Current Affairs: 19 January 2017

Bengaluru is Most Dynamic City in the World, Says WEF Report 

• At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting being held in Davos, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has published its list of world's most dynamic cities - the main ranking factors being rapid adoption of technology and innovation - and Bengaluru has taken the top spot, leaving behind global tech hub Silicon Valley. 
• In fact, six of the top 30 cities are from India, hinting that the country's urbanisation rate is exponential. 
• In JLL's 2017 City Momentum Index, Bengaluru secures the pole position, followed by Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, while Silicon Valley in the US comes in at third. After Bengaluru, the next Indian city to be in the top ranks is Hyderabad - securing the fifth spot, lagging behind Shanghai. 
• This also makes India the only country in the world to have two cities in the top five. 

Kapil Dev Inducted Into Legends Club 'Hall Of Fame' 

• Cricket icon Kapil Dev was inducted into Legends Club 'Hall of Fame' in presence of former India captains Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar and Nari Contractor at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai. Dev, who led India to the emphatic World Cup victory in 1983, is considered as the country's greatest all-rounder. 
• He was presented with a citation by former India player and Legends Club President Madhav Apte. 
• Gavaskar, who was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket, was also presented a citation by Wadekar. He was already inducted into the club's Hall of Fame on July 11, 2013. 

Shabana Azmi nominated for Asian Film Awards for 'Neerja' 

• Actress Shabana Azmi has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for the upcoming 11th Asian Film Awards, to be held on March 21 in Hong Kong. 
• She has been nominated for her role in the film 'Neerja'. 
• Shabana is the only person from Indian cinema who has received a nomination for an award this year. 

Bharti AXA General appoints Sanjeev Srinivasan as CEO, MD 

• Bharti AXA General Insurance has appointed Sanjeev Srinivasan as CEO and Managing Director. 
• Srinivasan joined Bharti AXA General Insurance in August 2016 as Chief Commercial and Principal Officer and now takes over the role of CEO and MD. 
• His main focus will be to drive Bharti AXA’s go- to-market strategy of creating a balanced portfolio, driving new distribution tie—ups and creating a customer centric brand to drive profitable growth. 
• European Parliament election: Antonio Tajani new president 

Italian conservative Antonio Tajani elected the new president of the European Parliament

• Mr Tajani, 63, is a former spokesman for Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and an ex-European commissioner. 
• He defeated another Italian, Gianni Pitella, and will take over from Germany's Martin Schulz. 
• The European Parliament has the power to block or amend EU laws, and will have the final say on whether to approve a Brexit deal with the UK. 
• Mr Tajani secured 351 votes, against 282 for Mr Pittella, a socialist. The contest ran to the maximum four rounds. 
• Mr Tajani's European People's Party (EPP) group benefited from a new coalition with the parliament's liberals, the ALDE, who hope to curb the influence of anti-EU populist 

25 children win National Bravery Awards 

• Twenty five children from different parts of the country have been selected for Indian Council for Child Welfare’s (ICCW) National Bravery Awards to be presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 23. 
• Four of the awards are posthumous. 
• The Bharat Award has been conferred to 8-year-old Tarh Peju of Arunachal Pradesh, who sacrificed her life in an attempt to save two of her friends from drowning. 
• Roluahpuii and Lalhriatpuii from Mizoram, and Tushar Verma from Chattisgarh have been given Bapu Gaidhani Award posthumously. 
• The Geeta Chopra Award has been conferred on 18-year-old Tejasweeta Pradhan and 17-year old Shivani Gond 
• The Sanjay Chopra Award has been conferred to 15-year-old Sumit Mamgain of Uttarakhand who displayed outstanding bravery in fighting a leopard to save his cousin. 

IIMC introduces a PG diploma course in Urdu journalism 

• In a bid to promote Urdu language the Indian Institute of Mass Communication launched a full-fledged postgraduate diploma course. The institute was earlier offering a five-month journalism course in the Urdu language. 
• According to the institute, it has kept the fee of the course lower than what is being charged for any other course 
• The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is one of India's premier institute for journalism. Besides Delhi, it has five other branches in Odisha, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala. The institute offers PG diploma courses in English, Hindi, and Oriya languages as of now. 

Kangra first ever district to geo-tag all assets under MGNREGA 

• Kangra has become the first district in the country to geo-tag 100 per cent of the assets generated under the MGNREGA. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh felicitated all the rural development officers for the achievement, at the cabinet Hall in the Mini Secretariat. 
• The geo-tagging of assets under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is being done as to ensure online recording of the assets generated under the welfare programme. 
• It allows the workers to click photo of the asset and upload it to a ISRO-run web portal thus digitally recording its time and location. 
• It allows the ease in tracking the assets. 

Meghalaya’s Mawlynnong village has become Asia’s cleanest village 

• Mawlynnong village in Meghalaya has become a role model for other states in maintaining cleanliness. 
• Known as Asia’s cleanest village, Mawlynnong has become tourists’ hotspot. 
• To maintain its reputation as clean village, all 550 villagers carry cleanliness drive on every Saturday. Through cleanliness, the villagers have created opportunities to earn money as the village has become tourists’ prime destination in North East. 
• Recently, the village headman of Mawlynnong was invited to Vibrant Gujarat to explain its success story. 

Anandam Scheme Launched in Madhya Pradesh to Help Poor 

• Shivraj Singh Chouhan Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh launches Anadam Scheme to help the poor and the needed person. Under this scheme the people who are economic sound can donate items for the needed person.
•  The state government of Madhya Pradesh has fixed the places in each district of the state where the people can donate items for the poor people. 
• People can donate items like jackets, sarees, blankets, utensils, school bags for the poor people under Anandam Scheme. 
• Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has appealed to the citizens to get them registered voluntarily as Anandak under Anandam Scheme. 
• They will be imparted training and they will play an important role to publicize Anandam. 

Suresh Prabhu unveils Mission 41k energy plan for Railways 

• Railway minister Suresh Prabhu on unveiled Mission 41k, a plan that would save Rs 41,000 crore over 10 years through an integrated energy management system 
• In this initiative, railways will electrify 24,000 km of rail tracks over the next five years by doubling the annual rate of electrification from 2,000 km to 4,000 km in the next two years. 
• The railways will award contracts on engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) model for railway electrification projects, to achieve this target.
•  It also plans to mechanize the execution through self-propelled wiring trains among other initiatives. 
• Under Mission 41k, change in the carrier’s energy mix by using more green energy through 1,000 megawatt (MW) solar and 200MW wind plants, installation of LED lights and bulbs across all railway stations, trains and offices are also included.

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