Current Affairs

GK and Current Affairs Updates

Select Date
Tags:
Hindi

Trump named as Time magazine's person of the year

US President-elect Donald Trump was named as Person of the Year 2016 on 7 December 2016 by Time magazine. 
●    The magazine cited his role for the stunning victory in the US Presidential election.
●    Trump’s rival in the presidential elections and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was the first runner-up for Person of the Year. 
●    Other contenders for the Time Person of the year were The US gymnast Simone Biles, Singer Beyonce, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
●    Modi won the online readers' poll conducted by Time magazine for Person of the Year 2016, the second time he emerged winner of the reader's choice poll.
●    This is an annual honour bestowed by Time magazine since 1927. 
●    It goes to the person who most influenced the news during the year for better or worse.


 

Read More
Read Less

Justice JS Khehar to be 44th Chief Justice of India

hief Justice of India TS Thakur on 6 December 2016 recommended Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar’s name to be the 44th Chief Justice of India. 
●    Justice Thakur wrote a letter recommending the name of Justice Khehar, who is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court to be his successor.
●    Justice Khehar, 64, will be sworn-in as the Chief Justice of India on 4 January 2017. He will retire from his office on 27 August 2017, after serving the nation as Chief Justice of India for over seven months.
●    Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar appointed Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority
●    He will be the first Chief Justice of India from the Sikh community and succeed CJI Thakur who will be demitting office on 3 January 2017.
●    He led the five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court that struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act for the appointment of judges.
●    He also led the bench that in January 2016 set aside the imposition of President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh.

Read More
Read Less

India International Science Festival (IISF-2016) inaugurated in New Delhi 

India has achieved a pre-eminent position in the field of Science & Technology, Space, Atomic Energy, Information Technology and newly emerging technologies such as Nano Technology and Bio Technology. ‘In this process, we have created one of the world's largest network of scientific laboratories and research institutions’, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences said while informing the Lok Sabha about the India International Science Festival (IISF-2016) – the largest festival of science in this country with its focus on “Science for the Masses”. 
●    The Minister added that the Prime Minister has directed that the benefits of advancements in Science & Technology must reach to the masses. Towards this, Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences has taken the initiative of launching India International Science Festival (IISF). 
●    Dr. Harsh Vardhan informed that IISF-2016 is not only a festival but a movement to connect common people with science and its contributions to our day-to-day life. 
●    IISF-2016 is being held at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Campus, New Delhi during 7-11 December, 2016. The event will be formally inaugurated by the Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh on 8th December 2016 at 2.00 pm. India International Science Festival (IISF) as a major science event was conceptualized last year which was organized the 1st IISF at IIT, Delhi during 4-8 December, 2015 and was visited by more than 4 lakh people. It was a great success and also won the distinction of Guinness Book of World Record for successful conduct of Largest Practical Science Lesson by 2000 school students. 
●    The success of first IISF in 2015 gave the impetus to launch IISF-2016 with expanded scope, mandate and operation. 
●    The Minister expressed his gratitude that nomination of students from various constituencies has led to organisation of an unique event – “Science Village” which will have a conglomeration of 3000+ school students from all across the country. These students from village level schools will be exposed to many scientific activities like interaction with scientists, watching scientific films apart from laboratory visits and tours around Delhi. 
●    IISF-2016 is expecting a large number of visitors (more than 5 lakh) from all walks of life to experience the festival of science and to interact with Indian scientific community. The Minister requested the House to join the movement by visiting IISF-2016, which will be the morale booster for young scientific minds who are going to reshape the future of India. 


 

Read More
Read Less

ISRO successfully places remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2A

ISRO successfully launched its own earth observation satellite Resourcesat-2A on 7 December 2016. 
●    The observation satellite Resourcesat -2A was launched with PSLV C36/ RESOURCESAT-2A from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
●    The PSLV-XL variant rocket standing 44.4 meters tall and weighing 321 tonne tore into the morning skies at 10.25am with a reverberating sound breaking free of the earth’s gravitational pull. 
●    The Resourcesat-2A weighing 1235 kilograms was injected into an 817 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at around 20 minutes into the destination.
●    This satellite is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by its two predecessors. 
●    The Resourcesat-2A carries three payloads which are similar to those of the earlier two Resourcesat’s. This mission will provide inputs in avionic science.
●    It carries two solid state recorders with a capacity of 200 Giga Bits each to store the images taken by its cameras. 
●    These images can be read out later to ground stations. The data sent by Resource would be analysed at Hyderabad from 15 December 2016.

Read More
Read Less

RBI eases 2 factor authentication norm for online transactions under Rs. 2000

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 6 December 2016 relaxed the norms for Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) for online card transactions of up to Rs 2000. 
●    However, only authorised card networks will provide such payment authentication solutions for online CNP (Card Not Present) transactions.
●    Only authorised card networks can provide such payment authentication solutions with participation of card issuing and acquiring banks.
●    Customer consent shall be taken while making this solution available to them.
●    The relaxation for AFA under such solutions shall be applicable for card not present transactions for a maximum value of Rs 2000 per transaction across all merchant categories.
●    Banks and card networks are free to facilitate their customers to set lower per transaction limits.
●    If the transaction limit goes beyond Rs 2000, then the card not present transaction will be processed as per the extant instructions with mandatory AFA; this goes same for the transaction value of below this limit.
●    Banks and card networks will decide the number of such small value transactions in a day, week or month.
●    There will be no change in the existing chargeback process.

Read More
Read Less

N. Chandrababu Naidu launched AP Purse

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu launched ‘AP Purse’, a mobile app, here on Tuesday.
●    Mr. Naidu said 13 mobile banking and 10 mobile wallets were available in the purse and could be used to pay bills. 
●    Cashless transactions were the need of the hour to tide over the currency crunch. 
●    Engineering students would be encouraged to train people. 
●    It would help them to earn while learning. The government would recognise the services of the colleges and the students for their service to society at the time of crisis, he said.
●    The Committee of Chief Ministers on digital payment systems and financial inclusion etc would meet in Mumbai on December 8. 
●    Problems being faced by people and alternative measures to ease the currency situation would be discussed, he said.
●    Mr. Naidu said the State government had been making efforts to solve the crisis and the situation would improve soon. 
●    As Rs. 2,472 crore was available with the banks, the State would get another Rs. 1,100 crore on Wednesday.
 

Read More
Read Less

IIIDEM conducts Training for SAARC nations on Election Management

With the aim of conducting free, fair, peaceful and inclusive elections in the country, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has brought together delegates from Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC Countries. 
●    The officials are here for training at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM). 
●    The course is being sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
●    The course commenced on December 5th, 2016 at the Election Commission of India’s training wing and will continue until December 15th, 2016. 
●    The 11 day course encapsulates several sessions on principles and practices for election management.
●    During the program, the 28 participants from SAARC countries will share their experiences on election situation in their respective countries. 
●    The participants have unanimously agreed on the continuous need for exchange of experiences and expertise between the SAARC Electoral Bodies for improved election management. 
 

Read More
Read Less

BRICS nations to share tax information automatically to eliminate tax evasion

A Joint Communique was issued at the conclusion of the two-day BRICS meeting of Revenue heads and Tax experts at Mumbai, India.
●    The meeting was held from 5-6 December 2016 with the primary objective of discussing potential areas of cooperation in tax matters and to initiate an exchange of ideas, opinions, relevant knowledge and experience regarding the same.
●    It was attended by the Revenue heads of all BRICS countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
●    All heads vowed to continue their support to all actions and international initiatives taken towards achieving a universally transparent tax system.
●    They also reasserted their commitment towards actions taken to ensure fairness of the same system, especially in the case of prevention of base erosion, shifting of profits, and exchange of tax information and capacity building of the developing countries.

Read More
Read Less

Indian Railways makes Aadhaar Card mandatory for availing senior citizen benefits

Indian Railways on 5 December 2016 announced that the reservation of rail tickets for senior citizens will be directly linked to Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) cards from 1 April 2017 onwards on a mandatory basis for availing concessions at both counter and e-tickets.
●    This Aadhaar-based ticketing system for senior citizens will be implemented in a two-phased manner. Accordingly, from 1 January to 31 March 2017, requirement of Aadhaar verification for getting concessional tickets for senior citizens will be optional.
●    However, from 1 April 2017, such a requirement will become mandatory.
●    Passengers in the senior citizen category shall carry the original documents including Aadhaar card for the purpose of identity proof.
●    However, there will be no change in procedure with regard to concession to senior citizens in unreserved ticketing.
●    It will stop unauthorised agents from booking tickets in fake names and then selling these at a higher price.

Read More
Read Less

45th All India Police Science Congress 

The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and Kerala Police are jointly organizing the 45th All India Police Science Congress at Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram on December 8-9, 2016. 
●    The main objective of this prestigious national event is to provide a common platform to the various police forces/units, social scientists, forensic experts and other stakeholders to deliberate on selected themes of topical interest to the Indian Police. 
●    It will also provide an opportunity to learn from each other’s experience by understanding the best practices being followed in other States/UTs. The deliberations of All India Police Science Congress will provide a future roadmap for all the police forces/services of  the country to provide quality service to the people.
●    The First All India Police Science Congress was held in 1960 at Patna, Bihar. Since then it has been held 44 times. This would be followed by Open House discussion in which ideas from the states and new challenges would be discussed and recommendations of the Congress shall be finalized.
●    The Police Science Congress shall be inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan on December 8, 2016. Governor of Kerala, Shri Justice (Retd.) P. Sathasivam will deliver the valedictory address on December 9, 2016. 
●    The delegates from Police Departments of States and UTs, Central Police Organizations, Central Armed Police Forces and Forensic Science Laboratories shall attend the Police Science Congress. 
●    The Police Science Congress shall be addressed by the Senior Police Officers, Academicians, Scientists and Subject Experts from institutions like IITs, Department of Science and Technology, DRDO, Forensic Science Laboratories and other Research Institutions etc.

Read More
Read Less

All Rights Reserved Top Rankers