28th December 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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National Affairs

• The Congress Party today celebrated its 131st Foundation Day.
• • The party was founded on 28th December 1885 during the British Raj.
  • Its founders include Allan Octavian Hume (a prominent member of the Theosophical Society), Dadabhai Naoroji and Dinshaw Wacha.
• Giving a boost to women empowerment, Sikkim government is set to have one all-women Police Station each in all the four districts.
• • The state government also announced posting of at least one woman Police Personnel in every Police Station.
  • Chief Minister - Pawan Kumar Chamling

Business & Economy

• Tax payers with annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh will not get subsidised cooking gas
  
  (LPG) from next month as the government today decided to limit supply of under-priced fuel to cut subsidies.
• • Important Points to Note :
  • At present, all households are entitled to get 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rate of Rs 419.26, while the market price is Rs 608.
  • Currently, there are 16.35 crore cooking gas connections in the country. 
  • The government had earlier successfully implemented the PAHAL scheme, which transferred cooking gas subsidy directly to bank accounts of 14.78 crore customers to ensure that benefits go only to the target group. 
  • PAHAL - Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh
  • The government had also given a call to well-to-do households for voluntarily giving up LPG subsidy, which encouraged 57.50 lakh consumers to opt out of LPG subsidy voluntarily.
• MTNL today launched nation wide free roaming.
• • With this, the public sector telecom company catering to the two metropolises of Mumbai and Delhi will provide free incoming roaming service to its subscribers across the country.
  • Note : BSNL is already providing free roaming services to its subscribers in the rest of the country.
  • MTNL - Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
• The government will install Wi-Fi at 2 thousand and 5 hundred locations in different parts of the country by March next year.
• • Communication and IT Minister : Ravi Shankar Prasad
• According to the financial services major Barclays, India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) remains in check and is expected to be lesser than $25 billion this fiscal.
• Reliance today announced the launch of Reliance Jio 4G services for use by over 1 lakh Reliance employees and their families across India.
• • Reliance Jio holds the highest amount of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators which can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services. 
  • It has a total of 751.1 MHz spectrum across 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands.

Science & Technology

• The anti-jamming capability of the air-to-air Astra missile was successfully validated in recent trials conducted by missile scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• • Note : After carrying out some more trials, including air launch trial with a warhead, the Beyond-Visual-Range-Air-to-Air-Missile (BVRAAM) is set to be inducted into the Indian Air Force in 2016.

MOUs

• The Andhra Pradesh Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft to provide better services in education, agriculture and civic services.
• • Microsoft India would provide technical help to AP government in data gathering and analysis.
  • The government would make use of Azure Machine Learning and Advanced Visualisation method of Microsoft, which would greatly help in the government’s plan to achieve inclusive growth and provide better civic services.

Deaths

• Renowned American Science-fiction and fantasy writer George Clayton Johnson passes away.
• • He penned the script for the first Star Trek episode, The Man Trap.

New Appointments

• Satyavati Berera has became the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Big Four accounting firm in India.
• • She will replace Neil Wilson, who is moving to London as global operations partner with PwC. She will be second only to chairman Deepak Kapoor in hierarchy.
  • Note : With this, she became the first woman to reach the level of a COO.

Sports

• Jammu and Kashmir will host the 12th National Ice-Skating Championship at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg.
• • This 5 day championship will be held from 30th December 2015 to 3rd January 2016.
  • The championship will have the participation of 17 teams from various states in the country.
• New Zealand clinch 10 wickets victory over Sri Lanka in second ODI at Christchurch.

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