Daily Current affairs - December 7th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The Armed Forces Flag Day is being observed on December 07 throughout the country.
- The day observed since 1949, has become a tradition to remember the sacrifices and commemorate the honour to the soldiers, airmen and sailors.
- It is dedicated towards collection of funds from people for the welfare of the Armed Forces personnel.
- The week leading to the Flag Day, is celebrated as Armed Forces Week.
Kendriya Sainik Board is responsible for administration of Armed Forces Flag Day Fund (AFFDF).
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December 7 - International Civil Aviation Day
International Civil Aviation Day is annually observed on December 7
- The day observed to raise awareness of the importance of international civil aviation and the role that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) plays in international air transport.
- The organization is a United Nations (UN) body responsible for developing international standards for aviation safety.
- For 2015-2018 inclusive the Council has selected the following theme: Working Together to Ensure No Country is Left Behind
In 1944, delegates from 54 nations gathered in the Grand Ballroom of the Stevens Hotel in Chicago at the invitation of the United States of America.
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PM Modi Inaugurated B R Ambedkar International Centre
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the BR Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi. The prime minister also unveiled two statues of the Dalit icon at the center in Janpath.
Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Vijay Goel was also present at the event.
- The center was a fusion of Buddhist and modern architecture. He had laid the foundation stone of the center in 2015.
Government Setup Panel to Address NPAs in Power Sector
The government has set up a high-level committee headed by NITI Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant to address the problem of stressed assets in India's power sector.
- Non-performing assets (NPAs) in power generation accounted for around 5.9% of the banking sector’s total outstanding advances of Rs4.73 trillion, according to the second volume of the Economic Survey 2016-17.
Minorities Commission to study minority status to Hindus in eight states
National Commission for Minorities has set up a three-member committee to study the matter to give minority status to Hindus in eight states including Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
- The other states are Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
- The Commission chairman Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi said the committee will give its report within three months.
Hindus are in a minority in Lakshadweep (2.5%), Mizoram (2.75), Nagaland (8.75), Meghalaya (11.53), J&K (28.44), Arunachal Pradesh (29) Manipur (31.39) and Punjab (38.4). It is argued that in the absence of the “minority” tag, benefits meant for the minority communities were being given away to majority community in each state in an illegal and arbitrary manner.
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EPFO opens new facility for its over 4.5 crore members
Retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has opened a new facility for its over 4.5 crore members
- This facility will allow consolidation or merger of their multiple PF accounts with the current Universal Account Number, UAN.
- Under this facility, subscribers of the EPFO can merge as many as 10 previous accounts with their UAN at one go.
EPFO Headquarters
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New Delhi
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Minister of Labour and Employment (State Independent Charge)
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Santosh Gangwar
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Uttar Pradesh the first State to endorse centre’s “Triple Talaq” draft bill
The Yogi Adityanath government has endorsed the centre’s draft bill that makes the practice of instant “triple talaq” a criminal offence.
- With the bill the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh the first state in the country to approve the centre’s draft bill.
- The Uttar Pradesh government approved the draft bill at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is also the head priest of the Gorakhnath temple.
Sikkim set to become fully literate in 2018: CM
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, conferred Doctorate of Literature ( Honoris Causa ) by the private Shri Ramasamy Memorial (SRM) University, said the State is set to become fully literate by 2018.
- The government has given top priority to education since coming to power in 1994 in order to safeguard the future of the young generation.
- SRM provides higher education in Sikkim and other parts of the country. The award is the third conferred on the CM since 2003.
In Kerala, minimum drinking age to go up from 21 to 23
The CPI(M)-led Kerala government on Wednesday decided to raise the minimum age for consuming liquor from 21 to 23.
- The government will make suitable amendments to the existing liquor policy and bring an ordinance for this.
- Kerala has the second highest level of per capita liquor consumption for any Indian state following Andhra Pradesh.
- The liquor trade accounts for one-fourth of the government’s Rs 40,000 crore annual revenue.
India’s first centre of excellence for cut flowers opened at Thally
The country’s first centre of excellence (CoE) for cut flowers was inaugurated at Thally near Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu.
- Set up under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project (IIAP), it was unveiled by Gil Haskel, head of MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation.
- This was the 29th centre of excellence established across the country under the Indo-Israel partnership.
- The foundation work for the centre was started in 2013.
Kumbh Mela, India’s largest religious festival, wins UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage status
India’s Kumbh Mela found a place in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s list of “intangible heritage”, with the organisation stated that the festival is the “largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth”.
- The decision to include the festival in UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was taken at the ongoing meeting of the organisation’s World Heritage Committee in South Korea.
- UNESCO has also honoured other cultural traditions this year, including Italy’s art of making Neapolitan pizza, Al-Qatt Al-Asiri – a female traditional interior wall decoration from Saudi Arabia, and traditional folk dances of Serbia and Armenia.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was born on 16 November 1945.
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Taj Mahal stands 2nd in best UNESCO world heritage site
According to a new survey of UNESCO world heritage site in the world the Taj Mahal, India’s iconic ivory-white marble mausoleum in Agra is the second best in the world. The iconic ivory-white marble mausoleum has been rated second after Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.
- The survey conducted by Trip Advisor lists the UNESCO Cultural and Natural heritage sites best rated by travellers.
- Every year, over 8 million people visit the Taj Mahal.
Collegium clears nine judges for Madras HC
SC Collegium recommended nine advocates, from a list of 11 submitted before it, for appointment as judges in the Madras High Court.
- The December 4 meeting also saw the Supreme Court Collegium recommend the names of additional judges in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand High Courts for permanent judgeship.
- The list of 11 names for the Madras High Court was made by Chief Justice S.K. Kaul on December 19, 2016 in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues. The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Tamil Nadu had concurred.
Collegium of three seniormost judges — Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justices J. Chelameswar and Ranjan Gogoi — at a meeting held on December 4, details of which were published
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India and Cuba to collaborate on drugs
India and Cuba today inked a MoU for enhanced cooperation in the health sector by giving a boost to medical education in the two countries.
- Union Health Minister J P Nadda said relations between Cuba and India were based on shared values of equality and justice.
- The ministry of health also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Rotary International India to accelerate efforts under the polio eradication programme.
Cuba
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Capital
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Havana
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Currency
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Cuban Peso
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President
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Raul Castro
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Australian Government Passes Marriage Equality Law
Australia’s parliament has legislated for marriage equality, passing a bill almost unanimously to allow two people, regardless of sex, to marry.
- The House of Representatives passed a cross-party bill after an unprecedented national postal survey gave unstoppable momentum to legislate the historic social reform. Australia, which changed the law in 2004 to say that marriage is only between a man and a woman, now becomes the 25th country to recognize same-sex marriage.
Australia
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Capital
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Canberra
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Currency
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Australian dollar
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Prime Minster
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Malcolm Turnbull
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UAE launches programme to send astronauts into space
Dubai’s launches the United Arab Emirates first space programme aimed at sending four Emirati astronauts to the International Space Station within five years.
- The Gulf nation has announced ambitious plans to become the first Arab country to send an unmanned probe to orbit Mars by 2021.
- The first Arab in outer space was Saudi Arabia’s Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud, who flew on a US shuttle mission in 1985.
UAE
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Capital
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Abudhabi
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Currency
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UAE Dhirham
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King
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Khalifa bin zayed al Nahyan
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Starbucks opens the world’s largest cafe in Shanghai
Starbucks opened its largest cafe in the world in Shanghai as the US-based beverage giant bets big on the burgeoning coffee culture of a country traditionally known for tea-drinking.
- The cafe spans 2,700 square meters is nearly half the area of a soccer field.
- The first roastery outlet opened in Starbucks’ hometown of Seattle in 2014.
OP Sahayam
It is an Indian Navy exercise for undertaking Search and Rescue (SAR) and providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster relief (HADR) material support, over Southeast Arabian Sea and L& M islands in the aftermath of Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘OCKHI’.
Airtel and Intex join hands to launch three new 4G VoLTE phones
Airtel made an announcement of a partnership with Intex to bundle data and calling benefits with select smartphones.
- The partnership is part of Airtel’s ongoing initiative to build a portfolio of ultra-affordable smartphones.
- Airtel has already launched a slew of smartphones including Karbonn A40 and Celkon Smart 4G under this initiative.
- Airtel is selling these three phones at effective prices starting at Rs 1649.
Walmart is changing its legal name like Amazon
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is changing its legal name which will be effective from Feb. 1.
- The world’s largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, said it will change its legal name to Walmart Inc. from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
- It operates more than 11,600 stores and clubs under 60 different banners worldwide.
Inc. is the abbreviation for incorporated. An incorporated company, or corporation, is a separate legal entity from the person or people forming it. Directors and officers purchase shares in the business and have responsibility for its operation.
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Government ropes in ICICI Bank to enable cashless payments on e-NAM:
The government has engaged private lender ICICI Bank to enable online payments at 470 mandis integrated with national portal of electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)
- At present, e-NAM participants are doing payments through traditional ways via bank branches, debit cards and net banking.
- “Farmers have started trading online within mandi. ICICI Bank has been roped in as a banker for e- NAM.
- ICICI Bank will enable BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on the e-NAM portal for making cashless payments. The effort is to provide seamless experience for making online payment of trade and services undertaken on the e-NAM platform.
- At present, 470 mandis across 14 states are live and 90 commodities are being traded on e-NAM platform, which was launched in April 2016. The target is to connect 585 mandis with e-NAM by March 2018.
National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
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ICICI Bank
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Headquarters
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Mumbai
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Tagline
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Hum Hai Na, Khyal Apka
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MD and CEO
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Chanda Kochhar
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Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India to come up with ESOP plans
As part of capital raising plans, public sector lenders Allahabad Bank, United Bank have initiated process to make employees stakeholders by way of issuing employee stock option (ESOP).
- Kolkata-headquartered United Bank of India and Allahabad Bank stated that they will issue such stock options for their employees.
- Earlier in March this year, the finance ministry had given its in-principle approval to allow public sector banks to offer stock options to their employees, aimed at retaining experienced hands with better incentives.
Allahabad Bank
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United Bank of India Bank
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Headquarters
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Kolkata
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Kolkata
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Tagline
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A tradion of trust
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The Bank that begins with “U”
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MD and CEO
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Usha Ananthasubramanian
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Pawan Kumar Bajaj
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ICICI Bank offers service to open PPF account online
Private lender ICICI Bank has launched a digital service to allow customers to open a PPF account online, eliminating the need for furnishing paper documents.
- It is the first lender in the country to introduce a fully digital and paperless procedure for opening a PPF account.
- The facility, available 24×7 and on all days, will require customers to login to their internet banking or mobile banking and apply for a PPF account.
- The digital service will enable customers to open a public provident fund (PPF) account instantly and in a completely online and paperless manner.
UNICEF report on air pollution
The UNICEF has released the report on air pollution titled- ‘Danger in the air: How air pollution can affect brain development in young children’.
- The report has once again set alarm bells ringing about high levels of air pollution and its likely impact on brain development among infants.
- Nearly 17 million infants worldwide live in areas where outdoor air pollution is at least six times higher than international limits.
- The threat is much higher in Asia. Nearly 16 million infants belong to Asia.
- Moreover, 75% of them live in the Indian subcontinent, which has three of the world’s 10 most populations countries in the world — India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
- As per the report, Ultrafine pollution particles (particulate matter that is equal or less than 2.5 microns in diameter) pose an especially high risk because they can more easily enter the blood stream and travel through the body to the brain.
The United Nations Children's Fund is a United Nations (UN) program headquartered in New York City that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
Head- Anthony Lake
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Guinness memory record for Keralite
There is a misconception that memory is an innate skill whereas it is a result of years of training and perseverance, says Santhi Sathyan, who holds a Guinness world record for the longest sequence of objects memorised in a minute.
- The 28-year-old from Kadakkal needs just 60 seconds to save 45-odd objects to her memory, and after reshuffling, she can arrange them back in the same precise order in 2 minutes 57 seconds.
- The previous record was held by Arpan Sharma of Nepal, whose record of 43 objects was easily broken by Santhi.
Trump most tweeted about elected world leader of 2017
Trump with 44.1 million followers and Modi with 37.5 million followers are the first and second “most tweeted about world leaders” for the year 2017.
- Other world leaders to figure in the top 10 list are Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Emmanuel Macron from France, Enrique Pena Nieto from Mexico, Mauricip Macri of Argentina, Britain’s Theresa May, Columbia’s Juan Manuel Santos, and Akun resmi Joko Widodo of Indonesia.
Czech president appoints Andrej Babis as a new prime minister
Czech billionaire businessman Andrej Babis takes the appointment as a prime minister on Wednesday after his ANO party came first in an October election.
- ANO holds 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house but has so far failed to win the backing of any of the other eight parties.
Selfie monkey is PETA person of the year
An Indonesian monkey who shot to fame after it snapped a grinning selfie — and sparked a landmark U.S. copyright case — was named “Person of the Year” by the animal rights group that took on the simian’s cause.
- The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it was honouring Naruto, a crested black macaque with a goofy-looking grin, to recognise that “he is someone, not something”.
- In 2011, the monkey pressed the shutter button while staring down the lens of a camera set up British nature photographer David Slater on the island of Sulawesi. The photos quickly went viral and PETA launched a lawsuit that claimed the then six-year-old Naruto should be “declared the author and owner of his photograph”.
- “Naruto’s historic selfie challenged the idea of who is a person and who is not and resulted in the first-ever lawsuit seeking to declare a nonhuman animal the owner of property, rather than being declared property himself.
- PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk.
‘Dangal’ wins Best Asian Film at Australian Cinema Awards
The Aamir Khan starrer ‘Dangal’ was named the Best Asian Film at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) 2017.
- The Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Pink’ was also nominated in the category.
- Actress Shabana Azmi, who was a jury member for Best Asian Film category which was chaired by Russell Crowe
Cristiano Ronaldo sets new Champions League record
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first ever player to score on all six match days of a Champions League group stage.
- He also equalized his Barcelona rival Lionel Messi’s record of 60 group-stage goals in total.
Sushil Kumar resigns as National Sports Observer
Double Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar has quit his role as a National Sports Observer for wrestling.
- The 34-year-old wrestler was among 12 national observers appointed by the then Sports Minister Vijay Goel in March.
