Daily Current Affairs: December 21, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (December 21, 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

Lok Sabha passes a Bill to link the voter ID with Aadhaar

• The Lok Sabha passed The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, to link voter identity card with Aadhaar to allow electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters for the purpose of establishing their identities.
• This bill seeks to amend certain sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
• The statement of objects and reasons of this Bill states that Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, will be amended to allow linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem to curb the menace of multiple enrolments of the same person in different places.
• Amendment to Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, will allow having four qualifying dates for eligible people to register as voters.

State News

Nagaland establishes three new districts named Nuiland, Tseminyu and Chumukedima

• The Nagaland Government established three new districts named Nuiland, Tseminyu and Chumukedima, raising Nagaland’s total number of districts to 15.
• Tseminyu district was formed by dividing Kohima, whereas Nuiland and Chumukedima were created from the Dimapur
• Tseminyu became the 13^th district, followed by Nuiland and Chumukedima as 14^th and 15^th district, respectively.

Nagaland 

• Capital: Kohima
• Chief Minister: Neiphiu Rio
• Governor: Jagdish Mukhi

Punjab Chief Minister declares the Shri Krishna Balram Rath Yatra as a state festival

• Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi declared the Shri Krishna Balram Rath Yatra as a state festival.
• Every year, thousands of devotees attend this Rath Yatra, which is organised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
• This yatra is considered the second largest congregation of Lord Jagannath devotees in India after the historic Jagannath Yatra of Puri in Odisha.

Punjab                     

• Capital: Chandigarh
• Chief Minister: Charanjit Singh Channi
• Governor: Banwarilal Purohit

International News

OECD releases Pillar-II model rules for domestic implementation of 15% minimum global tax rate

• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released Pillar-II model rules to aid in the implementation of a new international tax system that would require multinational enterprises (MNEs) to pay a minimum tax rate of 15% from 2023.
• The Pillar-II model rules provide governments a precise template for taking forward the two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from digitalisation and globalisation of the economy agreed by 137 countries and jurisdictions under the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS.
• The new Pillar-II model rules will assist countries in bringing the Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) rules into domestic legislation in 2022. They provide for a coordinated system of interlocking rules that:
• define the MNEs within the scope of the minimum tax;
• set out a mechanism for calculating an MNE’s effective tax rate on a jurisdictional basis and for determining the amount of top-up tax payable under the rules.
• impose the top-up tax on a member of the MNE group in accordance with an agreed rule order.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Secretary-General: Mathias Cormann
• Founded: 30 September 1961

Banking & Economy

Asian Development Bank approves a $150 million loan to build houses for the urban poor in Tamil Nadu

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $150 million loan for a housing project for the urban poor in Tamil Nadu.
• This initiative would build houses in nine places and move roughly 6,000 households that are exposed to natural disasters through the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board.
• This project will also assist the Directorate of Town and Country Planning in Tamil Nadu in developing regional plans to map Tamil Nadu’s economic and infrastructure development, including affordable housing, environmental protection, disaster risk management and gender.

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

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

Tamil Nadu                      

• Capital: Chennai
• Chief Minister: M. K. Stalin
• Governor: R. N. Ravi
• National Parks: Mukurthi National Park, Guindy National Park, Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, Indira Gandhi (Annamalai) National Park, Mudumalai National Park

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) bans derivatives trade in seven agricultural commodities

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned the derivatives trade of seven agriculture commodities on the future’s platform of the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) for one year.
• The agricultural commodities include chana, mustard seed, crude palm oil, moong, paddy (Basmati), wheat and soya bean and its derivatives.
• This current suspension will unsettle the entire commodity derivatives ecosystem, including that of broking firms that will now be left only with metal and energy contracts to trade.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

• Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman: Ajay Tyagi
• Founded: 12 April 1992

Appointments

Pradeep Kumar Rawat was appointed as India’s Ambassador to China

• Pradeep Kumar Rawat was appointed as India’s next Ambassador to China.
• He will succeed Vikram Misri.
• He is presently serving as the Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
• Pradeep Kumar Rawat is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1990 batch and has served as the Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Union Ministry of External Affairs when the Doklam border stand-off took place in 2017.

The United States designates Indian-origin Uzra Zeya as its Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues

• Indian-origin Uzra Zeya was appointed as the Special Coordinator of the United States for Tibetan Issues and she was tasked with promoting substantive dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama or his representatives in support of a negotiated agreement on Tibet.
• She is currently serving as the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights in the US President Joe administration.
• This position, established by the United States’ Tibetan Policy Act (2002), had been vacant in the previous US presidency, from January 2017 to October 2020, when US State Department officer Robert Destro was appointed to this position.

Atul Dinkar Rane was appointed as the Chief of BrahMos Aerospace

• The BrahMos Aerospace Limited, which manufactures the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, has named Atul Dinkar Rane as its new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.
• He began his career at the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in 1987 as a System Manager, where he conducted simulation studies and designed modular real-time simulation test procedures for the indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile system.

Uttarakhand names Rishabh Pant as the brand ambassador of Uttarakhand

• Indian wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant was named as the brand ambassador of Uttarakhand with the goal of promoting sports and raising mental health awareness among the state’s youth.

Uttarakhand

• Capital: Dehradun
• Chief Minister: Pushkar Singh Dhami
• Governor: Lt Gen (Rtd.) Gurmeet Singh
• National Parks: Corbett National Park, Gangotri National Park, Govind Pashu Vihar National Park, Nanda Devi National Park, Rajaji National Park, Valley of Flowers National Park

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  P. V. Sindhu was named among the six members to the Badminton World Federation Athletes’ Commission till 2025

• Former world champion V. Sindhu was named as a member of the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) Athletes’ Commission till 2025, along with Iris Wang, Robin Tabeling, Greysia Polii, Kim Soyeong and Zheng Si Wei.

Badminton World Federation (BWF)

• Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Founded: 5 July 1934

Mohit Jain was elected as the President of the Indian Newspaper Society

• Mohit Jain of the Economic Times was elected as the President of the Indian Newspaper Society, an apex body of publishers of newspapers, magazines and periodicals in India for the year 2021–
• He Succeeds Lakshmipathy Adimoolam.
• Raja Prasad Reddy was elected as the Deputy President, Rakesh Sharma as the Vice-President and Tanmay Maheshwari was elected as the Honorary treasurer of the Indian Newspaper Society for 2021–22. Mary Paul is the Secretary-General.

Rear Admiral Sanjay Bhalla was named as the Eastern Fleet Commander of the Indian Navy

• Rear Admiral Sanjay Bhalla was named as the Eastern Fleet Commander of the Indian Navy at an impressive ceremony held at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam.
• Prior to this position, he was the Assistant Chief of Personnel (Human Resource Development) at the Integrated Headquarters (Navy), New Delhi.
• He was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 January 1989 and is a specialist in communication and electronic warfare.
• He also served as the Naval Adviser at the High Commission of India in Islamabad.

Awards and Recognitions

Steel Authority of India receives the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2021

• The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), under the Ministry of Steel, has been awarded the prestigious Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for 2021 for the successive three years in the steel sector.
• Since 1998, the Environment Foundation has granted this award to organisations for notable achievements in environmental management.

Agreements and MoUs signed

Prasar Bharati signs an MoU with Indian Council for Cultural Relations to promote Indian culture

• Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to promote Indian culture, which will be telecasted on the national and international channels of Doordarshan.
• This MoU will be in operation for a period of three years, from December 2021 till December
• It intends to bring the best of Indian culture to national and international audiences, as well as provide performing artists with television and internet platforms.

Obituary

Former Union Finance Secretary Geethakrishnan passed away

• Former Union Finance Secretary and India’s representative at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the 1990s P. Geethakrishnan passed away at the age of 86.
• He began his career with the State Bank of India and later joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1958 from Tamil Nadu.
• In the 1990s, he was the Expenditure Secretary in the Chandra Shekhar Government. During the P. V Narasimha Rao Government, he was appointed as Union Finance Secretary in charge of the Revenue Department in 1991.
• In 1993, he retired as the Union Finance Secretary. After his retirement, the Union Government nominated him as an Executive Director on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Daily CA- 21 December One-Liners

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