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www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS CURRENT AFFAIRS DECEMBER 2020 ( UPSC/HPAS / ALLIED SERVICES / NAIB TEHSILDAR / BANKING / SSC AND ALL OTHER GOVT EXAMS ) . JOIN COACHING CLASSES FOR : . UPSC/HAS/HPAS . Allied and subordinate exams . clerical posts in HP secretariat. Morning and evening batches are also available . Free demo class. Affordable fee. RANA ACADEMY SHIMLA 9805332278, 7018596250. WWW.RANAACADEMYSHIMLA.COM www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS INDEX 1. INTERNATIONAL NEWS 2. NATIONAL NEWS 3. AWARDS AND HONOURS 4. DEFENCE 5. APPOINTMENTS 6. RANKS AND REPORTS 7. SPORTS 8. ECONOMY & BANKING 9. SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES 10. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 11. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 12. HISTORY & CULTURE 13. IMPORTANT COMMITTEES 14. BOOKS AND AUTHORS 15. OBITUARIES 16. IMPORTANT DAYS 17. STATE NEWS 18. SCHEMES www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.ranaacademyshimla.com for downloading current affair PDFs of all previous months. INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1. New Zealand declares climate emergency New Zealand has declared a “climate emergency” and promised to make its public sector carbon neutral by 2025. New Zealand now joins 32 other countries that have declared a climate emergency. They include Japan, Canada, France and the United Kingdom. 2. Rohingyas at Isolated Bangladesh Island “Bhasan Char” Recently, authorities in Bangladesh sent the first group of more than 1,500 Rohingya refugees to an isolated Bhasan Char island in the Bay of Bengal. The Rohingya people are stateless, Indo-Aryan ethnic group who reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. There were an estimated 1 million Rohingya living in Myanmar before the 2016–17 crisis. An estimated 625,000 refugees from Rakhine, Myanmar, had crossed the border into Bangladesh since August 2017. The majority are Muslim while a minority are Hindu. They are described by the United Nations (UN) as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. The Rohingya population is denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. They have denied the Rohingya the possibility of acquiring a nationality. Although Rohingya history in the region can be traced back to the 8th century, Myanmar law does not recognize the ethnic minority as one of the eight national indigenous races. The flow of Rohingya from Myanmar intensified in 2017 and the coast near the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar was taken over by refugee settlements. In June 2015, the Bangladesh government suggested resettling Rohingya refugees on the Bhasan Char island under its Ashrayan Project. Recent development: The Bangladesh government is moving these refugees to an isolated island known as Bhasan Char which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the mainland. Bhasan Char: Bhasan Char (Floating Island) also known as Char Piya or Thengar Char Island, is an island in Hatiya, Bangladesh. It surfaced only 20 years ago and was never inhabited. Concern: As Bhashan Char falls in an ecologically fragile area prone to floods, erosion and cyclones, it is not considered safe for human settlements. India’s Stand: India maintains that Rohingyas are a threat to its national security and have links with international terror groups. 3. Bangladesh signs maiden Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) Bangladesh has signed its first Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bhutan, which will allow duty-free access to a range of goods between the two countries and hence boost bilateral trade between them. Under the PTA, 100 Bangladeshi products will get duty free access to Bhutan, while 34 items from Bhutan will get duty free access into Bangladesh. Further items can be added in the list later on the basis of discussion between the two countries. This is the first PTA signed by Bangladesh with any country in the world since its independence in 1971. 4. Mt Everest declared 86 cm taller by Nepal and China The world’s highest mountain peak ‘Mount Everest’ has become taller by 86 cm, as per a survey conducted jointly by Nepal and China. The Government of Nepal and China jointly conducted an exercise to measure the world’s highest peak. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS The new height of Mt Everest has been calculated at 8,848.86 metres, which is 0.86m more than the previous measurement done by India in 1954. In feet, the new elevation is about 29,031 ft, or about 3 ft higher than Nepal’s previous claim. Everest is also known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Mount Qomolangma in China. 5. Countries of Particular Concern: US Recently, the US State Department has designated Pakistan and China among eight other countries that are of particular concern for violation of religious freedom. Country of Particular Concern (CPC): Designation of the CPC is the top tier recommendation by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) when it comes to violation of international religious freedom. Nations on the CPC list : Pakistan, China, Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Nigeria is the first secular democracy that has been named a CPC. 6. SAARC Charter Day – 8th December This day marks the signing of the SAARC Charter in 1985 by the leaders of SAARC Countries at the First SAARC Summit held in Dhaka (Bangladesh). South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Eight Member States: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Secretariat: Kathmandu (Nepal). SAARC Summits: These are usually held biennially (once every two years) and hosted by member states in alphabetical order. The last SAARC Summit in 2014 was held in Kathmandu (Nepal), which was attended by India. 7. Morocco Normalises Relations with Israel . Recently, Morocco and Israel have agreed to normalise relations in a deal brokered by the USA. It makes Morocco the fourth Arab country, after the UAE, Bahrain (Abraham Accords) and Sudan, to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past four months. 8. Israel-Bhutan Ties Recently, Israel has established diplomatic ties with Bhutan. Significance: The establishment of diplomatic relations would create new avenues for cooperation between the two countries in water management, technology, human resource development, agricultural sciences and other areas of mutual benefit. 9. San Isidro Movement (MSI): Cuba The Movimiento San Isidro started two years ago and has now become a platform for Cuban dissidents both within and outside the nation. Background : The Movimiento San Isidro, or the San Isidro Movement (MSI), started two years ago (2018) to protest state censorship of artistic work through Decree 349. Decree 349 is a law that would have given powers to the Cuba’s Government to restrict cultural activity it did not approve of. To protest against the decree, artists, poets, journalists and activists gathered in San Isidro, a Black-majority locality that is among Havana’s poorest yet most culturally active regions. Current Spark: A member of the MSI, Afro-Cuban rapper Denis Solís, was arrested by the police. This led to widespread protests and strikes. Global View: Various National government and International human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have raised concern for human rights in Cuba. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS Cuban diaspora in many countries continue to hold rallies in support of the movement. The Cuban Government Stand: The Cuban government alleges that the movement is funded by USA and are being used to subvert the state. 10. Norway signs MoU with Clean Ganga Mission in India The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) has signed an MoU with cGanga, a think-tank of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) for development of sludge management framework in India. Through this initiative, Norway intends to deepen the relationship with India especially in the prevention of climate change and conservation of the environment. The MoU was signed during the 5th edition of the India Water Impact 2020, held from 10-15 December 2020. 11. US Puts India on Currency Watchlist Recently, the US treasury has placed India on its currency manipulator watch list. Vietnam and Switzerland have been labelled as currency manipulators. Currency Manipulators: This is a label given by the US government to countries it feels are engaging in “unfair currency practices” by deliberately devaluing their currency against the dollar. The practice would mean that the country in question is artificially lowering the value of its currency to gain an unfair advantage over others. This is because the devaluation would reduce the cost of exports from that country and artificially show a reduction in trade deficits as a result. 12. CAATSA Sanctions on Turkey The USA administration has recently imposed sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia. The issue of sanctions under Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for purchase of Russian arms is of particular interest to India, which is also in the process of buying the S-400 from Russia. Previously, the United States had made it clear to Turkey that its purchase of the S-400 system would endanger the security of the USA. Turkey is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally of the USA. 13. Singapore’s ‘Hawker’ Culture gets UNESCO recognition . The Hawker Culture of street food in Singapore has been inducted by UNESCO in its prestigious ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. The Hawker Culture is a popular Singaporean style of street dining and culinary practices in a multicultural urban environment. Hawker centres are naturally-ventilated premises with stalls selling food from various cultures like Chinese, Malay, Indian, among others.

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