declared winner in men’s category, Ethiopia’s Worknesh Degefa claimed the women’s title. 
●    Kipchoge, who won the gold medal at Rio Olympics in August 2016, is considered to be one of the greatest marathon runners of all times. 
●    The race was flagged off by Union Sports Minister, Vijay Goel and Adille Sumariwalla, President of Athletics Federation of India and Council member of IAAF. The race witnessed participation from nearly 34000 people spread across different categories. 
●    Kipchoge completed the 21.097km course in 59:44, unable to beat the course record of 59:06 set by Ethiopia’s Guye Adole in 2014.  
●    While Ethiopia’s Yigrem Demelash came in second with a very close timing of 59:48, Augustine Choge from Kenya finished third with 60:01.
●    In the women’s category, while winner Degefa finished first with a timing of 1:07:42, fellow Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh came in second with a timing of 1:07:52 and Kenya’s Helah Kiprop came third with 1:08:11.

The International Olympic Committee stripped ten athletes of their medals from 2008 Olympics. The move came after these athletes were tested positive for various banned steroids during the retest of their samples from the games.
●    Among the ten athletes, nine belong to former Soviet Union countries.
●    None of them were gold medalists.
●    Three were silver medalists: Wrestlers Vitaly Rahimov and Khasan Baroev from Azerbaijan and Russia respectively and weightlifter Irina Nekrasova from Kazakhstan.
●    Two were bronze medalists: Triple jumper Chrysopigi Devetzi from Greece and pole vaulter Denys Yurchenko from Ukraine.
●    These results take the total of weightlifting medalists tested positive for banned substances in 2008 Olympics to 22. 
●    Apart from them, six athletes who did not win any medal during the 2008 games were also disqualified. 
●    One among the disqualified six is Russia’s Elena Slesarenko-women’s high jump gold medalist in 2004- who came fourth in 2008 games and Ukraine’s Vita Palamar, who came fifth.

Over 100 journalists from across the country, representing various media organizations came together on a single platform at the second ‘All India Women Journalists’ Workshop’ organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in association with Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in New Delhi today. The first ‘All India Women Journalists’ Workshop’ was held in June this year. Today’s workshop was inaugurated by the Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi . Minister of State, WCD , Smt Krishna Raj was also present along with other senior officers of the Ministry.
●    Women journalists from print, electronic and online media from the length and breadth of the country including small and regional media organizations participated in the conference.
●    Addressing the journalists, Smt. Maneka Gandhi said that the workshops are being organised by the Ministry to empower the women journalists so that they can act as agents of change especially in matters pertaining to women and child development. The effort of the Ministry is to connect to the journalists from the grassroots to make them active participants in the process of change, to receive feedback from them and also to receive ideas from the grassroots which will benefit the women and children, Smt Maneka Gandhi added. Journalists should also try to highlight success stories and find role models to enable the Ministry to give recognition to genuine people, especially to women contributing to community building in the field, she said.
●    Smt. Maneka Gandhi made a comprehensive presentation on the issues taken up by the WCD Ministry in the last two years. Smt. Gandhi highlighted the numerous ‘firsts’ of the Ministry of Women and Child Development including Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, setting up of One Stop Centres for women in distress, Mahila e-Haat, panic button on mobiles, guidelines for matrimonial websites, 33% reservation for women in police force, gender champion scheme, unique initiative with railways for missing children, comprehensive adoption reforms, junk food guidelines and many more such initiatives.

Andy Murray will finish 2016 on top of the world rankings after an imperious 6-3, 6-4 victory over Novak Djokovic clinched his first ATP World Tour Finals title on Sunday.
●    The 29-year-old is the 17th man to hold the prestigious year-end number one berth since the inception of the ATP rankings in 1973.
●    He is the first player other than Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal to earn the honour since Andy Roddick in 2003.
●    Ruining Djokovic's bid to return to the top caps an incredible year for Murray, who has won Wimbledon for the second time, claimed a second Olympic gold medal and become a father for the first time.
●    It is Murray's fifth consecutive title and the 44th of his glittering career, and with Federer and Nadal both seemingly in decline due to injuries, the Scot will believe he can reign at the top well into 2017.
●    For Djokovic, a strangely tame loss, featuring 30 unforced errors, will spark renewed questions about the world number two's sudden decline.
●    The 29-year-old has been in a prolonged slump since winning the French Open for the first time, prompting rumours about his private life and jibes about his recent involvement with a 'spiritual guru'.