GK and Current Affairs Updates

Indian field hockey player PR Sreejesh on 8 December 2016 took over as goalkeeping mentor of the India Under-21 team.
●    The decision was taken when the home team is all set to compete in the Junior World Cup title after a prolonged 15-year wait.
●    Sreejesh, who is the captain of the senior national men’s team, will take charge of the role from South African Dave Staniforth.
●    Staniforth was roped in by Hockey India to work with the junior goalkeepers for a short three-week period keeping in mind the World Cup. He is set to leave for his home nation tomorrow.
●    Born on 8 May 1986, Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh is an Indian field hockey player.
●    He plays as a goalkeeper in the Indian national team and is its current captain.
●    He plays for Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the Hockey India League.
●    In 2004, he made into the junior national team in a match against Australia in Perth.
●    He made his debut in the senior national team at South Asian Games in Colombo in 2006.
●    After India's victory at the 2008 Junior Asia Cup, he was awarded the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
●    His second Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament award came at the 2013 Asia Cup, in which India finished second in the tournament.
●    He was the captain of the team that won the silver medal at the Hero Champions Trophy 2016 held at London.
●    On 13 July 2016, he was given the responsibilities of the captain of Indian hockey team.
 

The Prime Minister and acting President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected the country's president in the presidential election, which was held on 4 December 2016.
As per the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan, Mirziyoyev won the election with an overwhelming vote. He garnered 88.61% of the votes, which is above the required over 50% of valid ballots to become a president.
The other three presidential candidates were: the National Revival Democratic Party’s Sarwar Otamuratov, who scored 2.35%, Hotamzhon Ketmonov of the People's Democratic Party scored 3.73% and the Justice Social Democratic Party’s Narimon Umarov scored 3.46% of the votes.
About Shavkat Mirziyoyev
●    Born on 24 July 2016, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan since 2003.
●    He was appointed by the Supreme Assembly as interim President of Uzbekistan on 8 September 2016 following the death of President Islam Karimov.
●    He graduated from the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration and also holds a Candidate (PhD) degree in Technological Sciences.
●    From 1996 to September 2001, he served as Governor of Jizzakh Region, then as Governor of Samarqand Region from September 2001 until his appointment as Prime Minister in 2003.
●    On 12 December 2003, he was nominated as Prime Minister by President Islam Karimov.
 

Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to announce compensation for families of those who died standing in bank or ATM queues after November 8, when the Prime Minister made the demonetisation announcement.
●    A press statement from the Akhilesh Yadav government said, "It is unfortunate that people have died after standing in ATM and bank queues in the state because of 'notebandi' (demonetisation). 
●    The chief minister has announced to give Rs 2 lakh each from his discretionary fund to the families of all such people who were from a poor background." 
●    Officials have been directed to probe all such deaths.
●    In the same statement, the government announced Rs 5-lakh compensation for the family of a daily wage earner who committed suicide after failing to exchange old currency notes in a bank.
●    BJP criticised the move, saying SP was politicising the miseries of the poor. 
 

The Gujarat Cricket Association, helmed by BJP president Amit Shah, is seeking to make the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, an 110,000 capacity venue, exceeding the biggest cricket stadium in the world — Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) — which has a capacity of 100,024.
●    Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah project GCA's Dream project.
●    The old structure of the stadium is already present.
●    The new stadium will be built on the same location.
●    With a seating capacity of 110,000 spectators.
●    Capacity largest audience yet Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is
●    100.0024 The viewer can watch the match together.
●    According to GCA secretary Rajesh Patel Ground Construction Company is willing to be quoted.
●    When completed, it will be the world's largest stadium.
●    It will be the latest international standard.
●    The new stadium will have better infrastructure and will increase the number of AC boxes.
●    Parking will feature even better.
●    "Come inside and get out of the stadium and will be made accessible way.
●    Food, good Washroom Fan Among Jones will also feature.
●    6 Pavilion and the 54,000 spectators present at the stadium has a seating capacity.
 

The international financial institution, World Bank has cancelled a $100 million loan to Pakistan that was meant to be for a natural gas efficiency project.
●    The loan was cancelled, as the gas distribution company that was responsible for the project, failed to make any progress in achieving its developmental objectives and showed very less interest in the project overall.
●    According to a report by the World Bank, failure of the project resulted in its closure. With it, the levels of unaccounted-for gas increased in the country. 
●    UFG mostly arises from broken or leaking pipelines and gas theft, which happens through tampered metres and illegal connections.
●    Apart from this, the international institution also stated that the company should have been more cautious and the country should not have initiated such a project in the first place when the company-in-charge itself showed such less interest.
 

After arresting former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief SP Tyagi in connection with the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, the CBI is likely to question former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former officials in the PMO. 
●    Along with Manmohan Singh, the investigating agency may also question the former prime minister’s then principal secretary TKA Nair and former national security adviser MK Narayanan beside the former CBI director Ranjit Sinha and former special director Salim Ali.
●    The CBI had on Friday arrested SP Tyagi for allegedly influencing the Rs 3,600-crore deal in favour of AgustaWestland. 
●    A Delhi-based lawyer, Gautam Khaitan and SP Tyagi’s cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie Tyagi was also arrested along with him. 
●    The CBI said that all the three people have been arrested for accepting illegal gratification for exercising influence through corrupt or illegal means.
●    On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal. 
●    CBI had also got issued Letters Rogatory (judicial requests) to multiple countries to gather more leads and evidences in this case.
 

Cyclone Vardah is expected to cross Andhra Pradesh coast between Chennai and Ongole. This may bring good rainfall over north coastal districts, including Chennai.
●    According to Meteorological Department, the weather system has now intensified into very severe cyclonic storm.
●    The weather system now lies about 300 km east of Chennai and 350 km east-southeast of Nellore. It is very likely to move nearly westwards and weaken gradually while moving towards north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts.
●    It is very likely to cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts, close to Chennai, with a wind speed of up to 100 kmph on Monday afternoon.
●    Tidal waves likely to inundate the low lying areas of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu; and Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
●    The IMD has predicted isolated heavy to very heavy falls over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next 36 hours.
 

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee marked his 81st birthday by launching a ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ Campaign organized by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (December 11, 2016).
●    Speaking on the occasion, the President said that he was delighted to launch the campaign led by Nobel peace prize winner, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, from Rashtrapati Bhavan, an institution which symbolises our Republic’s commitment to democracy, pluralism and secularism.
●    The President said this global effort to mobilize 100 million youth for shaping a better future of 100 million children who are less privileged is the beginning of a change which was long overdue. It is only appropriate that this campaign begins from India, which has one of the largest populations of youth in the world. He expressed hope that the campaign, as it runs for five years, will have a path-breaking impact on the lives of children across the globe. He urged all children and young people from India and abroad to join this campaign and be the torchbearers for a vibrant, compassionate and happy world where every child is free from want, fear and exploitation.
●    The ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ Campaign aims to mobilise 100 million youth and children for 100 million underprivileged children across the world, to end child labour, child slavery, violence against children and promote the right of every child to be safe, free, and educated, over the next 5 years.
●    Earlier in the day, the President inaugurated twin tower apartments for staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan; Navachara-II, a hall for permanent exhibition of grassroots innovations at Rashtrapati Bhavan and a museum of vintage carpets & tapestries of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
 

Government of India has initiated numerous steps to combat the scourge of Corruption and Black Money in the last two and a half years. Demonetization of 500 and 1000 Rs. notes is an important milestone in this endeavour. 
●    The highlights of the proposed incentives scheme are as follows-
●    All consumers and merchants using digital payments shall be eligible
●    There are two levels of incentive amounts available under the scheme:
●    Weekly lucky draw of the transaction IDs generated in that week, the contours of which are being finalized.
●    Quarterly draw for grand prizes.
●    While designing the scheme the focus will be on poor, lower middle class and small businesses.
●    All modes of digital payments- viz. USSD, AEPS, UPI and RuPay Cards- will be eligible.
●    For merchants, transactions made on the POS machines installed at their locations would be considered.
●    The detailed guideline of the scheme shall be unveiled soon. However, it would be ensured that all those who have used digital payment systems after November 8thshall be eligible to participate in the scheme.
●    The scheme would also provide for recognition of State Governments, their Undertakings, Districts and Urban & Rural Local Bodies who innovate for promoting electronic payment in their respective jurisdictions.

As a step towards fulfilment of the Government of India’s target for installation of 40 GW rooftop solar power plants by the year 2022, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) is launching today a tender of 1000 MW capacity for development of grid-connected rooftop solar capacity for Central Government Ministries/Departments. This would be the largest rooftop tender to be launched by SECI, and is expected to give a big boost to the hugely potent rooftop solar power generation segment.
●    The 1000 MW tender, one of the largest globally, is a move to rapidly escalate rooftop solar capacity in the country, and comes in quick succession to SECI’s earlier tender of 500 MW capacity, targeting buildings in the residential/institutional and social sectors.
●    Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has allocated 21 Ministries/ Departments to SECI interalia Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs etc. The ministries have shown great enthusiasm and have assured their commitment with submission of “Green Energy Commitment Certificates” to MNRE for implementation of Grid Connected SPV power plants at the roof of their offices/other buildings etc., as part of their Clean energy initiatives and achieving National target of alleviating Global Warming. Various ministries/department have been sensitized by MNRE/SECI for implementation of Grid connected rooftop systems.
●    MNRE has also collated the demand of the various Ministries/departments for implementation of the systems. Based on the indicative list of sites provided by MNRE and various interested Ministries, SECI is carrying out a potential assessment which shall be provided to the solar PV developers (SPD).