Current Affairs December 7, 2017

NATIONAL

PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.He will also launch the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre for Socio-Economic Transformation(DAICSET).It includes seminar as well as conference halls. There are three auditoriums and an extensive library with a rich digital repository.

Vice President inaugurates 12th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission:

          The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the 12th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission (CIC) in New Delhi.He said thatRTI informationhas to be given in a language which is understandable to everyone, especially the applicant.

Addressing at the inaugural session, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and SpaceDr Jitendra Singh said that for the first time, all vacancies of Information Commissioners have been filled by the Government.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Passes Bill on Death for Rape of Girls 12 and Below:

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly unanimously passed a bill awarding death to those found guilty of raping girls aged 12 and below.With the passage of the bill, Madhya Pradesh becomes the first state in the country where those convicted of such rapes will face the gallows.Introduced in the House by Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Rampal Singh. Capital punishment will be awarded to convicts under section 376 (A), which is related to rape, and section 376 (D, A), pertaining to gang rape.

Madhya Pradesh

• Capital:Bhopal
• Chief Minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
• Governor: Om Prakash Kohli(Additional charge)

10th Jaipur International Film Festival:

The 10th Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) 2018 – (Jan 6-10) is all set to present International Cinema to film buffs. The second and the last list of films selected for the Festival was released that includes a total of 48 films from 13 countries.

The films for screening were selected by a 51 member-international committee of selectors from India, United States, Canada, France, Germany and Bangladesh.JIFF is the first film festival in the country that selects documentary films too. This year 11 documentary films have been selected for screening in the Festival.

List of Feature films:

• Angrezi Mein Kehte Hein directed by Harish Vyas from India/Hindi
• Half Widow directed by Danish Renzu from India/ Kashmiri and Urdu
• Andarkahini (Self-Exile) directed by Arnab Middya from India/Bengali
• Inkblot directed by Vedanti Dani from India/English
• POV-Point of view directed by Prabhakar Jha from India/Hindi
• Donaire Y Esplendor (Grace &Splendor) directed by Arturo Montenegro from Panama/ Spanis

Rajasthan

• Capital: Jaipur
• Chief Minister:Vasundhara Raje
• Governor: Kalyan Singh

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 that 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.

A senior official said the EPFO has made it easy with this facility with an objective of having one employee, one EPF account.Those subscribers without UAN activation can also do so online through the transfer claim portal facility of the EPFO.

Health Ministry and Rotary India sign MoU for concerted efforts towards achieving immunization target:
         A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Rotary India in New Delhi. The MoU was signed betweenShri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Smt. Vandana Gurnani, JS (RCH) and Deepak Kapur, Chairman Rotary InternationalIndia National PolioPlus will provide support and accelerate the efforts under Polio Eradication Programme, Routine Immunization including Mission Indradhanush, Intensified Mission Indradhanushand Measles-Rubella.

Govt sets up panel to address NPAs in the 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 Rs 4.73 trillion, according to the second volume of the Economic Survey 2016-17 released in August. Tackling the issues that afflict the so-called stranded power assets will provide much-needed relief for Indian banks weighed down by bad loans.

INTERNATIONAL

Indian and Italy sign a new MoU for cooperation in Agriculture and Phytosanitary issues:
        Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh and H.E Maurizio Martina, Italian Minister for Agriculture Food and Forestry Policies signed a new MoU for cooperation in Agriculture and Phytosanitary issues that will replace the one signed in 2008. The MOU provides a good framework for cooperation in this field.

Mr. Gilbert F Houngbo has appointed as the President, IFAD. India has contributed 37 million USD in the 10th replenishment of IFAD for the period 2016-2018.India currently holds the chairmanship of the Governing Council and of the Evaluation Committee of IFAD.

ITALY

• Capital: Rome
• Currency: Euro
• President: Sergio Mattarella

India and Cuba sign MoU for enhanced cooperation in the health sector:

          India and Cuba signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for enhanced cooperation in the health sector in New Delhi. Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Dr Roberto Tomas Morales Ojeda, Public Health Minister of Cuba signed the MoU in the presence of senior officers from the Health Ministry and a high-level delegation from Cuba.

The MoU aims to establish comprehensive inter-ministerial and inter-institutional cooperation betweenthe two countries in the field of health by pooling technical, scientific, financial and human resourcesand ultimately upgrading the quality and reach of human, material and infrastructural resourcesinvolved in health care, medical education & training, and research in both countries.

CUBA

• Capital: Havana
• President: Raúl Castro
• Currencies: Cuban peso

Same-sex marriage legalised in Australia as Parliament passes historic law:

Australia has officially become the 26th country to legalise same-sex marriage after the law was passed with the overwhelming backing of the Federal Parliament.Thirteen years after changing the Marriage Act to explicitly forbid same-sex unions, federal politicians voted to undo the last major piece of discrimination against gay and lesbian Australians.

Australia

• Capital: Canberra
• Currency: Australian dollar
• Prime minister: Malcolm Turnbull

Venezuela’s Avior Airlines banned from European Union skies:
         Venezuela’s Avior Airlines has been banned from European Union skies after a commission determined it no longer meets international safety standards.The Venezuelan airline is one of a handful still offering international flight destinations as major carriers like United and Delta halt operations in the crisis-ridden nation.

Venezuela

• Currency: Venezuelan bolívar
• Capital: Caracas

BANKING & BUSINESS

Fifth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2017-18: Resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
        On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to:

The projection of real GVA growth for 2017-18 of the October resolution at 6.7per cent has been retained, with risks evenly balanced.On the whole, inflation is estimated in the range 4.3-4.7 per cent in Q3 and Q4 of this year, including the HRA effect of up to 35 basis points, with risks evenly balanced.

RBI

• Governor: Urjit Patel
• Headquarters: Mumbai

Saudi crown prince tops Time Person of the Year readers’ poll:

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is leading Time magazine’s people’s poll for its “Person of the Year 2017” award.The famous poll which has been published on an annual basis for 90 years awards a chosen person who has had “the most influence over the news in the last 12 months.”The 32-year-old crown prince received 24% of the “yes” votes cast.

Second place went to the “The Silence Breakers” of the #MeToo movement, who gave a voice to sexual assault and harassment survivors and showed them that they are not alone, with 6% of the votes.    

Finishing third, with 5% of votes each, were former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, special counsel Robert Mueller and the Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Govt 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 the national portal of electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM).The target is to connect 585 mandis with e-NAM by March 2018.

At present, e-NAM participants are doing payments through traditional ways via bank branches, debit cards and net banking.ICICI Bank will enable BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on the e-NAM portal for making cashless payments.

ICICI BANK

• CEO: Chanda Kochhar
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khyal Apka

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Swiggy appoints Vishal Bhatia as CEO of new supply business:
         Online food delivery start-up Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd) has appointed Vishal Bhatia as chief executive officer for its new supply business.Bhatia comes with 19 years of experience in consumer goods firms like Reckitt Benckiser Group, PepsiCo and Britannia.

Besides, the company said it has recently hired Rahul Bothra as the company’s first Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Sushil Kumar quits as National Sports Observer for wrestling:

Close on the heels of star boxer MC Mary Kom’s resignation, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar has also 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.

SPORTS

Yuvraj Singh Launches UNICEF-ICC’s Adolescent Campaign:

    Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh will be promoting a UNICEF sports initiative for youngsters in South Asia, which will also have the ICC’s backing.Yuvraj launched the “Power of Sports to Shape the Future of Adolescents” campaign in South Asia.Yuvraj was joined by under-19 players from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka who will compete in the ICC under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in January next year.

• ICC CEO: David Richardson

Mujeeb Zadran: Afghanistan 16-year-old who made dream international debut

          Mujeeb Zadran of Afghanistan has become the first male cricket player born in the 21st century to play International cricket. At the age of 16 years and 252 days, he also becomes the youngest Afghanistan player and 9th overall, to play ODI cricket.He was the highest wicket-taker in the recently concluded U-19 Asia Cup held in Malaysia.

Mascot designs for 2020 Tokyo Olympics shortlisted:

          Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics unveiled three sets of designsamong 2,042 entriesfor the Games’ mascots, the winner to be announced on Feb. 28.Japanese schoolchildren will help determine the mascot for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics from July 24 to Aug. 9, 2020.

The first set is a pair of humanoid characters clad in the “ichimatsu” checkered pattern of the Games’ official logo.The second set features a “manekineko” (good-luck cat) and a fox commonly seen at Shinto shrines. The third set features a fox and a dog with gold ribbons on their backs.

Japan

• Capital: Tokyo
• Currency: Yen
• Prime minister: Shinzō Abe

Lifter Gurdeep creates three national records in IWF C’ships:

          Gurdeep Singh created three new senior national records in +105 Kilogram weight category in IWF World Weightlifting Championships at Anaheim in USA. Singh finished 13th overall with a total lift of 388kg (172 + 216) but created national records in snatch, clean and jerk, and the total lift.

In snatch, he bettered his own earlier national record of 171kg by one kilogramme. In the total lift also, Gurdeep bettered the earlier national record of 384kg.

• Indian Weightlifting Federation Secretary General: Sahdev Yadav

  IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE DAY

Armed Forces Flag Day observed today:

          The Armed Forces Flag Day or the Flag Day of India is a day dedicated to India towards collection of funds from people of India for the welfare of the Indian Armed Forces personnel. It has been observed annually in India on December 7 since 1949. Over the years, it has become a tradition to commemorate this day as an honour to the soldiers, sailors and airmen of India.

OBITUARY

Johnny Hallyday: France’s ‘Elvis Presley’ dies at 74

France’s biggest rock star Johnny Hallyday has died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 74.The singer sold about 100 million records and starred in a number of films in a career that began in 1960.He was made a Chevalier of the Legion D’Honneur by President Jacques Chirac in 1997.

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