Current affairs : December 18, 2016 for all competitive exams
Lt Gen Bipin Rawat to be next
Indian Army chief; B.S Dhanoa to be IAF chief
The Vice Chief of Army
Staff, Lt General Bipin Rawat will be the new Chief of Army Staff, while Air
Marshal BS Dhanoa, the next Chief of Air Staff. They will take charge in the
afternoon of 31st of this month.
- Lt. Gen Rawat will replace General Dalbir Singh.
- Air Marshal Dhanoa, who will replace Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Air Force in June 1978.
Rajiv Jain named next Director
of IB, AK Dhasmana to head RAW
Jharkhand cadre IPS officer
Rajiv Jain was appointed as the new chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB).
In another appointment, Anil
Dhasmana will take over the reins of the Research and Analysis Wing, an
organisation which looks after the external intelligence of the country.
- He succeeds Rajinder Khanna who completes his tenure
this year end.
Both the officers will have a tenure of two years.
J&K has no
sovereignty: SC
The State of Jammu &
Kashmir has no vestige of sovereignty outside the Constitution of India and its
own Constitution, which is subordinate to the Constitution of India and
citizens of the State are “first and foremost” citizens of India
- The Bench set aside the verdict of the High Court that held that any law made by Parliament which affects the laws made by a State legislature cannot be extended to Jammu & Kashmir.
India, Tajikistan decide to
strengthen cooperation to address issue of
terrorism; Sign four
agreements
India and Tajikistan have
signed four agreements in areas including on double taxation avoidance, money
laundering and counter-terrorism/Terror financing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and visiting President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon witnessed the exchange of
MoUs in New Delhi following delegation level talks.
- Tajikistan invited India to invest in four free
economic zones that have come up in the country and thanked it for the
modernisation of the Varzob-1 Hydropower Station.
- Mr. Rahmon, who also sought investment in the
upcoming small and medium hydroelectricity projects, appreciated the
signing of the trilateral Chahbahar port agreement between India, Iran and
Afghanistan as the project will provide connectivity to Tajikistan.
- The two sides indicated that relationship was expected to deepen in 2017, which would mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
Himachal Pradesh becomes sixth
in India to attain 100% Aadhaar saturation
The Himachal Pradesh has achieved
100 percent Aadhar saturation on the basis of population of year 2015. With
this, Himachal Pradesh has become the sixth State/UT in the Country.
- Earlier, Delhi, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab and
Chandigarh have achieved this milestone.
Paris opens 'world's largest
non-permanent indoor ice rink'
A 2,700-square-meter skating
space, which is being considered the world's largest non-permanent indoor ice
rink, recently opened at the Grand Palais in Paris.
- Over 100 workers constructed the ice rink, which
will remain open until January 2.
- The rink was inaugurated by a show featuring skating
stunts and acrobatics as part of the 'Grand Palais des Glaces' festival.
Venezuela postpones currency move after chaos,
protests
Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro suspended the elimination of the country's largest denomination bill,
which had sparked cash shortages and nationwide unrest.
- The surprise pulling of the 100 bolivar note from circulation from December 15 - before new larger bills were available - led to vast lines at banks, looting at scores of shops, anti-government protests and at least one death.
PSLV-C 37
scheduled for launch on January 27
The next PSLV-C37, that will
put into orbit a record number of 83 satellites, is being scheduled for launch
on January 27.
- The 100th nozzle, that was custom-made by Vijayawada-based Resins and Allied Productions (RAP), would be used in the historic PSLV that would launch 83 satellites.
State Bank MobiCash Mobile
Wallet launched
Minister of Finance and
Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Communications
(Independent charge) and Minster of State for Railways Manoj Sinha has jointly
launched State Bank MobiCash Mobile Wallet, a product by SBI and BSNL.
- While introducing the service, Finance Minister
appreciated the broader vision of SBI and BSNL to bring a Wallet both for
smart and feature phones.
Centre mulls
merger of cyber, telecom dispute appeals tribunals
As part of plans to merge
some of the tribunals into larger entities to avoid identical functions, the
Centre is looking to converge the Cyber Appellate Tribunal (CyAT) and
TDSAT.
Government sources on
Saturday said that CyAT was proposed to be merged with the Telecom Disputes
Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) .
- CyAT adjudicates matters related to information
technology and is seen carrying significance at a time when the government
is pushing for digital payments. CyAT, however, has been headless since
July 2011.
- Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal was established to adjudicate disputes and dispose of appeals with a view to protect the interests of service providers and consumers of the telecom sector and to promote and ensure orderly growth of the telecom sector.
RBI lowers charges on debit
card payments to promote digital transactions
In order to incentivise
greater adoption of digital payment methods, the Reserve Bank has announced
special measures to be adopted between 1st January 2017 and 31st March
2017.
- In another notification, RBI has asked banks and
prepaid payment instrument issuing entities not to levy any charges for
transactions upto 1000 rupees that are settled using Immediate Payment
Service, USSD based *99# and Unified Payment Interface systems.
- In a notification issued from Mumbai, RBI has
advised banks to cap the Merchant Discount Rates for debit card
transactions upto 1000 rupees at 0.25 percent of the transaction value.
For transactions between 1000 and 2000 rupees, the merchant charges shall
be capped at 0.5 percent of the transaction value.
Honour for Varun
Bhatt of Rajasthan Patrika, The Week
The International Press
Institute’s (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism, 2016 has been
awarded jointly to Varun Bhatt of Rajasthan Patrikaand The Week for outstanding journalistic work
done during 2015.
- Varun Bhatt’s exclusive investigative report in Rajasthan Patrika had exposed the
apathy and negligence of the authorities in fulfilling promises to build a
memorial for 1,500 tribals, who were killed during the freedom struggle in
Mangadh.
- The Week was selected for an exclusive
interview and an accompanying article by Rabi Banerjee through which the
magazine explained to its readers the hitherto unknown life and struggles
of human rights activist Irom Sharmila.
- The award will be presented at a function in New Delhi by the end of January 2017. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh, a trophy and a citation, to each winner.
Pawar steps down
as MCA president
Sharad Pawar submitted his
resignation as Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president.
- On December 16, while discussing the third status report of the Lodha Committee, SC said Everyone wants to go around and continue to hold the post even after 70 years. This is such a lucrative business that everyone wants to go on forever.
Vijender Singh retains
WBO-Asia Pacific Super title
Indian boxing star Vijender
Singh knocked out former world Francis Cheka to retain WBO-Asia Pacific Super
Middleweight title. Vijender took less than 10 minutes to beat Tanzanian boxer
to defend his title at the packed Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi last night.
- Vijender landed the winning blow in the third round of what was to be a 10-round contest to leave Cheka dazed and delirious.
Ramkumar wins
second Futures title in Doha
Ramkumar Ramanathan capped
his long stint in Doha with another Futures title as he tamed second seed
Sebastian Ofner of Austria 7-5, 6-3 in the $10,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament.
- It was the second successive title in Doha for the
top seed Ramkumar, and the second successive one at the expense of Ofner.
