General Awareness 2nd February 2017 | Current Affairs 2nd February 2017.

1. What Modinomics means: Government less a spender, more an enabler

• Between 2007-08 and 2011-12, when the then UPA regime went on a spending binge in the name of countering the 2008 global economic crisis, the fiscal deficit soared four-fold from Rs.126,912 cr to Rs.515,990 cr.
• That has changed little since the present government’s taking office: The deficit in 2016-17 is pegged at Rs.534,274 cr (revised estimates) and budgeted at Rs.546,532 cr  for 2017-18.

2. UNICEF launches 3.3 bln USD to aid millions of children

Media reports that the new administration of President Donald Trump is seeking to cut at least 40 per cent of voluntary contributions to international organisations have set off alarm bells at the United Nations.

3. Alok Verma takes over as CBI chief

• Former Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma on 1 Feb 17 took over as Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
• The 1984 batch IPS officer has served the Delhi Police in various capacities. He was the Director-General of Prisons, the Director-General of Police in Mizoram and Puducherry.

4. HC reserves verdict on Zakir’s NGO plea

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva reserved the verdict after hearing the Centre which said its decision to ban the Islamic Research Foundation was taken with due application of mind as there were apprehensions that the youths were being radicalised and joining terror outfits with many being in queue to join the ISIS.

5. Hydrogel robots that can catch fish

• MIT engineers have designed transparent, gel-based robots that move when water is pumped in and out of them.
•  The bots can perform a number of tasks, including kicking a ball underwater and grabbing and releasing a live fish. In the future, they can be used to evade underwater detection.

6. ‘Lost continent’ lies under the Indian Ocean

• On the continents, you find rocks that are over four billion years old, but you find nothing like that in the  Indian oceans, as this is where new rocks are formed,” said Mr Ashwal
• However, by studying the rocks on the island, we have found zircons that are as old as three billion years”.

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