Daily Current Affairs - 16th January 2017

Dear Readers, we are presenting Daily Current Affairs for All Exams- 16th January 2017. Daily Current Affairs and General Knowledge is very helpful for IBPS Bank Exams, SBI , RBI Assistant,NIACL, SSC and Railway Exams.

1. China hands over two ships to Pakistan Navy for Gwadar Port security

1. China has handed over two ships to the Pakistan to safeguard the strategic Gwadar port and trade routes under the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). These ships have been named as Hingol and Basol, after two rivers near Gwadar. 

2. They will be part of Pakistan Navy and are equipped with state-of-the-art guns. They will be used to protect the sea-lanes in the Arabian Sea. Besides, China will also provide two more ships to Pakistan Navy which have been named Zhob and Dasht after two districts in Balochistan.

2. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket successfully places 10 satellites into orbit

1. US based rocket manufacturing company SpaceX successfully launched constellation of 10 satellites into orbit on board of its two stage Falcon 9 Rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. 

2. The satellites were deployed into the designated to low-Earth orbit about an hour after launch. Besides, rocket’s first stag also landed upright on a so-called droneship in the Pacific Ocean south of Vandenberg.

3. SEBI tightens merger norms

1. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has tightened rules for mergers and amalgamations by Indian companies in a bid to safeguard the interests of the public shareholders. The market regulator amended rules in an effort to make listing process more transparent and ensure wider public holding, prevent mergers of large unlisted firms with small ones. 

2. The new rules will ensure that all classes of shareholders get an equitable treatment during mergers and acquisitions. It will also stop practice using route of merger to get an indirect listing for an unlisted company.

New Rules

Holding of public shareholders post the merger cannot be less than 25%. Similar threshold must be for institutional shareholders of the unlisted entity as well, post-merger. Unlisted company can be merged with a listed company only if the latter is listed on a stock exchange having nationwide trading terminals. e-voting will be mandatory in cases wherein the stake of public shareholders reduces by more than 5% in the merged entity.

4. Madhya Pradesh Government launches Digital Dakiya scheme 

1. Madhya Pradesh Government launched Digital Dakiya (or Digital Postman) scheme to encourage cashless transactions. It is first of its kind scheme in the country. It was launched by State Finance Minister Jayant Malliya in Indore. 

2. Under it, Digital Dakiya or Digital Postman will visit door to door and train households specially women and elderly people about digitized transactions. The scheme aimed at urban as well as rural areas and state government will provide Identity cards to the volunteers deployed in this programme.

5. RBI Note Mudran printing press prints highest number of currency notes 

1. The RBI Note Mudran printing press located in Mysuru (Karnataka) has broken all its past record by printing highest number of currency notes in December 2016. 

2. It had 10.9 million notes were printed on a single day, breaking the previous world record of 8.7 million notes printed in an American currency printing press. 1350 million currency notes were printed in December 2016 by nearly 650 workers involved in printing work in the Mysuru unit which worked for 12 hours a day in two shifts.

6. Veteren actor Rishi Kapoor’s autobiography Khullam Khulla released 

1. Veteren actor Rishi Kapoor’s autobiography titled “Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored” was released. The book’s title has been borrowed from the famous song “Khullam Khulla Pyar Karenge Hum Dono” of his film Khel Khel Mein. It has been written by actor himself along with Meena Iyer. 

7. Former Punjab CM Surjit singh Barnala passes away 

1. Former Punjab Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala passed away in Chandigarh. He was 91. Mr Barnala had served as Chief Minister from 1985 to 1987, when militancy was at its peak in Punjab. He became CM after the Rajiv-Longowal accord was signed in 1985. He was a moderate leader of the Akali Dal.