January 30 Current Affairs

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  1. Indian – American Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen To Lead USISPF Board
  • Indian-American Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has been elected as the Vice Chairman of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum. It is a new organisation set up to enhance business relations between India and the US.
  • The new representative body – US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) was set up to promote bilateral trade and work on creating meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens.The USISPF now has 31 board members.

 Takeaways

  1. USISPF has an established presence across both countries, with teams in New York, Silicon Valley, Washington DC, Mumbai, and New Delhi

2. 5 MPs Chosen For Outstanding Parliamentarian Award

  • The Indian Parliamentary Group (IPG) headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced that five members of parliament (MPs) selected for the Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards.
  • This includes, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad (2015), Trinamool Congress’ Dinesh Trivedi (2016), Manipur’s governor Najma A Heptulla (2013), BJP’s Lok Sabha member Hukumdev Narayan Yadav (2014) and five-time Rajya Sabha member Bhartruhari Mahatab of the Lok Biju Janata Dal (BJD) (2017).
 Takeaways
  1. The Outstanding Parliamentarian Award was established in 1995. So far 18 eminent MPs have received the award.
  2. Chandra Shekhar of the Samajwadi Janata Party was the first member to receive this award.

3. Aadhaar Is Oxford Dictionary’s Hindi Word Of 2017

  • Oxford Dictionaries has chosen ‘Aadhaar’ as the Hindi word of 2017. The word gained popularity due to Aadhaar card, which was in news in 2017. The announcement was made in the Jaipur Literature Festival.
  • Other words such as Mitron, Notebandi, Gau-Rakshak were also considered, but the widespread discussions and debates around ‘Aadhaar’ was reason it was selected as the word of the year.

 Takeaways

  1. Aadhar Card In English – Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
  2. Aadhar Card launched  – by Nilekani.

4. First Ever ‘Khadi Haat’ Inaugurated In Delhi

  • Marking the 69th Republic Day celebrations, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) have launched the first ever ‘Khadi Haat’ in the country.
  • The Khadi Haat was inaugurated by Union Minister of State Giriraj Singh in Connaught Place, New Delhi.

 Takeaways

  1. KVIC Chairman- V K Saxena
  2. NDMC Chairman- Naresh Kumar.

5. India Cheapest Country To Live In After South Africa: Survey

  • India is ranked second only to South Africa as the cheapest country to live or retire, according to a recent survey of 112 countries by GoBankingRates. The survey ranked nations on the bases of four key affordability metrics. The metrics are Local purchasing power index, rent index, Groceries index, and Consumer price index.
  • India’s local purchasing power is 20.9% lower, rent is 95.2% cheaper, groceries are 74.4% cheaper, local goods and services are 74.9% cheaper. The top three most expensive countriesin the survey are Bermuda (ranked 112), Bahamas (111), and Hong Kong (110).

    Takeaways

  1. Current President of  South Africa : Jacob Zuma
  2. First president of  South Africa : Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

6. Indian, Vietnamese Armies Hold 1st Military Exercise- VINBAX

  • Armies of India and Vietnam have begun a six-day-long military exercise in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. The exercise named ‘VINBAX’ is the first military exercise between the two countries.
  • Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was in New Delhi to participate in the India-ASEAN Commemorative summit and attend the Republic Day celebrations.

 Takeaways

  1. Vietnam Capital- Hanoi,
  2. Currency- Vietnamese dong

7. International Bird Festival To Be Held In Dudhwa National Park

  • A three-day international bird festival will be held at the Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh in February 2018 with nearly 200 leading ornithologists expected to attend.
  • The purpose of the international bird festival is to promote eco-tourism in Dudhwa and to give it a distinct international identity besides highlighting its traditional Tharu arts, culture and heritage.

8.  Important Day -Martyrs’ Day

9. 50% increase in number of indirect taxpayers: Economic Survey

  • “A preliminary analysis of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) data reveals that there has been a 50% increase in the number of indirect taxpayers, besides a large increase in voluntary registrations, especially by small enterprises that buy from large enterprises and want to avail themselves of Input Tax Credits (ITC),”  the Survey stated.
  • According to the Economic Survey, there were 9.8 million unique GST registrants, an increase by 3.4 million compared to the previous tax regime. While Maharashtra, UP, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have the number of GST registrantsThe Survey noted that five States -Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana-account for 70% of India’s exports .

 Takeaways

  1. current finance minister – Arun Jaitley

10. Good show by Indian boxers

  • Olympic medallist and five-time world champion Mary Kom was light on her feet and swift with her punches to make it to the last-four stage in the 48kg category.Mary will meet Altansetseg Lutsaikhan of Mongolia in the semifinals.
  • In the men’s lightweight category, Manish Kaushik set up a semifinal against Shiva Thapa. Olympian Shiva squeezed to a 3-2 victory over Sherbek Rakhmatulloev of Uzbekistan. Ankush Dahiya won 4-1 against Somchay Wongsuyan of Thailand to give a strong hold for India.