SAKTHI BOOKS CURRENT EVENTS

December, 2015

Current Events December 2015 – Sports

•Sri Lanka Captain and country’s second highest Test run-scorer Mahela Jayawardene conferred with Honorary Life Membership of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
•Anil Kumble resigns as chief mentor of Mumbai Indians.
•Australia clinched the title of the 2nd edition of Hockey World League(HWL) Final at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium in Raipur, India – Belgium 2nd, India – third.
•India moved into the second place of the ICC Test Championship table after completing a 3-0 drubbing of South Africa in the four-Test series.
•Two new teams based out of Rajkot (Intex) and Pune (tycoon) replacing suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
•LOGO and MASCOT of 12th South Asian Games, 2016 Launched At Guwahati. Kolhapurs Anant Khasbardar and Abhijeet Krishna of NIFT Patna won the mascot and logo designing contests
•“Tennis Queen” Serena Williams named as Sportsperson of 2015
•ICC Test rankings : Batsman Rank – Ravichandran Ashwin – top 2nd spot, while Ravindra Jadeja – 8th spot, Brendon McCullum – 17th .
Rankings for Test bowlers : Australia’s Josh Hazlewood has entered the top 10, Off-spinner Nathan Lyon – 15th.
•Chennaiyin FC has won the 2015 Indian Super League (ISL) Football tournament. The team defeated Goa FC at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa.

Current Events December 2015 – political

•Union Cabinet ratified a MoU between India and Germany for Capital Goods Sector and Solar Energy
•India and Bahrain signed agreement to provide cooperation to tackle international terrorism transnational organized crime and psychotropic substances.
•Goa Govt. launched National Food Security Act, 2013.
Aim: To benefit more than one third of the state’s population – 5 kgs of subsidized rice or wheat per person per month
•Union Cabinet gives nod to establish 6 new IITs. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Karnataka.
•Himachal Pradesh became first state to launch Rotavirus vaccination project -Dharamsala in district Kangra – CM Virbhadra Singh.
•Arvind Subramanian Committee suggests GST(Goods and Services Tax) rate of 17-18 per cent
•Delhi Janlokpal Bill, 2015 passed by the assembly – two amendments proposed by activist Anna Hazare.
• Uttar Pradesh Govt. launched first International festival on Birds at the National Chambal Sanctuary in Agra.
•Andhra Pradesh become the first state in the country to join the Centre’s scheme UDAY – Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana)
•125th birth anniversary year celebrations of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar Babasaheb, PM Narendra Modi released two commemorative coins of ` 125 and ` 10 denomination.
•Union Cabinet given its approval to carry out official amendments in The National Waterways Bill, 2015. 106 additional inland waterways as the national waterways.
• Lok Sabha passes Indian Trusts (Amendment), Bill 2015 – Amend Indian Trusts Act, 1882.
•PM Narendra Modi visit to UK, India and United Kingdom launched a joint initiative “2016: UK-INDIA Year of Education, Research and Innovation” in New Delhi to increase mobility of students and faculty.
•Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda and Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi released the “India Health Report: Nutrition 2015” and “Global Nutrition Report”.
•Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) – “Sabla” implemented by Govt – ` 27486.79 lakhs. Aims at empowering Adolescent Girls (AGs) between 11-18 years through nutrition, health care and life skills education.
•Goa gov approved the ` 981.11 crore proposal for Panaji Smart City which was submitted to the Union Urban Development Ministry – total 19 cities – ` 304.22 crores
•PM Narendra Modi chaired the Combined Commanders Conference on board INS Vikramaditya at Sea, off the coast of Kochi – 1st board an aircraft carrier.
•Union Cabinet gives nod to amend Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 -in order to modify the list of Scheduled Castes in respect of the five states — Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha and West Bengal.
•Union Cabinet gives nod to MoU with BRICS countries for energy conservation – cooperation in joint scientific and technological research, conferencing
•Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated India’s biggest Wildlife Rescue Centre named as Gorewada Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Centre at Gorewada near Nagpur.

Current Events December 2015 – World

•Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe 3 days visit to India – 16 agreements.
– 3 MoU on Railway sector
– Joint statement on “India and Japan Vision 2025: Special Strategic and Global Partnership Working Together for Peace and Prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Region and the World.
– Varanasi – Smart city
•United Nations Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) in Paris World leaders of 20 countries has launched the Mission Innovation for accelerating clean energy revolution across the world. Tagline – “Accelerating the Clean Energy Revolution”
• UN chief launched Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape Initiative to build climate resilience – 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• China hosts the 1st media summit of countries Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS).
•Brazil entered longest recession since 1930s – 4.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter
•World health Organisation (WHO) released its first ever report on global estimates of foodborne diseases – “Estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases”
• UN Agencies released report on prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Asia-Pacific region – 98 per cent of youngsters aged 10 to 19 living with HIV
Title : ‘Adolescents: Under the Radar in the Asia-Pacific AIDS Response’.
•China’s first manned electric aircraft powered by rechargeable lithium batteries got a license for production – 45-60 minutes of flight time.
•Canada sends first consignment of uranium to India 250 tonnes. Contract to supply 7.1 million pounds of uranium
•2nd FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) Summit and 6th Ministerial Conference were held on 4 to 5 December 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Theme – “Africa-China Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development”.
•The 5th edition of “Heart of Asia” conference, an annual regional gathering of Asian and other countries commenced in Islamabad, Pakistan
Theme – “Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process: Enhanced cooperation for countering security.
•United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released Handbook of Statistics 2015
Global trade in services grew by 5% while merchandise trade stagnates and foreign direct investment falls.
•Myanmar launched the country’s first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Inle Lake in Shan state.
•International scientific-practical conference “The foreign policy of Turkmenistan as a factor of security and stability in the world”, devoted to the Year of Neutrality and Peace and the 20th Anniversary of Neutrality of Turkmenistan.
•FICCI and UN Women Multi Country Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka have signed a MoU in New Delhi to strengthen collaboration on advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in the business sector.
•14th Meeting of the Heads of Governments (Prime Ministers) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States on Regional Economic Cooperation was held in Zhengzhou, China. China’s One Belt, One Road initiative project.
•Saudi Arabia launched Islamic Military Coalition, a new military alliance of 34 nations mainly Muslim nations to fight terrorism.
•Afghanistan has become the 164th WTO member after 11 years of negotiations.
•2nd World Internet Conference held at Wuzen in China.
Theme : An Interconnected World Shared and Governed by All—Building a Cyberspace Community of Shared Destiny
•United Nations-brokered agreement on forming a national unity government to establish a single Government of National Accord and national institutions that will ensure broad representation.
•International Labour Organization (ILO) has released a report of new global estimates on migrant workers. 3 million of the world’s approximately 232 million international migrants.
•US Senate passes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reform as part of a budget bill. India’s voting rights will increase to 6% from the current 2.3%.
•The researchers at Columbia Engineering created World’s first biologically powered chip
•Beijing Govt has warned that the city would be shrouded in heavy smog “red alert” for pollution for 3 days.
•The new species belonging to the ceratopsia family was found in the same fossil beds in China’s Xinjiang province.
•Philippines evacuates 700,000 ahead of Typhoon “Melor” or Nona-95 mph.

Current Events December 2015 – Awards

•Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia.
•Time magazine named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its “Person of the Year 2015”.
•Wipro won 2015 Aegis Graham Bell Award for innovation in IoT
• Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2015
Poetry : Brajendra Kumar Brahma (Bodo) Dhian Singh (Dogri) Ramdarash Mishra (Hindi) K.V. Tirumalesh (Kannada) Kshetri Rajan (Manipuri) Ram Shankar Awasthi (Sanskrit)
Short stories : Kula Saikia (Assamese) Man Mohan Jha (Maithili) Gupta Pradhan (Nepali) Bibhuti Pattanaik (Odia) Maya Rahi (Sindhi) Volga (Telugu)
Novels : Cyrus Mistry (English) Jaswinder Singh (Punjabi) Madhu Acharya ‘Ashawadi’ (Rajasthani).
Essays : Rasik Shah (Gujrati) A. Madhavan (Tamil)
Plays : Uday Bhembre (Konkani) Rabilal Tudu (Santali)
Books on criticism : Bashir Bhadarwahi (Kashmir), Shamim Tariq (Urdu).
Memoirs : Arun Khopkar (Marathi).

Current Events December 2015 – Economy

•Asian Development Bank (ADB) releas ed a report titled “Asian Economic Integration Report 2015: How Can Special Economic Zones Catalyze Economic Development?” prepared by the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division (ERCI)
India become the 3rd largest source of inward FDI for the United Kingdom (UK) after the US and France in number of projects.
•Fitch retained India’s sovereign rating at the lowest investment grade of “BBB-/ stable” – India’s economy will grow by 5%

Current Events December 2015 – bank

•Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan has announced fifth bi-monthly monetary policy
– liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) – 6.75%
– Reverse repo rate under the LAF –5.75%
– Marginal standing facility (MSF)- 7.75%
– Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) – 4.0%
•Axis Bank launches country’s first ‘display variant’ debit card.
•Singapore has replaced Mauritius as the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India. Data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
•RBI cancelled the certificate of registration (COR) of 56 non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
•Luxembourg became 10th country to ratify the Articles of Agreement (AoA) that will lay the legal framework for the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
•RBI issued guidelines for cross-currency futures and exchange traded cross-currency option contracts in multiple currency pairs.
•World Bank consented $1.5 billion loan for the “clean India campaign” – to improved sanitation by 2019.
•Dena bank tied up with SBI Life Insurance Company in order to provide Group Life Insurance coverage to its housing loan borrowers under the ‘Dena Grihaswami Suraksha Yojana’.

Current Events December 2015 – Railway

•Indian Railways inked ` 40000 cr deal of locomotive plants with America’s General Electric GE and France’s Alstom.
•Railway minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off the 1,000-passenger Mumbai-Margao-Mumbai double decker express train – train no 11085.
•South Western Railways (SWR) Zone has introduced biodiesel for trains to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission and carbon footprint.

Current Events December 2015 – Tamilnadu

•Centre declared the recent floods in Tamil Nadu as a “calamity of severe nature” – declared as “National Disaster” – ` 1 crore

Current Events December 2015 – India

•Three-day Mayyazhi Mahotsavam celebrated in Mahe, Puducherry – Seminar on “waste is wealth” was held.
•HRD Minister SmritiIrani launched GIAN(Global Initiative of Academic Networks) scheme to boost the quality of the country’s higher education.
• 6th Meeting of Group on Automatic Exchange of Information held in New Delhi
•8th edition of a bilateral exercise between the Indian and Russian navies “INDRA NAVY” started in Visakhapatnam
•India and Japan are planned to ink an agreement on ‘Bullet Trains’ during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit – Mumbai and Ahmedabad
` 90,000 crore.
•HRD Minister Smriti Irani launched Kala Utsav to promote the culture
Theme – “living traditions of tribal, folk and traditional arts of different regions”
•India launched the Indian Long Term Ecological Observatories (I-LTEO) programme to scientifically monitor 8 different biomes (natural landscapes).
•Maharashtra has become first state to allow the members of state legislature to raise online questions.
•First India International Science Festival begins at IIT-Delhi – Organized by Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), an NGO
•Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) has constituted a seven-member sub-committee to examine the issue of these sales. Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
•Govt extends Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) deadline to Dec 31.
•Govt. signed MoU and documentation for establishing 3 Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) at Ranchi, Nagpur and Pune.
•Haryana became the 11th state to join UDAY scheme.
•Rajasthan becomes the first state to submit smart city plan – Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer – ` 6, 457 cr for 5 years.
•GOI requested the States/UTs to start “Operation Smile-II” from 1st January, 2016 to 31st January.
•AP Shah Committee appointed to look into ONGC, RIL dispute on KG gas fields – 11.122 billion cubic meters of natural gas, worth over ` 11,000 crore
•Greenpeace India has released a ranking of the 17 cities covered by the National Air Quality Index (NAQI)- April to Nov.
•Uttar Pradesh approved a complete ban on the distribution, manufacture and sales of polythene carry bags.
•West Bengal approved the proposal for introducing five new districts in the state. The total number of districts in West Bengal will increase to 25. Basirhat district, Kalimpong district, Burdwan (Industrial) district, Jhargram district and Sundarbans district:
•Uttar Pradesh become the twelfth State to become part of centre’s UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) scheme.
•India has been ranked 131 out of 167 nations on a global index – Measuring the Information Society Report (MISR).
•India up 5 spots, ranks 130th in Human Development Index: UNDP(United Nations Development Programme) report
Title : Rethinking Work for Human Development”.
Toppers – Norway topped followed by Australia and Switzerland.
•India ranks 97th on Forbes’ best countries for business list – Denmark topped the list. US has dropped four spots to number 22.
•Wipro announced to acquire Germany based Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW), Cellent AG for about ` 514 crore.
•Varanasi & Jaipur become members of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network
•Vijay Kumar Choudhary elected as Bihar assembly Speaker.
•Former Defence Secretary R K Mathur appointed as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
•Technology varsity in Madhya Pradesh ‘discovers’ anti-cancer molecules – CTR -17 and CTR-20.
•Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched six Singapore satellites and also tested the fourth stage of its PSLV rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre – carried by PSLV-C29 .
•Snapdeal launched mobile website in Hindi, Telugu language
•Forest Survey of India (FSI) has released the Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR 2015) – India’s total forest and tree cover has increased by 5081 sq km in the past two years.
•Life on My Terms –From the Grassroots to the Corridors of Power” authored by Sharad Pawar released on the 75th birthday of Pawar.
•The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee received first copies of the books ‘Selected Speeches of the President’ Volume 3 and ‘Presidential Retreats’ from the PM Shri Narendra Modi
•“The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence – An Insider’s Account” authored by Madhuri Bose.

Govt to launch helpline for digital payt

Union Government will soon launch nationwide toll-free helpline number ‘14444’ to promote digital payments. The helpline will educate people and provide support related to cashless mode of transactions. The service is expected to be operational within a week.

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