Current Affairs - December 17, 2019 Current Affairs

Pakistan and the World Bank have signed a loan agreement worth USD 406 million for the Khyber Pass Economic Corridor (KPEC) project.

India is to host the 36th International Geological Congress (IGC) in New Delhi during the first week of March 2020. It is popularly described as the Olympics of Geosciences. The theme of the event is Geosciences: The Basic Science for a Sustainable Development.

The Polynesian island of Tahiti will host the surfing events at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The events will take place at Teahupoo. It was chosen over beaches in southwest France and in Brittany.Tahiti is located in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. It lies 15,000 kilometres from Paris.

State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a loan agreement with KfW, the German development bank, worth $277 million on 16 December 2019. The arrangement of the loan and the grant facilities was facilitated by SBI's investment banking subsidiary SBI Capital Markets Ltd.

The fifth meeting of the Economic Advisory Council of the Fifteenth Finance Commission (XVFC) was held in New Delhi on 16 December 2019. The meeting included discussions related to GST stabilization and the ways to improve tax collection for additional resource mobilization.

Edelweiss Asset Management Company (AMC), a subsidiary of Edelweiss Capital Limited (ECL) has launched India's 1st Corporate Bond ETF (exchange trade fund) called the Bharat Bond ETF. The ETF is a government initiative and Edelweiss AMC was given the mandate to design and manage the product.

Dell Technologies has signed an agreement with UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace (MGIEP) to enable school teachers to adopt technology in classrooms by using Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools.

Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane is set to become the next chief of the 1.3 million-strong Indian Army. Lt Gen Naravane is currently serving as Vice Chief of the Army.Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat is due for retirement on December 31.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative party won the UK's General election with a majority vote. Indian-origin candidates in both the ruling Conservative and opposition Labour parties have registered equally strong results of seven wins on each side. Around 15 MPs have made into the UK's House of Commons, the lower house.

The government appointed TV Somanathan as an expenditure secretary in the finance ministry. Somanathan will replace Girish Chandra Murmu, who was named the first lieutenant governor of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir in October.

Thailand's famous 2000-year-old massage, Nuad Thai was added to UNESCO's (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) prestigious heritage list. Nuad Thai is an intense form of massage in which the body is pulled and rotated well with the help of the thumb, elbow, knees and feet.

The Gujarat police was presented the 'President's Colours' by Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu at a ceremony held in Karai Police Academy in Gandhi Nagar on 15 December 2019. Gujarat now becomes the seventh state to receive the prestigious President's Colours, also called as Nishaan, an emblem which all police officers of Gujarat would wear on left-hand sleeve of their uniform.

In a first of its kind move, the border guarding paramilitary force of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has started a dedicated matrimonial site for its staff.

Pakistan opener Abid Ali has become the only male player in cricket history to score a hundred on both his ODI and Test debuts when he reached three figures on the final day of the Rawalpindi Test against Sri Lanka.

India's Suman Rao was crowned Miss World Asia 2019 during the Miss World 2019 beauty pageant held in London on December 14. Suman Rao, who represented India at the Miss World 2019 contest in London on December 14, won the title of Miss World Asia 2019 during the beauty pageant.

Haryana Police has adopted Trakea, a unique barcoding software to make forensic reports tamper-proof. The technique will ensure the thousands of forensic reports that form the backbone of the criminal investigation system and subsequent trials in the courts of law, are not tampered with.

RURAL JOB SCHEME AWARDS: CM Mamata Banerjee said West Bengal has got the first prize in 100-day work programme for promoting livelihoods.

The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly passed two Bills, namely Andhra Pradesh State Commission for Schedule Tribes Bill and Andhra Pradesh State Commission for Scheduled Castes Bill on 16 December 2019. The two bills were passed by voice note. The Bills will enable to set up the separate Commissions for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

Blue Sky Analytics won the Space Oscars awards on the international competition Copernicus Masters. The awards were presented in a ceremony during the European Space Week held at Helsinki, Finland.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) revealed a new world ranking system for the teams which will be implemented from January 1, 2020. FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and the president is Narinder Batra.