Current Affairs 14th January 2017

Current Affairs 14th January 2017  - Important Points

• India’s first solar power boat launched in – Kerala
• Rudensky, Sakaguchi and Ramsdell win – 2017 Crafoord Prize
• Expert Group on SECC submits report to - Rural Development Ministry 

Current Affairs 14th Jnauary 2017 - Details

India’s first solar power boat launched in – Kerala

Among Important National Current Affairs, on 12th January 2017 the first solar-powered boat named as ‘Aaditya’ has been launched by the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Vaikom. 

However, this boat will do the service between Vaikom and Thavanakkadavu.

Also, Kerala Government sought the financial assistance from the Union Government to roll out this solar power boat. 

Although, the government will soon launch about ten more solar power boats with an aim to replace the existing fleet of diesel boats with solar-powered ones.

Rudensky, Sakaguchi and Ramsdell win – 2017 Crafoord Prize

Among Important International Current Affairs, Immunologist Alexander Rudensky, Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University in Japan and Fred Ramsdell of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in San Francisco won the 2017 Crafoord Prize.

However, they won the honour for ‘their discoveries relating to regulatory T cells, which counteract harmful immune reactions in arthritiss and other autoimmune diseases.’

Expert Group on SECC submits report to - Rural Development Ministry 

Among Important National Current Affairs, the Expert Group is finally set up to prepare Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) and has submitted its report to the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). 

However, the expert group was headed by former Finance Secretary Sumit Bose. 

The main objective of the expert group was to study criteria for allocation of resources to States and identification and prioritization of beneficiaries under various programmes using SECC data. 

Here, the MoRD will use the SECC data for identification of beneficiaries and generating priority list of beneficiaries under its programmes. 

Also, based on it appropriate guidelines were issued for making inter-state allocation to cover households under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission.