Current affairs : December 25, 2016 for all competitive exams
Good Governance Day being observed to mark Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Birthday
Good Governance Day is being
observed today (25th December 2016) to mark the birthday of former Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has turned 92.
- Good Governance campaign will be undertaken for 100
days during which Ministers and Members of Parliament will travel across
the country and attend programmes highlighting the government's key
initiatives.
- The endeavour of the government is to improve delivery systems, to promote digital transformation and take forward the connectivity revolution in all sectors.
DRDO successfully flight tests
Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon
The Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully flight tested the Smart
Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off
Odisha coast.
- Capable of engaging ground targets
with high precision covering a range of around 100 km, SAAW
precision-guided bomb is an indigenous designed and developed class smart
weapon weighing 120 kg.
- Scientific Advisor to RM and DG (Missile and Strategic Systems), DRDO, Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, lauded the scientific community of the DRDO for their efforts towards the design and development of this state-of-the-art smart weapon within the set time frame.
Google India, Consumer Affairs
Ministry join hands for online consumer protection
Aiming to raise awareness
about online safety, Google India in collaboration with Ministry of Consumer
Affairs has announced a nationwide 'Digitally Safe Consumer campaign, as part
of a larger effort to help better protect consumer interest online.
- As part of this collaboration,
Google along with the Department of Consumer Affairs will undertake a year
long campaign focused on building capacities of consumer organisations,
personnel of consumer affairs department and counsellors of National
Consumer Helpline on Internet safety and related issues.
Air India to
take entertainment to new heights
The Air India may soon
dish out Wi-Fi as part of in-flight entertainment offerings.
Air India passengers can
access on-board movies, games and music on their laptops or smartphones in the
days to come.
- The proposed Wi-Fi service will be
in addition to Air India’s in-flight entertainment screens.
- The system should be capable of
streaming Air India IFE (in-flight entertainment) content with menu driven
access to passenger electronic devices such as mobile telephones,
smartphones, tablets or laptops etc. This will be an additional system to
the existing wired system, if installed.
Kerala taps
Facebook Live to woo tourists
With Facebook Live
streaming getting more traction with companies and brands, Kerala Tourism, in
association with stakeholders in the tourism industry, has used it successfully
to promote ‘God’s Own Country’ as a honeymoon destination.
- The novel initiative was part of
the measures to project the beach resort, that has earned the State a name
in the world tourism map, and attract holidayers.
- Now they are planning another Facebook Live from the tea estates in Munnar soon to promote the hill station that is attracting honeymooners from all over world.
Teeing off with
another President
Tiger Woods, who played
golf three years ago with Barack Obama, teed off on Friday with White House
successor Donald Trump at the real estate mogul’s swank Trump International
Golf Club at Palm Beach, Florida.
- Woods joined the President-elect
for 18 holes in West Palm Beach, a spokeswoman for Trump’s team said. In
February 2013, Woods played with Obama at a private golf resort in
Florida.
U.S. to sell
night-vision equipment to Pak
The U.S. Department of
Defense has awarded a $284.6 million contract to Lockheed Martin to produce
infra-red target sight systems for the U.S. Navy and Pakistan, a Dawn report said.
- The contract has a base value of
$150.96 million but its accumulative cost would go up to $284.6 million.
Pak.
teenager sues presidency for ‘stealing’ his speech
An 11-year-old Pakistani
boy Muhammad Sabeel Haider has sued the office of President Mamnoon Hussain for
stealing his speech which he had prepared to deliver on an event to celebrate
the birth anniversary of Pakistan’s founder M.A. Jinnah.
- Haider, who studies in the sixth grade, has made as respondents in the case many parties — like the secretary to the President; additional secretary at the President’s Secretariat; director, colleges of the Directorate of Education; Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and the managing director of the Pakistan Television.
Sri Lanka claims world’s
tallest artificial Christmas tree
Sri Lanka has unveiled a
towering Christmas tree, claiming to have surpassed the world record for the
tallest artificial Christmas tree.
- The 73-meter (238-foot) tree,
built in capital Colombo, is 18 meters taller than the current record
holder. The tree's steel-and-wire frame is covered with a plastic net
decorated with natural pine cones, 600,000 LED bulbs and topped by a
6-meter-tall (20-foot) shining star.
- Their tree beat the existing Guinness record held by a Chinese firm that put up a 55-meter (180-foot) tree-like tower in the city of Guangzhou last year (2015).
Pakistani Hindus can register
for Indian citizenship with fee as low as Rs 100
The registration fees for
Hindus and other minority community people from three neighbouring countries
including Pakistan as Indian citizens have been drastically reduced to as low
as Rs 100 from Rs 15,000.
- In a gazette notification, the
home ministry said the new rules will be applicable to minority communities Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and living in
India on long term visa.
- However, for minority community people from countries other than the three, the fees will be Rs 10,000 for registration in India and Rs 15,000 if registered elsewhere.
Yes Bank raises
Rs. 3,000 crore from bonds
Yes Bank on Saturday said
it had raised Rs. 3,000 crore from bonds to fund business expansion. With this
raising of capital, the bank’s Tier-I Capital Ratio will be at 12 per cent
including profits and adjusted for pro-rata dividends.
- The bonds, carrying a coupon of 9.50 per cent, witnessed participation from insurance firms, pension funds, provident funds and banks.
Sanjay Bangar
steps down as KXIP coach
India batting coach Sanjay
Bangar has resigned as coach of Kings XI Punjab.
- Last IPL Kings XI finishes 8th(Last) in the Table.
India beat Sri Lanka in final,
clinch Asia Cup under-19 title
India, coached by Rahul
Dravid, continued their dominance in the Asia Cup as they clinched the U-19
title by defeating Sri Lanka in the final at the R Premadasa stadium in
Colombo.
- This was India’s second win in the Asia Cup U-19 tournament, having won the title in 2013/14 by defeating Pakistan by 40 runs and sharing the trophy in the first edition held in Malaysia in 2012/13.
Virat Kohli leads Lord's
Cricket Ground list of top 20 players of 2016
After the release of ICC and
Cricket Australia's list of best players of 2016, Lord's Cricket Ground have
followed the trend and selected top 20 players for this calendar year.
- Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli
bagged was honored with No. 1 spot after experiencing a sensational run in
2016 across all the formats of the game.
- Virat brought an end to his perfect year with Player of the Series award in the recently concluded Test series with England.
