Current Affairs Update – 27 December, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 27 December, 2016. These are important for the upcoming RBI Assistant Mains, IPPB PO Mains, NIACL AO Mains and RBI Assistant Mains 2016-17.

• A high powered panel to recommend
  measures to boost digital payments has called for a Payments Regulatory Board
  and has also urged the government to accept and promote such payments.
• “The vision of the committee is
  to set a roadmap for digital payments to grow substantially over the next three
  years from the current level of about five percent of personal consumption and
  twenty per cent of all transactions,” said the report of the Committee on
  Digital Payments.
• It also wants to halve India’s
  cash to GDP ratio from 12 per cent to 6 per cent over the next three years.
• The Finance Ministry has sought
  comments from the public on the report in the next 15 days and indications are
  that some of its recommendations would find a place in the Union Budget
  2017-18.
• The committee, chaired by Ratan
  Watal, special adviser NITI Aayog and former Finance Secretary, has suggested
  that the regulation of payments should be made independent from the function of
  central banking by the Reserve Bank of India. The Board for Regulation and
  Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems should be given a statutory
  status over the next 30 days.
• It has also said that the
  Government should promote digital payments and receipts by adopting digital
  payments for all its needs and withdrawing all charges levied by departments
  and utilities on digital payments and bear the cost of such transactions.
• It has also called for mandating
  government departments and agencies to provide option to consumers to pay
  digitally as well as incentivise consumers to make payments (including payment
  of fines and penalties) to Government electronically by giving a discount or
  cash back.
• To protect consumer interests, it
  has also called for updating the current Payments and Settlements Systems Act,
  to include explicit mandates for data protection and security, regulatory
  governance and consumer protection including penalties and independent appeal
  mechanism.
• Further, payment systems like RTGS
  and NEFT should also be updated to ensure that they work on a 24×7 basis.
• The committee has also called for
  promoting Aadaar based eKYC and paperless authentication including in cases
  where Permanent Account Number has not been obtained. It said this should be
  done over the next 60 to 90 days and pursued actively by the Finance Ministry,
  RBI, UIDAI and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
• Mobile number and Aadhaar based
  fully inter-operable payments should be prioritised and the National Payments
  Corporation of India should enable this on its platforms over a period of 60
  days.

• India has signed an agreement
  with Bhutan for assistance in green and sustainable construction of
  infrastructure in the Himalayan kingdom.
• According to a statement, an MoU
  was signed between Central Public Works Department (CPWD), under India’s
  Ministry of Urban Development and the Department of Engineering Services, under
  Bhutan’s Ministry of Works and Human Settlements for the purpose in Thimpu.
• “Under the MoU for bilateral
  technical cooperation in infrastructure engineering, CPWD will assist in
  promoting sustainability in the built environment, capacity building through
  training of Bhutanese manpower, bench-marking in building and road sectors
  besides deputing engineering experts to Bhutan,” said the statement.

• India’s first Digi Dhan Mela was
  held on 26 December 2016 in Gurugram, Haryana. The mela is a first of its
  exercise in the country and is meant to promote cashless transactions in the
  post-demonetisation period.

• The mela (fair) showcased the
  government’s efforts to promote digital financial transactions.
• It educated the people on how to
  use mobile phones and AADHAR for making payments online.
• Dedicated counters were set up to
  issue AADHAR cards.
• In the mela, 15000 winners of the
  Lucky Grahak Yojana daily reward were also drawn.
• The winners were being identified
  through a random draw of the eligible Transaction IDs which are generated
  automatically as soon as the transaction is completed by software developed by
  National Payments Corporation of India.

• Union Minister for Water
  Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti on 26 December
  2016 released the funds of Rs 1981 crore for Polavaram irrigation project to
  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
• These funds were issued by
  the  National Bank for Agriculture and
  Rural Development (NABARD). Other than Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra
  were also sanctioned 463 crore and 830 crore rupees respectively.

• Polavaram Project is also known
  as Indira Sagar Project.
• Polavaram project is aimed at
  irrigating additional 80 Lakh hectares of agricultural land.
• It is a multi-purpose project
  with an assessed Cultural Command Area of 2.91 lakh hectares and power
  generation potential of 960 Mega Watt(MW) .
• It also has a provision to supply
  23.44 thousand Million Cubic Feet (TMC) of water as drinking water supply to
  Vishakhapatnam city and other areas.
• An inter basin transfer of 80 TMC
  water annually to Krishna River Basin was also envisaged.
• The project was given investment
  clearance by the Planning Commission of Rs 10151.04 crore in 2009. The current
  cost of the project at 2010-11 level is Rs 16010.45 crore. 
• The project was under
  construction with Central Assistance under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits
  Programme (AIBP).

• The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet has
  approved the detailed project reports (DPRs) of the Metro rail projects for
  Bhopal and Indore, costing ₹14,485.55
  crore.
• “The state Cabinet, chaired by
  Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, today approved the DPRs for the development
  of the Metro rail projects in Indore and Bhopal. These projects would
  cumulatively cost ₹14,485.55
  crore,” Public Relations Minister Narottam
  Mishra told reporters after the Cabinet meeting here this morning.
• The state and Central governments
  would provide ₹2,897.10
  crore each. The remaining ₹8,691.35
  crore would be arranged through loan from multilateral/ bilateral funding
  agencies.
• Two Metro corridors of 27.87 km
  will be laid in Bhopal. The first corridor of 14.99 km will be from Karond to
  AIIMS (Saket Nagar). The second corridor of 12.88 km will be from Bhadbhada
  Square to Ratnagiri.
• There will be one corridor of
  31.55 km from Rajwada to Nainod in Indore.
• Mishra said work on the projects
  in both the cities will begin in the next financial year.

• The foundation stone ceremony for
  setting up the first Second Generation (2G) Ethanol Bio-refinery in India was
  held on 25 December 2016 at village Tarkhanwala, Bathinda in Punjab.
• Harsimarat Kaur Badal, Union
  Minister of Food Processing Industries, Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State
  (I/C) Petroleum & Natural Gas, and Sardar Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief
  Minister of Punjab, jointly laid the foundation stone.
• The approximate investment for
  setting up of the refinery is Rs 600 crores. 
  The project will be set-up by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
  Limited (HPCL).
• The production of 2G Ethanol from
  agricultural residues is encouraged to provide additional sources of  remuneration to farmers, address the growing
  environmental concerns and support the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme
  for achieving 10 per cent Ethanol Blending in Petrol.

• The proposed Bathinda
  bio-refinery will be utilizing agriculture residues for production of 100 KL
  per day or 3.20 crore litres per-annum of ethanol. This per-annum production
  may be sufficient to meet the 26 per cent of the ethanol blending requirement
  of the Punjab.
• With the setting up of the
  bio-refinery, employment for about 1200 -1300 persons will be generated in the
  biomass supply chain. It will also generate an additional income of
  approximately Rs 20 crores per annum for the farmers through purchase of their
  agriculture residues.

• The government of Haryana on 25
  December 2016 connected 100 villages in the state with Wi-Fi services. It also
  decided to rename all common service centres (CSC), which have been opened in
  urban and rural areas, and E-disha centres as ‘Atal Seva Kendras’ at district
  headquarters.
• This decision was announced by
  the state’s Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during the launch of 53 new IT
  services concerning six departments on the occasion of ‘Good Governance Day’,
  which is celebrated every year to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister
  Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The minister also conducted a
  lucky draw of the digital transaction award scheme, which was. aimed at
  promoting cashless transactions in the state. A total of 65 people were
  declared winners with five winning a cash prize of Rs 10000 each, 10 winning a
  prize of Rs 5000 each and 50 winning a cash prize of Rs 1000 each. All were
  rewarded for actively using cashless transactions.

• With the introduction of the new
  IT services, the residents of the villages would be able to access 170
  e-services through the ‘Atal Seva Kendras’.
• All the CSCs in rural areas would
  be shifted to Gram Sachivalyas so that all facilities are made available to the
  people under one roof.
• With this, facilities available
  at CSCs will also be made available at E-disha centres.

• The Delhi government has decided
  to reduce the fares of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses by
  almost 75%, starting 1 January 2017.
• This move has been made in order
  to encourage more people to opt for public transport. Along with this, the
  government has also decided to make DTC bus travel completely free for students
  till the age of 21 years.

• The government’s plan includes
  introducing a flat fare of Rs 5 for non-AC buses and Rs 10 for AC buses on
  trial basis for a month. 
• The new rate will be far cheaper
  from the current one, which stands between Rs 10-25 for AC buses and Rs 5-15
  for non-AC buses.
• The rates of the monthly and
  daily bus passes have also been proposed to be brought down.
• The daily bus passes, which are
  currently available for Rs 40 for non-AC service and Rs 50 for AC service will
  be brought down to Rs 20 for one month. 

• The Department of Posts under the
  Union Ministry of Communications on 26 December 2016 released the special stamp
  on freedom fighter Gaya Prasad Katiyar.
• Moreover, the government also
  released a set of eight Commemorative Postage Stamps on ‘Personalities Series:
  Bihar’. The postal department also launched a Commemorative Postage Stamp on
  Hardayal Municipal Heritage Public Library to honor it as a one of the few
  oldest library of the country.

• Sachchidananda
  Sinha
• Karpoori
  Thakur
• Dashrath
  Manjhi
• Vidyapati
• Kailashpati
  Mishra
• Kunwar Singh
• Phanishwar
  Nath Renu
• Krishna Sinha

• Tata Motors today roped in
  Bollywood star Akshay Kumar as brand ambassador for its commercial vehicle (CV)
  business unit.
• “Indian cinema’s ‘original
  Khiladi’ will make his blockbuster entry in this new role at the launch of Tata
  Motors’ latest offering in commercial vehicles, slated in January 2017,” the
  company said in a statement.
• Tata Motors’ association with
  Kumar for commercial vehicles will be supported by a multi-media campaign,
  beginning in the first week of January 2017, it added.
• Besides products and solutions,
  he will be actively involved in a host of innovative marketing and customer
  experience initiatives to be rolled out by Tata Motors.

• Dinanath Bhargava, the man who
  designed the National Emblem, passed away on 24 December 2016 following a
  prolonged illness. He was 89. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
• He was the man who sketched and
  illuminated the National Emblem and extracted its motto ‘Satyameva Jayate’
  (Truth alone triumphs) from Mundaka Upanishad in 1948 after an extensive
  research.
• He ended up making the first 30
  pages of the Constitution by the end of 1948.
• He was also instrumental in
  weaving the double decker loom and designing new Chanderi saris.
• He started the carpet-making
  industry in Gwalior during the time of late Congress leader Madhav Rao Scindia.

• Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, former
  Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, passed away on 27 December 2016 in Colombo. He was
  83.
• Wickremanayake served as the
  Prime Minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government in the year 2005.
• Wickremanayake earlier held the
  position of Prime Minister from August 2000 to December 2001, succeeding the
  then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

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