Daily Current Affairs: December 17, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (December 17, 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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National News

Union Government raises the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 years to 21 years

• Union Cabinet cleared the proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 years to 21 years.
• This decision was based on the recommendation of a four-member task force led by Jaya Jaitly.
• The Union Government will bring amendments to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act and Hindu Marriage Act to give the new proposal a shape.
• The proposed bill may seek to make consequential modifications to numerous personal laws related to marriage in various communities to ensure a consistent marriage age.

Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs signs an MoU with Financial Intelligence Unit for data exchange

• The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-India) under the Union Ministry of Finance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the exchange of data and information between them on an automatic and regular basis.
• This will enable the exchange of information about suspicious transactions, Know Your Customer (KYC) details and other financial information about companies.
• A Data Exchange Steering Group also has been constituted for the initiative, which will meet periodically to review the data exchange status and take steps to further improve the effectiveness of the data-sharing mechanism.

State News

Haryana Government launches the ‘Khel Nursery Scheme’ to promote sports

• Haryana Government has launched the ‘Khel Nursery Scheme 2022–23′ to encourage sports in Haryana under which sports nurseries will be established in government, private educational institutions and private sports institutes.
• The applications are invited till 20 January 2022.
• Sports nurseries are being established as a part of this scheme for sports featured in the Olympics, Asian and Commonwealth Games.

Haryana           

• Capital: Chandigarh
• Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar
• Governor: Bandaru Dattatraya
• National Parks: Sultanpur National Park, Kalesar National Park
• Dance: Phag, Dhamal, Loor, Khoria

Banking & Economy

Pine Labs partners with AU Small Finance Bank to offer no-cost EMI

• Pine Labs has partnered with AU Small Finance Bank to empower the underbanked with no-cost equated monthly instalment (EMI)
• With this partnership, the AU Small Finance Bank credit cardholders will now be able to avail EMI offers at the point of sale and convert their regular purchase into interest-free EMIs.
• Pine Labs is also expanding its ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ offering to overseas markets and has recently partnered with Standard Chartered Malaysia to provide customers with zero-interest instalment purchase options.

AU Small Finance Bank

• Headquarters: Jaipur, Rajasthan
• Founder: Sanjay Agarwal
• Founded: 2017

PhonePe tokenises cards on Visa, Mastercard and RuPay

• PhonePe became the first platform to offer tokenised cards on the three major payments networks — Visa Mastercard and RuPay.
• PhonePe’s tokenisation solutions save time and effort for businesses by eliminating the requirement to interact with numerous card networks while complying with the RBI guidelines.
• PhonePe’s tokenisation solution named ‘PhonePe Safecard’ allows organisations to integrate tokenisation into their own platforms through Application Programming Interface (API) integration.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance launches Health Prime rider

• Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has launched Health Prime rider that can be availed along with insurer’s health insurance and personal accidental policies which offers cashless benefits and some main healthcare covers.
• The rider covers four key areas including teleconsultation cover, doctor consultation cover, investigations cover for pathology or radiology expenses and annual preventive health check-up cover in a cashless manner.
• The rider also offers six plans for individuals where yearly premiums range from ₹63 to ₹1084. There are three family floater plans as well, with a premium range of ₹1146 to ₹2348.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance signs the United Nations-supported Principles of Responsible Investing

• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has become the first Indian insurance company to sign the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), which demonstrates its commitment towards Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.
• It is an investor initiative in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Global Compact.
• The goal of this UNPRI is to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance issues and support signatories in integrating these issues into investment and ownership decisions.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notifies e-verification scheme 2021 for the taxpayer’s information

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified e- verification scheme 2021, which issued new rules for the faceless collection of information from taxpayers, where mismatches are detected.
• This scheme is notified under Section 135A in the Income Tax Act that proposes faceless information gathering aimed at imparting efficiency, transparency and accountability by eliminating the interface between the income-tax authority and the assessee.
• The e-verification will cover information that is either in the hands of designated tax authorities or sent to them by other government agencies, such as the Director-General of Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation).

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairman: Jagannath Bidyadhar Mohapatra

Appointments

General Manoj Mukund Navarane takes charge as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee

• Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Navarane took charge as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee to ensure cooperation among the three forces.
• The Chairperson of the Chiefs of Staff Committee is the senior-most post in the Indian Armed Forces before the designation of the Chief of Defence Staff was created two years ago.

Awards and Recognitions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with Bhutan’s highest civilian award ‘Ngadag Pel Gi Khorlo’

• Bhutan conferred its highest civilian award ‘Ngadag Pel Gi Khorlo’ on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his unconditional friendship and extended support to Bhutan from India during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• He is the first foreigner to receive this honour from Bhutan.
• This award was established in 2008 and honours those who have dedicated their lives to serving Bhutan’s nation and people.
• Narendra Modi had already received the highest civilian honours in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Bahrain, the Maldives and Russia. In 2020, the United States Government awarded him the Legion of Merit.

United States gymnast Simone Biles was named TIME Magazine’s Athlete of the Year 2021

• The United States gymnast Simone Biles was named TIME Magazine’s Athlete of the Year 2021 for putting her mental health first when she withdrew from four event finals at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Agreements and MoUs signed

India and Vietnam sign a Letter of Intent (LoI) to establish a partnership in digital media

• India and Vietnam signed a Letter of Intent to establish a partnership in digital media and this partnership proposes sharing of information and experience in establishing policies and regulatory frameworks on digital media and social networks.
• It also intends to conduct capacity-building and training programmes for media professionals and government officials in both India and Vietnam.
• An LOI is a document that states two parties’ initial commitment when they start a commercial relationship.

Sports News

India is set to host the Women’s U-18 and U-19 South Asian Football Federation’s Championship 2022

• India will host the South Asian Football Federation’s (SAFF)’s Women’s U-18 and U-19 Championship 2022.
• SAFF’s Women’s U-19 Championship 2021 took place in Bangladesh.
• The SAFF U-18 Women’s Championship will be held from 3–14 March 2022, while the SAFF U-19 Championship will take place from 25 July to 3 August 2022.

AIBA changes its acronym to IBA in its reform efforts

• Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA) changed its acronym to International Boxing Association (IBA) while adopting a comprehensive set of governance reforms developed by independent experts.
• According to AIBA, included among the amendments was the creation of a new Boxing Independent Integrity Unit, which is set to begin its operations in 2022.
• The IBA changed its full name to ‘International Boxing Association’ in 2007 but kept its previous acronym AIBA for the International Amateur Boxe Association.

Daily CA- December 17 One-Liners

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