GK and Current Affairs Updates

Pulkit Trivedi was on 12 December 2016 appointed as Industry Director of Facebook India for e-commerce, retail, travel and financial services verticals.
●    Trivedi will lead in building and maintaining strategic relationships with clients in India.
●    Recently, Pulkit held the position of Head of Industry and e-commerce at Google India. 
●    He has over 18 years of extensive industry experience covering sales, business development and partnerships in companies such as Google, Intel, Microsoft IBM and HCL.
●    He had been in Google since April 2012 and was responsible for driving a large business for Google India.
●    His first big break came in 2003 at IBM where he was given charge of a multi-million-dollar project.
●    He also taught Consumer Behaviour at IIT Roorkee for four years.
●    He is an MBA from BITS Mesra and was featured in the Hottest Young Business Leaders under 40 in India by Business Today in 2015.

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres (67) was sworn in as the 9th UN Secretary-General. 
●    He was administered the Oath of Office by Peter Thomson, President of UN General Assembly at special plenary meeting. 
●    He succeeds Ban Ki-moon and shall have five-year term beginning January 1, 2017. Antonio Guterres was unanimously appointed by the UN General Assembly after the 15-nation UN Security Council had approved him in October 2016. 
●    Antonio Guterres is Portuguese politician and diplomat. He was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. 
●    He had entered politics in 1976 during Portugal’s first democratic election after the “Carnation Revolution” which had ended five decades of dictatorship. 
●    He was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from June 2005 to December 2015. 
●    He led the UNHCR through during one of the world’s worst present refugee crises, including those in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
 

The Closing Ceremony of 31st annual sports day of AFGJI was held. 
●    The Chief Guest on the occasion was Air Cmde Bhaskar Nandi VSM, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Central Medical Establishment. 
●    After the Welcome Address, an impressive March Past was done by the students. The school choir ‘Ekyataan’ sang the Institute Song. 
●    Thereafter the Annual Sports Report was presented by the Principal, Mrs Poonam S Rampal highlighting the achievements of the students at the zonal, state and national level. 
●    After that, athletic events were held wherein the young athletes took part and performed to the best of their abilities. 
●    During the cultural programme, the Special Wing students put up a dance performance ‘Born to Win’. 
●    The Primary students performed Yoga and also danced to the beats of lively music and performed the Garba dance. 
●    The ‘Jasmine Flower Dance’ by the senior students depicted a wonderful collaboration of dance and design. 
●    Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute, Subroto Park, New Delhi hosted the 31st Annual Athletic Meet from 8th December to 10th December 2016.
 

The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to impose a blanket ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in three districts of the state.
●    The ruling came in response to a writ petition filed by Udit Narayan Tiwari, seeking a ban on a bar serving liquor in Haridwar, stating that it violated the government order passed in February 2002.
●    The order had prohibited the sale and consumption of liquor in Haridwar given its religious prominence.
●    The PIL was heard by a division bench comprising Justices Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh who ordered a complete ban on liquor in Rudraprayag, Chamoli, and Uttarkashi districts, effective from next fiscal year.
●    These districts are home to the highly religious Char Dham temples. While Kedarnath and Badrinath are located in Rudraprayag and Chamoli respectively, Gangotri and Yamunotri both are located in Uttarkashi.
●    The bench stated that though the sale of liquor is already prohibited in the area, a complete ban is essential, especially considering the growing tendency of drinking among youngsters. 
●    Along with this, the bench of justices also directed the state government to ban public drinking and keep a check on ‘large drunken gatherings’.
 

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, on 11 December 2016 launched Narmada Seva Yatra at Amarkantak. 
●    The yatra that will continue till 11 May 2017 (about five months) aims at turning the River Narmada pollution free and unceasing.
●    This Narmada Sewa Yatra that will cover more than 1900 kilometres (from Amarkantak to Sondwa (Alirajpur)) in 16 districts will also help in making people aware about the conservation of the river.
●    Before kick starting the campaign, Chouhan performed all religious rituals and invited religious leaders to join the yatra. He said that he will join the campaign every week.
●    All villages that lie on the bank of the river will have its own Narmada Sewa Samiti, which will undertake the follow-up action on measures for its preservation.
●    Sewage water that flows into the river will be treated before being released into the river.
●    Trees will be planted along the banks of the Narmada.
●    During the 118 day, journey will be monitored by a core team of fifty persons.
●    The yatra will comprise of workshops and public meetings.
 

Sunil Gavaskar was today conferred with the Golden Jubilee Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sports Journalists’ Association of Mumbai (SJAM) in Mumbai.
●    The award was presented by former India captain Ajit Wadekar and former India player Madhav Apte at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai.
●    Gavaskar was presented with a citatation and a certificate which has details of all his 34 centuries. 
●    Gavaskar narrated incidents how West Indies great Gary Sobers touched him for luck.
●    The awards was given in the Cricket Club of India, by former Indian captain Ajit Wadekar and former Indian cricketer Madhav Apte.
●    Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai on December 11, 2016 on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee Award awarded these prizes.
●    Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is the full name of Sunil Gavaskar.
●    He was born on July 10, 1949 Mumbai (Maharashtra).
●    Sunil Gavaskar was the student of St. Xavier's School and St. Xavier's College.
●    Sunil Gavaskar in 125 test matches with 34 Test centuries scored 10122 runs.
●    He represented India in 108 ODIs and scored 3000 runs.
●    He recorded the highest 34 centuries and 10,000 runs in Test cricket, the world's first player.
●    He also played in the Ranji Trophy and Irani Trophy.
 

Virat Kohli, India’s captain for Test Cricket, on 11 December 2016 became the fifth batsman in the world to score three double-hundreds in a calendar year. 
●    He scored his third double-century in the first innings of the third test match against England.
●    His first double-ton was scored against West Indies, while the second came in Indore against New Zealand. 
●    His third double test-century also made him the first batsman to score a double-century in three successive series in a year. 
●    He is also first Indian to score three double-tons in a year.
●    His score of 235 also became the highest score for an Indian captain in Test cricket. 
●    The previous best score was 224, which was scored by Mahendra Singh Dhoni against Australia in Chennai in 2013.
●    Beside this, Kohli is the only player to have an average of 50+ in all formats of the game.  
●    His averages in the three formats are : Test: 50.53 . ODIs: 52.93 . Twenty20 internationals: 57.13
 

New Zealand’s National party has chosen Bill English as the country’s 39th Prime Minister. He will be succeeding John Key, who announced his surprise resignation last week.
●    English’s name was confirmed for the role during a National Party meeting, which took place early on 12 December 2016. He was formerly serving the nation as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (MoF).
●    While Paul Bennett will be replacing English as the new Deputy PM, senior Cabinet minister Steven Joyce has been named as the new finance minister.
●    He has been a politician for 26 years. 
●    He entered politics in 1990 when he was elected to the Parliament as a National Party candidate.
●    Prior to it, he was a farmer and a public servant with degrees in commerce and literature,
●    He was first appointed as the Finance Minister in 1999 but he couldn’t complete even a year in office, as his party got defeated in the elections held in the same year.
●    He replaced Jenny Shipley as the leader of the National Party in 2001. 
●    He was replaced by Don Brash in 2003 following the party’s worst election defeat in 2002.
●    In November 2006, he was named deputy under John Key’s leadership and after the party’s 2008 win, he was sworn in as both Deputy PM and MoF, a role which he continued to handle until 2016.
 

The Chinese government has provided nearly Rs 16 billion for the post-quake reconstruction activities in Nepal.
●    Spokesperson of the government and Minister for Information and Communications Surendra Kumar Karki shared this information adding that the Cabinet meeting on Sunday decided to accept the grants worth Rs 15.80 billion provided by China.
●    The meeting of the Council of Ministers also decided to register the election bill at the Legislature-Parliament.
●    Decision was made to send a proposal to legislation committee on a work procedure to study the agreement government made with Dr Govinda KC, and forward implementations accordingly.
●    A committee would be formed by the government under the coordination of chief judge of appellate court, Govinda Prasad Parajuli, to study on the government employees and teachers who were sacked from the jobs on the basis of ideology during the conflict and agitation. 
●    The members of the committee are Deputy Attorney General at the Office of the Attorney General, Rewati Shivakoti, and Director at Department of Education, Ana Prasad Neupane.
 

Stuck in an economic crisis and facing rampant inflation, the Venezuelan government announced Sunday it would pull its largest bill from circulation.
●    The 100-bolivar note, which is worth approximately two cents, will be replaced by much larger bank notes. 
●    Venezuelans will have 10 days after the 100-bolivar bill is removed from circulation to exchange the notes at the central bank. 
●    In the wake of the 100-bolivar note's demise, six bank notes worth between 500 and 20,000 bolivars will be made available, and three new coins. 
●    One US dollar can buy up to 4,400 bolivars on the black market.
●    Critics were quick to denounce the decision, saying Maduro should fight against the use of contraband bills on the Colombia-Venezuela border, and that there was no realistic way for Venezuelans to exchange 100-bolivar bills currently in circulation within the allotted time. 
●    Data from the central bank showed there were more than six billion 100-bolivar notes in circulation in November, which is about 48 percent of all bills and coins in use.