The Daily Brief – 2nd January, 2017

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Chennai: Indian tennis player Somdev Devvarman during a practice session ahead of the ATP Chennai Open 2017 at SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai on Thursday. Somdev is not participating in the tournament. PTI Photo by R Senthil Kumar(PTI12_29_2016_000182A)

The Daily Briefs are a comprehensive update of current affairs for the day. To know more about them, read this. If you’d like to receive updates for current affairs every day, you’ll need to subscribe here, and all the previous Briefs can be accessed at the archives here. Also, do consider enrolling to our mock tests!

  • The Home Ministry has announced that the Centre will deposit Rs. 2,000 crore into the bank accounts of 36,000 Hindu refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The compensation package for the Hindu refugees was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, and it got clearance from the Union Cabinet in December. These refugees migrated to Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, 1965 and 1971.
  • The Central Board of Irrigation and Power awarded Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) as the best performing power distribution utility in the power sector.
  • India successfully test-fired its home-grown long range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Agni-IV from the Abdul Kalam Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. Agni-IV is two-stage surface-to-surface nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missile. 
  • An atomic clock at National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi added a ‘leap second’ (extra one second) to the Indian Standard Time (IST) at 5:29.59 hours on 1 January 2017 to synchronise with the Earth’s rotational clock. The clock was programmed to add an extra second to the year 2017 in order to compensate for a slowdown in the Earth’s rotation.
  • India and Pakistan exchanged the list of their nuclear installations and facilities under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations.
  • Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel in the last week of December 2016, announced that the ministry has suspended the recognition granted to Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The decision was taken after the appointment by the IOA of Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Chautala as life presidents.
Somdev Devvarman
  • Somdev Devvarman has announced his retirement from professional tennis. Devvarman has been India’s star singles player since he broke into the scene in 2008. He is a recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2011. 
  • The International Federation of Football History and Statistics has named Lionel Messi as the World’s Best Playmaker for the year 2016. Messi has beat Andres Iniesta and Toni Kroos to win the award for the second consecutive year.
  • The United Nations Security Council has unanimously passed a Russian drafted Resolution 2336 seeking to end the violence in Syria through a nationwide ceasefire between the government and the rebels. The Resolution was adopted on 31st December, 2016.

Today’s Quiz

  1. Who is currently serving as the Union Sports Minister?





2. Where was the Agni IV recently test fired from?





3. Where is the National Physical Laboratory situated?





4. Which Arjuna award winning tennis player recently announced his retirement?





5. Who has been awarded as the World’s Best Playmaker for the year 2016?









 

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