Daily Current affairs - December 15th, 2017 for all competitive exams
International Tea Day is observed
annually on December 15. It has been celebrated since 2005 in tea producing
countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi,
Malaysia, Uganda, India and Tanzania.
- International Tea Day aims to draw global attention
of governments and citizens to the impact of the global tea trade on
workers and growers, and has been linked to requests for price supports
and fair trade
December 15 - ATL Community Day
NITI
Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission has decided to celebrate Atal Tinkering Lab’s
Community Day on December 15th.
- The Atal Tinkering Lab Community Drive Initiative is
aimed at maximizing the impact of Atal Tinkering Labs by extending
innovation to children in the community who do not have access to formal
educational institutions. The purpose of this initiative is to provide
these children with the same educational tools as the students in Atal
Tinkering Labs to enable them to become problem solvers.
- The day will mark the Community Drive Initiative in
which 25 young Mentors will engage with more than 200 students who are not
enrolled in the formal education system. These mentors will visit four
locations in New Delhi to conduct brief sessions with children from
various NGOs, on how innovations can help resolve the problems in the
communities.
NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission is among one of the flagship
programs of the Government of India to promote innovation and
entrepreneurship in the country to set up the Atal Tinkering Labs across the
country. The Mission has / is in the process of setting up 900+ such labs across
India and aims to have 2,000 such labs by end of 2017.
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NGT imposes complete ban on
plastic items in towns located on banks of Ganga River
The National Green Tribunal (NGT)
imposed a complete ban on use, sale, purchase and storage of plastic items such
as carry bags, plates and spoons along the river Ganga in Haridwar’s Har Ki
Pauri and Rishikesh till upper areas of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand.
- A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter
Kumar also imposed 5,000 rupees fine on those violating the order and
stated that action will be taken against erring officials too.
- The move was taken to tackle and prevent pollution
of the Ganga. The NGT passed the direction after noting that despite its
earlier order, plastic was being used in these areas causing pollution to
the river.
The National Green Tribunal has been
established on 18.10.2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for
effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental
protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including
enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving
relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto.
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National workshop on Sakhi One Stop Centres held in New
Delhi
A
National Workshop on Role of Sakhi One Stop Centres in Strengthening Multi
Sectoral Response to Violence is being held in New Delhi.
- The workshop has been organized by the Ministry of
Women and Child Development. Around 400 Sakhi- One Stop Centre
Functionaries and nodal officials from State Department of Women and Child
Development from 33 States/UTs across the country, are participating in
the workshop.
- The conference provides platform to understand,
discuss and deliberate on strengthening the multisector response to
address violence against women through the Sakhi One Stop Centres across
the country.
Popularly known as Sakhi, the scheme is being implemented since 1st April
2015. The scheme aims to facilitate access to an integrated range of services
including medical aid, police assistance, legal aid/case management,
psychosocial counselling, and temporary support services to women affected by
violence.
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World Telugu Conference begins
in Hyderabad
The World Telugu Conference begins in
Hyderabad.
- The aim of the Conference is to promote Telugu and
its literature besides helping the present generation learn more about
Telugu language and its rich culture and heritage.
- Telangana Government has put in place elaborate
arrangements for the 5-day event for which about eight thousand Telugu
speaking delegates from 40 countries all over the globe will be taking
part.
- Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu formally inaugurated
the Conference.
- President Ram Nath Kovind will participate in the
valedictory function on 19th of this month.
World Telugu Conference is a
conference for furtherance of Telugu language.
It was held for the first time
in Hyderabad in 1975. It was the then Minister of
Education, Mandali Venkata Krishna Rao instrumental in starting it.
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Haryana govt. to provide free
sanitary napkins to poor women
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar said the government would provide sanitary napkins free of cost to all
women belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category in the State.
- He was speaking at a national-level consultation
workshop on Management and Elimination of Malnutrition in Haryana
organised by the National Health Mission in collaboration with NITI Ayog
and Centre for Health Research and Development- Society for Applied Studies
The Haryana government had on December
1 announced that it would arrange free supply of sanitary napkins to girls in
the schools across the State.
To achieve this goal, a nutrition
mission will be established as per the guidelines of the National Nutrition
Mission.
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Mumbai Metro launches
‘SecuCare’ app for safer commuting
The Reliance Infrastructure-promoted
Mumbai Metro One launched the first mobile security product, “SecuCare” app to
make commuters more secure.
- With the help of this app, a commuter can click
pictures or make videos which will get directly transmitted to the Central
Security Control Room of the Metro Corporate Centre in DN Nagar, along
with the commuter’s train and exact physical location.
- The control centre will immediately call the
commuters and solicit details for preliminary investigations, calm and
counsel him/her before alerting the security response team at the next
station to handle the situation.
- Currently, Mumbai Metro One has installed baggage
scanners and 700 security cameras on its premises, deployed security
personnel in uniforms and plainclothes, and receives live camera feeds
from the trains for safe and secure commuting.
Alphabet’s X sells new
wireless internet tech to Andhra Pradesh
Alphabet Inc’s X research division
said that Andhra Pradesh state government would buy its newly developed
technology of the internet.
- The new technology has the potential to provide
high-speed wireless internet to millions of people without laying cable.
- Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement,
which begins next year, would see 2,000 boxes installed as far as 20
kilometres.
- The agreement is an outgrowth of X’s Project
Loon, which on several occasions has beamed cellphone service to Earth
from a network of large balloons.
Project Loon is a research
and development project being developed by X (formerly Google
X) with the mission of providing Internet
access to rural and remote areas. The project
uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at
an altitude of about 18 km (11 mi) to create an
aerial wireless network with up to 4G-LTE speeds. It was named
Project Loon, since even Google itself found the idea of providing Internet
access to the remaining 5 billion population unprecedented and loony
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University of Singapore,
Andhra govt. collaborate for improving governance in state
The National University of Singapore
(NUS) and the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) have entered into a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on various aspects of
governance.
- The three are strengthening knowledge and practices
of governance and public administration, independent audit of real-time
monitoring system and key performance indicators and master plan on ease
of doing business in Andhra Pradesh.
- The NUS has agreed to work on a potential programme
designed for supporting the senior public officials on formulation of
public policies, emerging governance models via case studies, seminars,
research and field trips.
Petition website for
Aadhaar-linking complaints launched
A petition website, “Speak For Me”, has
been launched for complaints against receiving continuous Aadhaar-linking calls
and texts.
- The portal allows users to select the recipient like
banks and mobile operators and directly send the petition in the form of
an email.
- Other than the service providers, the consumer can
send the complaint mail to Members of Parliament as well.
SC clears 12 special courts to
try cases against politicians
The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the
green signal for the Centre’s scheme to set up 12 fast track courts to
exclusively prosecute and dispose of 1,581 criminal cases pending against
Members of Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies within a year.
- A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha
directed the Centre to forthwith allocate Rs. 7.8 crore to the States for
setting up of the special courts.
- The States shall, in consultation with the High
Courts concerned, make the courts operational by March 1, 2018, the Bench
said.
- PIL petitioner and Supreme Court advocate Ashwini
Upadhyay said 12 courts were not enough to try 1,581 cases and Rs. 7.8
crore was too little to prosecute “criminal” politicians.
- These 1,581 criminal cases were declared by
politicians in their nominations during the 2014 general elections.
Joint military exercise Ekuverin held in Karnataka
It is a
joint military exercise between India and Maldives. The eighth edition of the
exercise is being held in Belagavi, Karnataka.
- The bilateral annual exercise is a 14-day joint
military training between the Indian Army and the Maldives National
Defence Force (MNDF), which is held alternatively in India and Maldives
since 2009. The seventh edition of the exercise was held at Kadhdhoo,
Lammu Atoll, Maldives in December, 2016.
- The focus of the exercise is to acquaint both armies
with each other’s operating procedures in the backdrop of a
counter-insurgency or counter-terrorist operations in an urban or
semi-urban environment under the United Nations (UN) Charter, with an
overall aim to enhance interoperability between the two armies.
- ‘Ekuverin’ means ‘friends’ in the Maldivian
language.
Maldives
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Capital
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Male
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Currency
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Maldivian rufiyaa
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President
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Abdulla Yameen
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Israel eases visa procedure
for Indians
To encourage more Indians to visit
Israel, Tel Aviv has simplified its visa application procedures for visitors
from the Sub-continent.
- The relaxed visa rule involves less documentation
for Indians who have availed of visas of Schengen countries, the US,
Canada, Australia or Israel and have completed their travel to these
countries.
- Israel has witnessed 31 per cent growth in tourist
arrivals from India with 55,000 Indians travelling to yhe holy country
from this year till November.
Israel
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Capital
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Jerusalem
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Currency
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Israeli new shekel
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Prime Minister
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Benjamin Netanyahu
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President
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Reuven Rivlin
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India, Morocco sign pact to
boost cooperation in the health sector
India and Morocco signed a pact to
enhance cooperation in several areas of health sector including
non-communicable diseases and maternal, child and neonatal health.
- The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by
India’s Health Minister J P Nadda and Abdelkader Amara, Ministry
of Health, Kingdom of Morocco.
Morocco
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Capital
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Rabat
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Currency
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Moroccan Dirham
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President
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Saadeddin Othmani
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Norway becomes the first
country to switch off FM radio, moves to digital radio
Norway completed its transition to
digital radio, becoming the first country in the world to shut down national
broadcasts of its FM radio network despite some grumblings.
- The transition, which began on January 11, allows
for better sound quality, a greater number of channels and more functions,
all at a cost eight times lower than FM radio.
Norway
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Capital
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Oslo
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Currency
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Norwegian Krone
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President
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Erna Solberg
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Dubai opens world’s first
camel hospital
A $10.9 million (approximately Rs.70
crore) hospital exclusively for camels, believed to be the first of its kind in
the world, has recently opened in Dubai.
- The Dubai Camel Hospital features operating
theatres, state-of-the-art medical equipment and a mini race track.
- The hospital intends to help in the research and
development of camel medicine
Theresa May suffers Brexit
Bill defeat in Parliament
The British government suffered a major
defeat as Conservative Party rebels allied with the Labour and other opposition
parties to push through an amendment to Brexit legislation going through the
House of Commons. The amendment will require MPs to have a meaningful say on
the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU.
- The Conservative rebels were led by Dominic Grieve,
Britain’s former Attorney General, and came despite a last minute attempt
by the government to offer a “concession” and intense lobbying by party
whips, which reportedly included reducing one MP to tears.
- The amendment passed with 309 MPs supporting the
motion and 305 opposing.
World’s steepest funicular
railway to open in Switzerland
Swiss technology is due to hit new
heights when the world’s steepest funicular line opens at one of its
Alpine resorts.
- Swiss President Doris Leuthard will officially open
the 52 million-Swiss franc ($52.6 million) project running from Schwyz to
the mountain village of Stoos.
- The train, which will go into public service on
Sunday, will climb 743 metres over a span of 1,738 metres, at speeds of up
10 metres per second.
Switzerland
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Capital
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Bern
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Currency
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Swiss Franc
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President
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Doris Leuthard
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Three space station astronauts
return to Earth after 139 days
After spending 139 days aboard the
International Space Station (ISS), the 53rd set of crew members, NASA’s Randy
Bresnik, ESA’s Paolo Nespoli, and Roscosmos’ Sergey Ryazanskiy have landed in
Kazakhstan.
- Completing two ISS missions, Bresnik and Ryazanskiy
have now totalled 150 and 306 days respectively in space, while Nespoli
has logged 313 days in space on his three flights.
The International Space Station (ISS)
is a space station, or a
habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first
component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest
human-made body in low Earth orbit and can often be seen with the naked
eye from Earth
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Disney acquires entertainment
assets of Fox for $52 billion
The Walt Disney Company announced it
will acquire 21st Century Fox’s film and television studios, cable
entertainment networks and international TV businesses in a deal worth $52.4
billion.
- Popular Fox entertainment properties include X-Men,
Avatar, Star India, FX Networks and National Geographic.
- Bob Iger will remain the Chairman and CEO of The
Walt Disney Company through 2021.
FundsIndia partners with Yes
Bank to launch UPI on mobile for faster, easier payments
FundsIndia.com, has partnered with Yes
Bank to launch Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on their Android app for mutual
fund payments.
- Powered by Yes Bank, FundsIndia becomes the first
online mutual fund distributor to support UPI for client payments.
- UPI offers the benefit of instant processing of
payments and is currently the fastest way to complete mutual fund
transactions, compared to Net Banking, NEFT and other payment methods.
- As FundsIndia’s UPI integration supports 58 banks, a
wider customer base can now take advantage of technology for smoother,
quicker payments.
- Investors will now be able to complete payments for
their transactions in less than a minute.
World Trade Organization conference
The
Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the WTO was held in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. The meeting ended in stalemate after U.S. criticism and member
country vetoes, raising questions about the body’s ability to govern
increasingly disputed global trade. However, the outcome of the conference was
a positive one for India as the country was able to secure the interests of its
farmers as well food security for the poor.
- India was successful stopping any of the new issues
like investment facilitation and micro, small and medium enterprises
(MSMEs) from entering the ambit of the WTO. India became the second
largest proponent of issues after the EU as it submitted proposals on six
issues — public stock-holding, special safeguards mechanism, domestic
regulation, domestic support, trade facilitation in services, and
eCommerce.
Three-day gems & jewellery
exhibition begins in Surat
A three-day gems and jewellery
exhibition by The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI)
started in Surat.
- Surat Sparkle Gems and Jewellery Exhibition, 2017,
held at International Exhibition and Convention Hall in Sarsaana.
- Consul General of Russian Federation Andrei
Zhiltsov, diamond trader Sevanti Shah and Mumbai Diamond Merchants
Association chief Mahendra Gandhi will be the chief guests.
Exhibition of rare coins
starts in Pune
The International Collectors Society of
Rare Items, an exhibition of special interest for collectors and connoisseurs
of rare coins, is coming to Pune with ‘Coinex Pune 2017’ from December 15-17.
- The exhibition will be open for people free of cost
at Sonal Hall, Karve Road, Pune from 10 am to 7 pm.
- This year’s lifetime achievement award will be
presented to two well-known coin collectors, Pune’s Arvind Athavale and
Lucknow’s Ran Vijay Singh.
International film festival
begins in Chennai
The 15th edition of the Chennai
International Film Festival was inaugurated by actor Aravind Swamy.
- The festival, which will take place till December
21, will showcase 140 films across 50 countries.
- The festival is being organised by the Indo Cine
Appreciation Foundation with the support of the Government of India, and
the Government of Tamil Nadu, in association with the National Film
Development Corporation.
- The films will be presented under the categories of
world cinema, country focus, retrospective, contemporary German films,
Indian panorama and the Tamil film competition.
- To commemorate 100 years of actor-politician MGR,
two of his films will be screened.
Oprah Winfrey to receive Cecil
B. DeMille Award at Globes
Oprah Winfrey will receive the Cecil B.
DeMille Award at January’s Golden Globes.
The DeMille Award is given annually to
an “individual who has made an incredible impact on the world of
entertainment.”
- Winfrey will receive the award during the 75th
annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony on January 7, 2018.
The Cecil B. DeMille Award is an
honorary Golden Globe Award bestowed by
the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for "outstanding
contributions to the world of entertainment". It was first presented on
February 21, 1952 at the 9th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony
and is named in honor of its first recipient, director Cecil B.
DeMille.
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Rashesh Shah takes over as
FICCI President
Rashesh Shah took over as the president
of FICCI for 2017-18 after the conclusion of the chamber’s Annual General
Meeting.
- Shah is also the Chairman & CEO of Edelweiss
Group.
- Rashesh Shah has spent over 25 years in the
corporate and financial markets sector and is one of the leading
spokespersons for the industry.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is an association of business
organisations in India. Established in 1927, on the
advice of Mahatma Gandhi by GD Birla and Purushottam Das
Thakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apex business organisation in
India
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Jitesh Singh Deo named Mr
India 2017
Jitesh Singh Deo from Lucknow was
declared the winner of the 2017 Mr India pageant.
- Indian footballer Prathamesh Maulingkar won the
title of Mr India Supranational and will compete at Mr Supranational 2018.
- Abhi Khajuria was declared the first-runner up while
Pavan Rao was the second runner-up.
- Actress Kangana Ranaut felicitated the winners.
ICC lays down guidelines for
four-day Test, each day to have minimum 98 overs
South Africa and Zimbabwe will play the
first ever four-day Test match and the International Cricket Council has laid
down the template for the match.
- The board has decided that every day, a minimum of
98 overs will be bowled that means a total of 392 overs in four days.
- In a five-day game, a total of 450 overs are bowled.
Also, a five-day game has six-hours from start to finish but the four-day
game will be stretched to six-and-a-half hours.
- Another big change is the playing rules are that
follow-on was reduced from 200 runs to 150 runs. This gives a better
chance to teams who play aggressive cricket to force a result.
Narinder Batra elected as IOA
president
International Hockey
Federation (FIH) chief Narinder Batra was elected as
president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
- Batra’s election to the top post was a formality
after ATF chief Anil Khanna withdrew from the race last week.
- IWF president Birendra Baishya was also in the fray
initially but eventually pulled out of the race.
Mehuli Ghosh wins 8 gold
medals at National Shooting Championship
Talented Bengal shooter Mehuli
Ghosh won eight gold medals at the ongoing 61st National Shooting
Championship Competitions.
- She also won the women’s youth individual gold in
the event, getting the better of Shreya Agrawal of Madhya Pradesh in the
final.
- A total of 4800 men and women shooters from across
the country are participating in the 61st NSCC including 200 wildcard
entries.
