23rd December 2017 Events - Important Daily Current Affairs

Daily Current Affairs of 23rd December 2017

International Current Affairs

India has sanctioned $25 million to help develop Myanmar's violence-hit Rakhine State.
- This comes after both nations signed an agreement on restoration of normalcy and development of the Rakhine State.
- Important Note : Myanmar Army's crackdown on Rohingya militants in Rakhine State had caused over 6 lakh Rohingya refugees to flee to Bangladesh this year.

National Current Affairs

Today (23rd December) is Kisan Diwas (Farmer's Day).
- This day acknowledges the role of farmers in India’s socio-economic development.
- This day is observed to celebrate the birthday of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the 5th Prime Minister of India.
- He used to be referred to as the ‘Champion of India’s Peasants’ for his strive for the betterment of farmer’s lives in the country.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was found guilty in the fodder scamcase by a special CBI court in Ranchi today.
- What is this Fodder Scam ?
- Fodder scam is a series of financial irregularities where ₹950 crore was fraudulently withdrawn by Bihar's animal husbandry department by making a false paper trail of fodder, medicines, and equipment purchases.
- The scam was exposed in 1996, leading to Lalu Prasad Yadav's resignation as Bihar CM.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

To cut costs as part of a turnaround plan, the Bank of India is going to shut 400 ATMs.
- The bank is planning to shut another 300 more ATMs by the end of February.
- Important Note : The RBI has put Bank of India under "prompt corrective action" as bad loans soared and return on assets turned negative at the bank.
The government has announced that there was no question of closing down any bank.
- The RBI's decision to initiate a Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) against some public sector banks (PSBs) led to rumours that the government may close down some banks.
- The RBI clarified that the PCA framework isn't intended to constrain normal operations of the banks for general public.
US President Donald Trump has signed a tax cut bill which proposed the country's biggest tax overhaul in 30 years into law.
- The tax reform is estimated to cost $1.5 trillion (over ₹96 lakh crore) to the US economy.
- The legislation will nearly double the standard deduction for individuals and cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

Awads & Honors

Bollywood actors Rajkummar Rao and Alia Bhatt have been named the Hottest Vegetarians of 2017 by animal rights organisation PETA.

New Appointments

Belgium is going to appoint Dominique Mineur as it's envoy to Saudi Arabia.
- With this, the Western European country will become the first country to appoint a female envoy to Saudi Arabia.

Deaths

The astronaut of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Bruce McCandless (80) passed away.
- He was the first person to fly freely and untethered in space.

Science & Technology

Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India have discovered a Green frog in Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary and named the species Odorrana arunachalensis after its state of discovery, Arunachal Pradesh.

Sports Current Affairs

After slamming 10 sixes in the India-Sri Lanka T20I, cricketer Rohit Sharma took his tally to 64 sixes in 2017, setting the record for most sixes across all formats in a calendar year.

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