GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Parliament of Thailand on 29 November 2016 invited Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn to be the new king of the country. 
●    The invitation completes a formal step for the heir apparent to take the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016.
●    As per the established procedure, the prince will have to accept parliament's invitation in order for him to be proclaimed king.
●    Born on 28 July 1952, Maha Vajiralongkorn is the only son of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit.
●    He was made crown prince at the age of 20 by his father.
●    He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in Canberra, Australia.
●    He is a qualified military pilot and helicopter pilot.
●    He also took an active part in military operations against the Communist Party of Thailand during the 1970s.
●    He will be the 10th king of the 234-year-old Chakri Dynasty.

The United Nations Department of Field Support (DFS) on 29 November 2016 launched a new strategy to maximize its peace operations' efficiency in the use of natural resources. 
●    The strategy will also help in minimizing peace operations' risk to people, societies and ecosystems.
●    The step was taken to highlight the significance of environmental protection and management in the work of peacekeeping missions.
●    The scheme aims at conserving water and reducing the level of risk to personnel, local communities and ecosystems from wastewater management practices.
●    The first phase of the strategy will be implemented through July 2020. It will focus on improving environmental analytics to effectively monitor progress. 
●    The five pillars of the strategy will then be reviewed. Thereafter, specific targets will be set for the second phase of strategy implementation to conclude in June 2023.
●    The United Nations Department of Field Support is dedicated to the support of peacekeeping field missions and political field missions.
●    The DFS has been headed by Atul Khare since 2 March 2015.

The Union Cabinet on 30 November 2016 approved the rehabilitation package of Rs 2000 crore for around 36384 displaced families from Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK) and Chhamb under Prime Minister's Development Package for Jammu & Kashmir 2015. 
●    Under the package of Rs 2000 crore, Rs 5.5 lakh cash benefit will be disbursed to each displaced families to enable them to earn an income and subsist their livelihood. 
●    The amount will be initially released to the State Government of Jammu & Kashmir to be disbursed to eligible families through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). 
●    In the aftermath of Indian partition in 1947, thousands of families from Pakistan occupied areas of Jammu & Kashmir migrated to the Jammu & Kashmir. Later, during Indo-Pak Wars of 1965 and 1971, a large number of families were displaced from Chhamb Niabat area of Jammu & Kashmir. 

The World AIDS Day was on 1 December 2016 observed across the world with the theme Hands up for #HIVprevention.
●    The campaign explores different aspects of HIV prevention and how they relate to specific groups of people, such as adolescent girls and young women, key populations and people living with HIV.
●    The idea to observe World Aids Day was conceived in 1987 by James Bunn and Thomas Netter, who are the public information officers for the Global Programme on Aids at the World Health Organisation.
●    First World AIDS Day was held in 1988 and is the first ever global health day.
●    On the 2016 World AIDS Day, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) hosted a special event on 30 November 2016 to commemorate the day and to reinforce the commitment to move forward together to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Amidst the confusion created by demonetization, the Indian state of Goa prepares itself to become the first state to operate cashless in the country from 31 December 2016. 
●    This announcement was made by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is also the former Chief Minister of the state, during a rally at Sankhali on 25 November 2016. The plan includes making even small vendors selling perishable goods accustomed to mobile payment.
●    All vendors would be given Mobile Money Identifier (MMI) codes when they register at the bank.
●    The information to be filled by them would include their bank account details, the total amount that is to be transferred along with the MMI code of the vendor.
●    The mobile required to make the payment wouldn’t have to be a Smartphone. 
●    There will be no minimum limit on the cashless transfer of money and these transactions will also be immune from any sort of fees.
●    However, such a move will not nullify the usage of debit/credit and ATM cards, as their usage will continue as usual and it also doesn’t mean a ban on cash transactions. The effort just aims to encourage the society to go cashless.
●    According to Goa’s Chief Secretary, RK Srivastava, the state has an added advantage due to its small size. With a population of 15 lakh, it already has around 17 lakh registered mobile connections and 22 lakh bank accounts. Srivastava also added that most people in Goa already use debit or credit cards to make their purchases.
 

Akodara village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat recently has earned the title of becoming first digital village in India.
●    The village, which sustains a total population of 1200 people, uses various cashless systems for payments of goods and services. Akodara, which is located some 90 km from Ahmedabad, was adopted and developed by the ICICI Foundation as a digitised village with a rural branch of the bank.
●    In the village, most transactions between Rs. 10 and Rs. 5000 are done via SMS. The payment goes directly into the shopkeeper’s bank account as the buyer and seller are both connected through their accounts in the same bank.
●    The ICICI Bank has developed a dedicated and customised SMS banking platform and software for the village to enable users to do basic banking transactions in English and Gujarati.
●    The bank has also developed a micro-ATM-based solution to facilitate the local mandi commission agents to make payments to farmers for their produce.

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the fortnight long Swachhta Pakhwada activities being organised by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, here today. The activities are being organised from December 01 to December 15, 2016. On the inaugural day of the Swachhta Pakhwada today, a special cleanliness drive was undertaken by the Department in collaboration with the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM) in and around Ber Sarai market here.
●    Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said that this drive is an extension of the Swachta Abhiyaan launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi two years ago. Lakhs of toilets have been built in the schools and there has been a campaign for the Open Defecation Free (ODF) society in India. He also referred to the decision taken by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on November 08, 2016 regarding demonetisation. He said that due to this decision, in three weeks only, the money which was hitherto hidden, has come into circulation. 
●    During his visit to Ber Sarai market, the Minister also interacted with the shopkeepers and guided them for the use of e-transactions and explained them the utility and convenience of these transactions.Various activities have been planned such as general cleaning of flooring, removal of cobwebs, cleaning of fans, furniture and other electronic items, removal of broken furniture, waste papers, old and unused papers etc. from the rooms/common areas in North Block, Lok Nayak Bhawan and Old JNU Campus.

In an exclusive association, e-commerce giant Amazon is going to sell popular Indian dairy brand Amul’s products online in the United States.
●    The alliance is a part of Amazon’s Global Selling Programme, which was launched in India in May 2015. 
●    It will bring the brand’s products within reach of American consumers.
●    This would mark the dairy brand’s first official entry into the online space in the US. 
●    Though it is already selling its products there through traditional retail channels for the past 20 years, this move would expand its reach to a larger audience. 
●    The program is aimed at making it easy for Indian sellers to sell their ‘Make in India’ products to consumers across the world. 
●    It offers an end-to-end solution to each seller such as assisting them with imaging, logistics, tax advisory and remittance. 
●    It covers all sellers, including small and medium-sized enterprises, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and large brands.

The 7th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) will be held from 2nd – 4th December, 2016 at Science City, Kolkata. The mega event is being organized by the World Ayurveda Foundation with support of Ministry of AYUSH, and the State Government of West Bengal. To facilitate development and growth of AYUSH system of medicine, the Ministry of AYUSH is also organizing AROGYA Expo from 1st-4th December, 2016 at Science City, Kolkata to coincide with the 7th World Ayurveda Congress. The Minister of State (IC) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik would be inaugurating the Arogya Expo tomorrow.
●    The focus of this 7th World Ayurveda Congress is – ‘Strengthening the Ayurveda Ecosystem’ and the congregation will bring together stakeholders in the Ayurveda sector from India and abroad. 
●    There are three major components of the program this year (1) Public Outreach session which comprises of the Ayurveda Expo, the Ayurveda Clinics for the general public and Public Lectures. (2) Influencing Policy and (3) Promoting Science. The 7th WAC will hold 5 plenary sessions, 25 parallel sessions and a large number of paper presentations, complemented by a series of associated events.
●    This year’s World Ayurveda Congress will be the largest ever as compared to the earlier World Ayurveda Congress at Kochi 2002, Pune 2006, Jaipur 2008, Bengaluru 2010, Bhopal 2012 and Delhi 2014. Over 3500 delegates, including over 350 international delegates from 24 countries representing the Global Ayurveda fraternity are expected to participate. Other participants would be Students, Ayurvedic practitioners, traditional healers, academics, research scientists, policy makers, industry, cultivators and collectors of medicinal plants, agricultural and forestry experts, buyers from overseas, regulators from developed nations and members of society in and around Kolkata interested in Ayurveda.
●    More than 1893 scientific papers of international caliber are being considered for presentation in over 30 multi-track scientific sessions.

An aeroplane carrying 81 people on board including Brazilian first division soccer team crashed on its way to Medellin's international airport. 
●    The Brazilian soccer team was travelling to Colombia for a regional tournament final.
●    The cause of the incident is yet to be ascertained.
●    As per reports, about 25 bodies have been recovered from the site of the air crash, while five people were rescued alive. 
●    Three players are among the five survivors.
●    The aircraft, which embarked from Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil, which was scheduled to play the Copa Sudamericana finals against Atletico Nacional on 30 November 2016 in Medellin.
●    Reports say the British Aerospace 146 plane declared an emergency at 10 pm on 28 November 2016 due to an electrical failure. 
●    This short-haul plane was operated by a Bolivian charter airline named Lamia.