Current Affairs - December 27, 2017 Current Affairs

The Indian men's football ended the year at 105th spot in the FIFA rankings. India began the year at 129th spot and in July, broke into top 100 by occupying 96th - the second best ever after the 94th of February 1996. Iran (32) are the highest ranked Asian team and are followed by Australia and Japan. Among Asian countries, the Indian team is in the 15th spot. World champions Germany ended on top to be FIFA's 'Team of the Year', followed by Brazil, Portugal, Argentina.

Construction of Bangladesh's first eco-friendly thermal power plant with ultra-modern clean coal technology has been started by a Chinese consortium in central Bangladesh. The thermal power plant is constructed near a sea port in Payra town in Patuakhali district of Bangladesh. It consists of two units. Both the units would be commissioned in April and October 2019 respectively. Estimated cost of the project is USD 1.56 billion.

President Ram Nath Kovind formally inaugurated the Annual Conference of Indian Economic Association at Acharya Nagarjuna University campus near Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu felicitated the President at the event. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kovind said,India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The imaginative policy making is required to tackle the inequities in our society.

Union Home Ministry has released Rs 167 crore to nine states - Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Sikkim - under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP). All these nine states have an international border. Funds released under BADP will be used for development of infrastructure in forward areas of these states. Under this programme, development work is carried out in all villages which are located within the 0-10 km of the international border.

India to become the world's fifth-largest economy in dollar terms by Next year. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) consultancy's 2018 World Economic League Table painted an upbeat view of the global economy, boosted by cheap energy and technology prices. Deputy Chairman of Cebr, Douglas McWilliams said, despite temporary setbacks, India's economy has still caught up with that of France and the UK and next year, will overtake both of them.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) allowed Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL)- manufactured Dornier 228 to be used for civilian flights. The 19-seater aircraft has, till now, been used by defence forces and is the first plane to be made in the country for commercial flights. HAL can sell this plane to airlines in India and it can be used by them for regional flights under the Indian government's ambitious UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme.

Smartphone manufacturer Samsung launched its 'Bill Payments' on its flagship payments service, Samsung Pay in partnership with Axis Bank. The new feature launched by the company will enable users to pay their utility bills seamlessly via Samsung Pay. Currently, users can pay their mobile, landline phone, electricity, gas, water and DTH bills using 'Bill Payments' on Samsung Pay. Bill Payments' is another 'Make for India' innovation that we believe will greatly benefit the consumers.

Indian boxers have claimed three gold, a silver, and a bronze medal at the Galym Zharylgapov Boxing Tournament in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. In the event, the country's Gold Medal winners were K Shyam Kumar in 49kg, Naman Tanwar in 91kg and Satish Kumar in the 91kg category claimed gold medals. The19-year-old Naman Tanwar was also adjudged the best boxer of the tournament.

Agri service solutions provider Sohan Lal Commodity Management (SLCM) and Myanmar ties up with HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank to provide collateral management services. This tie-up will not only help improve the farmers' access to post-harvest credits at affordable interest rates, it will also provide easy access to scientific storage facilities leading to a fair price discovery of their products in the market. SLCM will also leverage its proprietary (patent pending) technology 'Agri Reach'.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated the Centenary celebrations of the Yoga Institute in Mumbai.The institute was founded by Shree Yogendraji Mani Haribhai Desai, the disciple of Paramahans Madhavadasji in 1918. The word Yoga is derived from two roots - One signifying "connection" and the second signifying "concentration". National Yoga Day is celebrated on June 21.

Uttar Pradesh launched a free household power connection scheme for the poor in the state to mark former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary. The government has a target of covering 16 million by 2018-end, driven by Yogi Adityanath government's motto 'Prakash hai to Vikas hai' (the barometer of development is light). The government has also introduced Kisan Uday Yojana, a novel scheme for farmers. The scheme would cover 10 lakh farmers by 2022, would lead to 35 percent saving on power consumption.

Saudi Arabia is hosting a world chess tournament for the first time, nearly two years after the country's top cleric issued a religious edict against playing the board game. The tournament has been named as the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships. The world's top three chess players from Norway, Armenia and Azerbaijan are participating in the tournament.

The Government of India and the World Bank signed a $318 million loan agreement for the Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernization Project to promote climate resilient agriculture technologies to improve water management practices and increase market opportunities for small and marginal farmers. About 500,000 farmers, of which a majority are small and marginal, are expected to benefit from improved and modernized tank irrigation systems. The $318 million loan from the IBRD has a 5-year grace period and a maturity of 19 years.