Current Affairs Update – 10th December, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 10th December, 2015. These are important for the upcoming IBPS Clerk Mains and Insurance Exams.

• Luxembourg on 8 December 2015 became the 10th country to
  ratify the Articles of Agreement (AoA) that will lay the legal framework for
  the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
• Apart from Luxembourg, Australia, Austria, Brunei Darussalam,
  China, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore and United Kingdom ratified the
  60-article agreement so far.
• These 10 countries are among the 57 founder-member countries
  of the multilateral bank that has its headquarters in the Chinese capital
  Beijing.
• Among the 57 founder-member countries, except the
  Philippines all other 56 countries have signed the AoA and 46 countries are yet
  to ratify it.

• The Union Cabinet on 9 December 2015 approved a 4000 crore
  rupees proposal for introducing measures to encourage Shipbuilding and Ship
  Repair Industry in India.
• The proposal will give a big boost to the shipbuilding and
  ship repair industry and will facilitate the Make in India initiative of the
  Union Government.

• To counter the cost-disadvantages, the government will grant
  a financial assistance of 20 percent of the contract price or the fair price,
  whichever is lower following the delivery of the ship.
• The assistance will be reduced by 3 percent in every three
  years and will be given for all types of ships.
• This policy will be in force for ten years. The
  implementation of this policy would require budgetary support of 4000 crore
  rupees over ten years.

• Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank will
  provide $1 billion loan to central transmission utility Power Grid Corp for
  renewable energy transmission and grid expansion in India.
• “ADB is to provide a $500 million government-backed
  loan and a further $500 million in nonsovereign lending to India’s national
  transmission company, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited,” ADB said
  in a statement here.
• The funds will be used to build and upgrade high voltage
  transmission lines and substations in Rajasthan and Punjab, as part of the
  Indian government’s Green Energy Corridor initiative.
• Earlier this year, India announced ambitious plans to
  achieve a national renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022. About 90 per cent
  of this is expected to be generated from solar and wind sources which are concentrated
  in a few Indian states.
• Investment in efficient, inter-state transmission
  infrastructure that can address the intermittency and timing differences of
  renewable energy is therefore critical in supporting expansion and optimal use
  of renewable energy in India.

• India will be launching six Singaporean satellites weighing
  a total of around 625 kg on the evening of December 16th through its Polar
  Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, a senior official said.
• According to him, the major luggage for the PSLV rocket will
  be the earth observation satellite called TeLEOS, weighing around 400 kg.
• ISRO will be flying the ‘core alone’ variant of the PSLV
  rocket. The rocket will not have the strap on boosters, its standard feature.
• The December 16 mission will be the last rocket launch
  mission for ISRO in 2015.
• Till date, in the 2015 calendar year, ISRO has launched 14
  satellites (3 Indian and 11 foreign) from its rocket port in Sriharikota.
  Thirteen satellites were launched with PSLV rocket and one communication
  satellite – GSAT-6-with geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV).

• India and United Kingdom on 9 December 2015 launched a joint
  initiative 2016: UK-INDIA Year of Education and Research in New Delhi.
• It was launched by visiting Secretary of State, Business
  Innovation and Skill of the UK Sajid Javid along with Human Resource
  Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani.

• In 2016, it will allow UK academicians to come to India
  under Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme.
• It will enhance partnership in research work in ten research
  priority areas under IMPRINT (IMPacting Research Innovation and Technology).

• JIPMER, a premier medical institution in the Central sector
  in the Union Territory has been declared as a National Data Recovery Centre
  (NDRC) for telemedicine by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
• JIPMER Director S C Parija in a statement said the Health
  Ministry had already declared it as a regional resource centre for telemedicine
  for all medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
  and Telangana.
• Fully equipped with infrastructure, it had been declared to
  be the NDRC for telemedicine, which would recover country’s data regarding
  telemedicine from the institute in the event of loss of data, he said.
• Parija said the project would be supported by the Health and
  Family Welfare Ministry.

• The Supreme Court on 9 December 2015 asked the Union
  Government to operationalise the Organised Crimes Investigating Agency (OCIA)
  by 1 December 2016. OICA will probe human trafficking cases across the nation.
• The direction was given by Supreme Court bench headed by
  Justice AR Dave and comprising of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian
  Joseph. Issuing these directions, the bench disposed of a PIL filed in 2004.
• The bench also asked the Ministry of Women and Child
  Development to complete the consultation process in six months on the issue of
  making a comprehensible legislation to deal with issues like prevention, rescue
  and rehabilitation of the victims of trafficking for commercial and sexual
  exploitation.

• Bengaluru Yodhas, the JSW Group owned franchise in the Pro
  Wrestling League, has announced India’s Test captain Virat Kohli as the
  co-owner of the team.
• Kohli who led the Indian team to a 3-0 Test series victory
  over South Africa recently, is all set to take it #FromBatToMat with this
  association with the Bengaluru franchise.
• The Pro Wrestling League, whose inaugural edition kicks off
  today (December 10) in New Delhi’s KD Jadhav stadium, pits six city-based
  franchises against one another in one of the richest freestyle wrestling
  tournaments in the world.
• Kohli’s Bengaluru Yodhas will face Rohit Sharma’s UP
  Warriors in their opening fixture on, where the world will see the two
  cricketers as owners and in different dug outs.

• Afghanistan cricket team has shifted its home base from
  Sharjah to the UPCA stadium in NOIDA where they will play their matches and
  practice after a MoU was signed on Thursday in this regard.
• According to the Memorandum of Understanding with BCCI and
  Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, the Afghanistan Cricket Board
  (ACB) will be able to utilise the facilities of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik
  Sports Complex, which has successfully hosted a Ranji Trophy game between Uttar
  Pradesh and Baroda.
• BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur, who also signed the MoU papers
  in presence of UPCA Secretary Rajeev Shukla, not only gave the new ground big
  thumbs up but also complimented the Afghanistan team for its recent success.

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced an
  exciting new global partnership with OPPO, a leading mobile telephone device
  companies, on a four-year deal which runs from 2016 until 2020.
• Launched in China in 2004, OPPO has a strong presence in
  more than 20 countries, including Australia, China, USA and right across
  Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
• Commenting on the new partnership, ICC Chief Executive David
  Richardson said: “The ICC is delighted to welcome OPPO on board as a Global
  Partner and we are excited about the opportunity to team up for the next four
  years.

• Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene on 9 December
  2015 was awarded with an honorary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket
  Club (MCC).
• MCC awarded the honorary life membership of the club to
  recognise Jayawardene’s stellar career in which he played 149 Test matches and
  scored 11814 runs at an average of 49.84.
• Jayawardene became the 14th Sri Lankan to be awarded with
  MCC Honorary Life Membership. Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan and
  Chaminda Vaas were awarded with the same. 

• Human Rights Day was on 10 December 2015 observed across the
  world.  It aimed to promote and raise
  awareness of the two Covenants of Human Rights Day- International Covenant on
  Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on
  Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
• On the occasion of the day that marks 50th anniversary of
  these two International Covenants, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office
  launched Our Rights. Our Freedoms. Always, a year-long campaign to shine a
  light on the inalienable and inherent rights of global citizens.

• Digital payments platform FreeCharge today announced the
  appointment of Anshul Kheterpal as its chief financial officer.
• In his new role, Anshul will help craft strategies for the
  payments business at FreeCharge and Snapdeal and closely work with the senior
  leadership teams to strengthen the digital payments business, FreeCharge said
  in a statement.
• In April, Snapdeal had announced the acquisition of FreeCharge.
• Prior to the appointment at FreeCharge, Anshul was CFO and
  Principal Officer of Airtel Money.

• Kapil Chopra, President, The Oberoi Group, has been
  appointed as the Chairman of World Travel & Tourism Council, India
  Initiative (WTTCII) for 2016, a statement from the hotel group said on
  Thursday.
• The Annual General Meeting of the WTTCII was held on December
  9. Chopra, who served as the council’s Vice-Chairman for 2015, takes over from
  Manav Thadani, Chairman, HVS, South Asia.
• Ashwani Lohani, Chairman & Managing Director, Air India,
  has been appointed as the Vice-Chairman of WTTCII for 2016.

• Prakash Kumar Singh has taken charge as Chairman, Steel
  Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the public sector undertaking said in a
  statement on Thursday.
• Prior to this, 57-year-old Singh was the CEO of SAIL’s
  Durgapur Steel Plant. In July 2015, he was also given the additional charge of
  CEO, IISCO Steel Plant.
• An alumnus of IIT, Roorkee in Metallurgical Engineering, he
  started his career in Bokaro Steel Plant in 1980, the statement added.

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
  (UNCTAD) on 8 December 2015 released Handbook of Statistics 2015. The annual
  publication provided a collection of statistics and indicators relevant to the
  analysis of international trade, investment and development for 2014.
• As per the handbook, the total global exports for 2014 were
  valued at 24 trillion US dollars, up by 1.2 per cent compared with 2013.
• And, India’s total merchandise export for 2014 was valued at
  321 billion US dollars against 314 billion US dollars in 2013.

• Total exports from developed economies accounted for 55 per
  cent (13.2 trillion US dollars) of total global trade.
• Developing economies accounted for 41 per cent (10 trillion
  US dollars) of total exports with transition economies accounting for the
  residual 890 million US dollars, or 4 per cent, of exports.

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 8 December 2015 released a
  report entitled Asian Economic Integration Report 2015: How Can Special
  Economic Zones Catalyze Economic Development?
• The report examined current trends in trade, finance,
  migration, remittances and other economic activities in the region, with a
  special chapter on the role of special economic zones (SEZs).

• Asia’s income elasticity of trade declined from 2.69 before
  the global financial crisis (2008-09) to 1.30 in 2015.
• The value of Asia’s intermediate goods trade—almost 60
  percent of total trade—contracted 2.6 percent in 2014.
• Structural factors for the above decline include a general
  trend of rebalancing away from export and investment toward consumption and
  services.

• At a time when India is struggling with rising number of
  dengue cases with each passing year, the Mexican government has approved the
  world’s first anti-dengue vaccine which is designed to protect people in the
  9-45 age group from nine to 45 years from all four subtypes of the virus.
• Called Dengvaxia, the vaccine has been developed by
  France-based Sanofi Pasteur and is the result of an extensive clinical
  development programme running for almost two decades.
• While dengue affects nearly 400 million people in endemic
  areas, mostly in tropical and subtropical countries in Latin America and Asia,
  India saw one of the worst outbreak of the deadly disease this year with 32
  deaths recorded in New Delhi alone till October.
• With the total number of dengue cases in the capital
  reaching over 12,000 in October, Delhi recorded the highest number of patients
  of the viral disease in 19 years, according to health authorities.
• Even as Dengvaxia has become the first vaccine to be
  licensed in the world for the prevention of dengue, the dengue toll in West
  Bengal has touched 12 with the last death reported on November 5, according to
  state health officials.

• The prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Banglore
  on 9 December 2015 bagged a US military contract for research and development
  on solar powered micro-grid.
• It is one of the rare instances that an Indian scientific
  institute has been awarded a federal contract by the US military.

• The federal contract worth 52900 US dollars was awarded by
  the US Pacific Air Forces, Yokota Air Base in Japan.
• The contract is awarded to develop solar powered micro-grid
  with battery and supercapacitor energy storage system.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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