1 Weekly Updated Current Affairs for Week 47/52(Nov
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 47/52(NOV 25-1 DEC 2018) WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 47/52(NOV 25- DEC-01) 1. Himachal Pradesh becomes first state to launch Single Emergency Number ‘112’ Himachal Pradesh on November 28, 2018 became the first Indian state to launch a single emergency number ‘112’ which will connect to police, fire, health and other helplines through an Emergency Response Centre (ERC) in the state. The emergency number was launched by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh under the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS). To ensure safety of women, a ‘SHOUT’ feature has been introduced in ‘112 India’ mobile app to seek immediate assistance from registered volunteers in the vicinity apart from assistance from ERC. The SHOUT feature is exclusively available for women. 2. India’s first indigenous film festival to be hosted in Odisha An initiative of activist film collective Video Republic, that has been campaigning for indigenous communities in the State, the three-stop event will kick off in Bhubaneswar onFebruary 19 and 20, moving on to Puri from February 21 to 23 to eventually culminate in an interaction with the adivasi communities at Niyamgiri. It will showcase films made by indigenous people or made by non-indigenous filmmakers in collaboration with the indigenous communities. 3. IAF, US air force to conduct joint exercise ‘Cope India 2019’ The air forces of the United States and India are scheduled to participate in a 12-day- long joint exercise ‘Cope India 2019’ at two air force stations in West Bengal in December 2018. The Cope India exercise is being held after a gap of eight years, with the last one having taken place in 2010. 4. Jharkhand to provide free mobile phones to 28 lakh farmers, says CM It is announced that the government will provide free mobile phones to 28 lakh farmers and a separate electric feeder for them for agriculture purpose by 2019/2021. The move will help the farmers know about the market rates and other information relating to agriculture. 5. RBI makes LEI mandatory for market participants regulated by it The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to make Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) code mandatory for all market participants regulated by the central bank. “All participants, other than individuals, undertaking transactions in the markets regulated by the RBI — government securities markets, money markets (markets for any instrument with a maturity of one year or less) and non-derivative forex markets (transactions that settle on or before the spot date) — shall obtain LEI codes by the due date,” it said in a notification. The LEI code has been conceived of as a key measure to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data systems for better risk management post the global financial crisis. The LEI is a 20-character unique identity code assigned to entities who are parties to a financial transaction. Globally, use of LEI has expanded beyond derivative reporting and it is being used in areas relating to banking, securities market, credit rating and market supervision. 6. 4 Indian-origin women among Forbes list of top 50 women tech moguls of US 2018 Four Indian-origin women have been named by Forbes among America’s top 50 female technology moguls which are: Padmasree Warrior, former chief technology officer (CTO) of Cisco Komal Mangtani, senior director at app-based cab aggregator Uber Neha Narkhede, chief technology officer and co-founder of streaming platform Confluent Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, CEO and founder of identity-management company Drawbrige 7. India home to 46.6 million stunted children, a third of world’s total: Global Nutrition Report 2018 According to the Global Nutrition Report 2018, India is facing a major malnutrition crisis as it holds almost a third of world’s burden for stunting. With 46.6 million children who are stunted, India tops the list of countries followed by Nigeria (13.9 million) and Pakistan (10.7 million), the Global Nutrition Report 2018 said. Plot-1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRP Square, Bhubaneswar-751015 Ph. : 8093556677, 9040456677, Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] 1 WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 47/52(NOV 25-1 DEC 2018) India also accounted for 25.5 million children who are wasted, followed by Nigeria (3.4million) and Indonesia (3.3 million). 8. 42% of world’s coal power stations run at loss, building new renewables would be cheaper by 2030: Report Carbon Tracker said that two-fifths of the world’s coal power stations, including in India, are running at a loss. It has analysed 6,685 coal power plants worldwide to study its financial condition and to understand its profitability. The findings challenge the need for new coal generation and show that it makes economic sense to close plants in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. In case of India, it costs more to run 62 per cent of country’s coal capacity than to build new renewable generation and by 2030 that will increase to 100 per cent. 9. AIFF to launch school-level project with FIFA The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will launch a school-level project by March-April next year in association with the game’s world governing body FIFA. This was stated by AIFF General Secretary, Kushal Das at the Star Sports India Football Forum 2018 organised by SportzPower in Mumbai. Kushal Das said that at the time the Under-17 World Cup was held in India last year, the AIFF had started a programme called “Mission Eleven” which was a school contactprogramme. He said under this programme, the AIFF touched about 15 thousand schoolsacross the country. 10. China plans to deliver free WiFi to the world by 2026 Chinese internet technology firm is planning to launch a constellation of 272 satellites by 2026 with an aim to provide free WiFi service worldwide. LinkSure Network, founded in Shanghai in 2013, markets itself as a global innovativemobile internet company specialising in free internet access, content and location-basedservices on its official website. It unveiled its first satellite in the constellation plan on November 27, 2018. The satellite, ‘LinkSure-1,’ will be launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre inNorthwest China’s Gansu province next year, and by 2020 there will be 10 satellites inspace.The constellation will have 272 satellites by 2026. 11. Kenya hosts inaugural Sustainable Blue Economy conference Africa is hosting a historic conference that has to do with environmental protection. The first ever Sustainable Blue Conference starts today in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. 12. RBI Reduces Minimum Holding Period For Securitisation Of Loan Portfolios To help further ease liquidity condition for non-bank lenders, the Reserve Bank of India has made changes to the holding period for securitised loan portfolios. In a notification on Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India said that the minimum holding period requirement for non-banking finance company originating loans, will now be set at six monthly or two quarterly installments. Earlier the holding period was 12 months. The revised rules are applicable for loans of original maturity of above 5 years. This will help housing finance companies in particular who have longer maturity loans. However, the RBI has increased the holding amount from 10 percent to 20 percent of the loan portfolio. This has been done to ensure that NBFCs selling loan portfolios have adequate skin in the game even after securitisation. 13. Government launches ‘Bhasha Sangam’ to introduce school students to 22 Indian languages The government launched a unique initiative called Bhasha Sangam to introduce school students to 22 Indian languages.The initiative, under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, was launched on November 22 and will continue till December 21, 2018. Bhasha Sangam is a programme for schools and educational institutions to provide multilingual exposure to students in Indian languages. 14. Government appoints AM Naik as Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation Union Government appointed Anil Manibhai Naik as Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). NSDC is Public Private Partnership (PPP) under Ministry of Skill Development &Entrepreneurship (MSDE). Plot-1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRP Square, Bhubaneswar-751015 Ph. : 8093556677, 9040456677, Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] 2 WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 47/52(NOV 25-1 DEC 2018) 15. IFFI 2018: Donbass wins the Golden Peacock Award; Lijo Jose Pellissery wins Best Director Award The movie ‘Donbass’ directed by Sergei Loznitsa won the coveted Golden Peacock Award at the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which concluded in Goa. The Golden Peacock Award carries a cash prize of Rs 4 million (Rs 40 lakhs) to be shared equally between the Producer and the Director, a Trophy and the citation. Donbass movie tells the story of a hybrid war taking place in a region of Eastern Ukraine, involving an open armed conflict alongside mass killings and robberies by separatist gangs. A journey through Donbass unfolds as a series of curious adventures. It is about a world lost in post-truth and fake identities. Donbass is also the official submission of Ukraine for the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019. It was selected as the opening film in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Chemban Vinod won the Best Actor (Male) Award for his portrayal in Ee.Ma.Yau of ‘Eeshi’, a son who tries to arrange a worthy funeral for his father but is met with unpredictable obstacles. 16. Centre to divest 100% stake in Air India arm The government on Tuesday gave its nod for divesting its 100 per cent stake in Air India’s profitable ground handling arm — Air India Air Transport Services (AIATSL).