GK and Current Affairs Updates

Navy today formally inducted four types of indigenously developed sonars that will boost its underwater surveillance capability.
●    Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, handed over the sonars to the Navy, praised the force along with DRDO and said he expects more synergy in the coming days.
●    The systems have been designed and developed by NPOL, a Kochi based laboratory of DRDO.
●    With the induction of these four systems, the underwater surveillance capability of the Indian Navy will get a boost.
●    Abhay is an advanced active-cum-passive integrated sonar system designed and developed for the smaller platforms such as shallow water crafts and coastal surveillance/patrol vessels.
●    It is capable of detecting, localizing, classifying and tracking sub-surface and surface targets in both its active and passive modes of operation.
●    Indian Navy has proposed to induct this SONAR on three of the Abhay class ships.
●    Intensifying the command over the high seas is the Humsa -UG that is designed for upgrading the existing Humsa sonar system.
 

The Supreme Court directed the Centre to appoint a nodal agency to monitor Google, Yahoo and Microsoft websites, and asked them to “delete” within 36 hours advertisements pertaining to pre-natal sex determination in India.
●    Advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing petitioner Sabu Mathew George who sought the court’s intervention in light of the decreasing sex ratio, claimed that the advertisements remained on the websites despite the apex court’s orders.
●    The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 was enacted to stop female foeticides and curb India’s declining sex ratio. 
●    It had also banned pre-natal sex determination.
●    Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was representing Google India, along with the counsel for other search engines said they had complied with the earlier order passed by the apex court and taken steps to block such advertisements. 
●    However, they said the matter requires further debate.

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.

'Hand in Hand 2016', a joint military exercise between India and China will be held in Pune from November 15-27.
●    This will be the sixth such joint training exercise between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army of China.
●    It is held annually, alternately, in India and China.
●    The first exercise was held in China at Kunming, Yunnan province in the year 2007.
●    The aim of the joint training is to share expertise in drills and practices while tackling insurgency and terrorism.
●    It helps in promoting healthy military relations between the two armies.
●    The exercise is planned in three phases at the company level with the respective battalion headquarters controlling the training. 
●    The exercise will be supervised by a joint directing panel comprising senior officials of both the nations.
●    The exercise will be attended by the senior military observers of both the countries.

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.