Current Affairs - December 14, 2019 Current Affairs

Social worker MinotiRiba, wife of former chief minister TomoRiba, died after a prolonged illness. She was 83 and is survived by six sons and three daughters. Riba, who hailed from the Golaghat district in Assam, was also a former member of the Consumer Dispute Redressal Committee of the state government.

Indian embassy, NGO INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) to rebuild 11 heritage sites damaged in Nepal earthquake of 2015. INTACH was established in 1984.

Aleem Dar breaks Steve Bucknor's record of umpiring in most number of Tests. Pakistan's Aleem Dar on December 12 surpassed Steve Bucknor's record for officiating in most number of Test matches as an umpire during the first Test of the three-match series between Australia and New Zealand at the Perth Stadium.

Indonesia foreign minister Retno L P Marsudi arrived on 13 December on a two-day visit to India. The Minister will attend key talks on the Indo-Pacific region. She will hold talks with the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on 13 December.

C. Sugandh Rajaram has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Ghana. Rajaram is presently the Consul General, Consulate General of India to Southern Germany. He will replace Birender Singh Yadav as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Ghana.

Andhra Pradesh is to set up a virtual police station (VPS) in the Andhra University (AU). It will be the first of its kind. It will help the students to report violence or any other crime online. The plan to establish VPS was initially proposed by AU vice-chancellor Prasad Reddy in August 2019.

Renowned Telugu actor and writer GollapudiMaruti Rao, who enthralled people with his writings and acting for several decades, passed away on December 12. He was 80.

Audible, a part of e-commerce giant Amazon, on December 12 launched an India-first audio service 'Suno'. Audible Suno - which will be available via a separate Android app - provides free and advertising-free access to hundreds of hours of original audio entertainment in Hindi and English.

The 37th National Symposium of Heads of Police Training Institutions is being held at BPR&D Headquarters, New Delhi. The two-day symposium is held from 12-13 December 2019. The symposium is organized by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), Ministry of Home Affairs.

Union Cabinet approved the proposal of Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), which authorizes National Highways Authority of India(NHAI) to set up Infrastructure Investment Trust(s) (InvIT) as per InvIT Guidelines issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

CPWD organized a National level Business meet in New Delhi. The national-level meeting was held to get the views from the Clients and stakeholders about the Services provided by CPWD.

The Odisha State Government included the Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Empowerment under the state's Mo Sarkar programme. It was announced by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The fourth edition of International Seminar cum Exhibition on Naval Weapon Systems 'NAVARMS-19' is scheduled to be held on 12-13 December 2019 at Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), Development Enclave, New Delhi. The theme for 2019 edition is: "Make in India - Fight Category: Opportunities and Imperatives".

Author Peter Handke was conferred the Nobel Literature Prize. He received the 9 million-kronor ($948,000) award from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a ceremony in Stockholm. Peter Handke, 76, is an Austrian author and playwright.

United States has surpassed Kuwait to become India's sixth-largest oil supplier. The US has supplied 5.4 million tonnes of crude oil during the first six months of 2019-20. Overall, the US supplied 70% more crude to India during April-September.

The India Design Council (IDC) launched the Design Education Quality Mark (DEQM) and Chartered Designs of India (CDI) in New Delhi on 12 December 2019. The designs are aimed to address 5 challenges of scale, quality of design, quality of education for design, raising the priority for design in industry and design for a public purpose.

George Laurer, the US engineer who helped develop the barcode, has passed away at the age of 94.Mr. Laurer has been recognized as the co-inventor of the Universal Product Code (UPC) or barcode.

French-based company Suez won a contract to extend, rehabilitate and operate the drinking water distribution system in Mangalore. The total cost of the project is Rs.792.42 crore. Aim: The state aims to give pure drinking water to the citizens of Mangalore in all the wards of the city corporation.

Tara Sinha, the founder of ad agencies Clarion and Tara Sinha Associates, passed away on 11 December 2019 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She was 88 years old. She was the first woman to set up a national advertising agency in India.

Food regulator FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) and Nasscom Foundation, a trade association of Indian IT and Business Process Outsourcing industry, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly build a technology platform to prevent food wastage and encouraging food donation by developing an app for the purpose.