Current Affairs Update – 18 – 19 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.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
  19 December 2016 unveiled first ever Indian Institute of Skills at Kanpur in
  Uttar Pradesh.
• On this occasion, Modi also
  launched Kaushal Pradarshini to portray major skill development initiatives of
  the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

• The institute at Kanpur is the
  country’s first ever Indian Institute of Skills.
• The primary objective of the
  institute is to empower India’s youth to be more employable and
  self-sustainable.
• The institute has been
  conceptualised by the Prime Minister during his visit to Singapore’s Institute
  of Technical Education.
• The institute is inspired by the
  Singapore model of training and would adopt various best practices from the
  country.
• The plan is to set up six such
  institutes across the country in coming years.

• It is a skill exhibition for the
  youth of Uttar Pradesh.
• The exhibition showcases
  state-of-the-art vocational training practices across different sectors.
• It will remain open for public
  view at the Railway Grounds in Kanpur between 19 December 2016 and 22 December
  2016.

• State Bank MobiCash Mobile Wallet
  was launched on 18 December 2016. MobiCash is a product of State Bank of India
  (SBI) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
• It was jointly inaugurated by
  Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley and Minister of State
  for Communications (Independent charge) and Minster of State for Railways Manoj
  Sinha.
• While introducing the MobiCash
  Mobile Wallet service, Finance Minister appreciated the broader vision of SBI
  and BSNL to bring a Wallet both for smart and feature phones.

• State Bank MobiCash will be the
  Mobile Wallet Service of the State Bank of India and includes the service over
  the Application/USSD/SMS.
• In this case, bank means State
  Bank of India or any of its successors or assignees, while, wallet means a
  mobile-based prepaid wallet registered with the Bank.
• Wallet Holder means the holder of
  State Bank MobiCash. This wallet service can be accessed with the help of 6
  digits Mobile Personal Identification Number (MPIN).
• These mobile wallets will be
  governed by RBI and Bank’s policy. The product will be available to applicants
  having a valid Mobile number, identity proof and address proof.
• Limits for the daily and monthly
  transaction under the MobiCash Wallet will be dependent on KYC norms.

• Lanura, a village in Budgam
  district of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), became the first village in the state
  to go cashless.
• As per reports, at least one
  member of every household in the village has been trained to use the Electronic
  Payment System (EPS) and so far, 150 people were trained for the purpose.
• An official spokesperson said,
  the feat was achieved due to the efforts of the National Informatics Centre
  (NIC) and the CSC e-Governance Services India Limited under the objective of
  Digital Financial Inclusion. The government has been pushing for digital
  transactions since the demonetisation move that was announced on 8 November
  2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Lanura village is located some 30
  kilometres away from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The
  village falls in Panchayat Bugroo-B in block Khansahab of the district.

• India and Tajikistan on 17
  December 2016 signed 4 agreements to boost bilateral relations. The agreements/Memorandums
  of Understanding (MoUs) were signed in New Delhi during the State visit of
  Tajikistan president Emomali Rahmon.

1. A Memorandum of Understanding
   was signed between the Committee of television and radio of Tajikistan and the
   Prasar Bharati for cooperation on broadcasting in exchange of audio visual
   programs. Prasar Bharati is the public
   service broadcaster of the country that manages All India Radio and
   Doordarshan.
2. A protocol was signed that seeks
   to amend the agreement between Tajikistan and India for the avoidance of double
   taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.
3. A MoU was signed between the
   Financial Intelligence Unit of India and the Financial Monitoring Department of
   Tajikistan concerning cooperation in the exchange of financial intelligence to
   deal with crimes related to money laundering and financing of terrorism.
4.  An agreement was signed to
   initiate bilateral investment treaty between both the countries. The treaty
   will improve ease of doing business environment in India.

• Government is planning to start
  soon a toll free number 1955 for taking feedback of telecom subscribers on call
  drops.
• Provisioning of this number will
  be mandatory for telecom operators and should be accessible for local and STD
  calling.
• As per a letter by the Department
  of Telecom to operators in last week of November the ‘1955’ number “is for
  the outbound calls to the subscribers, the IVRS system will have to present a
  pre-defined CLI (caller line identification) to the subscribers, through short
  code ‘1955’.”
• State-run telecom firm MTNL has
  been directed to configure this short code. Telecom operators have been
  directed not to charge any integration, maintenance, operational fee from MTNL.
• Official sources said that
  Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha will launch the service but did not disclose any
  further details.

• The Union government has taken
  the call of setting up a single committee to hear all the inter-state river
  water disputes.
• The step would merge all existing
  tribunals into one single body and by doing this, the centre hopes to fasten
  the process of water dispute resolution. Apart from this central body, the
  government has also proposed to create some benches to look into disputes as
  and when required. These benches will not be permanent like the Tribunal and
  will be dissolved once the dispute is solved.

• The government has proposed the
  creation of one permanent Tribunal. It will be chaired by a retired judge of
  the Supreme Court.
• In comparison to earlier
  tribunals that took very long to deliver the final verdict, this tribunal will
  be expected to deliver its verdict within three years.
• Apart from this, the government
  has also proposed to set up a Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) comprising
  experts and policy makers.

• To help kids imbibe technical
  skills at an early age, Disney has launched its ‘Hour of Code’ campaign in
  India. Under the campaign, the entertainment firm will teach computer
  programming to school children through its free online tutorial featuring
  characters from its film Moana.
• Presently, Disney is teaching
  coding to school students in different states of India like Rajasthan, Gujarat
  and Maharashtra.
• Disney came to India with this
  campaign in its third global edition. Facts of the campaign
• It will teach the basics of
  coding to students aged 8 years and above
• It is being taken in over 700
  private and Public schools of these three states.
• The programme that aims to reach
  out to a million students in India is being carried under the partnership with
  Next Education.

• Swasthya Raksha Programme: The
  programme was launched by the AYUSH Ministry to promote health and health
  education in rural villages.
• The Swasthya Raksha Programme was
  in news on 16 December 2016 as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for
  AYUSH Shripad Yasso Naik provided information about the programme in the Lok
  Sabha.
• It was launched by the Union
  Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy
  (AYUSH) in October 2015.
• The purpose of the programme is
  to promote health and health education in villages
• The Central Council for Research
  in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), the Central Council for Research in Unani
  Medicine (CCRUM), the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) and
  the Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) are implementing the programme.

• Indian cricketer Karun Nair on 19
  December 2016 scored triple century in first innings of the fifth and final
  test-match against England. The match is being played at MA Chidambaram Stadium
  in Chennai.
• With this, Nair became the second
  Indian batsmen to score triple century in tests. Earlier, Virendra Sehwag
  scored two triple centuries in test matches.
• Karun Nair’s unbeaten 303 helped
  India to reach 759/7 score. This score also helped India to lead England by 282
  runs.
• In the first innings of the match
  England scored 477 runs.

• As India gears up to host its
  first ever major FIFA tournament, Bank of Baroda has come on board as the first
  national supporter for the Under 17 FIFA World Cup to be held in the second
  half of 2017.
• The Local Organising Committee
  (LOC) that comprises of members from the All India Football Federation and FIFA
  is looking at five more national supporters for the World Cup by the time the
  tournament rolls out.
• While the financial details of
  the deal are not disclosed, Bank of Baroda has earmarked Rs 80 to 90 crore this
  fiscal on brand building and promotional activities, which includes sports
  sponsorships. The bank recently got Olympic medallist PV Sindhu on board as a
  brand ambassador as well.

• Atletico de Kolkata on 18
  December 2016 was crowned the Indian Super League champions for the second time
  in three seasons.
• The team defeated the Kerala
  Blasters in a penalty shootout, 4–3, during the final. The match had ended 1–1
  after 90 minutes and extra time.
• The marquee player for the 2016
  season was Portugal international forward Helder Postiga. Spanish midfielder
  Borja Fernández served as the captain of the team.

• India’s Vijender Singh on 17
  December 2016 knocked out Tanzania’s Francis Cheka at the Thyagaraj Stadium,
  New Delhi, to defend his WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title.
• Singh took less than 10 minutes
  to knock Cheka out in the third round itself to retain the title.
• The Haryana boxer had won the
  title in July 2016 by defeating WBC European champion Kerry Hope.
• On the other hand, the Indian
  boxers dominated the undercard fights as well. In the first fight of the
  evening, Rajesh Kumar defeated Mubaraka Sseguya of Uganda in the Lightweight
  category. In the same category, Kuldeep Dhanda outpunched Egy Rozten of
  Indonesia. Deepak Tanwar emerged victorious in the Welterweight division by
  defeating Indonesian Sutriyono Bara Boys by technical knockout. In the Cruiserweight
  division, Dharmender Grewal overpowered Ugandan Abasi Kyobe by unanimous
  decision.

• India on 18 December 2016
  defeated Belgium 2-1 in the final to lift the 2016 Men’s Hockey Junior World
  Cup. The final was played at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow, Uttar
  Pradesh.
• The third place in the tournament
  went to Germany, who was defeated by Belgium in the semi-final.
• Also, it was the first time that
  a host nation has won the Cup in 11 editions of the tournament.
• Top scorer in the tournament:
  England’s Edward Horler (8 goals)
• Best player in the tournament:
  Spain’s Enrique Gonzalez de Castejon
• Best goalkeeper in the
  tournament: Belgium’s Loic Van Doren  

• Puerto Rico’s Stephanie Del Valle
  was crowned Miss World 2016 at the 66th edition of the event held at MGM
  National Harbor, Maryland in the United States of America on 18 December 2016.
• The competition saw a total of
  117 contestants from countries across the globe. Stephanie Del Valle beat
  runner-ups Miss Dominican Republic Yaritza Reyes and Miss Indonesia Natasha
  Mannuela to grab the esteemed title. Other contestants who made it to the top
  five were Miss Philippines Catriona Elisa Gray and Miss Kenya Evelyn Njambi.
• 19-year-old Dev Valle was crowned
  by Miss World 2015, Mireia Lalaguna Royo. With the win, she becomes the second
  Puerto Rican to hold the title since the start of the competition in 1951. The
  first Puerto Rican to win the title was Wilnelia Merced in 1975. Dev Valle
  hopes to use this victory to enter the entertainment industry.
• Miss India Priyadarshini
  Chatterjee, fell out of the race after failing to qualify in the top 10.

• The United Nations Educational,
  Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 13 December 2016 accorded the
  World Heritage Site Status to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
• The city has been registered as
  Carioca Landscapes between Mountain and Sea on the UNESCO world heritage list.
• The UNESCO announced World
  Heritage Status to Rio de Janeiro on 1 July 2012. Subsequently, the city
  administration was given four years time to report on their plans to protect
  landmark places such as Sugarloaf Mountain, Flamengo Park,  Copacabana beach, Botanical Garden and Tijuca
  forest, etc.
• Upon reviewing these plans, the
  UNESCO authorities finally approved the World Heritage Status to the city.
• It is also known as Marvelous
  City.

• The Human Fertilisation and
  Embryology Authority (HFEA) of the United Kingdom (UK) on 15 December 2016
  approved the 3-parent technique.
• A 3-parent baby contains
  Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from three parents. This technique allows parents
  with rare genetic mutations to have healthy babies by replacing a mother’s
  faulty mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) with another woman’s mDNA.
• With the present approval, the UK
  has become the first country in the world to legally approve the controversial
  medical advancement.
• Though Mexico became home to the
  first baby with this technique in September 2016 itself, the country has no
  explicit legal stance on this issue so far.

• In an interesting new project,
  British Library- the national library of the United Kingdom- is going to
  digitise 4000 early printed Bengali books, amounting to almost 800000 pages.
• The project is being conducted as
  a part of the UK-India Year of Culture plans for 2017. It is also a part of a
  wider project titled ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’, which is an international
  partnership headed by British library to digitise all unique reading material
  from its South Asian printed books collection.
• The collection features books
  that are highly popular, covering almost 22 South Asian languages.

• The fifth edition of the
  India-Arab Partnership Conference concluded on 15 December 2016 in Muscat,
  Oman. The two-day conference focused on devising strategies to boost economic
  partnership between India and Arab League.
• The theme of the conference was –
  Partnership towards innovation and cooperation in Information Technology.
• It was organised by the Oman
  Foreign Ministry and Arab League Secretariat in partnership with the Union
  Ministry of External Affairs of India.
• The participants in the
  conference deliberated on means and ways to enhance the flow of investments,
  accelerate the investment projects of prioritized sectors and export promotion.

• Henry Judah Heimlich, inventor of
  life-saving Heimlich manoeuvre, passed away on 17 December 2016 in Cincinnati,
  Ohio, U.S. He was 96.
• Heimlich had graduated from New
  Rochelle High School in 1937. He earned a BA degree from Cornell University in
  1941. He received his M.D. from the Weill Cornell Medical College in 1943.
• Heimlich also invented the Micro
  Trach portable oxygen system for ambulatory patients. He was also the inventor
  of the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve, which drains blood and air out of the chest
  cavity. The valve’s design allows air and blood to drain from the chest cavity
  in order to allow a collapsed lung to re-expand.

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