Current Affairs Update – 16-17 December, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs of 16 and 17 December, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IPPB PO Mains, NIACL AO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains and RBI Assistant Mains 2016-17.

• India and Tajikistan on Saturday
  signed four agreements, including one on exchange of financial intelligence,
  following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
  Tajik President Emomali Rahmon here.
• A memorandum of understanding (MoU)
  was signed on cooperation in the exchange of financial intelligence related to
  money laundering, related crimes and financing of terrorism.
• The two sides signed a protocol
  amending avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion.
• Another MoU was signed regarding
  cooperation on broadcasting in exchange of audio-visual programmes.
• The two sides also initialled a
  document on bilateral investment.

• National Aluminium Company Limited
  (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, under Ministry of Mines, Govt of India and State-run
  power giant NTPC Ltd.on Friday signed an agreement to set up a 2400 mega watt
  coal-based power plant at Gajmara in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.
• The MoU was inked in the presence
  of Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Power,
  Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi.
• Speaking on the occasion,
  Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted that NALCO is planning a greenfield project
  of 6 lakh tonne smelter at Kamakhya Nagar, Odisha of Rs 12,000 crore and
  brownfield expansion at its  Aluminium
  Smelter in Angul, with an additional capacity of 5 lakh tonnes per annum with
  an estimated CAPEX costing Rs.10,000 crore.
• Dharmendra Pradhan informed that
  it’s a dream come true for the people of Odisha as a power project at Gajamara
  will greatly enhance the industrialization and employment generation in Odisha
  with an investment of 48,000 crore.

• Union Government on 15 December
  2016 launched Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana to promote digital
  payments in the country.
• These schemes are aimed at
  increasing the overall transparency in the economy and removing the influence
  of cash on the political and economic system.

• Under these schemes, government
  will be giving cash awards to consumers and merchants who utilize digital
  payment instruments for personal consumption expenditures.
• The National Payment Corporation
  of India (NPCI) will be the implementing agency of these schemes.
• The primary aim of these schemes
  is to incentivize digital transactions so that electronic payments are adopted
  by all sections of the society, especially the poor and the middle class.
• It has been designed keeping in
  mind all sections of the society and their usage patterns.
• The schemes will become
  operational with the first draw on 25 December 2016 and will lead up to a Mega
  Draw on Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti on 14 April 2017.

• Under this scheme, government
  will offer daily reward of Rs 1000 that will be given to 15000 lucky consumers
  for a period of 100 days.
• Consumers, who use the alternate
  modes of digital payments, will be awarded with the weekly prizes of Rs 1 lakh,
  Rs 10000 and Rs 5000.
• This will include all forms of
  transactions- UPI, USSD, AEPS and RuPay Cards but will exclude transactions
  through Private Credit Cards and Digital Wallets.

• Under this scheme, the government
  will award prizes to merchants for all digital transactions conducted at
  merchant establishments.
• They will be awarded with the
  weekly prizes of Rs 50000, Rs 5000 and Rs 2500

• The Union Government on 14 April
  2017 will announce three mega prizes Rs 1 crore, Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh for
  consumers for digital transactions that are held between 8 November 2016- 13
  April 2017.
• It will also announce three mega
  prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, Rs 12 lakh for merchants for digital
  transactions between 8 November 2016 to 13 April 2017.
• The winners will be shortlisted
  through a random draw of the eligible transaction IDs by a software that is
  especially being developed by NPCI for this purpose.
• The estimated expenditure on the
  first phase of the scheme is around Rs 340 Crores.

• The US-India Clean Energy Finance
  (USICEF) initiative has been launched to pave the way to mobilise finance and
  support Indian-distributed clean energy projects.
• This comes in the backdrop of a
  commitment made by the US and Indian governments to finance clean energy
  projects.
• USICEF will deploy up to $20
  million in project preparation support, sourced equally from leading
  foundations and the Indian Government, to distributed solar power projects
  under consideration for long-term financing from OPIC.
• The William and Flora Hewlett
  Foundation, Good Energies Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
  Foundation, and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation have committed funding
  to USICEF to begin operations, and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) in Delhi has
  been selected as secretariat for the initiative.
• The USICEF programme helps
  promising distributed solar projects develop into viable candidates for
  financing from The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US
  Government’s development finance institution, as well as other finance
  institutions.
• This support will lay the
  foundation for project developers to access capital to scale up their
  businesses. It is proposed to target India’s distributed solar markets.

• The Union Power and Renewable
  Energy Minister Piyush Goyal on 15 December 2016 announced that the government
  sanctioned over Rs 30 crore for solar cities programme.
• The funds were sanctioned between
  December 2014 and November 2016 to 21 states and union territories (UTs).
• It is also called as the
  Development of Solar Cities Programme.
• The programme aims to consolidate
  all the previous initiatives of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
  to address the energy problem of urban areas in a holistic manner.
• It is designed to support and
  encourage Urban Local Bodies to prepare a road map to guide their cities in
  becoming renewable energy cities.
• A solar city is defined as a city
  which achieved a minimum 10% reduction in the projected demand for conventional
  energy.
• The cities may have a population
  between 50000 to 50 lakh. However, relaxation could be considered for
  North-Eastern and hilly States, Islands and UTs.
• A total of 60 cities will be
  developed under this programme. At least one city in each State to a maximum of
  five cities in a State may be supported by the Ministry.
• Up to Rs 50 lakh per city is
  provided depending upon population and initiatives decided to be taken by the
  city administration.

• The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
  International airport in Mumbai became India’s first airport to introduce self
  bag drop units on Thursday. The Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) has
  installed several units in the country’s second most busiest airport to help
  passenger flow during rush hours.
• The bag drop solution units,
  which will be available to the passengers of Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet,
  Go and Indigo, are being manufactured by SITA. ‘Scan&fly’, as its called,
  will allow passengers that have already checked in online to quickly tag and
  drop their baggage before heading directly to the gate.
• The plug-and-play design of SITA
  Scan&Fly allows it to be easily installed onto existing airport check-in
  desks, maximising terminal space while leveraging the speed of self-service.

• The Supreme Court (SC) on 15
  December 2016 ordered the State and the Union Governments to remove all liquor
  shops located 500 metres or less from national and state highways.
• However, the Bench, headed by
  Chief Justice TS Thakur, ruled that the existing licence-holders could continue
  their business till 31 March 2017.
• The ruling was based on
  recommendations by Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments.
• The Bench advised the State and
  the Union Governments to take into account both road safety and government
  revenue.
• It had allowed representatives of
  public interest litigants in these cases to attend the meeting between the
  Union and the State Governments.
• The states pleaded for exempting
  state highways from the ban on liquor shops. However, the Bench stated that “if
  it is valid for national highways, it is valid for state highways also. What is
  good for the Centre is good for the states as well. It is a good idea not to
  allure highway users into drinking and driving. If there is a reasonable method
  which the governments want to adopt, we have no difficulty in approving it. At
  the end of the day, it is for the good of society at large.”
• The top court also stated that
  closing down liquor shops on highways would not adversely affect the tax
  revenue to a great extent.

• Assam’s island district, Majuli
  will now become India’s first ever Carbon neutral district by 2020.
• The project titled ‘’Sustainable
  Action for Climate Resilient Development in Majuli’ (SACRed, Majuli) was
  launched by Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, A K Johari on 14
  December 2016. It was initiated by Assam’s department of Environment and Forest
  to fight against climate change and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
• According to Johari, the project
  would start with afforestation, reforestation, and conservation of the existing
  flora and fauna, followed by other methods to ensure sustainable development
  over the next three years.
• The implementation of the project
  will happen in partnership with other departments of the district, for which
  the government has created a special district level committee under the
  leadership of the Majuli’s Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha.

• The seventh edition of EKUVERIN
  commenced on 15 December 2016 at Kadhdhoo, Laamu Atoll, Maldives. The exercise
  will conclude on 28 December 2016.
• The Exercise EKUVERIN is a 14 day
  platoon level joint military exercise between the Indian Army and the Maldives
  National Defence Force. The exercise is conducted on a yearly basis.
• The exercise aims at conducting
  military training with emphasis on amphibious and counter insurgency/ counter
  terrorism operations.
• It also aims at enhancing
  interoperability between the two armies.

• Lt Gen Bipin Rawat has been
  appointed as the new chief of Army Staff and Air Marshal BS Dhanoa will take
  over as the new chief of Air Staff.
• Lt Gen Bipin Rawat will succeed
  General Dalbir Singh Suhag who will retire on January 10, 2017.
• Air Marshal BS Dhanoa will
  succeed Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha who will retire on December 31, 2016.
• Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa
  AVSM YSM VM took over as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) on 01 June
  2015. He was commissioned in the IAF in June 1978 as a fighter pilot. He is an
  alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College, the National Defence Academy and
  the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.
• Air Marshal Dhanoa is a Qualified
  Flying Instructor and has flown various types of fighter aircraft in his
  distinguished career. During the Kargil Operations, he commanded a fighter
  squadron and himself flew numerous night strike missions in the mountainous
  terrain.
• He has the distinction of having
  held a number of the important operational appointments including Station
  Commander of a fighter base and leader of an Indian Military Training Team
  abroad He has also served as Chief Instructor (Air) at the Defence Services
  Staff College, Wellington, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) at
  Air Headquarters and Senior Air Staff Officer of two operational Commands.
  Prior to being appointed as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, the Air Marshal was
  the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Air Command.
• In recognition for his
  meritorious services, he was awarded Yudh Seva Medal (YSM), Vayusena Medal (VM)
  in 1999, and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) in 2015 by the President of India.
• He is married to Mrs. Kamalpreet
  and they have a son Jasman who is pursuing law.

• Rajiv Jain was appointed the next
  chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) while Anil Dhasmana was named as the new head
  of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) on Saturday.
• Jain is a Jharkhand cadre IPS
  officer. Both officers will have a tenure of two years.
• Jain, who is at present Special
  Director in the IB, will take over on 1 January after incumbent Dineshwar
  Sharma completes his two-year tenure on 31 December.
• A recipient of the President’s
  Police Medal, the 1980-batch officer has served in various departments of the
  IB, including the sensitive Kashmir desk.
• He was advisor to the previous
  NDA government’s interlocutor on Kashmir K C Pant when talks were held with
  separatist leaders like Shabbir Shah.
• Dhasmana will take over the reins
  of the R&AW , which is tasked with gathering external intelligence. He
  succeeds Rajinder Khanna, who completes his tenure by the end of this year.
• A 1981-batch officer from the
  Madhya Pradesh cadre, Dhasmana has been with R&AW for the last 23 years,
  during which he served on important desks, including the Pakistan desk.

• Audi, the German luxury car
  manufacturer, has appointed Rahil Ansari as the Head of Audi India, effective
  February 1, 2017. He replaces Joe King, whose tenure ended.
• Ansari moves to Audi India from
  Audi AG, where he heads the global pricing for Audi Genuine Parts at Audi AG
  Aftersales.
• The Audi model range in India
  includes the Audi A3, Audi A3 Cabriolet, Audi A4, Audi A6, Audi A8 L, Audi Q3,
  Audi Q5, Audi Q7, Audi TT Coupé, Audi S5 Sportback, Audi Rs. 6 Avant, Audi Rs.
  7 sportback and Audi R8 V10 plus.

• Former Information and
  Broadcasting Secretary Sunil Arora was on 15 December 2016 appointed as the
  Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Institute of
  Corporate Affairs (IICA).
• Arora’s appointment was approved
  by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). He will serve the  office for a period of five years or till
  attaining 65 years of age or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• IICA is a think tank that comes
  under the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It focuses on matters impacting
  the functioning of corporates. Moreover, it work towards capacity building with
  various stakeholders including regulators and professionals.

• Incoming United Nations (UN)
  Chief Antonio Guterres on 15 December 2016 appointed Nigeria’s Environment
  Minister Amina Mohammed as his Deputy Secretary-General.
• Guterres was recently sworn in as
  the ninth male UN Chief. He pledged to reach gender parity among senior
  leadership within his five-year term. He will take over from current
  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2017.
• Also, Guterres appointed
  Brazilian diplomat Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti as Chef de Cabinet and South
  Korea’s Kyung-wha Kang as Special Adviser on Policy.

• Sushma Swaraj, the Indian
  Minister of External Affairs was named a ‘2016 Global Thinker’ by Foreign
  Policy magazine for her ‘novel Twitter diplomacy’.
• Swaraj’s name featured in the
  ‘decision makers’ category along with the names of other world-renowned leaders
  such as US Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, former UN Secretary General
  Ban Ki-Moon and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
• The major credit of the Minister’s
  inclusion in the list goes to her prompt twitter responses since she took
  office. The magazine recalled a particular instance when Swaraj had tweeted
  about the huge food crisis faced by thousands of Indian workers in Saudi Arabia
  due to sudden job layoffs. 
• Swaraj had treated the situation with great
  swiftness, launching a week-long operation on social media, giving migrants all
  the required information that would keep them properly fed and get them back
  home safely.

• The Indian Council of Food and
  Agriculture (ICFA) on 15 December 2016 presented ‘Global Agriculture Leadership
  Award 2016’ to Ratan Tata in Mumbai.
• Tata was conferred with the
  prestigious award for his transformational role in scaling Tata Group as the
  globally admired group during his stint of 20 years as Chairman.
• The Leadership Awards Jury was
  chaired by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, pioneer of India’s Green Revolution.

• India batswoman Smriti Mandhana
  was on 14 December 2016 named in the International Cricket Council (ICC)
  Women’s Team of the Year 2016.
• With this inclusion, she became
  the first Indian woman cricketer to figure in the prestigious list.

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