Daily Current Affairs Updates–22nd December 2016:
Daily Current affairs News Updates about the National and International events were listed here. Candidates those who are preparing for IBPS/SBI/PO/Clerk exam and all other competitive exams can use this.DAYS TO REMEMBER:
National Mathematics Day in India
i) National Mathematics Day in India is celebrated on December 22. It commemorates the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian mathematician who made significant contributions to several fields of mathematics.ii) Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887 in Erode. He first encountered formal mathematics at the age of 10. While at school he received many academic awards and merit certificates. Ramanujan was an autodidact; he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics and initially developed his own research in isolation.
Centre to celebrate Dec 25 as Good Governance Day to mark birthday of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
i) Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said that GoodGovernance Day will be observed on 25th December, the birthday of Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.ii) Mr Naidu said, the sustainable growth trajectory of the Government is depicted in the new calendar. He said, the phenomenal growth of print media sector has mandated changes in print media policy and guidelines in the past years.
iii) He added that the annual report provides broad analysis of the general trend of Indian Press based on claimed circulations.
Mizoram's Aizawl becomes first free Wi-Fi city in North-East
i) Creating history, Aizawl became the first free Wi-Fi city in the North-East region today. Free wi-fi is a pilot project of the Aizawl Municipal Corporation.ii) Lauching the free wi-fi project at Government Aizawl College Conference Hall today, PC Lalhmingthanga, Mayor of Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) said that the free Wi-Fi facilities would enable the much needed internet accessibility to one and all.
iii) He encouraged net users to use free Wi-Fi facilities for more productive purposes rather than misusing the same. Providing free Wi-Fi facility to the residents of Aizawl city was an election manifesto of the Mizo National Front (MNF), who won the municipal polls last year.
Gujarat govt announces Aerospace and Defence Policy-2016
i) Gujarat government has announced Aerospace and Defence Policy-2016 to attract investment into fields of aerospace and defence design, development and manufacturing in the state.ii) Under the policy, investors will be entitled to get 100 per cent reimbursement on stamp duty and registration charges paid for purchase, lease or mortgage of land meant for setting up the facility in the areas of Aerospace and Defence.
iii) In case a government land is available to set up the manufacturing facility in this sector, investors will be allotted land at 50 per of prevailing market rate decided by government.
Meeting of GST council underway in New Delhi
i) The meeting of Goods and Services Tax, GST Council is underway in New Delhi to consider the model GST laws and iron out differences on the vexed issue of jurisdiction over control of assesses in the new indirect tax regime. This is the seventh meeting of the Council, which is being headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and has state ministers as members.ii) Earlier, the council has taken several important decisions in its meetings. The decisions include the threshold limit of 20 lakh rupees exemption from levy of GST for normal States and 10 lakhs for the Special Category States.
iii) The government has time till 16th September next year to implement the Goods and Services Tax Act as per the Constitution Amendment Bill passed by both the Houses with two-thirds majority and by half of the states.
Union Cabinet approves ordinance to pay salaries by cheques
i) The Union Cabinet has approved a draft ordinance to empower states and allow industries to pay workers’ wages digitally, through a direct bank transfer to accounts or by cheque in a bid to encourage cashless transactions.ii) The draft ordinance proposes changes to the Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 to encourage cashless transactions. It will need the President’s assent to become law as per article 123 of the Constitution.
INTERNATIONAL:
China bans sharing user-generated content on social media
i) China has banned internet users from posting user-generated audio or video, reportedly one of few sources of information outside state-controlled media.ii) China already has one of the strictest censorship worldwide, ranking only behind countries like North Korea and Syria.
iii) The ban comes after a draft law was passed, giving police censorship powers in case of natural disasters.
Japan cabinet approves biggest defence budget
i) Japan cabinet today approved it's biggest annual defence budget in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and a territorial row with China. The Cabinet approved 43.6 billion dollars in defence spending for the fiscal year starting in April, up 1.4 per cent from the initial budget for the current fiscal year. ii) It marks the fifth straight annual increase and reflects the hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempt to build up Japan's military, which since World War II has been constitutionally limited to self defence.
APPOINTMENTS:
Praful Patel re-elected unopposed as AIFF president for 3rd time
i) Praful Patel was re-elected unopposed as the president of All India Football Federation for a four-year term. This will be his third successive term. The Annual General Meeting was held in New Delhi after the Delhi High Court vacated a stay on the elections.ii) The electoral process was completed in the presence of the appointed returning officer Justice Bipin Chandra Kandpal (Retd.) who declared Patel elected along with the Executive Committee for the term 2017-2020.
Girija Vaidyanathan appointed as new Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu
i) In Tamil Nadu, senior IAS Officer Girija Vaidyanathan has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary today. She replaces P. Rama Mohana Rao, whose properties were raided by the Income Tax authorities.ii) Ms Girija Vaidyanathan is a 1981 batch officer who is at present serving as the Additional Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Land Reforms.
iii) An order issued from the state Public Department says, she will also hold additional charge of Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner for Administrative Reforms.
Priyanka 1st Indian to be made Pantene's global ambassador
i) Actress Priyanka Chopra has become the first Indian to be appointed as the global ambassador of the hair care brand 'Pantene'.
ii) "Her strength & confidence inspires us!" tweeted the brand while making the announcement.
iii) Calling the brand a "favourite around the world", Priyanka added, "I love that Pantene celebrates and advocates that being strong is beautiful."
Najeeb Jung resigns as Lieutenant governor of Delhi
i) Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has resigned from his post, an official release said, adding that Mr. Jung submitted his resignation to the Centre. His resignation came in the backdrop of his continuous power tussle with Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi.
ii) Mr. Jung thanked the people of national capital for their support and affection, especially during the one year’s President Rule in the city. He also thanked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his association in the last two years as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Jung, who was appointed the LG during UPA rule, will be returning back to academics.
AWARDS AND HONORS:
SASTRA Ramanujan prize for Radziwill, Matomaki
i) Kaisa Matomaki and Maksym Radziwill have been jointly won the 2016 SASTRA-Ramanujan award for mathematics for their ‘revolutionary’ collaborative work on short intervals in number theory.
ii) Their mathematical work dwells on properties of numbers in “short intervals.” The two mathematicians worked with Fields medallist Terence Tao in making a breakthrough on the Chowla conjecture.
iii) They were presented with this prestigious award at inauguration of International Conference on Number Theory at SASTRA University at Kumbakonam.
iv) Kaisa Matomaki from Finland’s University of Turku is first woman to receive this prize since it was instituted in 2005. Maksym Radziwill is Assistant professor at McGill University, Canada.
Ashwin named ICC Cricketer of the Year and Test cricketer of the Year
i) Indian cricketing ace Ravichandran Ashwin has been named the ICC Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Test cricketer of the Year at ICC awards in Dubai today. Ashwin became the second Indian player after Rahul Dravid to bag the two coveted prizes in the same year.
ii) Ranked Number one bowler and all-rounder in Test cricket, Ashwin picked up 72 wickets in 12 matches this year at an outstanding average of 23.90 and scored 612 runs at an average of 43.17.
iii) He is the only Indian in ICC’s Test Team of the Year. ViratKohli was named captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Year, while Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma also featured in the ODI Team of the Year.
Indian movies MS Dhoni, Sarbjit make it to Oscars long list
i) Indian biopics MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and Sarbjit have made it to the long list of 336 feature films eligible for the Oscars.
ii) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the list of films in contention for the best picture Oscar.
iii) Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair's directorial venture Queen of Katwe is also part of the list.
iv) The list also includes awards season favorites La La Land, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, Silence, Arrival, and Hacksaw Ridge.
Jerry Pinto, Nasira Sharma and Vannadhasan among 2016 Sahitya Akademi Award winners
i) Sahitya Akademi on 21 December 2016 announced the Sahitya Akademi Awards for the year 2016 in 24 languages. Eight books of poetry, seven books of short stories, five books of novel, two books of criticism, one book of essays and a book of play have won the prestigious awards for the year.
ii) The awards were recommended by distinguished jury members representing 24 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, President of the Akademy.
iii) The prestigious award will be presented to the winners at a special function to be held on 22 February 2017 in New Delhi. The Award includes a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs. 100000.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:
Japan successfully launches solid fuel rocket
i) Japan's space agency announced that it successfully launched a 26-metre-long rocket named Epsilon-2, which put a satellite that helps study radiation belts in orbit.
ii) Epsilon-2 is part of a new generation of solid propellant rockets which can reduce launch costs up to one-third.
iii) Reduction in cost can allow countries to put more communication and weather satellites in space.
China launches satellite to monitor global carbon emissions
i) China today launched a global carbon dioxide monitoring satellite to understand climate change, hours after it lifted nearly a week-long red alert for the worst smog that engulfed about 40 cities in the country.
ii) The 620-kg satellite TanSat was put into orbit by Long March-2D rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's Gobi Desert early this morning, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
iii) This was the 243rd mission of the Long March series rockets. Besides Tan Sat, the rocket also carried a high-resolution micro-nano satellite and two spectrum micro-nano satellites for agricultural and forestry monitoring.
iv) China is the third country after Japan and the US to monitor greenhouse gases through its own satellite. The satellite was sent into a sun synchronous orbit about 700 kms above the earth and will monitor the concentration, distribution and flow of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.
SPORTS NEWS:
India end 2016 as No.1 Test team after series sweep over England
i) India have ended the year as the Number one ranked Test side after posting a 4-nil win over England in the five-match series. The hosts won the final Test at Chennai by an innings and 75 runs.
ii) The series win helped India gain five points and they have moved to 120 points in the last Test team rankings update of 2016, 15 points ahead of second placed Australia.
iii) The ViratKohli-led side, which was awarded the ICC Test Championship Mace on 11 October following a 3-0 home series sweep over New Zealand, can't be overtaken this year since theteam rankings are updated only at the end of each Test series.
For More Daily Current Affairs Updates - Click Here
No comments:
Post a Comment