GK and Current Affairs Updates

India's first radio taxi administration for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) group, Wings Rainbow, was hailed off. The activity by Wings Travels and Humsafar Trust will have taxis chauffeured by LGBT group individuals, and is relied upon to begin working in 2017. On Wednesday, five volunteers from The Humsafar Trust, a LGBT rights association, joined to drive radio taxicabs. Under the test case program, five individuals from the gay and transgender group will apply for a learner's permit, and finish their preparation in getting the All India Driver's License. Amid the nine to 12 months it takes to get the lasting driving licenses, they will likewise experience client manners preparing.

Uttar Pradesh clinched their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy with a thumping 38-run win over two time champions Baroda in the final under lights at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is Twenty20 cricket domestic championship in India, organized by Board of Control for Cricket in India, among the teams from Ranji Trophy. The 2008-09 season was the inaugural season for this trophy. It is named after a famous Indian cricketer, Syed Mushtaq Ali. The 2014/15 trophy was taken by Gujarat after having defeated the runners up, Punjab.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the autobiography of Essel Group Owner, Shri Subhash Chandra, titled “The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time”. Shri Chandra is also the owner of the Zee Group and  November 2009, he took over management responsibility of Daily News & Analysis (DNA), which features among the top 8 English dailies in India and is one of fastest growing English newspapers in the country. In 2005, in collaboration with Dainik Bhaskar group, Subhash Chadra launched an English daily, DNA, in Mumbai to challenge the well settled The Times of India newspaper and the competition was one of the biggest newspaper battles of Mumbai and sustaining earlier losses, the newspaper eventually turned around. to the spread of this meditation method.

The newly appointed ambassadors of the government campaign “Incredible India” are Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and the talented Priyanka Chopra. The new appointment followed the scrimmage that the previous ambassador, Amir Khan, was a part of when he made some comments about the perceived intolerance of the country. He had been the ambassador of the campaign for over a decade. A number of multi-disciplinary icons, including famous sports personalities, were shortlisted by the tourism ministry to be the face of the 'Incredible India' campaign.

Renowned classical dancer and Padma Bhushan recipient Mrinalini Sarabhai, who was wife of father of India's space programm  Dr Vikram Sarabhai,passed away on Thursday due to old age related problems. She was 97. Mrinalini Sarabhai has been awarded by the Indian government with the national civilian awards Padm  Bhushan in 1992 and the Padma Shri in 1965.S e was also the first Indian to receive the medal and Diploma of the French Archives Internationales de la Danse.She was nominated to the Executive Committee of the International Dance Council, Paris in 1990 and awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, New Delhi in 1994. She was presented with a gold medal by the Mexican Government for her choreography for the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico.

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite system, IRNSS, consists of seven satellites to provide real-time data on the position of objects to aid road, air and maritime traffic apart from providing mapping and tracking services.IRNSS-1E is the fifth navigation satellite in the IRNSS space system, comprising seven satellites, which would be on par with US-based GPS once the full complement of spacecraft is launched. The satellite was launched, powered by its own PSLV, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The satellite’s control was taken over by the Mission Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka. 

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research KISR) on 20 January 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. This memorandum allows the KISR to use data from the Indian Remote Sensing satellites for some initiating a few research and application projects. It will also enable Training and Building and launching of remote sensing and communication satellites on commercial terms. 

The India Army is all set to organize one of the largest multinational military exercise in March which will see the participation of the 18 'ASEAN Plus' countries. Over 360 personnel will participate in 'Exercise Force Eighteen' to be held from March 2-8 in Pune with the theme of Humanitarian Mine Action and Peace Keeping Operations. The ASEAN Plus is made up of 18 countries -- 10 ASEAN countries and Australia, China, Japan, India, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States

Aroon Tikekar was born in 1944 in a family of authors and journalists. He has served as the Editor of Marathi newspaper Loksatta of the Indian Express Group Newspaper for over a decade from 1992 to 2002. Prior to starting his journalistic career he had worked as a college teacher for some years. He was also Language and Literature Expert and  Acquisitions Specialist at the US Library of Congress Office, New Delhi. He has authored  over 20 books in Marathi as well as in English including The cloister’s pale: A Biography of the University of Mumbai.

India has slipped 11 places to rank 89^th on a global index of talent competitiveness, a list which has been topped by Switzerland. Switzerland is followed by Singapore, Luxembourg, the US and Denmark in the top five positions on the annual Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTC) released by INSEAD business school in partnership with Adecco Group and the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore. Last year, India was ranked 78th on the index that measures a nation's competitiveness based on the quality of talent it can produce, attract and retain. It is released every year on the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting.