IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF NOVEMBER 17, 2016

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF NOVEMBER 17, 2016

• On November 16, 2016 International Day for Tolerance was observed.
• This day is an annual observance declared by UNESCO in 1995 to generate public awareness of the dangers of intolerance.
• The aim of this day is to enhance the awareness about dangers of intolerance and its implications in maintaining the peace among people.
• Theme of 2016 : Promoting Tolerance
• Over 20 countries, including Brazil and France, have become signatories to the framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) – launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Paris Climate summit last year. 
• With this legal framework in place, the ISA will be an innovative, action-oriented international body headquartered in India.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued directives for the country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court citing its failure to become independent. 
• This comes amid calls to hold Russia accountable at the ICC for its air strikes in Syria and annexation of Crimea. 
• Note : Countries like the United States, India, and Pakistan have not signed the treaty establishing ICC.
• Africa's first fully functioning cycle-share scheme has been launched inMarrakech, Morocco to curb urban congestion and boost sustainable transport. 
• The idea, initiated by French bike company Smoove, further seeks to revive Marrakech's biking culture. 
• About 300 cycles named 'Medina bikes' after the city's ancient centre, will help transport cyclists between 10 hubs.
• The 6th edition of India-China Joint Training Exercise “Hand in Hand 2016” has started in Pune, Maharashtra. 
• Aim of this exercise : To share the expertise in drills and practices while tackling insurgency and terrorism between Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army of China.
• The Supreme Court On November 16, 2016 directed companies that operate search engines likeGoogle, Yahoo and Microsoft to block pre-natal sex determination advertisements within 36 hours. 
• The court also directed the government to constitute a nodal agency to monitor such advertisements. 
• The government On November 16, 2016 banned the Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's NGO,Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) for 5 years and termed it as an 'unlawful organisation' with immediate effect.
• The ban was enforced under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) over Naik's "objectionable" speeches and his links with Peace TV that allegedly featured "communal" and "pro-jihad" content.
• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar On November 16, 2016 launched a programme to provide free electricity connection to about 50 lakh households above the poverty line. 
• The "Har Ghar Bijli Lagataar" programme, which aims to supply power to every household in the state in the next two years, is a part of the CM's "seven resolves" during the Assembly polls.
• The government has decided that it will present the Union Budget for 2017-18 on February 1 and the budget session may begin in January.
• The government had issued the customary budget circular in September. 
• Important Note : The Centre earlier approved scrapping of the 92-year old practice of presenting a separate Railway Budget and merged it with the Union Budget.
• The government has directed banks and post offices to report all cash deposits totalling over ₹2.5 lakh in savings accounts during the note exchange window to the Income Tax department. 
• The banks also need to report cash deposits over ₹50,000 in a single day. 
• The government gave the banks and post offices time till January 31 to report the transactions.
• NCR Corporation India, India's largest ATM maker with over a lakh ATM machines across the country, has On November 16, 2016 announced that it will take at least 45 days to physically recalibrate all the machines. 
• During recalibration, the ATMs are physically adjusted to dispense the new ₹500 and ₹2000 notes. 
• What is ATM Calibration ?
• The calibration of ATMs refers to the adjustment of the machine to enable it to dispense the valid currency notes. 
• Every ATM has currency cassettes, which hold different notes. 
• As the new ₹500 and ₹2000 notes have different dimensions than the notes in circulation, both the cassette and the ATM software have to be readjusted to dispense new notes.
• Maharashtra became the first state in the country to adopt the Fly Ash Utilization Policy. 
• It was approved by state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. 
• The policy paves way for prosperity by generating wealth from waste and environment protection.
• The Union Government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have inked a$500-million loan agreement to build a 9.8 km long road bridge across the Ganga River in Bihar. 
• It will be country’s longest river bridge and shall provide better connectivity between North and South Bihar and also Patna and its surrounding areas. 
• According to an agreement reached between the Bihar government and the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, a Second airport, other than the existing Jai Prakash Narayan International Airport, will be built in Patna. 
• The agreement states that the Bihta Defence Airbase, 35 km from the city, will be expanded to facilitate the operation of commercial flights.
• Mattur, a village in India, is the only place in the world where Sanskrit is still spoken. 
• The residents of Mattur, which is located in Karnataka, follow a Vedic lifestyle and are mostly Sankethi Brahmins. 
• Times Internet, the digital arm of The Times of India group, On November 16, 2016 appointed former Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly as the CEO of its business division Times Global Partners.
• Debbie Hockley, former captain of the New Zealand women's cricket team was appointed as New Zealand Cricket's President. 
• With this, she has become the first-ever female head of a Test-playing nation's cricket board.
• Yu Xu (30), the first woman to fly China's J-10 fighter plane was killed in a crash during an aerobatics training exercise.
• Note : Xu was one of the four female pilots trained to fly domestically made fighter jets.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)successfully tested its unmanned combat aerial vehicle, Rustom-2, On November 16, 2016. 
• The medium-altitude long endurance (MALE) category vehicle met all the expectations during the first flight.
• The first flight by the Rustom-2, which is developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment, was three years delayed than the schedule.
• 'Sunway TaihuLight' has topped the Top500 list of the world's fastest computers, making it the eighth time in a row that a Chinese supercomputer has emerged as the fastest in the world. 
• The computer is capable of performing 93 thousand trillion operations per second. 
• The second position on the list is also occupied by China with the Tianhe-2.
• Indian chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand won the 2016 Champions Showdown in St Louis, USA. 
• Mritul, a 13-year-old boy from Kerala, set the world record for the longest distance covered in freestyle swimming after covering over nine kilometres in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.