Saturday, 19 November 2016

FACTS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS OF THE DAY

Trade 
The Hind-Iran portal “hindirantrade.org” has been launched between India and Iran to facilitate trade. The purpose of the trade portal is to disseminate information relevant to Indo-Iran Trade and to provide an e-marketplace for the buyers and sellers of the two countries. It is a joint initiative of STC and Douman Queshm, Iran.

Sara Gruen 
The “Water for Elephants” is a historical novel authored by Sara Gruen. The novel presents us with a fascinating history of the American circus as well as a painful look at the time known as “The Great Depression”.

Sprint 
Haryana sprinter Dharambir Singh is in news because he has been slapped an 8-year ban by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) because of his second dope-related offence. Earlier, he was barred from representing India in the 2016 Rio Olympics at the last minute for failing a dope test.

Viswanathan Anand 
Indian chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has won the 2016 Champions Showdown in Saint Louis, USA. Anand beat three other grandmasters- Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Veselin Topalov to clinch the top spot. The tournament saw each competitor play 24 matches, including two classical round robins, two rapid round robins and four blitz round robins. Anand won seven and drew 16. His only defeat came on the final day against Nakamura.

Maharashtra 
The 6th edition of India-China Joint Military Training Exercise “Hand-in-Hand 2016” has started at the parade ground in Aundh Military Camp in Pune, Maharashtra from November 15 and will continue till November 27. The purpose of the joint exercise is to share the expertise in drills and practices while tackling insurgency and terrorism and also to promote healthy military to military relations between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China.

Bihar 
The Bihar government has recently launched “Har Ghar Bijli Lagataar (continuous power to every home)” programme to provide free electricity connection to about 50 lakh households above the poverty line. The purpose of the programme is to supply power to every household in Bihar in the next two years.

Pakistan 
The comprehensive joint exercise “2016 Raad ul Barq – Strike of thunder” has been conducted by Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force in Khairpur Tamewali firing range of Cholistan desert, near Indo-Pak border, to showcase the combat readiness of the country’s defence line with live firepower demonstration using heavy artillery fighter jets and air defence weapons.

Rs. 100 per quintal 
The Union Government has hiked Rs. 100 per quintal in wheat Minimum Support Price (MSP) to Rs. 1,625 per quintal for the 2016-17 and pulses by up to Rs. 550 per quintal to boost the output of these rabi (winter- sown) crops and check prices. Apart from this, MSP on Gram has been hiked to Rs. 4,000 per quintal including bonus, from 3,500 rupees per quintal while MSP of Masur has been raised to Rs. 3,950 per quintal from Rs. 3,400. The support price on Mustard and safflower has been hiked to Rs. 3,700 per quintal each. On Barley the support price has been increased to Rs. 1,325 from Rs. 1,225 per quintal. To incentivize cultivation of pulses and oilseeds, CCEA also announced a bonus on these crops over and above MSP. The MSP is the rate at which government buys the grain from farmers.

Chhattisgarh 
Chhattisgarh has become the first Indian state to adopt a resolution on demonetization of high-value currency notes. The decision was taken to flush out black money from the system and to usher in the clean transaction and clean money system. Besides fighting black money, it will also impact various other contentious issues plaguing the system.

November 16 
The The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for Tolerance is observed on November 16 every year to appreciate the rich variety of world’s cultures, forms of expression and ways of being human. The day recognises the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms.

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