DAILY GK 15-16 DEC 2024
1. PM OF
FRANCE
·
The
President of France Emmanuel Macron appointed
veteran centrist Francois Bayrou, leader of the
MoDem group allied with Macron’s party, as the Prime
Minister (PM) of France, after former PM Michel Barnier was overthrown by Parliament.
·
Francois Bayrou (73) has
presided over the European Democratic
Party (EDP) and the Democratic
Movement (MoDem).
2.
GENERAL SECRETARY OF AISBOF
·
Bengaluru(Karnataka) based All India State Bank Officers’
Federation (AISBOF) elected Rupam Roy as its new
General Secretary (GS) during its 6th Executive Committee Meeting, held in Chandigarh, Punjab.
·
Arun Kumar Bishoyi,
GS of the State Bank of India Officers’ Association (SBIOA) Bhubaneswar Circle,
was also elected as the new President of AISBOF.
3.
PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA
·
Former
Manchester City footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili was
appointed as the 6th President of Georgia.
·
Mikheil Kavelashvili was nominated by the Georgian Dream party and won the presidential
election with 224 votes out of 300
votes.
·
The president of Georgia was elected indirectly for the first time by a 300-member
electoral college consisting of members of parliament and local government
representatives.
·
In 2022, he co-founded the People’s
Power party, a satellite faction of Georgian Dream Party.
·
Georgia Capital- Tbilisi
·
Currency- Georgian
Lari (GEL)
4.
MD OF SBI
·
The Government of India (GoI) appointed Rama
Mohan Rao Amara, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) and Chief Risk Officer
(CRO) of the State Bank of India (SBI) as the new Managing Director (MD)
of SBI for the three years with effect from
18 December 2024.
·
Rama Mohan will serve as the 4th MD
of SBI, alongside Ashwini Kumar Tewari,
Vinay M Tonse, and Rana Ashutosh Kumar Singh.
·
As of September 2024, the Government of India
holds a 57.51% stake in SBI.
·
Chairman –
Challa Sreeivasulu Setty
·
Headquarters –
Mumbai
·
Established – 1955
5.
INDIA’S 1ST INTEGRATED WASTE
MANAGEMENT CITY
·
India’s first Integrated
Waste Management City and Learning Centre to be setup in Suthni village of Gorakhpur,Uttar
Pradesh (UP) by September 2025 to
promote innovative and sustainable waste management solutions.
·
The
project was unveiled by the Ministry of Environment (MoE) at
the National Chief Secretaries’
Conference in Delhi
·
This integrated waste management system will
not only address Gorakhpur’s waste challenges but will also cater to 8
neighboring Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), advancing regional
sustainability.
6.
ISR
2025 : EMPLOYABILITY AMONG INDIAN GRADUATES
·
According to the 12th edition of
the India skills Report (ISR)
titled “India Skills Report 2025:Global Talent
Mobility-India’s Decade” ,
54.81% of Indian graduates are expected
to be globally employable by 2025, increase from 51.2% in 2024, indicating a 7% rise.
·
Maharashtra (84%) has topped in the India Skills
Report 2025 for employability, followed by Delhi (78%), Karnataka (75%), Andhra
Pradesh, AP (72%), Kerala (71%) and Uttar Pradesh, UP(70%).
·
The list
is topped by Gujarat in Men and AP in Women.
·
The “ISR 2025” was published
by talent assessment agency Wheebox in collaboration
with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII), Association of Indian
Universities (AIU) and Taggd (knowledge
partner).
7.
PUNJAB:1ST STATE TO ENACT
DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION OF SPORTS ACT 2024
·
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Bhagwant Singh
Mann has given approval to enact the ‘Punjab State
(Development and Promotion of Sports) Act 2024’, becoming the 1st
state in India to promote
the enhancement of sports infrastructure and transparency in player selection.
·
As per
the National State Policy (NSP) 2024, the initiative
aims to establish a legal framework that adopts National and International best
practices to drive the development of sports within the state.
·
Highlights of Punjab State
(Development and Promotion of Sports) Act 2024:
·
A five-member
committee: To select the team & players for
district or state representation, consisting of the General Secretary, 2 Senior
Coaches and 2 Eminent players.
·
A Dispute Resolution
Committee: Formed under the Deputy Commissioner or
Administrative Secretary will address player appeals within 7
days.
·
A five-member Sexual
Harassment Committee: Formed at the district level by
the District Magistrate, consisting of 3 female and 2 male members from the
Executive Committees of Sports Associations.
·
A State level
committee will be formed by the Administrative
Secretary of the Sports Department.Committees may take ‘suo-moto’ (on its own motion) notice of incidents.
·
Sports Calendar:Sports
Associations must upload their activity calendars by March 31 each
year while the Department of Sports will finalize the calendar within 30
days.
8. BMW
GROUP AND UNICEF PARTNER TO ENHANCE EDUCATION IN INDIA
·
Munich(Germany) based Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) Group
and New York(the United States of America, USA) based United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) have collaborated in India to transform the educational landscape for 100,000 children across four states: Assam, Jharkhand,
Tamil Nadu (TN), and West Bengal (WB).
·
The
program emphasizes developing foundational learning skills and promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics) education from early childhood through adolescence.
·
This collaboration is part of a larger global partnership between the BMW Group
and UNICEF, which aims to support over 10 million children annually through
education and training in countries like
South Africa (SA), Brazil, Mexico and Thailand.
9.
INDIA’S
57TH TIGER RESERVE
·
Madhya
Pradesh's Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary has been declared India’s 57th tiger reserve.
·
Tiger reserves, established under Project Tiger (1973), aim to protect
tigers and their habitats through core and buffer zones.
·
In
1973, Project Tiger began with nine reserves, including Corbett (Uttarakhand) and Kanha (Madhya Pradesh).
10. SWITCH
EIV12 AND SWITCH E1 BUSES LAUNCHED
·
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Minister of
Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), launched the ‘SWITCH EiV12’,
India’s first low-floor electric city bus, marking a
significant leap in the country’s
electric vehicle (EV) sector.
·
In
addition to the Indian launch, the SWITCH E1 for the
European market was virtually flagged
off in Spain.
·
The SWITCH EiV12 features
a floor-mounted battery (up to 400
kilowatt-hour (kWh)) for better stability and comfort. Its modular design
supports both drive configurations and flexible door placements.
·
It can accommodate up to 39 passengers and
also includes a wheelchair ramp, Closed Circuit Television(CCTV) cameras, and
real-time vehicle monitoring
·
The SWITCH E1 has
in-wheel motors, a flat gangway, and a triple-door layout for easy access.
·
It can accommodate up to 93 passengers, offering a spacious and comfortable ride.
11. GOOGLE
PARTNERS WITH NCERT TO LAUNCH YOUTUBE CHANNELS
·
Google, has partnered with the National Council for
Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to launch YouTube
Channels in 29 Indian languages, including sign language to ensure access to quality digital
education across India.
·
It aims to provide free education content to
students between grades 1-12 and to empower
teachers.
12.
UNION CABINET APPROVED “ONE NATION, ONE
ELECTION” BILL
·
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister
(PM) Narendra Modi approved two key bills regarding One Nation, One
Election (ONOE), which aimed
to conduct simultaneous Lok Sabha elections with state legislative
assemblies and local bodies across
the country in a phased manner.
·
The 1st bill named the Constitution
(129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 will enable the terms of the
Lok Sabha and state assemblies to be synchronized.
·
The Second bill named The Union
Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 aims to align elections in the Union Territories (UTs) of Puducherry, Delhi and
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with Lok Sabha elections.
·
Both these bills are based on the key
recommendations of the High-level
Committee on Simultaneous Elections, which was constituted under the
chairmanship of former President of
India Ram Nath Kovind in September 2023.
13.
JALVAHAK’ SCHEME TO BOOST CARGO MOVEMENT ON
INLAND WATERWAYS
·
Union Minister Sarbananda
Sonowal, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), launched
the ‘Jalvahak‘ scheme to induce
the cargo movement via inland waterways.
·
He also flagged off Cargo ships “MV Aai,
MV Homi Bhaba along with MV Trishul with 2 dumb
barges Ajay and Dikhu” from the GR Jetty in Kolkata,West Bengal (WB).
·
This marks the commencement of a fixed scheduled service of cargo vessel
ships from Haldia,WB for national waterways 1 and 2 (NW-1 and NW-2).
·
This scheme is jointly implemented by the
Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Inland &
Coastal Shipping Limited (ICSL), a subsidiary of the Shipping
Corporation of India Limited (SCIL).
·
The scheme offers up to 35%
reimbursement of operating expenses for transporting cargo over 300
kilometers (kms) on NW1, NW2, and NW16.
14.
INDIA PARTICIPATED IN THEMEETING OF
SCC
·
India, a key member of the 14-member Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
for Prosperity (IPEF), participated as vice-chair in
the 2nd meeting of the Supply Chain Council (SCC) which was held virtually.
·
The SCC,
chaired by the United States of America (USA), reviewed
progress across key sectors such as
semiconductors, critical minerals, chemicals, and healthcare.
·
The first SCC meeting in Washington in
September 2024 led to the formation of Action Plan Teams (APT) focusing on key
sectors, including Pharma/Healthcare (led by India), Semiconductors (led
by USA), Critical Minerals (led by Australia) and Chemicals (led
by USA).
·
India,
now 3rd in pharmaceutical production by volume and 14th by value, was elected as the Chair for the Pharma/Healthcare APT.
15. ADB
AND NABFID TO ADDRESS INDIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING GAP
·
The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
and India’s National Bank for Financing Infrastructure Development (NaBFID)
signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) ,
to boost financing for the country’s infrastructure sector for sustainable
development.
·
The ADB has approved a USD 500
million loan, backed by a sovereign guarantee, to India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) to
support India’s infrastructure projects in areas such as connectivity, energy
transition, urban development, education, and healthcare.
·
The ADB has approved a USD 788.8
million loan to Andhra Pradesh (AP) for developing Amaravati as a
green, smart capital city with world-class infrastructure.
·
The Government of India (GoI) has notified
the NaBFID as a public financial institution under the Companies Act, 2023 in
September 2024.
·
Chairman – KV
Kamath
·
Headquarters –
Mumbai
·
Established –
2021
