DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 21 DEC 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN
1.
CABINET APPROVES ESTABLISHING INDIA'S 1ST NATIONAL RAIL AND
TRANSPORTATION UNIVERSITY
i. The Union Cabinet chaired by PM
Narendra Modi has approved the Ministry of Railways' transformative initiative
to set up India's first ever National Rail and Transport University in
Vadodara, Gujarat to skill its human resources and build capability.
ii. Government is planning to launch the
first academic program in July 2018. The funding of the new
University/Institute is to entirely come from Ministry of Railways.
2.
DARPAN PROJECT LAUNCHED FOR FINANCIAL INCLUSION OF RURAL
POPULATION
i. The Minister of Communications Manoj
Sinha launched DARPAN- “Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New
India” Project to improve the quality of service, add value to services and
achieve 'financial inclusion' of the unbanked rural population.
ii. The goal of the IT modernization
project with an outlay of Rs. 1400 Cr is to provide a low power technology
solution to each Branch Postmaster (BPM) which will enable each of
approximately 1.29 Lakhs Branch Post Offices to improve the level of services
being offered to rural customers across all the states.
3.
CABINET APPROVES "SCHEME FOR CAPACITY BUILDING IN TEXTILES
SECTOR"
i. The Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs has given its approval for a new skill development scheme covering the
entire value chain of the textile sector excluding Spinning & Weaving in
organized Sector, titled "Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector"
from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs. 1300 cr.
ii. The scheme will have National Skill
Qualification Framework compliant training courses. The objectives of the
scheme are to provide demand-driven, placement oriented skilling program to
incentivize the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized
textile and related sectors.
4.
UK TOPS FORBES' LIST OF BEST COUNTRIES FOR BUSINESS IN 2018
i. The United Kingdom has topped Forbes'
rankings of best countries in the world for business in 2018 for the 1st time,
up from fifth last year. The list ranks 153 countries on 15 factors including
property rights, innovation, taxes and red tape.
ii. The UK is followed by New Zealand
and the Netherlands, while India was ranked 62nd on the list. The
UK's $2.6 trillion economy is the fifth largest in the world. The world’s 2nd (China) and third (Japan)
biggest economies rank 66th and 21st, respectively. Chad
ranks last for the third straight year.
5.
'HAMESHA VIJAYEE' EXERCISE HELD IN RAJASTHAN
i. The Indian Army's Southern Command
had conducted exercise 'Hamesha Vijayee' in the deserts of Rajasthan to
evaluate the capability of the armed forces to strike deep into the enemy
territory in an integrated air-land battle.
ii. The military exercise is aimed at
fine-tuning surveillance and destruction mechanisms to support precision
strikes and maneuvers by network-enabled forces.
6.
RBI PUTS UNITED BANK OF INDIA UNDER PCA
i. The Reserve Bank of India has put
Kolkata-based United Bank of India under the prompt corrective action
framework. The additional action points were in the view of high net
non-performing assets, low leverage ratio and need to raise capital.
ii. UBI was among the first state-owned lenders
against which RBI implemented prompt corrective action, back in February 2014.
The restrictions were lifted in 2015.
iii. Since the framework was revised in
April, nine banks have seen PCA initiated against them. These include Bank of
India, Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of
Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Corporation Bank.
7.
INDIA, SRI LANKA COMPLETES 2ND PHASE OF JOINT OCEANOGRAPHIC
SURVEY
i. Indian Navy in collaboration with its
Sri Lankan counterpart has successfully completed the 2nd phase of the joint
oceanographic survey conducted off the South Western Coast of Sri Lanka. The
survey commenced with the arrival of Indian Naval Ship Sutlej in Sri Lanka.
ii. The aim of the joint survey was to
update all the navigational charts covering the southern Sri Lankan waters with
the latest hydrographic data.
8.
SEBI HIKES FPI INVESTMENT LIMIT
i. The Capital market regulator
Securities and Exchange Board of India has raised the investment limit for
foreign portfolio investors in central government securities to over 1.91 lakh
cr from January 2018.
ii. Currently, investment limit for
foreign portfolio investors is 1.89 lakh cr rupees. The move is part of an
effort by SEBI to push inflow from overseas investors in the country’s capital
markets.
9.
SHREE SAINI FROM WASHINGTON CROWNED MISS INDIA USA 2017
i. Washington resident Shree Saini has
been crowned Miss India USA 2017. While Prachi Singh from Connecticut was
declared the first runner-up at the pageant, which was held at the Royal
Alberts Palace in Edison, New Jersey.
ii. Shree Saini is an anti-bullying
activist. At the beauty pageant, cancer surgeon Kavita Malhotra Pattani from
Florida was declared Mrs India USA 2017. Swapna Mannam, 17, from New Jersey was
crowned with Miss Teen India USA 2017.
10. MESSI
BEATS RONALDO TO LA LIGA BEST PLAYER AWARD
i. Lionel Messi, the star forward of
Barcelona, has received La Liga’s top scorer and best player awards for the
2016-2017 football season.
ii. The Argentine beat rival Cristiano
Ronaldo, who guided Real Madrid to their first title since 2012 in the recent
campaign. Messi scored 37 goals in league action last season to earn his fourth
Pichichi award for most goals in La Liga.
11. JUSTICE
UD SALVI APPOINTED OFFICIATING CHIEF OF NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
i. The government has appointed Justice
U D Salvi as officiating chairperson of the National Green Tribunal following
the superannuation of Justice Swatanter Kumar.
ii. Mr. Salvi will remain in the saddle
until his retirement on February 13, 2018.
12. BIRMINGHAM
TO HOST COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN 2022
i. The central English city of
Birmingham will host the Commonwealth Games in 2022. The 2022 Commonwealth
Games were originally given to Durban in 2015, but the South African city was
stripped of the event this year because of financial difficulties.
ii. The multisports event was last in
Britain in 2014 when it was held in Glasgow. Before that, Manchester hosted in
2002.
OBJECTIVE
QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1. INDIA’S FIRST-EVER NATIONAL RAIL AND
TRANSPORT UNIVERSITY WILL SET UP IN WHICH STATE?
a)
Karnataka
b)
Rajasthan
c)
New Delhi
d)
Gujarat
Q2. WHICH
CITY WILL HOST COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN 2022?
a)
Birmingham
b)
Sydney
c)
Bern
d)
London
Q3. NAME
THE WASHINGTON RESIDENT WHO HAS BEEN CROWNED MISS INDIA USA 2017.
a)
Deepika Mathur
b)
Anupriya Midul
c) Shree Saini
d) Madhu Sinha
Q4. 11.
WHICH COUNTRY INDIA COLLABORATED WITH FOR 2ND PHASE OF JOINT OCEANOGRAPHIC
SURVEY?
a) China
b)
Sri Lanka
c) Bangladesh
d) Indonesia
Q5. WHO
RESIGNED AS THE CHAIRPERSON OF NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL?
a) Justice Swatanter Kumar
b) Justice U D Salvi
c) Justice M Sasidharan Nambiar
d) Justice Raghuvendra Singh Rathore
ANSWERS:
1 - D 2
- A 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A
