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Daily Current affairs - December 5th, 2017 for all competitive exams

December 5 - World Soil Day
World Soil Day is celebrated annually on the 5th of December at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, the regional offices and through national and local events.
  • 2017 Theme: ‘Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground’
  • Soil is the upper layer of earth, a mixture of organic and inorganic matter, in which plants grow.
The FAO Conference, in June 2013, unanimously endorsed World Soil Day and requested official adoption at the 68th UN General Assembly. In December 2013, the 68th UN General Assembly declared 5th of December as the World Soil Day.

December 5 - International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development
International Volunteer Day (IVD) celebrated every year on December 5.
  • 2017 Theme: Volunteers Act First. Here. Everywhere
  • The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development was        adopted by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution A/RES/40/212 on 17 December 1985. Since then, governments, the UN system and civil society organizations have successfully joined volunteers around the world to celebrate the Day on 5 December.
  • International Volunteer Day is a chance for individual volunteers, communities and organizations to promote their contributions to development at the local, national and international levels. 

Modi to address India Inc for the first time since GST          
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a gathering of top industry leaders at the FICCI annual general meeting with India Inc since the launch of GST five months ago.
  • Modi’s address will also help FICCI go one up on arch-rival CII, which in the 1990s was one of the favourite destination for most government ministers.

After a 17-year wait, India to get the 1st conventional submarine
The Indian Navy will get her first conventional submarine in 17 years.
It will be when Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissions the INS Kalvari in Mumbai on December 14.
  • The Kalvari’s commissioning will take place just six days after the Golden Jubilee of the Navy’s submarine arm on December 8.
  • Another highlight of the Kalvari’s commissioning in Mumbai is that it will be done in the presence of 92-year-old Commander KS Subramanian.
  • He was commanding officer of the first Indian submarine, also called the INS Kalvari.

Centre prepares to redefine ‘employment’
The government’s own data showed that job creation in the formal sector was slowest in almost a decade, but it has said that it felt the ground reality on jobs was not being ‘properly’ captured as the existing system takes into account only the formal sector.
  • Incidentally, on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a task force was set up in May 2017 under the chairmanship of the then Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Arvind Panagariya.
  • The panel’s terms of reference included assessing the existing data systems and sources that provide information on jobs and job creation and then identifying alternate sources that could provide such data. The terms also included recommending mechanisms for capturing information on jobs and job creation on a regular basis for both the informal and formal sectors.
  • The ‘Task Force on Improving Employment Data’, which had sought comments from stakeholders by July 23 on its draft report, will by September 2018 submit its final report.
  • Among the main recommendations could be a change in the definition of employment/workers as well as ways to include and measure employment in the informal sector as well, he indicated.
  • According to the draft report, there is no fixed definition of formal workers currently in India.
  • It said all definitions were highly restrictive, and exclude many workers who have decent and steady jobs but either do not work in large enough enterprises or do not have written contracts. The task force said it was desirable to adopt a new, more ‘pragmatic’ definition of formal workers.
  • The plan now is to include workers covered the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 (or other similar insurance), Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1952 (or other similar social security scheme), workers having coverage under private insurance or pension schemes or provident funds as well as workers subject to tax deduction at source on their income through submission of Form 16 or similar Income Tax form.
  • The panel had identified the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) scheme, which provides small, unsecured loans to enterprises, as an important source of job creation.
  • According to a report by the SKOCH Group on September 6, the MUDRA scheme had led to a total of 54,479,763 jobs being generated in just over two years. These included 37,753,217 direct jobs and 16,726,545 indirect jobs.

Indian Railways teams up with Google to digitise its rich heritage
Indian Railways has teamed up with Google to undertake an elaborate crowd-sourcing exercise to create a digital repository of its rich heritage.
  • Even as the Railways began collecting rare pictures through its unique crowd-sourcing effort, it entered into an agreement with the Google Cultural Institute.

Rajnath calls meet of CMs on Rohingya
The issue of Rohingya and Bangladeshis trying to cross over to India would be among the key issues to be discussed at a meeting of Chief Ministers of eastern States called by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on December 7 in Kolkata. Cross-border smuggling of fake currencies and drugs will also be included on the agenda.
  • The Chief Ministers and Home Ministers of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram will huddle for the day-long meeting where the illegal entry of Rohingya and Bangladeshis would be discussed threadbare
  • This would be the fourth meeting of Chief Ministers called by the Home Minister. It will concern States that share international borders with Bangladesh. Three separate meetings of Chief Ministers of States which share borders with Pakistan, China and Myanmar have been held earlier.
  • As per the official estimate, around 36,000 Rohingya are currently living in various parts of India.

Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli becomes 23rd district to be included in National Capital Region
Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district was included in the National Capital Region (NCR), making it the 23rd district to be included in the region.
  • Centred upon National Capital Territory of Delhi, the NCR includes thirteen districts of Haryana, eight districts of UP, and two districts of Rajasthan. It was constituted in 1985 as an interstate regional planning area.
  • The National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) is a special union territory of India jointly administered by the Central government, the NCT elected government and three municipal corporations. The metropolis of Delhi and the National Capital Territory of Delhi are coextensive and for most practical purposes they are considered to be the same entity.

Maharashtra government grants approval to Versova-Bandra sea link
The Maharashtra government accorded administrative approval to the Versova-Bandra sea link (VBSL) project, eight years after the state cabinet committee on Infrastructure (SCCI) cleared it.
  • In a Government Resolution (GR), the state has pegged the project cost to be around Rs 7,502 crore and its length is estimated to be about 17.17 km.
  • The SCCI had cleared the project on August 18, 2009. However, it took another four years, for the government to get the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and environment clearance from the Centre which were given in January 2013
  • A new Versova-Bandra sea link, which will be an extension of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link In Mumbai
  • The project would be crucial as it would help ease out the traffic situation in the western suburbs. The sea link would connect south Mumbai and the western suburbs by a series of roads and tunnels. A deadline for the project, however, has not been mentioned in the issued government resolution.

Kerala launches India’s largest floating solar power plant
Kerala Electricity Minister MM Mani inaugurated India’s largest floating solar power plant at the Banasura Sagar dam in Wayanad district.
  • The plant, worth approximately Rs.9.25 crore, floats on 6,000 square metres of water surface
  • With a capacity of 500 kilowatts, the plant comprises 1,938 solar panels and 17 inverters.

T.N. seeks to stay Nissan arbitration
The Tamil Nadu government moved the Madras High Court for an interim stay on carmaker Nissan Motor from proceeding with international arbitration over the alleged non-payment of incentives being claimed by it from the State. Justice Anitha Sumanth ordered notice to the respondents.
  • In the petition, Industries Secretary Atulya Mishra said Nissan seems to have invoked international arbitration, under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Japan, “with a view to coercing the applicant [T.N.].”
  • Referring to Article 96 (6) of the CEPA, Mr. Mishra said if a disputing investor approached courts or administrative tribunals for resolution of investment disputes, it could not be referred for international conciliation or arbitration.

Maharashtra records max violations under Environment Protection Act
With a total of 97 cases, Maharashtra has recorded the most number of violations in 2016 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, National Crime Records Bureau has revealed.
  • Compared to 2015, the state saw a 33% increase in 2016 in overall environment-related offences which cover violations under five laws including the Forest Act and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Rajasthan Ordinance lapses
The controversial criminal law Ordinance of the Rajasthan government, which gave protection to the public servants and imposed restrictions on the media, lapsed.
  • The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, promulgated on September 6, provided immunity to serving and retired public servants, judges and magistrates from probe and prosecution on complaints about their alleged offences without prior sanction by the authorities.
  • It also barred the media from reporting on such accusations till the sanction was given.
  • A Bill seeking to replace the Ordinance was tabled in the State Assembly on October 23. However, the State government referred the Bill to a select committee of the House for its review following wide criticism.

6th International Tourism Mart 2017 begins in Assam
In Assam, the 6th International Tourism Mart 2017 began in Guwahati.
  • Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal and Union Tourism minister K L Alphons attended the inaugural program.
  • The three day program has been organized by Ministry of Tourism in association with all North Eastern states.
  • Panel discussions, workshops, business to business meetings, cultural programs are being organized.

SC seeks Centre’s response on Haj norms
The Supreme Court sought the Centre’s response to a petition filed by the Kerala State Haj Committee challenging the provisions of the Haj guidelines for 2018-22.
  • The chief among the challenges raised before the three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, was the decision to reduce the quota of the Haj Committee of India (HCI), which means fewer persons from the weaker sections can afford to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The court listed the petition for hearing in the first week of January 2018.
  • The Haj quota allocated to India is 1.7 lakh pilgrims. The HCI’s share is 75% and private tour operators take the rest. The new guidelines reduce the HCI’s share to 70% and raises the tour operators’ quota to 30%.

India allows 1,300 Buddhists from Myanmar’s Rakhine state to enter Mizoram
The Indian government has allowed over 1,300 tribal Buddhist refugees from Myanmar’s Rakhine region to enter Mizoram.
  • The refugees left their homeland because of the ongoing war between the Myanmarese Army and the Arakan Army, made up of Buddhist insurgents.
  • This comes nearly a month after the Union Home Ministry had directed the northeastern states to take strict measures to prevent Rohingyas — who are Muslims — from entering Indian territory despite persecution by the Myanmar regime.
  • The new group of refugees, belonging to the Chin and few other communities of Myanmar, have come to four villages in Lawngtlai district.
Myanmar
Capital
Naypyidaw
Currency
Burmese Kyat
President
Htin Kyaw

China opens CPEC to other nations
China has thrown open its economic corridor with Pakistan for investment by other countries after successfully commissioning a power plant near Karachi.
  • Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang invited other countries to participate in the corridor on the principle of equality and voluntarism  after last week’s commissioning of the first phase of the 1320 Megawatt Port Qasim power project.
  • CPEC, a flagship of its trans-continental Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as “an open initiative”.
  • Mr. Geng cited participation by Qatar’s Al-Mirqab Capital as an illustration of Beijing’s openness to third-party participation.
  • China has been focusing on energy projects as part of its plan to build comprehensive infrastructure — the first essential step to industrialise Pakistan. Earlier, in May, the Sahiwal coal-fired plant in Punjab was commissioned, aimed at generating more than 1000 MW of electricity.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar FMs attend round-table talks ahead of regional Gulf summit
The Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar attended round-table talks yesterday ahead of a regional Gulf summit, in their first such encounter since Riyadh cut all ties with Doha.
  • The meeting is being held to prepare the agenda for the GCC annual summit in Kuwait City.
  • Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, all Gulf Cooperation Council members, as well as Egypt on June 5 severed all political and economic relations with tiny gas-rich Qatar.
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Capital
Doha
Riyadh
Currency
Qatari Riyal
Saudi Riyal
President
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
King Ali Salman Ahmed Salman

UAE to open new consular offices in India
Boosting bilateral engagement with India, the United Arab Emirates will open several new consular centres in India and invest $75 billion of its sovereign wealth fund in the country.
  • The announcement on expanding consular footprint of UAE came even as diplomatic sources confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Abu Dhabi in February 2018.
UAE
Capital
Abu Dhabi
Currency
United Arab Emirates dirham
President
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

UAE participate in joint military exercises with US, UK and France
UAE Armed Forces along with the UK, US and French armies are participating in joint exercises in Abu Dhabi.
  • The drill code-named as “Flag4”. 
  • The two-week exercise is part of the effort to consolidate multilateral relations, and to increase co-ordination between the UAE Armed Forces and participating nations.
USA
UK
France
Capital
Washington, D.C.
London
Paris
Currency
United States Dollar
Pound Sterling
Euro, CFP franc
President
Donald Trump
Theresa May
Emmanuel Macron

Fitch cuts full-year growth forecast to 6.7%
Fitch Ratings has reduced the growth forecast for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, to 6.7 per cent from 6.9 per cent.
  • Simultaneously, the global rating agency has pared the FY19 forecast for the country to 7.3 per cent from 7.4 per cent.
  • The Indian economy picked up in the second quarter (July-September) of 2017, with GDP growing by 6.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), up from 5.7 per cent in the preceding quarter.

Mersal, Baahubali 2 were talk of Twitter in 2017
Micro-blogging site’s report on top trends also reflects buzz around jallikattu, triple talaq, GST and demonetisation
  • Among the most-talked about subjects on Twitter this year in the country were south Indian films Baahubali 2 andMersal , which figure in the micro-blogging site’s Most Influential Moments of the Year list, Twitter said on Monday in its report on the top trends of 2017.
  • Mersal , the first-ever Tamil film to get a custom Twitter emoji, generated “colossal engagement from the fans of South Indian cinema”, making #Mersal the Top Hashtag Trend of the Year. It generated over 1.7 million tweets in three days.

TRAI rings in new network testing rules
Telecom regulator TRAI recommended the rules of network testing before an operator commercially introduces mobile services, proposing clear limits on number of trial subscribers to be on boarded and a 90-day period for the test phase.
  • The issue of dos and dont’s for network testing had stirred up a storm in the industry after Reliance Jio amassed over 1.5 million users even before commercial introduction of its services last September.
  • The established operators had, at that time, cried foul and charged the newcomer with offering full-fledged mobile connection loaded with freebies in the guise of a trial service.

Sharad Yadav, Ali Anwar disqualified as Rajya Sabha members:
Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu disqualified rebel JD(U) leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari from the membership of the House.
  • This came after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) approached the Rajya Sabha chairman seeking disqualification of the two MPs for indulging in “anti-party activities”, after Kumar withdrew from the Grand Alliance with RJD and Congress in Bihar.

A.P. CM begins 3-day S. Korea visit
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his team began their three-day visit to South Korea on Monday on a positive note by entering into a letter of intent (LoI) with a group of 37 companies.
  • The Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (EDB) entered into the LoI and the group has evinced interest in investing Rs. 3,000 crore in A.P. and providing employment to 7,171 people. The ancillary units of Kia Motors have confirmed their total investment to be Rs. 4,995.2 crore.

Syrian teen wins Children’s Peace Prize for building school
A 16-year-old Syrian refugee, Mohamad Al Jounde won the International Children’s Peace Prize for building a school and providing education to hundreds of children who fled to Lebanon to escape the Syrian civil war.
Al Jounde received the prize from Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai who had won the prize in 2013 for her activist work in education.
  • The International Children’s Peace Prize is awarded annually to a child who has made a significant contribution to advocating children's rights and improving the situation of vulnerable children such as orphans, child labourers and children with HIV/AIDS.
  • The prize is an initiative of the KidsRights Foundation, an international children's aid and advocacy organisation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. KidsRights should not be confused with the group which grants the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • The first Children's Peace Prize was launched in November 2005 during the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome, an annual meeting of Nobel Peace Prize winners and international organisations such as UNICEF and Amnesty International.

Gauri Memorial Trust to institute award
The formal announcement of the Gauri Memorial Trust was made by the core committee members, including activist Teesta Setalvad, journalist Siddharth Varadarajan, writer Devanur Mahadeva, former legislator A.K. Subbaiah, environmentalist and activist Chukki Nanjundaswamy, among others. The trust, which also launched its website, will be led by freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy.
  • The focus is to launch a paper to take forward Gauri’s ideology, conduct annual State and national-level seminars in her memory; institute an award in her name for journalists and activists working to uphold Gauri’s values and conduct orientations and offer scholarships to young journalists.

Ex-ONGC chief Sarraf appointed as oil & gas regulator
Dinesh K Sarraf, former CMD of ONGC takes the appointment as the new chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board.
  • He replaces S Krishnan, who demitted office in August 2015.
  • In July this year, S K Garg, former director of ONGC Videsh Ltd, takes the appointment in PNGRB.

Indian-American senator Kamala Harris tops global thinkers list
Indian-American California senator Kamala Harris has topped the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine’s 2017 list of ’50 Leading Global Thinkers’ which also features US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
  • Besides Harris and Haley, Indian-origin stand-up comedian Hasan Minhaj has also made it to the list which recognizes a remarkable range of individuals who have found ways to exert enormous influence, often in unexpected ways, on a wide range of issues.

Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor passes away
Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor has passed away. The actor who has entertained us with some stellar performances breathed his last.
  • Shashi Kapoor is known for his films like ‘Kabhie Kabhie’, ‘Deewar’ and ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’. Kapoor had a bypass surgery before suffering from a chest infection in 2014.

Former Yemeni President Saleh killed by Houthi rebels
Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by Houthi rebel fighters.
Saleh’s death was announced by Houthi-controlled Interior Ministry as well as Saudi-owned al-Arabiya quoting Saleh’s party sources.
  • This comes a day after the former President formally renounced his alliance with the Iran-backed rebel group and re-aligned his forces with Saudi Arabia.

Ajay Kumar Reddy to lead Indian team at ODI World Cup for the Blind
Ajay Kumar Reddy of Andhra Pradesh will lead a 17-member Indian squad at the 5th ODI World Cup Cricket Tournament for the Blind to be held in January.
  • The squad was announced by Samarthanam and the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI).
  • The World Cup will be held in Pakistan and Dubai from January 7 to 21.
  • Apart from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa will also play in the tournament

Usain Bolt gets stone statue in native of Jamaica
Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness unveiled the Usain Bolt statue at Independence Park as a tribute to the world’s greatest sprinter.



  • The unveiling of his statue was scheduled to be followed by a reception where Jamaica’s track and field athletes who participated in this year’s World Championships were invited along with several notable figures in local and international sports.



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