29th December 2016 Important Daily Current Affairs

Daily Current Affairs of 29th December 2016

International Current Affairs

India has eased the process of procurement of Indian tourist visas for Bangladeshis by allowing those with confirmed travel tickets to submit their visa applications directly without prior appointment starting January 1, 2017.
To promote religious accommodation, the New York Police Department has decided to allow Sikh officers to wear turbans and maintain beards.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman has launched a fundraising campaign for Syrians displaced by the five-year civil war, including those evacuated from eastern Aleppo.
- Saudi is one of the main supporters of rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
- Note : Around 1.1 crore Syrians or around half of the population of the country have been displaced due to civil war.

National Current Affairs

President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the 77th Indian History Congress at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala today.
- Governor Justice P. Sathasivam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other dignitaries have attended the inaugural session.
- Over 3,000 historians and research scholars have attended the Congress.
In a bid to enhance cyber policing and monitor social media content, the Haryana police have set up the country’s 1st Centre for Digital Investigation and Training in Gurugram.
- Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated the facility today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on December 31 through public broadcaster Doordarshan.
- Note : Modi had announced demonetisation through a similar address and had sought a 50-day deadline for the situation to normalise.
The Gujarat government today announced a campaign, Karuna, to prevent birds from getting injured by the manja used while flying kites during Uttarayan festivities and tend to their injuries.
- Note : NGT had recently banned the use of glass-coated manja for flying kites.
The 4-day World Bhojpuri Conference began in Varanasi today.
- Bhojpuri Ratna and World Bhojpuri Karmayogi awards will be conferred on Mauritius PM Anerood Jugnauth, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, among others.

New Appointments

Former Union Home Secretary Anil Baijal will take oath as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on December 31st.
- Earlier, Baijal had been the Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority and had headed public sector companies like Prasar Bharti and Indian Airlines.
- He was also a part of the executive council of the think-tank, Vivekananda International Foundation.

Banking & Economic Affairs

Mobile wallet MobiKwik has received in-principle approval from the RBI to facilitate payment of utility and convenience bills on its platform.
- MobiKwik will be integrated into Bharat Bill Payment System to accept payments for utility services like electricity, water, gas, telephone, and Direct-to-Home (DTH).
- Note : In October, MobiKwik launched Unified Payments Interface on its platform with ICICI Bank.
President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared an ordinance to allow companies to pay their employees' salaries up to ₹18,000 by cheque or by direct credit into bank accounts without their permission.
- The ordinance, which comes into force with immediate effect, was proposed by the Union cabinet last week and amends the Payment of Wages Act of 1936.
The National Stock Exchange today filed draft papers with market regulator SEBI for its Initial Public Offering (IPO), estimated to be around ₹10,000 crore, one of the biggest in recent times.
- The existing shareholders will offer about 20-25% shares to the public in the IPO.
- The offer may give NSE a valuation of ₹50,000-₹55,000 crore.

Deaths

Actress Debbie Reynolds (84)passed away, a day after her daughter, Star Wars' actress Carrie Fisher, died.
- She became famous after the movie 'Singin' in the Rain'.

Science & Technology

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has today announced that it will launch record 83 satellites in one go in January next year.
- Of the 83 satellites, 80 belong to Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and the US, while the remaining three belong to India.
- Note : ISRO had set a record in June by successfully launching 20 satellites in a single mission.
China's space organisation today announced that the government has decided to send its first robotic probe to Mars by 2020 to carry out orbiting and roving exploration, followed by a second mission to collect surface samples.
- The organisation further said they will send probe missions to Jupiter and its moons, making China a major space power by 2030.

Awards & Honors

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted the European Sportsperson of the Year by the Polish news agency PAP.

Sports Current Affairs

Former world number one and 2008 French Open winner Ana Ivanovic announced her retirement from professional tennis.
- The 29-year-old was out of action since August following injury and dropped to 63 in world rankings.
- Ivanovic was world number one for 12 weeks in 2008 and won 15 singles titles in her 13-year-long career.
Wrestler Sushil Kumar will make his WWE debut in November 2017.

This is the end of today's Daily Current Affairs session friends. Good Day :)