Top Headlines : Daily current Affairs - 05-December-2018

Hello Aspirants, we provide 05th December 2018, important Current Affairs which have unique updates of all daily events from various newspapers and Government official websites.

Our complete current affairs helps you to get more marks in Banking, Insurance, SSC, Railways, UPSC,CLAT  and  all State Exams.-Happy Learning!

National News

1. PM To Inaugurate India’s Longest Rail-Road Bridge: Bogibeel Bridge

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Bogibeel Bridge, on December 25. It is India’s longest rail-road bridge, connecting the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra, falling in the eastern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. 
• The bridge is 4.94 km long. While former prime minister HD Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the Bogibeel bridge in January 1997, the work started only in April 2002 when former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction.

2. Salman Khan Tops Forbes’ Richest Indian Celebrity List 2018

• Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is the richest Indian celebrity, according to the 2018 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list, which he has topped for the third consecutive year. Shah Rukh Khan has fallen out of the top 10 list. The 2018 Forbes India Celebrity 100 List rankings are based on estimates of entertainment-related earnings of celebrities.

• Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli jumped one spot to the second rank, with total earnings of Rs 228.09 crore, a sharp increase of 116.53 percent from the previous year. Actor Akshay Kumar completed the top three, with Rs 185 crore in earnings in the period under consideration for the list.

3. Delhi govt to begin 10 days minimum wages enforcement campaign

• Labour and Employment Minister Gopal Rai said that the Delhi government will be carrying out a 10-day enforcement drive from December 10 as the government has said that the workers will be paid with higher minimum wages from December 10. 

• The Central government has set new minimum wage rates that are to be paid to the workers for their November salaries that will be disbursed in the first week of December. The new minimum wage rates set by the Central government would be paid to workers for their November salaries that will be disbursed in the first week of December. The government will start its drive on December 10. The government has named it “Operation Minimum Wages”. The Labour Department teams would carry out inspections of factories, workshops, and other businesses to check whether workers have been paid the new rates. The new rates show unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers are to be paid Rs.14,000, Rs.15,400 and Rs.16,962 per month respectively. 

• The Labour Department had also launched a helpline for workers who are not getting the new rates. Complaints received through the helpline, 155214, as well as violations detected through inspections would be acted upon.

4. Electric vehicles launched at Nandi Hills

• Three electric vehicles have been launched at the hilltop of Nandi Hills, Karnataka. These electric vehicles are being maintained by a private company in association with the State government. It will take visitors on a 2 km tour of the historic sites as well as sight-seeing of flora and fauna of the area.

• Currently, the department runs four electric vehicles in Lalbagh Botanical gardens. The response has encouraged the department to attempt this in other tourist spots.

International News

1. Mattis says India and U.S. will sort out sanctions waiver

• Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is now on a visit to Washington. She was given an extended honor cordon (guard) at the Pentagon. Ms.Sitharaman and Mr. Mattis held talks about bilateral ties.

• Also, the U.S. Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said that India and the U.S. are planning to solve issues around a U.S. sanctions waiver related to India’s purchase of the S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Russia.

Aggrements & Summit

1. 1st India-ASEAN InnoTech Summit Held in New Delhi

• The first India-ASEAN InnoTech Summit was held in New Delhi. It was organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in association with the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Ministry of External Affairs.

• Participating ASEAN member countries in this summit were Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

2. India, UAE Sign Currency Swap Agreement

• India and UAE have signed an agreement on Currency Swap. The two countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Development Cooperation in Africa. The documents were signed after the 12th session of India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting for Economic and Technical Cooperation.

• The meeting was jointly co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

3. Bahrain and Maharashtra Government Signs MoU on Fintech

• The Economic Development Board (EDB), the investment promotion arm of the Kingdom of Bahrain signed an MoU with the Maharashtra Government to provide a framework for Co-operation between the two authorities to promote FinTech in their respective markets.

• The MoU was signed by Dr. Simon Galpin, MD, EDB & Shri S.V.R. Srinivas, IAS Principal Secretary, DIT. This MoU is in line with the EDB’s aims of exploring greater synergies between India and Bahrain in the financial technology space and will last for an initial period of three years.

4. 2-day Conference on Partnership Between EU and India Held In New Delhi

• The two-day conference on the partnership between European Union and India for Cultural Heritage Conservation, commenced in New Delhi. Over 30 leading experts deliberated on issues being faced in cultural heritage conservation and exploring innovative solutions to tackle challenges of climate change and urbanisation.

5. India Water Impact Summit-2018 Held In New Delhi

• Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated India Water Impact Summit 2018, being jointly organized by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga) in New Delhi.

• The India Water Impact Summit is an annual event where stakeholders get together to discuss, debate and develop model solutions for some of the biggest water related problems in the country. The discussions this year will be on rejuvenation of the Ganga River Basin. The spotlight is on the 5 states, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, and Bihar.

6. Ministry Of Railways Signs An MoU With Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

• Ministry of Railways’ National Rail Museum (NRM) and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum join hands together to provide an amazing combo offer to Delhi NCR tourists. As a part of the collaboration, a special discount of 35% on ticket prices will be offered to NRM visitors when they visit the Madame Tussauds Museum.

• Similarly, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum visitors will be getting an attractive discount of 30% on combo packages of NRM. National Rail Museum (NRM), managed by Indian Railway, is one of the top edutainment tourist destinations of Delhi NCR area having an annual footfall of more than 5 lakhs. Madame Tussauds wax museum is a leading chain of Wax Museums in the world.

Banking & Business Economy News

1. 5th Monetary Policy: RBI Leaves Repo Rate Unchanged At 6.5%

• The Reserve Bank of India has kept the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.5%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 6.25%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75%.

• The decision of the MPC is consistent with the stance of calibrated tightening of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%, while supporting growth. On the domestic front, gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed down to 7.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) in Q2:2018-19, after four consecutive quarters of acceleration.

• Based on an overall assessment, GDP growth for 2018-19 has been projected at 7.4% (7.2-7.3% in H2) as in the October policy, and for H1:2019-20 at 7.5%, with risks somewhat to the downside

2. RBI to inject Rs.10,000 crore through OMO on 6th December

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it will be injecting Rs.10,000 crore into the system through the purchase of government securities on December 6 to increase liquidity. RBI’s decision is based on an assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions. The purchase will be made through Open Market Operations (OMOs). The OMO operation will help ease tight liquidity situation triggered by a series of defaults by group companies of IL&FS. 

• The eligible participants should submit their offers in electronic format on the RBI Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system. The result of the auction will be announced on the same day and payment to successful participants will be made on the following day.

E-Kuber:

♦ E-Kuber is the Core Banking Solution of RBI

♦ E-Kuber provides the provision of a single current account for each bank across the country, with decentralized access to this account from anywhere-anytime using portal based services in a safe manner

Core Banking Solutions (CBS):

♦ CBS refers to a centralized system established by a bank which allows its customers to conduct their business irrespective of the bank’s branch

♦ It thus removes the impediments of geo-specific transactions

Awards & Recognitions

1. Ada Hegerberg won the first ever women's Ballon d'Or

•  Olympique Lyonnais striker Ada Hegerberg became the first woman to be awarded a Ballon d’Or at a grand ceremony in Paris.

•  The 23-year-old was announced the first ever winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or by former France international player David Ginola before she gave an inspiring speech encouraging more girls to play football.

• She has won four league and three Champions League titles with Lyon. 

Appointments & Resignation

1. State Bank of India Ropes in Swapna Barman As Brand Ambassador For YONO

• State Bank of India has roped in Asian Games gold medalist Swapna Barman as brand ambassador for its digital app YONO. YONO, the bank’s digital platform that makes both lifestyle and banking available through a single app, was launched exactly a year back.

• Swapna won Gold medal in Heptathlon in Jakarta Asian Games with a score of 6026 and is looking to break the 6200 score barrier to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

2. Government of India appointes Ajay Narayan Jha as new Finance Secretary

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has cleared Jha's appointment to the post after incumbent Hasmukh Adhia, a 1981-batch Gujarat cadre officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), retired on November 30.

• After Jha retires on 31 January, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, a 1983 batch Rajasthan carde IAS officer, who will become the senior most secretary in the ministry is likely to take charge as the finance secretary.

Environment Sci-Tech Researches

1. India’s Heaviest Satellite GSAT-11 Successfully Launched

• India’s heaviest, largest and most powerful satellite GSAT-11 was successfully launched by an Arianespace rocket from the French Guiana. Blasting off from the Ariane Launch Complex in Kourou, the Ariane-5 vehicle injected the GSAT-11 into the orbit in a flawless flight lasting about 33 minutes.

• The satellite will play a vital role in providing broadband services across the country and also be a platform to demonstrate new generation applications. As per the ISRO Chairman K Sivan, GSAT-11 is going to be the richest space asset for India and it will provide something like 16 Gbps data link services to the country.

• About GSAT-11 in Brief: 

The satellite has 38 spot beams as well as eight sub-beams, which will cover the entire country, including the remote  places.

Launch Mass: 5854 kg.
Mission Life: 15 Years.
Power: 13.6 kW Ariane-5 VA-246.
Type of Satellite: Communication.
Manufacturer: ISRO.
Application: Communication.
Orbit Type: GTO.

2. SpaceX Launches 64 Satellites Aboard Reusable Rocket

• SpaceX successfully launched 64 small satellites, including India’s ExseedSAT-1 in the company’s largest-ever “rideshare” mission on a twice-reused Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from a California launchpad. This is a new US record.

• The Falcon 9 rocket carried 15 micro-satellites and 49 CubeSats belonging to 34 different clients including public, private and university sources from 17 different countries across the world including South Korea, France and Kazakhstan.

3. IMD announced that winter will be warmer than normal this year

• India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced that winter is likely to be warmer than average, with fewer ‘cold wave’ days between December and February. The forecast suggested that ‘above normal’ seasonal minimum temperatures (>0.5° C) are most likely over most of the subdivisions of the country.

• However, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, and Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh in central India, would most likely see ‘normal’ (between 0.5°C and -0.5°C) seasonal minimum temperatures prevailing. The forecast report was delivered by K.J. Ramesh, Director-General, IMD.

Defence

1. Bilateral Air Exercise SHINYUU Maitri-18 Held In Agra

• The Japanese Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) held a bilateral air exercise SHINYUU Maitri-18 with Indian Air Force at A F Station Agra. The theme of the exercise is joint Mobility/Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) on Transport aircraft. The JASDF C2 aircraft along with aircrew/observers are part of this first air exercise between the two Air Forces.

• IAF participated with An-32 and C-17 aircraft with aircrew & observers. The focus of the exercise was the IAF and JASDF crews to undertake Joint Mobility/ HADR operations. Display of heavy loading/offloading was also practiced during this exercise.

2. Indian Navy to conduct Exercise sea vigil as a part of 2-month long Exercise TROPEX

• Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba announced conduction of a 2-month long Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (Tropex) in January 2019. It would end in March 2019.

• The main objective is to check on the coastal defence system.

• This would test the combat capability of the Indian Navy, Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Coast Guard, and would strengthen interoperability and joint operations in a complex conflict situation.

Sports

1. Gautam Gambhir Announces Retirement From All Forms Of Cricket

• Gautam Gambhir has announced his retirement from all forms of Cricket. The 37-year-old announced his retirement on social media. A 12-year international career fetched over 10,000 runs for the country; 4,154 in 58 Tests, 5,238 in 147 ODIs and 932 in 37 T20Is.

• Gambhir, who last donned India colors in a Test against England in November 2016, was part of Indian title-winning teams at both the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup top-scoring for India in the finals of both events. Gambhir’s final outing on the cricket field came at his home ground, New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla, in a Ranji Trophy tie for Delhi against Andhra Pradesh.

2. India submits official interest to host 2032 Olympics

• The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has submitted a formal expression of interest to bid for 2032 Olympics.Mumbai and Delhi are the top two options under consideration by Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which has approached the International Olympic Committee.

• India is holding on to its dream of hosting the Olympic games for the first time.

• The bidding process is expected to start in 2022 and a host city will be decided by 2025.

Books & Authors

1. Admiral Sunil Lanba Released Book Titled ‘Blue Waters Ahoy!’

• Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff, released a book titled ‘Blue Waters Ahoy!’ – chronicling the Indian Navy’s History from 2001-10. The unveiling was a part of an At Home function held at the Navy House in the presence of Ramnath Kovind, the President of India and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

• The book has been authored by Vice Admiral Anup Singh, who retired as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Naval Command in 2011.

Important Days

1. World Soil Day: 5 December

• World Soil Day is celebrated annually on the 5th of December at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, the regional offices and through national and local events. #StopSoilPollution is the objective of this World Soil Day on 5 December and throughout the year

• The International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), in 2002, adopted a resolution proposing the 5th of December as World Soil Day to celebrate the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a vital contributor to human well-being.

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