Current affairs : November 27, 2016 for all competitive exams
Environment
Ministry to seek ‘International Year of Himalayas’
After a successful session
on Himalayas at the Conference of the Parties (CoP 22), the Environment
Ministry will now start preparing a proposal to be sent to the U.N. General
Assembly requesting it to declare a year as the International Year of Himalayas
and to declare a day in a year as the International Himalaya Day.
- Acknowledging the under-representation of the Himalayas at global platforms, the Ministry, for the first time, had entrusted an institute — Almora-based G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development — with the task of representing the 12 Himalayan States of the country at CoP 22. A session on which was held at Marrakesh, Morocco on November 17.
IFFI nominates 8 movies for
ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal
The International Film
Festival of India (IFFI) has nominated eight movies for this year’s
International Council for Film, Television and Audio-visual Communication
UNESCO Gandhi Medal.
- Festival Director Senthil Rajan said, Allama is the
only Indian film competing for the prestigious award.
- The remaining seven are from Canada, Spain, Iran,
Turkey, Israel, The Netherlands and Latvia.
- All 8 films are being screened at the ongoing IFFI in Panaji, Goa.
Jharkhand adopts new bill to
curb job racket
The Jharkhand government has
introduced a strict law against placement agencies to rein in those
involved in exploiting people on the pretext of giving employment outside the
state.
- The government framed ‘Jharkhand Nizi Niyozan Abhikaran and Gharelu Kamgar (viniyam) vidheyak 2016 (Jharkhand private employment agency and domestic employee bill) which was passed by the assembly recently.
Cuba’s former President Fidel
Castro passes away
Cuba’s former president and
leader of the Communist revolution Fidel Castro passed away due to old
age.
- He was commander in chief of the 1959 Cuban
revolution 1959 and had successfully built a communist state on the
doorstep of the United States during Cold War.
- He was PM from 1959-76, President from 1976-2008.
- His Autobiography: My Life: A Spoken Autobiography
Sweeping British
spy Bill becomes law
Parliament has passed a
contentious new snooping law that gives authorities from police and spies to
food regulators, fire officials and tax inspectors powers to look at the
internet browsing records of everyone in the country.
- The law requires telecoms companies to keep records
of all users’ web activity for a year, creating databases of personal
information that the firms worry could be vulnerable to leaks and hackers.
- Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist credited with inventing World Wide Web, tweeted news of the law’s passage with the words: “Dark, dark days.”
Malaysian
political cartoonist held
Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque — who
goes by the pen name Zunar — was arrested in Penang state where he was
participating in a literary festival.
- A Malaysian cartoonist known for lampooning the scandal-plagued Prime Minister and his family was arrested for sedition
Lt. Gen. Qamar
Bajwa appointed Pak. Army chief
Lt. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa,
who has extensive experience of handling affairs in Pakistan-ocupied Kashmir
and the northern areas, was on Saturday appointed Pakistan’s new army
chief.
- He will succeed Gen. Raheel Sharif.
Grace
period on life insurance premium extended
Insurance regulator IRDAI
has allowed extension of grace period for payment of renewal premium on all
life insurance policies by an additional 30 days.
- It is applicable for all life insurance policies “whose premium fell/falls due on or after November 8, 2016 till December 31, 2016”
Amazon to sell
Amul products in the U.S
Amazon, the world's biggest
online retailer, announced dairy brand Amul’s foray into online selling in the
U.S through its Global Selling Programme. Amul is offering Amul Ghee and Gulab
Jamun to global customers through Amazon.com, according to Amazon.
- Amul’s Ghee is currently being ranked as one of the top stock units on Amazon in the ‘butter and margarine’ category.
Aditi Ashok wins
Qatar Open
Indian teenager Aditi Ashok
recorded her second straight victory on the Ladies European Tour, at the
inaugural Qatar Ladies Open in Doha
- Recently, Aditi claimed the Hero Women’s Indian Open title, at Gurgaon.
Sachin 3rd Indian boxer to win
gold at Youth World C'ship
Sachin Singh became only the
third Indian boxer to win a gold medal at the Youth World Championships after
registering a 5-0 unanimous win over Cuba's Jorge Grinan in St. Petersburg,
Russia.
- The 16-year-old boxer, who fought in the 46-49 kg weight category, will be given Rs.1 lakh as a reward for his performance at the championship.
