Daily Current Affairs: December 12 & 13, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (December 12 & 13, 2021) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK, and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness, and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

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Important Days

UNICEF Day – 11 December

• UNICEF Day is observed on 11 December every year to spread awareness on saving children’s lives, defending their rights and helping them fulfil their potential from childhood to adolescence.
• This day was first announced by the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 1946.
• United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) major objective is to protect children all across the world and provide them with access to basic rights like good education, food, sanitation and vaccination.

Universal Health Coverage Day – 12 December

• Universal Health Coverage Day is observed on 12 December every year to raise awareness about having strong and resilient world-class health systems across the globe with multi-stakeholder partners.
• The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on 12 December 2012, urging countries to accelerate efforts toward universal health care (UHC). The United Nations declared Universal Health Coverage Day in 2017.
• The theme for Universal Health Coverage Day 2021 is ‘Leave no one behind when it comes to health: Invest in health systems for all’.

International Day of Neutrality – 12 December

• International Day of Neutrality is observed on 12 December every year to raise public awareness about the value of neutrality in international relations.
• This day was first announced officially in February 2017 and first observed on 12 December 2017.
• It allows for friendly relations between the countries, which will avoid a war-like situation, thus keeping the citizens safe and secure.

National News

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh launches the seventh edition of India International Science Festival 2021

• Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology Jitendra Singh inaugurated the seventh edition of India International Science Festival 2021 (IISF 2021) at Panaji, Goa.
• The theme of this four-day science festival is ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – Celebrating creativity, science, technology and innovation for a prosperous India’.

State News

Haiderpur Wetland in Uttar Pradesh was recognised as a Ramsar site

• India has designated the Haiderpur Wetland, which is about 10 km from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, as the 47^th Ramsar site of India under the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and as the 2463^rd Ramsar site internationally.
• With this, Uttar Pradesh is now home to 9 Ramsar wetlands in India.
• The human-made Haiderpur Wetland spreads over an area of 6,908 hectares in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. It was created in 1984 on a floodplain of the Ganga River on the Madhya Ganga Barrage and is located within the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary.

International News

Dubai becomes the world’s first government to turn 100% paperless

• Dubai became the world’s first government to turn 100 per cent paperless to implement advanced strategies to create and enhance digital life in Dubai over the next five decades.
• All internal, external transactions and procedures in the Government of Dubai are now 100 per cent digital and managed from a comprehensive digital government services platform.
• This achievement further reinforces Dubai’s position as the world’s top digital capital and a role model for government operations and services that improve consumer satisfaction.
• The Dubai Government’s comprehensive digital transformation will enhance its resident’s smart city experiences by eliminating the need for paper transactions and documentation, whether they are handed out to customers or exchanged between staff across government agencies.

Banking & Economy

Union Government increases the deposit insurance cover from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakhs

• Union Government has increased the deposit insurance cover from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakhs under the Deposit Insurance Credit Guarantee Scheme and this amount has to be refunded to the depositor within 90 days.
• The deposit insurance covers all deposits such as savings, fixed, current and recurring deposits in all commercial banks functioning in India.
• With deposit insurance coverage of ₹5 lakhs per depositor per bank, fully covered accounts accounted for 98.1% of total accounts at the end of the previous financial year, compared to a worldwide average of 80%.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) approves a $300 million loan to improve urban services in India

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $300 million (₹2644.85 crores) loan for India to improve its urban services. This loan will support the Indian Government’s efforts to accelerate universal coverage of piped water supply and improved sanitation under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 and provide affordable housing to all including poor, urban migrant and industrial workers, under the flagship mission Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

• Founded: 19 December 1966
• Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
• President: Masatsugu Asakawa

Appointments

Bundi Rajputs chooses Brigadier Bhupesh Singh Hada as their King

• Brigadier Bhupesh Singh Hada was chosen as the 26^th King of Bundi princely state of Rajasthan.
• This royal post was lying vacant for 11 years after Ranjit Singh, the son and successor of the last king, Colonel Maharo Raja Bahadur Singh, passed away in January 2010.

Kotak Mahindra Bank appoints Ashu Sayush as its independent director

• Ashu Sayush was appointed as an independent director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited for five years, from 24 January 2022 till 23 January 2027.
• She has previously served as the MD & CEO of rating agency CRISIL and has over 33 years of experience in the Indian financial services and the global information services sector.

Kotak Mahindra Bank

• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• CEO: Uday Kotak
• Tagline: Let’s make money simple

Ranks and Indices

Maharashtra retains the top spot in the India Skills Report 2022

• Maharashtra has retained the top position in the list of states with the most employable talent in the ninth edition of the India skills Report 2022 released by Wheebox in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry, Association of Indian Universities, United Nations Development Program and All India Council for Technical Education.
• Maharashtra was followed by Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.
• West Bengal emerged as the fourth most employable concentration of talent while Karnataka, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Haryana made up the remaining ten spots.
• Pune topped the list of cities with the highest employability, followed by Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Kolkata.

Maharashtra    

• Capital: Mumbai
• Chief Minister: Uddhav Thackeray
• Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
• National Parks: Chandoli National Park, Gugamal National Park, Nawegaon National Park, Pench (Jawaharlal Nehru) National Park, Sanjay Gandhi (Borivilli) National Park, Tadoba National Park

Awards and Recognitions

India’s Harnaaz Sandhu was crowned as Miss Universe 2021

• Harnaaz Sandhu of India was crowned Miss Universe 2021 at the grand finale held in Eilat, Israel.
• India has clinched this title after 21 years. Only two Indians before Harnaaz Sandhu have won the title of Miss Universe — Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000.
• Nadia Ferreira of Paraguay and Lalela Mswane of South Africa were the first and second runners-up.

Agreements and MoUs signed

India signs an air bubble agreement with Australia

• India has signed an air bubble agreement with Australia, which will allow all eligible passengers to travel between the two countries.
• A bilateral air bubble is a mechanism to resume flights between the two countries with preconditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines can differ for different countries.
• With the addition of Australia, India now has air bubble agreements with 33 countries, allowing Indians to fly to these countries even when regular international flights are suspended.

Science & Technology

DRDO and IAF successfully flight-tests Stand-off Anti-tank missile

• India successfully flight-tested indigenously developed helicopter named Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) missile, launched by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force, from Rajasthan’s Pokhran firing range.
• This indigenously designed and developed helicopter can neutralise targets in a range of up to 10 km.
• It is equipped with a state-of-the-art millimetre wave (MMW) seeker, which provides high precision strike capability from a safe distance.
• The SANT missile was designed and developed by Hyderabad’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI) in collaboration with other DRDO institutes and industry partners.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairman: G. Satheesh Reddy
• Founded: 1958

Sports News

Max Verstappen wins the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021

• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 and became one of the youngest-ever champions.
• Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes was the runner-up at the event.
• Max Verstappen became the first Dutch driver to become an F1 world champion.
• Red Bull has won the F1 championship title for the first time since 2013.
• Max Verstappen won F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, F1 Monaco Grand Prix, F1 French Grand Prix, F1 Styrian Grand Prix, F1 Austria Grand Prix, F1 Belgium Grand Prix, F1 Netherlands Grand Prix, The F1 United States Grand Prix, F1 Mexico Grand Prix and F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.

India finishes the Asian Rowing Championships 2021 with two gold and four silver medals

• India finished the Asian Rowing Championships 2021 with a total of six medals (two gold and four silver medals) at the Royal Thai Navy Rowing Center in Rayong.
• Senior Indian rowing player Arvind Singh won a gold medal in the lightweight men’s singles sculls event on the final day of the Asian Rowing Championships.
• India’s Arjun Lal Jat Ravi won the gold medal in the men’s double sculls event.
• India bagged silver medals in the men’s lightweight double sculls, men’s quadrapul sculls and men’s coxless four events.

Chandeep Singh bags the silver medal at the Para World Taekwondo Championships 2021

• Indian Para-athlete Chandeep Singh bagged a silver medal in the men’s plus 80 kg event at the ninth Para World Taekwondo Championships 2021 held at Istanbul in Turkey and became the first para-athlete from Jammu & Kashmir to achieve such a great place at the world level.
• This is India’s first-ever medal in the history of the Para Taekwondo World Championships.

Obituary

Gothic novel author Anne Rice passed away

• The Gothic novelist Anne Rice passed away at the age of 80.
• She was the author of the famous novel ‘Interview With the Vampire’ in 1976.
• Anne Rice wrote more than 30 books, including the Vampire Chronicles, the Sleeping Beauty series and novels about angels and the life of Christ.

Daily CA- 12 & 13 December One-Liners

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