Current affairs : December 2, 2016 for all competitive exams
India’s first private moon mission next year
TeamIndus, a Bengaluru-based private aerospace company, is all set to send
a spacecraft to the moon in December, 2017, aboard an Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) rocket.
- The mission’s aim is to land this spacecraft on the
moon, have it travel at least 500 metres and beam high- definition video,
images and data back to the earth.
Asia’s first cycle highway now in Uttar Pradesh:
Uttar Pradesh now has Asia’s first cycle highway.
- A first-of-its-kind project, the 207-km-long cycle
highway runs between Etawah and Agra.
Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan:
It was recently launched by the government.
- The Abhiyan aims at making people aware about the
cashless economic system.
Foreigners can
enter India through five ports on e-visa
Foreigners will be able to
enter India through five seaports — Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai, Goa and Mangalore —
with electronic visa (e-visa), in addition of 16 airports where the facility is
available.
- As part of the new liberalised visa policy, the
government has also decided that business visitors and those coming on
medical emergency will be issued visa within 48 hours of application.
Maharashtra Gets Its First
'Cashless Village'
Amid the Centre's push for
the digital transaction, Dhasai village in Thane district has become the
first "cashless village" in Maharashtra.
- This was informed by Maharashtra Finance Minister
Sudhir Mungantiwar on 1st December.
India's largest cycle raid launched:
Telangana IT Minister K.T.
Rama Rao, and Dr. Reddy's Lab. Chairman Satish Reddy pedalling away after the
launch of India’s largest cycle sharing programme ‘Redibike’ on Infosys campus
at Gachibowli in Hyderabad.
U.S. for closer defence ties with India
The U.S Congress is planning to pass the National Defence Authorisation Act
2017 shortly. The draft in this regard was recently released.
- NDAA seeks executive action to “recognise India’s
status as a major defence partner of the United States.”
- The U.S has already recognised India as a “major
defence partner” in June, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, but
the implications of it remains undefined.
UNESCO inscribes Yoga in the representative list of
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity:
Yoga, India’s one of the ancient practices has now been inscribed as an
element in the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity.
- This decision was taken during the recently held
11th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
First ‘water-wave laser’ created by scientists in Israel
Scientists have created the first ‘water-wave laser’ that emits a beam
through the interaction of light and water waves.
- The study conducted by Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology is the first bridge between two areas of research that were
previously considered unrelated to one another: nonlinear optics and water
waves.
Nihonium becomes Asia's 1st
Periodic Table element discovery
Chemistry’s highest
gatekeepers have accepted the newly proposed names for elements 113(Nihonium),
115(Moscovium), 117( Tennessine) and 118(Oganesson).
- Periodic Table elements with atomic number 113,
Nihonium (Nh) has become the first ever element to be discovered by an
Asian country after it was officially revealed by the International Union
of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
Thai Crown
Prince proclaimed new King
Crown Prince Maha
Vajiralongkorn was proclaimed the new Thai King, heralding a new chapter in the
country’s monarchy after the passing away of his revered father Bhumibol
Adulyaej who was the world’s longest reigning monarch.
- He succeeds his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, also
called King Rama the IX who died in October aged 88 and was the world’s
longest-reigning monarch.
Buzz Aldrin
evacuated from the South Pole
Former astronaut Buzz
Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, was evacuated from Antarctica on
Thursday after falling ill while visiting the South Pole with a tourism group.
- In 1969, following in the footsteps of Neil
Armstrong, Mr. Aldrin walked on the moon.
Pak-China start direct rail
and freight service
China and Pakistan have
launched a direct rail and sea freight service with the first cargo train
departing from China’s southwestern Yunnan province.
- The service was launched with the first cargo train loaded with 500 tonnes of commodities left Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, an inland province in south-west China departed for Karachi, state-run Xinhua.
Emirates launches world's
shortest service on largest plane
Emirates launched the
world's shortest scheduled service on an Airbus A380, flying it from Dubai to
Doha within 80 minutes.
- The 378-kilometre route is the
shortest on which an Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft,
is used.
- The double-decker aircraft has 14
first class suites, 76 business class flat-bed seats and 429 economy class
seats.
Katy Perry honoured with
humanitarian award at UNICEF event
Singer Katy Perry was
honoured with the 'Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award' for her work as UNICEF
Goodwill Ambassador at a UNICEF event in New York on 1st December.
Sukhdeo Thorat
receives Eashwari Bai Memorial Award
Prof. Thorat, who received
the Eashwari Bai Memorial Award — 2016 on her birth anniversary.
- Chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, Sukhdeo Thorat said the only tribute to the eminent dalit leader and former legislator Eashwari Bai would be to carry forward her good work and ideals.
India's football federation
wins Asian award
The All-India Football
Federation has won the Asian Football Council's Developing Member Association
of the Year Award in Abu Dhabi.
- The award is given on the basis of organisation of
courses, seminars and competitions, grassroots, youth development and
women's programmes and special projects.
Magnus Carlsen wins 2016 World
Chess Championship
Magnus Carlsen won the 2016
World Chess Championship on 30 November 2016 in New York City, USA.
- Carlsen defeated Sergey Karjakin to retain the World Chess Champion title. It’s the third time that Carlsen has won the championship.
