DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 24 DEC 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN
1. MEA LAUNCHED SAMEEP TO TAKE INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY TO STUDENTS
ACROSS COUNTRY
i. With an aim to bring the foreign policy to the masses the
External Affairs Ministry has come up with an initiative called SAMEEP -
'Students and MEA Engagement Programme'. Under this MEA official will talk to
students to help them better understand foreign policy.
ii. The main objective of SAMEEP is to take Indian foreign policy
and its global engagements to students across the country. Under this
programme, all the ministry officers - under-secretary and above - will be
asked to go to their hometowns, particularly their alma maters.
2. RUSSIA’S DEPUTY PM DMITRY ROGOZIN VISITS INDIA
i. Russia’s Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin arrived in New Delhi. He will
co-chair the meeting of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade,
Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation.
ii. The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will host Mr.
Rogozin and lead the Indian side. The meeting will enable the two sides to
review the progress achieved by various working groups and sub-groups under the
IRIGC-TEC.
3. BENGALURU TO HOST 7TH INTERNATIONAL COFFEE FESTIVAL
i. The 7th edition of the India International Coffee Festival will
be held in Bengaluru from January 16-19. The 4-day IICF 2018, being organized
by the India Coffee Trust and State-run Coffee Board to promote the Indian
coffees globally.
ii. As per the officials, IICF 2018 would be a precursor to the
International Coffee Organization’s World Coffee Conference being hosted by
India in Bengaluru in 2020.
4. GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED ‘GANGA GRAM’ PROJECT AT GANGA GRAM SWACHATA
SAMMELAN
i. The government had formally launched the ‘Ganga Gram’ project
at the Ganga Gram Swachata Sammelan in New Delhi.
ii. As part of its clean Ganga mission – Namami Gange, the Ganga
Gram project is an integrated approach for the holistic development of villages
situated on the banks of the holy river with the active participation of
villagers.
5. AIRTEL PAYMENTS BANK CEO SHASHI ARORA RESIGNS
i. Airtel Payments Bank Chief Executive Shashi Arora has quit the
company after a recent controversy surrounding India’s largest telecom operator
and its payment bank’s alleged violation of rules on using Aadhaar for its
electronic know-your-customer verification process.
ii. Recently, UIDAI has temporarily barred Airtel Payments Bank
from conducting Aadhaar-based SIM verification of mobile customers using e-KYC
process. The suspension of the e-KYC license of Airtel Payments Bank has not
been revoked yet.
6. SBI CARD AND BHARAT PETROLEUM LAUNCH BPCL SBI CARD
i. SBI Card, the credit card issuer and Bharat Petroleum, the
leading petroleum company in India announced the launch of the BPCL SBI Card –
the most rewarding fuel co-branded credit card in the country.
ii. The BPCL SBI Card will offer up to 70 liters of free fuel per
year to cardholders. It has been
launched on the Visa platform.
7. LT GEN B S SAHRAWAT TAKES OVER AS DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF NCC
i. Lieutenant General B S Sahrawat took over the reins of National
Cadet Corps as its Director General. The General Officer is a third generation
army officer.
ii. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and
Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He has been awarded the Sena Medal during
the floods of Kosi River in Bihar in 2008.
8. QUIKR ACQUIRES HDFC'S DIGITAL, REALTY UNITS IN ALL STOCK DEAL
i. India's largest mortgage lender HDFC has sold its realty
brokerage business HDFC Realty and its digital real estate business HDFC
Developers which owns HDFC Real Estate Destination to online classifieds player
Quikr.
ii. The all-stock deal will see HDFC pick up around 3.5% stake in
Quikr for the two businesses, which have collectively been valued at about Rs
357 cr.
9. M. SUBBARAYUDU APPOINTED AS NEXT AMBASSADOR OF INDIA TO THE
REPUBLIC OF PERU
i. Shri M. Subbarayudu, presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry
of External Affairs has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the
Republic of Peru.
10. NATION CELEBRATES KISAN DIWAS- 23RD DECEMBER
i. Kisan Diwas (Farmer's Day) is observed every year on 23
December to celebrate the birth anniversary of the fifth prime minister of
India Chaudhary Charan Singh.
ii. He was the PM of India for a very short tenure starting from
28th of July 1979 until 14th January 1980.
A Kisan leader, Late Chaudhary Charan Singh belonged to a peasant
family.
11. BENGALI SINGER JATILESWAR MUKHOPADHYAY PASSES AWAY
i. Acclaimed Bengali singer Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay passed away in
Kolkata following a prolonged illness. He was 82.
ii. He passed away due to multi-organ failure. The West Bengal
government had conferred him with the Sangeet Samman award in 2012.
OBJECTIVE
QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1. THE GOVERNMENT HAD FORMALLY LAUNCHED THE ‘GANGA GRAM’
PROJECT AT THE GANGA GRAM SWACHATA SAMMELAN
IN NEW DELHI. THE WATER RESOURCES AND GANGA REJUVENATION MINISTER OF INDIA IS
a) Ramvilas Paswan
b) Uma Bharti
c) Dharmendra Pradhan
d) Nitin Gadkari
Q2. WHICH CITY WILL HOST THE SEVENTH EDITION OF THE INDIA
INTERNATIONAL COFFEE FESTIVAL IN JANUARY, 2018?
a) Bhubaneshwar
b) New Delhi
c) Chennai
d) Bengaluru
Q3. INDIA'S LARGEST MORTGAGE LENDER HDFC HAS SOLD ITS REALTY
BROKERAGE BUSINESS HDFC REALTY TO?
a) Paisabazar
b) Quikr
c) Snapdeal
d) Policymaker
Q4. LIMA IS THE CAPITAL CITY OF?
a) Peru
b) Israel
c) Kuwait
d) Suva
Q5. NAME THE RUSSIA’S DEPUTY PM WHO WAS RECENTLY IN INDIA TO
ATTEND THE MEETING OF INDIA-RUSSIA
INTER-GOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION ON TRADE, ECONOMIC, SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGICAL
AND CULTURAL COOPERATION?
a) Alexander Rutskoy
b) Dmitry Medvedev
c) Boris Yeltsin
d) Dmitry Rogozin
ANSWERS:
1 - D 2 - C 3 - B 4
- A 5 - D
