Current affairs : December 28, 2016 for all competitive exams
Foundation stone of Char Dham Highway Project laid by PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently laid the foundation stone for the
900km Char Dham highway project in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The project’s main
objective is to develop around 900 km of national highways.
- The Char Dham highway project involves building
tunnels, viaducts, bridges and bypasses in the entire state, along with
way-side amenities that will include helipad for emergency evacuation and
parking facilities, among others.
Committee on Digital Payments submitted report to Finance Ministry
The panel, headed by former finance secretary Ratan Watal, was constituted
in August to suggest ways to encourage India’s movement towards a cashless
economy.
Some recommendations are:
- Union Budget 2017-18 should allow merchants as well
as government departments to levy a handling charge for cash payments
above a certain limit. The cash handling charge so collected should be
exclusively used to fund new infrastructure for acceptance of digital
payments (like PoS devices).
- Mandatory threshold for quoting PAN card numbers for cash transactions from Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 2,00,000 should be reduced. Aadhaar should be used as an alternate for KYC for people who don’t have a PAN.
Indian Army partners with IIT
Gandhinagar for critical technology requirements
Indian Army has inked an
agreement with IIT Gandhinagar to set up a research and development (R&D)
cell at the IIT campus to identify problems and possible solutions for the
Indian Army.
- The agreement also enable the IIT and Indian Army to
collaborate in areas including critical technology requirements of
Indian Army, sharing of professional and technical knowledge.
Status of tribal development remains poor: Ministry
report
According to the latest
annual report of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the tribal population In India
lags behind other social groups on various social parameters, such as child
mortality, infant mortality, number of anaemic women.
- Tribal population, with a vast majority engaged in
agricultural labour, has the largest number of anaemic women.
- While educational achievements on the whole has improved, the gross enrolment ratio among tribal students in the primary school level has declined from 113.2 in 2013-14 to 109.4 in 2015-16. Besides, the dropout rate among tribal students has been at an alarming level.
Bihar government announces 50 % reservation in judicial
services:
The Bihar Cabinet has declared 50% reservation in all judicial services for
aspirants belonging to the Extremely Backward Classes, Other Backward Classes,
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- Aspirants belonging to EBCs will get 21%
reservation, OBCs will have 12% reservations, Scheduled Castes will have
16% reservation and Scheduled Tribes will be provided 1% reservation in
all judicial services of the State.
- Also, there will be 35% ‘horizontal reservation’ for
women and 1 per% reservation for disabled persons.
- The reservation will be in both Superior Judicial Services and Subordinate Judicial Services.
Gujarat government announces
Biotechnology Policy
Gujarat government lead by
Vijay Rupani has introduced the ‘Biotechnology Policy-2016‘ to establish
Gujarat as a preferred destination for manufacturing of biotechnology
products.
- Under the policy, the state government would provide capital subsidy up to Rs 25 crore on the total investment for developing a Biotechnology (BT) Park.
Nagar Uday Abhiyan launched in
Madhya Pradesh
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has
launched Nagar Uday Abhiyan rallies across the state. In these rallies,
urban welfare and other public welfare schemes will be reviewed.
- This campaign will be conducted in three phases from
December 25 to February 5 to assess services being provided to citizens
and bring them at standard live.
Don’t use pellet
guns indiscriminately: SC
The Supreme Court has sought
an assurance from the Jammu and Kashmir government to avoid the
“indiscriminate” use of pellet guns.
- The High Court on September 22 rejected the plea for a ban on these guns as the Centre had constituted a committee for exploring alternatives. The Bar Association said the High Court should not have disposed of the petition, and instead, awaited the panel report.
Antlers could end up in medicines
Kerala State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) has recommended the use of antlers
of spotted deer and
sambar in Ayurveda medicines. A proposal in this regard is pending with
the National Board for Wildlife and the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
- Antlers are the extensions of the skull of the deer.
All the three deer varieties found in Kerala, including spotted deer,
sambar, and barking deer, shed their antlers annually.
Supercluster of galaxies near Milky Way found:
An international team of astronomers has found one of the universe’s
biggest superclusters of galaxies near the Milky Way- the Vela supercluster.
- It had previously gone undetected as it was hidden
by stars and dust in the Milky Way.
- The gravity of the Vela supercluster may explain the difference between the measured motion of the Milky Way through space and the motion predicted from the distribution of previously mapped galaxies.
Nepal rejects India’s ‘open sky’ offer
Nepal has rejected India’s ‘open sky’ offer to allow unlimited flights
between the two countries at a recently held meeting. Nepal said it was not yet
ready for the agreement.
- However, India and Nepal signed a memorandum of
understanding to set up a joint technical committee to examine Nepal’s
request for developing new air routes and air entry points at Janakpur,
Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj.
- The committee will shortly meet to examine the
feasibility of the proposed routes.
Shinzo Abe becomes first
Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbour
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
who arrived in Hawaii , will become the first Japanese leader to visit Pearl
Harbor. He pay's his respects at the USS Arizona Memorial, the site of the
deadly attack that prompted the U.S. entry into World War II.
- Mr. Abe, who was to be hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, was to be the first Japanese Premier to visit the wreckage of the USS Arizona, which lost 1,177 crew members to the Japanese attack 75 years ago.
ICICI Bank
unveils mobile app Eazypay
Private sector lender ICICI Bank said it has
introduced mobile app ‘Eazypay’ that enables merchants, retailers and
professionals to accept instant cashless payments on mobile phones from their
customers through multiple digital modes.
- A first-of-its kind application, Eazypay offers customers the improved convenience of paying by using their mobile phone through Unified Payment Interface (UPI), any credit or debit card or Internet banking.
Au Financiers gets final nod
to start small finance bank operations
AU Financiers (India) Ltd
has received the final licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to
start a small finance bank, becoming the seventh entity to do so.
- AU Financiers was the only non-banking finance
company (NBFC) among the 10 entities to receive in-principle approvals to
start small finance banks in September 2015.
Viral Acharya appointed as
deputy governor of RBI
Viral Acharya has appointed
by the Government of India as the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI).
- He will be joining the ranks of Vishwanathan, S S
Mundra, R Gandhi as one of four deputy governors serving under RBI
Governor Urjit Patel.
- Mundra and Gandhi had served under former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, while Vishwanathan was appointed during Urjit Patel’s tenure.
Bank of Maharashtra Adopts
Village in Sangli for Digital Transactions
Pune based public sector
lender Bank of Maharashtra, has helped to make the village of Malangaon,
in Sangli district, Maharashtra, a completely cashless village.
- Post the announcement of withdrawal of 500 and 1000 currency notes and the push towards a cashless society.
Tata Motors signs up Akshay
Kumar as brand ambassador
Tata Motors announced
the appointment of Bollywood film star Akshay Kumar, as the brand ambassador
for its Commercial Vehicle Business Unit.
- Indian Cinema's 'original Khiladi' will make his blockbuster entry in this new role at the launch of Tata Motors' latest offering in Commercial Vehicles, slated in January 2017.
Virat Kohli chosen as captain
of Cricket Australia’s ODI team of the year
Accolades continue to pour
in for India’s dynamic Test captain Virat Kohli, has named skipper of Cricket
Australia’s ODI team of the year which also featured young yorker
specialist Jasprit Bumrah.
- Kohli, who was earlier also picked captain of the ICC’s ODI team of the year, was preferred over Australia’s Steve Smith. Smith was, however, picked in the ‘All-Star’ team.
16-year-old Indian shooter
equals Rio gold medallist's score
Shooter Pruthviraj Ayachi
shot 209.5 in the finals of the junior men's 50 meters Rifle Prone event at the
National Shooting Championship, equalling the score of the Rio Olympics'
gold medallist.
Samit Gohel breaks 117-year-old record in
Gujarat's win over Odisha
Gujarat's opening batsman Samit Gohel broke a
117-year-old record in first-class cricket by notching up the highest score
117-year-old record the innings of 359 not out during his team's Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Odisha.
- While Hanif Mohammed's epic 499 remains the highest score by an opener in first-class cricket, no one has scored more than Gohel while remaining not out in his team's score of 641 in Jaipur.
Astronomer Vera
Rubin passes away at 88
Vera Rubin, a pioneering
astronomer who helped find powerful evidence of dark matter, has died. She was
88.
- Allan Rubin, a professor of geosciences at Princeton
University, said his mother died on Sunday night of natural causes.
- Rubin’s scientific achievements earned her numerous awards and honours, including a National Medal of Science presented by President Bill Clinton in 1993 “for her pioneering research programs in observational cosmology.”
