Daily Current affairs - December 30th, 2017 for all competitive exams
Under BharatNet project,
Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha announced that government has approved Rs.4066
crore for the development of internet in all panchayats.
The government provided optical fiber
connectivity by laying 2, 52,547 km Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) to all gram
panchayats. And plans to connect all the panchayats by March 2019.
In the 1st phase
government plans to connect 1 lakh Gram Panchayats on 100Mbps.
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Lok Sabha amends bankruptcy
law
The Lok Sabha amended the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code law to prevent wilful defaulters and existing
promoters from taking part in insolvency proceedings of stressed assets of
companies unless they make their bad loans operational by paying up interests.
- The Bill will replace an ordinance that was brought
in November to prevent unscrupulous promoters from misusing the provisions
of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
A defaulter, however, can become
“eligible to submit a resolution plan” if they clear all dues with interest
and other charges relating to their NPA accounts.
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Minister flags off cargo
movement on Brahmaputra
In a major boost to inland
waterway transport system in the Northeast, Union Shipping Minister Nitin
Gadkari flagged off cargo movement on the Pandu-Dhubri route of the Brahmaputra
river.
- Stating that modern and well-equipped river ports
would be established along the banks of the river, the Minister said
transportation of cargo on the National Waterway 2 -- from Pandu in
Guwahati to Dhubri along the Assam-Bengal border -- would reduce logistics
cost and save 300-km road travel.
Nirmala Sitharaman Launches
Start-up Incubation Centre in Mangalore
Nirmala Sitharaman has
launched a start-up incubation centre called the Centre for
Entrepreneurship Opportunities and Learning (CEOL) in Mangaluru,
Karnataka.
- She has allocated Rs. 1.5 crore from her
MPLAD (Member of Parliament's Local Area Development) scheme for the
development of CEOL.
She represents Karnataka as an MP
in the Rajya Sabha.
India’s first full time defence
minister: Nirmal Sitaraman
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Hyderabad welcomes ‘Robocop’
prototype
Hyderabad may soon get its
first ‘robocop’, with the launch of a prototype in the city.
- It recognises voice and can interact in English. In
the near future, it will recognise Telugu and Hindi as well.
- In its present form, the smart police robot can
assist people at malls, streets, airports and railway stations.
- This five-foot-seven-inch tall ‘smart police robot’,
weighing 43 kg, is not yet capable of chasing down criminals.But according
to its makers, it can take complaints, record audio and video clips,
identify suspects, detect metals, and monitor temperature.
The policing robot has been made by
H-BOTS, a Hyderabad-based artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
start-up. It was conceived at Makers Leeway, the start-up’s research lab, six
months ago.
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MiG-27 ML aircraft gets
farewell from the Indian Air Force
The IAF bade farewell to the
last MiG-27 ML aircraft which roared over Hasimara Air Force base in Bengal on
Thursday.
- Code named ‘Bahadur’ the MiG-27 ML has had an
impeccable track record in its more than three decades of service.
- The Russian origin strike aircraft has the single
most powerful engine in the world and variable geometry wing.
The air craft was inducted into the
IAF fleet in the late 1980s.
MiG-27 had proved its worth in the
Kargil war and won prizes in numerous international exercises held in India.
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Army to procure new
bulletproof jackets
The Army’s attempts to
procure bulletproof jackets for its infantry soldiers have moved closer to
conclusion. A tender for 1.86 lakh jackets has moved to the negotiation stage
and is expected to be finalised in the next couple of months.
- Three Indian companies are in the fray and all three
have now cleared the GS evaluation. In the next stage, price benchmarking
would be undertaken and the supplier would be selected followed by cost
negotiations with the shortlisted vendor, the official said.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)
had given approval for the procurement in 2009. In 2015 the Army cancelled
the Request for Proposal (RFP) due to rejection of all samples in the trials.
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31 satellites to be launched
in a single mission by ISRO
ISRO announced that it
would launch 31 satellites, including India’s Cartosat-2 series
earth observation space craft, in a single mission on board its Polar rocket on
January 10.
- It will be the first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV) mission after the unsuccessful launch of navigation satellite
IRNSS-1H in August.
- The mission’s main payload would be India’s
Cartosat-2 series earth observation satellite.
- PSLV-C40 will be used for the launch from the
spaceport in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
- 28 nano satellites from various countries, including
Finland and the US, one micro and nano satellite from India along with one
Cartosat satellite are part of the mission.
The Indian Space
Research Organisation is the space agency of the Government of India
headquartered in the city of Bangalore.
Founder: Vikram Sarabhai
Founded on: August 15,
1969
Present Director: A S
Kiran Kumar
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India and Myanmar sign MoU to
develop Rakhine state
India and Myanmar signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
- Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar signed the
MoU on India’s behalf in the presence Myanmar’s Minister for Social
Welfare Win Myat Aye.
- Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Misri said that during
the meeting, discussions focused on delivering on commitments made during
the bilateral summit between Suu Kyi and visiting Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in September.The commitments included a development package
for Rakhine and extending the bilateral agenda.
Myanmar
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Capital
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Naypyidaw
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Currency
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Burmese kyat
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President
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Htin Kyaw
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China Launches World's Largest
Human Genome Research Project
The world's largest human
genome research project of 100,000 people was launched by China to
document their genetic makeup for a study that aims to help generate the
precision medicines of the future.
- It is the country's first large project detecting
the genetic links between health and sickness and will involve people from
different ethnic backgrounds and regions.
Russia and Turkey sign Missile
Loan Deal
Turkey and Russia have
signed a loan agreement in Ankara to purchase S-400 missile defence system
worth $2.5 billion.
- Russia will provide Turkey with four batteries of
S-400 surface-to-air missile system under the deal and Turkey will pay 45
per cent of the cost up front with Moscow providing loans to cover the
remaining 55 per cent.
- The two countries had reached an agreement for the
purchase, but have been discussing on a loan provided by Russia.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said Turkey will borrow the loan on Russian ruble, instead of
US dollar, so the debt will be cheaper for Ankara.
Russia
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Turkey
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Capital
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Moscow
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Ankara
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Currency
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Russian ruble
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Turkeish lira
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Presidnet
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Vladimir Putin
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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
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KKR Gets RBI Nod to Start
India’s 1st Foreign-Owned ARC
US buyout giant KKR & Co
has become the first foreign investor to fully own an asset
reconstruction company (ARC) in India as it received approval from
the Reserve Bank of India.
- KKR, one of the most aggressive investors in
financial services, plans to deploy a major chunk from its record Asia
fund for buying troubled assets in the country, multiple sources with
direct knowledge of the matter.
Ex-soccer star George Weah was
elected as the new president of Liberia
Former FIFA World Player of
the Year George Weah has been elected as Liberia’s new president.
- The National Election Commission later
declared Weah president-elect and his running mate Jewel Howard-Taylor
vice president-elect.
- Africa’s first female president, Nobel Peace Prize
winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is stepping aside after two terms at
the head of the nation founded by freed American slaves.
Liberia
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Capital
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Monrovia
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Currency
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Liberian dollar
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President
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George Weah
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78th Session of Indian History
Congress Held in Kolkata
The three-day long 78th
session of the Indian History Congress begun in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- The Indian History Congress had six
sections this time - Ancient India, Medieval India, Modern India,
Countries Other than India, Archaeology and Contemporary India.
Indian History Congress is
the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over
10,000 members. It was established in 1935 The aim of conducting Indian History Congress is for promotion and
encouragement of the scientific study of Indian History.
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Sahasrabuddhe appointed ICCR
President
President Ram Nath Kovind
appointed Vinay Sahasrabuddhe as the president of the Indian Council of
Cultural Relations.
- Mr. Sahasrabuddhe, the BJP’s
national vice-president, is also a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra.
The Indian Council for Cultural
Relations (ICCR) was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent
India’s first Education Minister.
Its objectives are to actively
participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes
pertaining to India’s external cultural relations; to foster and strengthen
cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other
countries; to promote cultural exchanges with other countries and people; and
to develop relations with nations.
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Jitu Rai new national Record
in National Shooting Championship
Indian Shooter won the men’s
50m pistol 61st National Shooting Championship hosted by Thiruvananthapuram.
- Jitu Rai score 233 was a new record
in the finals of National shooting championship.
Rajneesh Gurbani becomes 2nd
bowler to take hat-trick in Ranji final
Vidarbha’s Rajneesh
Gurbani took hat-trick wickets against Delhi to restrict the opposition’s
total to 295.
- The right-arm medium fast bowler
clean bowled Vikas Mishra and Navdeep Saini in his
23rd over in the last two deliveries.
- Returning to bowl for his 24th
over, he bowled out Dhruv Shorey in the first ball to take his
maiden first-class cricket hat-trick.
- Gurbani became only the second
bowler to take a hat-trick in Ranji Trophy Final after B
Kalyanasundaram for Tamil Nadu against Bombay in 1972/73 in Chennai.
Sushil Kumar Qualifies for
2018 Common Wealth Games
Sushil kumar qualifies for
2018 common wealth games which are scheduled to be held in Gold Coast,
Australia.
- Sushil beat Jitender Kumar in the
74 kg category to take a place at this year’s competition.
