Important Current Affairs 7th December 2021

INTERNATIONAL

Adama Barrow re-elected The Gambia’s President

• The President of Gambia, Adama Barrow, won the second term as President during Gambia’s presidential election by achieving over 53% votes from 50 of 53 constituencies. He defeated his main challenger Ousainou Darboe who won 27.7% of vote. The results of the election were declared by Electoral commission Chairman Alieu Momarr Njai. Adama Barrow’s assumption as President 5 years ago ended more than 20 years of the dictatorship of former dictator Yahya Jammeh.

NATIONAL

PM Modi virtually inaugurated thought Leadership Forum

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated a thought leadership forum on FinTech, ‘InFinity Forum’. The event was hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), under the aegis of the Government of India in collaboration with GIFT City and Bloomberg. Indonesia, South Africa and the United Kingdom were the partner countries in the 1st edition of the Forum.

• The Forum focused on the theme of ‘Beyond’ with various sub-themes. The sub-themes include FinTech beyond boundaries, FinTech beyond Finance, and FinTech Beyond Next, with a focus on how Quantum Computing could impact the nature of the Fintech industry in the future and promote new opportunities.

SPORTS

Argentina beat Germany to lift Junior hockey world cup

• Argentina showcased its organised game with great composure to beat six-time champion German side 4-2 and win the title after 16 years in the men’s Hockey Junior World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium. Argentina has become the only third team after Germany (six wins) and India (2001, 2016) to win multiple Junior Hockey WC titles. Defending champions India finished fourth in the junior hockey world cup 2021 after losing 1-3 to France in the third-place match.

Badminton World Federation: Viktor Axelsen, Tai Tzu Ying named 2021 BWF Player of the Year

• Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen and China’s Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying were named Male and Female player of the year 2021 respectively by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was the first season-ending award in this category for both Vicktor Axelsen and Tai Tzu Ying — the All England champions of 2020. Viktor Axelsen is the Olympic champion and Tai Tzu Ying is the Tokyo Games, silver medallist. Viktor Axelsen was rewarded for his extraordinary run starting from the Barcelona Spain Masters in February 2020.

APPOINTMENT & RESIGNATION

Jasprit Bumrah signs up as Unix Brand Ambassador

• Unix, an Indian Mobile Accessories manufacturing brand, has signed Indian Cricket Fast Bowler, Jasprit Bumrah as its Brand Ambassador to increase the visibility of their products. The products include wearable mobile electronics such as Chargers, Earphones, Data Cables, Power Banks, Wireless Speakers, Smartphone Batteries, Bluetooth neckbands and TWS are mostly manufactured and marketed across India through distributors.

IMPORTANT DAYS

National Armed Forces Flag Day 2021:7th December

• National armed forces day is also known as the National flag day of India. The day is every year celebrated and observed on 7th December. The aim to observe this day as the national armed forces day is to collect funds from the people for the betterment of armed forces. To know more about the national armed forces day, candidates are advised to read the article below.

• A committee was set up on August 28, 1949, under the then Defense Minister of India. The committee decided to observe a Flag Day annually on December 7. The aim to celebrate this day as the national flag day Or national armed forces day is to distribute flags amongst the people and collect the funds from them for the betterment of the armed forces. The Defence Ministry of India in 1993 consolidated all the related welfare funds into a single Armed Forces Flag Day Fund.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Eminent Indian-American mathematician Nikhil Srivastava, has been jointly selected for the inaugural $5,000 Ciprian Foias Prize

• Indian-American mathematician, Nikhil Srivastava, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley along with Adam Marcus and Daniel Spielman were awarded the First Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Adam Marcus holds the Chair of Combinatorial Analysis at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Daniel Spielman is a Sterling Professor of Computer Science, a professor of statistics and data science, and a professor of mathematics.

• The $5,000 award has been given to Nikhil Srivastava for his work in developing and introducing techniques to understand the characteristic polynomial of matrices, including iterative sparsification. Nikhil Srivastava has earlier jointly won the George Polya Prize in 2014, and the Held prize in 2021 making this his third major award. He is an associate professor of mathematics at UC Berkeley.

BOOKS & AUTHOR

Book on ‘Public Service Ethics’ authored by Prabhat Kumar

• The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu launched ‘Public Service Ethics- A Quest for Naitik Bharat’ authored by Prabhat Kumar, published by IC Centre for Governance, at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas, New Delhi. The book highlights the multiple dimensions element of human character, the practice of ethical principles as a way of life. It marked the importance of accountability, integrity, transparency and trustworthiness of the public governance system.

• Prabhat Kumar was an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1963 batch, Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre. Prabhat Kumar is an Indian politician and retired civil servant. He served as the Cabinet Secretary between 1998 and 2000. On the creation of Jharkhand in November 2000, he was made the first Governor.

Book titled “1971: Charge of the Gorkhas and Other Stories” released

• A new book that unearths true stories of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, ’1971: Charge of the Gorkhas and Other Stories, written by Rachna Bisht Rawat, was released. The book includes, from the story of the flight lieutenant who went missing after his plane crashed inside Pakistan to the ‘last khukri attack’ in modern military history.

• Rachna Bisht Rawat is the author of six books by Penguin Random House India, including the bestsellers The Brave and Kargil. She lives in Gurugram with Hukum the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed golden retriever; an eclectic collection of books and music; and Manoj Rawat, the man in olive green, who met her when he was a gentleman cadet at the Indian Military Academy and offered to be her comrade for life.