Top Headlines : Daily current Affairs - 06-December-2018

Hello Aspirants, we provide 06th 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. Government Sanctions 254 Projects Under National Mission for Clean Ganga

·      The government has sanctioned 254 projects worth over 24 thousand crore rupees under National Mission for Clean Ganga. As per Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari, around five thousand crore rupees have been spent in the last four years under it.

·      The Announcement was made at the India Water Impact Summit 2018 in New Delhi. Mr Gadkari informed that his Ministry has taken up construction of 197 ghats in five states, including Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

2. Gangotri, Yamunotri Included Under PRASAD Scheme

·      The Centre included Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand, Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh and Parasnath in Jharkhand under a central scheme to develop pilgrimage and heritage destinations in the country, a tourism ministry statement stated.

·      With the new additions, the number of sites under the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) launched by the ministry in 2014-15 has now become 41 in 25 states.

3. UAE Passport Ranked Most Powerful Globally: Arton Capital

·      The UAE now has the world’s most powerful passport, achieving the top ranking in an achievement hailed as a tribute to the legacy of the Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed, and the country’s diplomacy. The number 1 spot in the global Passport Index was achieved just as the UAE celebrates it 47th National Day and its achievements since 1971.

·      The index, compiled by Arton Capital, ranks national passports based on the number of countries a holder can enter without a visa or by obtaining one on arrival. India was ranked 140th in the list. Top 3 countries on INDIVIDUAL PASSPORT POWER RANK are:
1. The UAE
2. Singapore
3. German

3. PEETHA Scheme Launched In Odisha To Reinforce Brand Naveen

·      IN a move to reinforce brand Naveen and give it a national perspective after the success of the Hockey Men’s World Cup, Odisha Government launched yet another initiative, Peoples Empowerment – Enabling Transparency and Accountability of Odisha Initiatives (PEETHA). 

·      The Scheme is aimed at creating awareness about various schemes and improving transparency in the distribution of individual and social benefits. This is part of the 3T initiative of Technology, Transparency and Team Work model. The PEETHA is a sub-scheme of the Odisha government’s flagship Ama Gaon Ama Bikas Yojana.

4. Delhi Government Launches Free Pilgrimage Scheme For Senior Citizens

·      Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana’ which offers free travel packages for senior citizens from Delhi to five religious circuits. 1,100 senior citizens from every constituency of Delhi will be able to avail this facility at one go.

·      Under this free pilgrimage scheme, a Delhi resident above 60 years will be eligible to take free pilgrimage along with his or her spouse.

5. SC introduced Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 in India

• The Supreme Court (SC) introduced a witness protection regime in the country noting that one of the main reasons for witnesses turning hostile is that they are not given security by the State. It also announced that the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 will come into effect immediately across all States. This scheme is aimed at enabling a witness to depose fearlessly and truthfully, would be the law of the land till Parliament enacted suitable legislation.

• Under the scheme, the witness protection may be as simple as providing a police escort to the witness up to the courtroom or, in more complex cases involving an organized criminal group, taking extraordinary measures such as offering temporary residence in a safe house, giving a new identity, and relocation at an undisclosed place.

6. Phone calls, internet surfing may be allowed in flights from January 2019

• The Telecom Commission - the highest policy-making body of the Department of Telecom - had cleared a proposal for allowing wider in-flight connectivity that is now available in most of the developed markets.

• A separate category of licensees - in-flight service providers - will be created for offering such services, and licence fee for such niche providers will be pegged at Rs 1.

International News

1. US gives Russia 60 days to comply with nuclear arms treaty

• The US gave Russia 60 days to comply with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, failing which the US will withdraw from the pact.Russia has violated the pact by deploying a ground-based cruise missile.The INF treaty requires the elimination of both US' and Russia's land-based nuclear missiles from Europe.

2. Panama 1st Latin American nation to join Belt and Road Initiative

• Panama has become the first Latin American country to join China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).China established diplomatic relations with Panama last year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Panamanian counterpart, Juan Carlos Varela signed 19 deals, including:

• An extradition treaty

• An arrangement where China will provide a non-specified amount of non-reimbursable aid to carry out various projects.

• Memoranda of understanding on commercial, tourist, educational matters. 

• Other deals on trade, infrastructure and banking.

Aggrements & Summit

1. India Signs An Agreement With Peru For Co-operation In Customs Matters

·      India signed an agreement with Peru for co-operation and mutual assistance in Customs Matters. It provides a legal framework for the sharing of information and intelligence between the Customs authorities of the two countries.

·      The agreement will also help in the proper application of Customs laws, prevention and investigation of Customs offenses. According to the Finance Ministry, the agreement signed in New Delhi is also expected to facilitate trade and ensure the efficient clearance of goods traded between the two sides.

2. 2nd Meeting of NITI Forum for North East Held in Guwahati

·      The second meeting of the NITI Forum for the North East is being held in Guwahati, Assam. Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh and Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar attended the meeting.

·      NITI Forum for North East was constituted this year to periodically review the development status in the region. The members of the forum include Secretaries of various central ministries, Chief Secretaries of all eight North-eastern states, senior government officials and experts from various fields.

3. India and UAE signed 3,500 crore currency swap agreement

• This agreement will boost investment and enable direct trade without using dollars or other international currencies.The agreement was signed after the 12th India-UAE joint commission meeting co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the UAE's Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdulla bin Zayed al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. In 2015, China's central bank extended a currency swap agreement with the UAE Central bank worth $5.54 billion.

4. First 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.

Banking & Business Economy News

1. Paisabazaar.com Launches India’s First ‘Chance of Approval’ Feature

• Paisabazaar.com, India’s largest online marketplace for financial products has launched an industry-first feature that will help loan applicants choose their most-suited lender on its platform. Named ‘Chance of Approval’, this advanced predictive algorithm has been created by Paisabazaar.com by using the last four years of lending data.

• While this is the first such initiative in India, globally a few leading players, like Credit Karma in the US, have developed similar features to improve the acceptance rate on their platforms.

2. Fitch Cuts India’s Growth Forecast To 7.2% In FY19

• Fitch Ratings revised downwards India’s GDP growth forecast to 7.2% for current fiscal citing higher financing cost and reduced credit availability.

• In its Global Economic Outlook, Fitch projected that for 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years, India’s GDP growth will be 7% and 7.1% respectively. Fitch had in June projected India to grow at 7.4% in current fiscal and 7.5% in 2019-20.

Awards & Recognitions

1. Sahitya Academy Awards 2018 Announced: Complete List of Winners

• Sahitya Akademi announced its annual Awards for 2018 in 24 languages. Seven books of poetry, six novels, six short stories, three of literary criticism and two of essays have won the Sahitya Akademi Awards, 2018.

• Here is the complete list of winners of Sahitya Akademi Awards 2018: 

Sl. No.	Winner		Language
	For Collection of Poetry
01.	Sananta Tanti	Assamese
02.	Paresh Narendra Kamat	Konkani
03.	S Ramesan Nair	Malayalam
04.	Dr Rama Kant Shukla	Sanskrit
05.	Dr Mohanjit	Punjabi
06.	Dr Rajesh Kumar Vyas	Rajasthani
07.	Khiman U Mulani	Sindhi
	For short stories
08.	Sanjib Chattopadhyay	Bengali
09.	Mushtaq Ahmed Mushtaq	Kashmiri
10.	Prof Bina Thakur	Maithili
	For Novel
11.	Inderjeet Kesar	Dogri
12.	Anees Salim	English
13.	Chitra Mudgal	Hindi
14.	Shyam Besra	Santali
15.	S Ramakrishnan	Tamil
16.	Rahman Abbas	Urdu
17.	Short-story writer, Mushtaq Ahmad Mushtaq, bagged the Award for his collection of short stories “AAKH’’.

• The awards will be presented at a roadshow function to be held on 29th January 2019 at New Delhi during the Festival of Letters to the organized by Sahitya Akademi. Yogendra Nath Sharma was awarded the Bhasha Salman for the North zone; G Venkatasubbiah for South zone; Gagendra Nath Das for the Eastern zone; and Shailaja Bapat for the Western zone.

2. Indian-origin woman Shamila Batohi named South Africa's 1st female chief prosecutor

• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Indian-origin Shamila Batohi as the country's first female chief prosecutor.

• Batohi will start her new role as the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in February 2019.Batohi is a former state prosecutor from KwaZulu-Natal and has served as a senior adviser to the prosecutor in the International Criminal Court since 2009.

3. Deepika Padukone becomes first woman to rank among the Forbes' top five richest celebrities in India

• The 32-year-old Indian actress was placed fourth in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list with her earnings reaching Rs 112.80 crore during 2018.

      Other women to feature on the Forbes Indian Celebrity 100 include:

• Actresses Alia Bhatt (Rank 12, Rs 58.83 crore),
• Anushka Sharma (Rank 16, Rs 45.83 crore),
• Katrina Kaif (Rank 21, Rs 33.67 crore),
• Priyanka Chopra (Rank 49, Rs 18 crore),
• Shuttlers PV Sindhu (Rank 20, Rs 36.50 crore) and
• Saina Nehwal (Rank 58, Rs 16.54 crore), and
• comedian Bharti Singh (Rank 74, Rs 13.95 crore).

Appointments & Resignation

1. Axis Capital CEO Dharmesh Mehta Resigns

• Leading Investment Bank Axis Capital announced that its MD & CEO Dharmesh Mehta has stepped down. The bank has elevated Salil Pitale and Chirag Negandhi as Joint Managing Directors and Co-Chief Executive Officer. Pitale and Negandhi’s appointment will be with immediate effect.

2. Padma awardee Piyush Pandey named Ogilvy's global creative chief Officer

• WPP Plc.-owned creative agency, Ogilvy and Mather, has appointed Piyush Pandey as its global chief creative officer (CCO), effective 1 January 2019.With more than three decades of experience in the advertising industry, Pandey has created many memorable campaigns for brands such as Cadbury, Fevicol and Asian Paints, among others.He has been associated with Ogilvy since 1982.Besides, Pandey was the first Asian to be a jury president at the Cannes Film Festival, in 2004.

Environment Sci-Tech Researches

1. World’s 1st 3D-Printed Functional e-Bike Made In Germany

• German firm BigRep claims it has produced the world’s first fully functioning e-motorbike NERA using a 3D printer. According to the company, NERA has groundbreaking features like airless tires, embedded electronics, and forkless steering.

• The bike was conceptualized and developed in 12 weeks and includes 15 parts, which are all 3D printed except its motor and battery. The name is derived from the slogan “New Era”.

2. Researchers found that the CO2 levels has been increased

• Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Global Carbon Project said that Global carbon emissions are set to hit an all-time high of 37.1 billion tonnes of CO₂ in 2018. Among all the countries India is the third-highest contributor of CO₂. India has projected to see emissions rise by 6.3% from 2017.

• Representatives from more than 190 countries have begun discussions at the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland. The discussion is to set ways to equitably cut carbon emissions.

• Limiting global warming to the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of keeping the global temperature increase this century to well below 2°C, would need carbon dioxide emissions to decline by 50% by 2030 and reach net zero by about 2050.

3. ISRO's heaviest satellite GSAT-11 launched, will increase internet speed

• France-based Arianespace successfully launched GSAT-11, the heaviest satellite built by ISRO from its port in French Guiana.

• Weighing 5,854 kg, the GSAT-11 will boost broadband speeds and provide high bandwidth connectivity with up to 14 gigabit per second  (GBPS) data transfer speed.

• The satellite’s designed lifetime is more than 15 years.

4. Researchers found Microplastics in all sea turtle species

• Researchers from the University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, London working with the Greenpeace Research Laboratories conducted tests on over 100 sea turtles, spanning 3 oceans and all 7 species. The test revealed microplastics in the guts of every single turtle. Synthetic particles were found, the most common being fibres, which can come from clothing, tyres and cigarette filters, and equipment such as ropes and nets.

• Out of the studied 102 turtles, more than 800 synthetic particles were found. As the researchers only tested part of each animal’s gut, the total number of particles is estimated to be about 20 times higher.

• It is not known how synthetic particles are ingested by turtles, but the likely sources are polluted seawater and sediments and eating via prey or plants.

5. 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 USA record.

Sports

1. Eliud Kipchoge And Caterine Ibarguen Named IAAF Athletes Of The Year

• Kenyan distance runner Eliud Kipchoge and Colombian long and triple jumper Caterine Ibarguen have been named male and female world athletes of the year. The pair were honoured by the IAAF ( The International Association of Athletics Federations ) at a ceremony in Monaco. Kipchoge, 34, won the London Marathon and set a world record of 2:01:39 in Berlin.

• Ibarguen, also 34, claimed triple and long jump honours in the Central American and Caribbean Games, the Continental Cup and the Diamond League finals. Sweden’s 19-year-old pole vaulter Armand Duplantis won the men’s rising star award while the women’s award went to American 400m runner Sydney McLaughlin.

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