GK and Current Affairs Updates

A new council has been formed to reinforce the United Arab Emirates policies and strategies on climate change, and environmental and sustainable development.
●    The UAE Council for Climate Change and Environment was constituted on Sunday by Minister of Climate Change and Environment Dr Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.
●    The council will develop plans towards achieving environmental objectives and also represent the UAE in regional and international negotiations related to the scope of work of the ministry.
●    The council will also create partnerships with the private sector and conduct studies and lead scientific research in fields related to the ministry’s work.
●    Commenting on the importance of the decision, Al Zeyoudi, who also chairs the council, said: “The ministry will seek to find innovative solutions for pressing environmental issues that we face without compromising economic development, and yet protect our culture and heritage.”
 

Good Governance Day is being observed across India on 25 December 2016. The day is observed to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has turned 92.
●    To mark the occasion, a Good Governance campaign will be undertaken for 100 days. 
●    During this campaign, ministers and members of Parliament will travel across India and attend programmes that highlight the key initiatives of the government.
●    Besides, six major initiatives will be launched by the  Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. The initiatives include
●    Immovable Property Return through Property Related Information System (PRISM)
●    Recruitment Rules Formation, Amendment Monitoring System (RRFAMS)
●    Announcement of E-Service Book
●    Mandatory online filing of APAR by all All India Services and Central Group A Service Officers
●    Launching of redesigned website of Department of Personnel and Training.
●    The endeavour of the government is to improve delivery systems, to promote digital transformation and take forward the connectivity revolution in all sectors.

Sakhamuru, a nondescript village in Thullur mandal of Andhra Pradesh will host the single largest lung space in the State’s capital region in the form of a 200-acre botanical garden.
●    The AP-Capital Region Development Authority (AP-CRDA) which is developing it, has identified a 100-acre parcel of land for the garden and got it incorporated in the master plan.
●    Besides, six nurseries set up by the landscaping and environment wing of the CRDA at Mandadam, Kondamarajupalem, Navuluru, Penumaka, Velagapudi and Venkatayapalem will help raise greenery across the region.
●    These facilities have a collection of 10 lakh saplings.
●    Two other big projects undertaken by the CRDA are those which will give Gannavaram–Ramavarappadu and Kanaka Durga Varadhi–Pottur (Guntur Rural Mandal) stretches of the respective national highways a green look by raising plantations along the central dividers.
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The Odisha Government recently decided to launch a new malaria control programme, DAMAN, in remote tribal-dominated areas.
●    Odisha has 62 types of tribes including 13 primitive tribes that constitute 22.3 per cent of the state's population. The population is under the high risk of malaria infection.
●    DAMAN stands for Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran (Malaria Control in Inaccessible Areas).
●    It will be implemented in 8000 villages of all 79 blocks of eight high malaria endemic southern districts. 
●    These districts are Koraput, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Nabarangapur, Nuapada, Kandhamal and Gajapati.
●    The programme incorporates mass screening for malaria with treatment of positive cases along with intensified supervision, mosquito control measures and regular health education activities throughout the year.
●    The drive will continue for five years with a total expenditure of Rs 120 crore. 
●    The State Government has already sanctioned Rs 10 crore to start the programme.
●    Around 80 lakh high-risk population will benefit from the programme.

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh presided over the ‘Good Governance Day’ function, here today. He launched six major initiatives of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on the occasion of Good Governance Day.Main features of the new initiatives are as follows:
●    National Informatics Centre (NIC) had prepared ‘Guidelines for Indian Government Websites’ (GIGW) with a view to make government websites citizen centric and user friendly which has been circulated by the Department of AR & PG to all Government Ministries / Departments for adoption.
●    The Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India had written to all the Secretaries in this regard and advised NIC to extend necessary technology support to facilitate the departments in revising, redesigning their websites to make them compliant to Guidelines for Indian Government websites to make them usable, citizen centric and universally accessible.
●    CMF is a Content Management Framework developed by NIC, MeitY and is aligned to the mandate of PMO to standardize all the websites of Government of India under the Digital India Programme.
●    This includes standardization of Content Architecture, User Interface Design and layout and along with certain important key features such as accessibility, responsive design etc., in order to simplify the information dissemination and access by common citizens even through hand held devices (i.e. mobiles, tablets etc) to the various government services.
●    As per information available the websites of 23 Ministries / Departments have been mitigated using CMF and the websites of remaining departments are in pipeline.
●    The revamped website of DoPT is bilingual and compliant with the ‘Guidelines for Indian Government Website (GIGW).

Mohun Bagan and Chennaiyin FC striker Jeje Lalpekhlua has been nominated as the '2016 All India Football Federation (AIFF) Player of the Year,".
●    The 25-year-old from Mizoram will be presented a prize of Rs. 2.5 lakh along with the glittering trophy, AIFF president Praful Patel declared at the AIFF Annual General Body Meeting here.
●    Sasmita Malik was conferred the 2016 AIFF Woman Footballer of the Year award. 
●    The Odisha-based footballer will get Rs. 2 lakh in cash besides a trophy.
●    AIFF also awarded '2016 AIFF Award for Special Recognition' to Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Uvena Fernandes. 
●    They will be bestowed with Rs. 1 lakh and a trophy apiece.
●    Emerging Woman Footballer of the Year: Sanju
●    Emerging Player of the Year: Rovllin Borges
●    Award for Best Grassroots Development Program: Punjab Football Association
●    Award for Best Assistant Referee: Tony Joseph
●    Award for Best Referee: sharp Banerjee

Close on the heels of Cyrus Mistry quitting six Tata group firms, independent director Darius Pandole, who supported of the ousted chairman, has resigned from the board of Tata Global Beverages (TGBL). 
●    Pandole and Singh were the two directors who had opposed a resolution moved by promoter Tata Sons seeking removal of Mistry as the company’s chairman. 
●    “Darius Pandole, non-executive independent director of Tata Global Beverages, has resigned from the board of the company with immediate effect,” the company said in a BSE filing.
●    On November 15, when Mistry was ousted as the chairman of TGBL, two out of the six independent directors on the company Pandole and Singh had voted against the resolution moved for Mistry’s ouster. 
●    Seven of the 10 directors at the board meeting of Tata Global Beverages, which co-owns and runs Starbucks coffee stores across India, voted for removal of Mistry.

Reliance Communications (RCom) of the Anil Ambani group has signed binding agreements with Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure and institutional partners to sell its tower business for an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore
●    The already-announced combination of RCom’s wireless business with Aircel, and the monetisation of the tower business, will together reduce RCom’s overall debt by Rs 31,000 crore ($ 4.6 billion), or nearly 70 per cent of existing debt.
●    RCom will also receive Class B non-voting shares in the new tower company, providing 49 per cent future economic upside in the towers business, based on certain conditions. 
●    RCom expects significant future value creation from the B Class shares, based on growth in tenancies arising from increasing 4G roll-out by all telecom operators and fast accelerating data consumption.
●    RCom shares rose by 6.85 per cent to Rs 37.45 on the BSE soon after the announcement.
●    Brookfield Infrastructure is an investment company.
●    Brookfield Infrastructure operates Canada's majority stake.
●    After American Tower Corp Brookfield is the second largest independent telecom tower company in India.

Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu today launched ‘Google Maps Toilet Locator App’ to enable people to locate the nearest public toilet in five cities of the National Capital Region and Bhopal and Indore.
●    Besides, Thanesar and Sirsa cities in Haryana have been awarded ’Swachhta Certificate’ for making cities open defecation free.
●    Naidu said the Google Maps Toilet Locator App facility, which is as of now available in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida and the two cities of Madhya Pradesh, would help in addressing open urination and open defecation.
●    The app also gives information about the nature of the toilet seat available, free or pay for use, working hours, etc. 
●    This facility will be extended to other cities in due course, the minister said. The Urban Development Ministry has partnered with Google to enable this service.
●    The minister also awarded ‘Swachhta Certificates’ to 12 cities, including Thanesar and Sirsa, which have become open defecation free recently and their claims verified independently by the Quality Council of India.
●    Other cities are Visakhapatnam; Guntur and Nellore in AP; New Delhi Municipal Council, Suchindram and Mailadi in TN; and Khopoli, Kolhapur and Nandurbar in Maharashtra.

The Centre approved the promulgation of an ordinance on Wednesday to enable industries to pay wages by cheque or by direct credit into bank accounts.
●    Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya said wage payment through the banking system would only be optional, until State governments or the Centre come up with a notification for specific industries.
●    Mr. Dattatreya had introduced the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha on December 15, but it couldn’t be cleared owing to the impasse in Parliament. 
●    The present law states that all payment of wages should be in cash, with a provision asking employers to obtain written permission of the worker to pay either by cheque, or by crediting the wages to his or her bank account.
●    The present law states that all payment of wages should be in cash, with a provision asking employers to obtain written permission of the worker to pay either by cheque, or by crediting the wages to his or her bank account.