Current Affairs - December 21, 2017 Current Affairs

Justice Umesh Dattatraya Salvi has been appointed acting chairperson of National Green Tribunal (NGT) following the superannuation of Justice Swatanter Kumar. He will hold the post till a new Chairperson is appointed or till his superannuation, whichever is earlier. During Justice Kumar tenure as NGT chief, he passed several landmark orders and judgements. These include the ban on 10- year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles, the slew of directions for rejuvenation of the Ganga and Yamuna, the demolition of illegal hotels in Himachal Pradesh and the ban on plastic items in Delhi, Haridwar and Punjab.

Lionel Messi received the Pichichi award and the Alfredo Di Stefano award instituted by Marca Sports Journal. Lionel Messi won the Pichichi trophy, awarded by Marca to the top goal scorer of La Liga 2016-2017 season. He scored 37 goals and provided nine assists in the 2016-17 La Liga season. He also won the Alfredo Di Stefano award for the best player in La Liga 2016-2017 season. This is the fifth Alfredo Di Stefano award in his career.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) ) has signed an agreement with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on December 20, 2017 to execute the Swami Samarth Nagar-Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Metro VI corridor. As per the agreement, DMRC will invite bids and assign contracts for execution of civil work and for procurement of systems and services required for the project. The entire 14.5-kilometer long Metro-6 corridor, costing about 5,490-crore rupees will have 13 stations. The project will provide rail based access to areas such as Lokhandwala, SEEPZ and IIT - Bombay. This Metro corridor is expected to carry 6.5 lakh commuters daily in 2021.

Project 'Mausam' is the initiative of Ministry of Culture to be implemented by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as the nodal agency with research support of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and National Museum as associate bodies. This project aims to explore the multi-faceted Indian Ocean 'world' - collating archaeological and historical research in order to document the diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean. The main purpose of the project is to inscribe places and sites identified under Project Mausam as trans-national nomination for inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Till date, 39 countries have been identified under Project Mausam viz. Bahrain, Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen, UAE, Thailand, South Africa, etc.

The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi approved the Ministry of Railways' transformative initiative to set up India's first ever National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara, Gujarat to skill its human resources and build capability. The University will be set up as a Deemed to Be University under de novo category as per the UGC [Institutions Deemed to be Universities] Regulations, 2016. Government is planning to launch the first academic program in July 2018. The funding of the new University/Institute is to entirely come from Ministry of Railways.

Uttar Pradesh State Government, under Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath has scrapped 'Shravan Yatra', a scheme under which elderly citizens could undertake pilgrimage free of cost. Shravan Yatra was started in 2015 by the Samajwadi Party government under Akhilesh Yadav. The scheme was named after a mythological character named Shravan Kumar, who had carried his blind parents on his shoulders for a pilgrimage. Under this scheme, entire boarding and lodging expenses for the pilgrimage undertaken by senior citizens residing in the state was borne by the state government.

On 18th and 19th December 2017, the inaugural India-U.S. Counter-Terrorism Designations Dialogue was held in New Delhi. India-U.S. Counter-Terrorism Designations Dialogue increasing bilateral cooperation on terrorism-related designations was discussed.Information regarding procedures for pursuing designations against terrorist groups and individuals, through domestic and international mechanisms were exchanged.

The Konkan Railway and IIT Bombay signed a MoU to transform George Fernandes Institute of Tunnel Technology in Goa to a world-class centre of knowledge in tunnel and underground structure technologies. As per the MoU, IIT-B will provide technical support to the Konkan Railway to strengthen the George Fernandes Institute of Tunnel Technology (GFITT) at Madgaon in Goa.

The Southern Command of Indian Army are conducting a major army exercise 'Hamesha Vijayee-2017' in the deserts of Rajasthan from December 16 to 22, 2017 to evaluate the capability of the armed forces to strike deep into enemy territory in an integrated air-land battle. The exercise being conducted in battle like conditions, aims at fine tuning surveillance and destruction mechanisms to support precision strikes and manoeuvres by network enabled forces. The Southern Command undertakes such exercises at regular intervals to ensure a high degree of battle readiness as well as validation of operational plans using modern weapons and equipment.

The United Kingdom topped Forbes' rankings of best countries in the world for business in 2018 for the first time, up from fifth last year. The list ranks 153 countries on 15 factors including property rights, innovation, taxes and red tape. The UK is followed by New Zealand and the Netherlands, while India was ranked 62nd on the list. The UK's $2.6 trillion economy is the fifth largest in the world. The world's second (China) and third (Japan) biggest economies rank 66th and 21st, respectively. Chad ranks last for the third straight year.

he Reserve Bank of India placed Bank of India under the Prompt Corrective Action Framework, consequent to the onsite inspection under the Risk-Based Supervision Model carried out for the year ended March 2017. This is the first time that the central bank has invoked PCA for a large bank of the size of BoI.

In a bid to cut power consumption, the Indian Railways has laid out plan to make all stations 100 per cent LED lit by March 31, 2018. LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs are more energy efficient and have a longer lifespan as compared to traditional lamps. Till November 2017, about 3500 railway stations have already been made 100 per cent LED lit. About 20 lakh LED lights were installed in this process. This initiative is expected to reduce energy consumption by 10 per cent and will translate into annual savings of Rs 180 crore for Indian Railways.

Delhi emerged as one of the most expensive premium office locations in the world. Ranked 7th in the list, rent of Delhi's premium office location is higher than San Francisco and Dubai, according to the latest report by JLL India, a real estate services firm. Mumbai is at 16th position in the list. The top spot is again taken by Hong Kong and there is the huge margin between the rent rates between Hong Kong and London (West), which is second in the list. New York, Beijing, Tokyo are on the third, fourth and fifth position respectively.

Eastern Railway has launched a mobile application named "R-MITRA" (Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response & Assistance) for security of passengers, especially women, in Kolkata and suburban areas of Eastern Railway Zone. R-MITRA will provide security and timely security related assistance to passengers within the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway. Prevention and detection of crime against passengers over Railways is carried out by Government Railway Police (GRP). Railway Protection Force (RPF) supports the efforts of states to provide security over Railways.

India and Myanmar signed MoU on Rakhine State Development Programme and on Government to Government agreement on long-term socio-economic development of the state. This MoU is the first G to G agreement signed by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement of Myanmar. Under this MoU, Government of India proposes to take up, among others, a project to build prefabricated housing in Rakhine State so as to meet the immediate needs of returning people.