Current
Affairs Daily Updates: 10th and 11th Dec 2017
1. Human
Rights Day is observed on 10th December
- Human Rights Day is observed
every year on 10 December – the day the United Nations General Assembly
adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- This year, Human Rights Day
kicks off a year-long campaign to mark the upcoming 70th anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document that
proclaimed the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to
as a human being -- regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or
other status.
- It is the most translated
document in the world, available in more than 500 languages.
- The Campaign is named as
#standup4humanrights
2. India to host 2 day Connectivity Summit with
ASEAN countries
- Ahead of the 25th anniversary of
Dialogue Partnership between India and Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), Delhi will host a two-day ASEAN-India Connectivity Summit
on December 11 and 12.
- The Summit's theme will be
'Powering Digital and Physical Linkages for Asia in the 21st Century'.
- The member countries of ASEAN
comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
3. Maruti Suzuki replaces SBI as 6th most valuable
Indian firm
- India's largest carmaker Maruti
Suzuki became India's sixth most valued firm, crossing India's largest
lender SBI.
- Maruti Suzuki's market
capitalisation stood at ₹2.74 trillion, marginally ahead of SBI's market
value of ₹2.71 trillion.
- Reliance Industries is the
country's most valued company with a market value of ₹5.8 trillion,
followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, ITC and Hindustan Unilever.
4. Mehuli Ghosh and Tushar Mane became the first
Indian shooters qualified for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games
- Mehuli Ghosh and Tushar Mane
became the first Indian shooters to secure the women’s and men’s quota
places for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) by winning a gold and bronze
each at the 10th Asian Championship 10M Rifle/Pistol at Wako City, Japan.
5. Khelo India programme to be launched at cost of
1,756 crore rupees for period 2017-18 to 2019-20
- Union Minister of State for
Youth Affairs and Sports, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore confirmed union
government will launch a 'Khelo India' programme at a cost of 1,756 crore
rupees for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
- The initiative marks a watershed
moment in the history of Indian sports, as the programme aims at
mainstreaming sports as a tool for individual development, community
development, economic development and national development.
- The main aims to promote 150
select schools in as many districts, and 20 universities across the
country, as hubs of sporting excellence, which would enable talented
sportspersons to pursue the dual pathway of education and competitive
sports.
6. UN Women and Facebook Inaugurates 'We The
Women' Event in Mumbai
- UN Women in collaboration with
Facebook inaugurated a two-day event in Mumbai titled 'We The Women' to
empower and recognise the magnificent contribution of women in our
society.
- The event witnessed speakers
from different walks of life including Textile and I&B Minister,
Smriti Irani, Sakshi Malik, Mithali Raj, Ekta Kapoor, Karan Johar and
others.
7. Mahesh Sharma Inaugurates Bodhi Parva BIMSTEC
Festival of Buddhist Heritage
- Minister of State for Culture
(Independent Charge) Dr. Mahesh Sharma inaugurated the three days ‘Bodhi
Parva: BIMSTEC Festival of Buddhist Heritage’ in New Delhi.
- India is hosting the “Bodhi
Parva: BIMSTEC Festival of Buddhist Heritage” from 8 to 10 December as
part of celebrations of 20th anniversary of BIMSTEC.
8. State Bank of India announces BIG changes after
merger
- The State Bank of India (SBI)
changed names and IFSC codes of nearly 1,300 of its branches post-merger
of its five associates.
- The bank has close to 23,000
branches.
- The changes were made for the
branches located in major cities including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru,
Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Lucknow, among others. The bank has put up
the list of branches with old and new names and IFSC codes on its website.
- In April this year, SBI merged
its five associate banks State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of
Patiala, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of
Mysore and also Bhartiya Mahila Bank into itself.
9. India Beat Germany Win Bronze at Hockey World League
Final
- India defeated Germany 2-1 in
the Hockey World League Final to grab the bronze medal at the event, in
Bhubaneswar, Odisha. SV Sunil and Harmanpreet Singh scored for the world
number six Indian side.
- The world's fifth-ranked side
Germany was without any substitutes as seven of their players were
unavailable for the match either due to injury or high fever.
- For India’s success, Odisha
government presented each player a cheque of Rs 10 lakh.
10. Uma Shankar appointed as RBI Executive
Director
- Uma Shankar, chief general
manager (CGM) in charge of the Reserve Bank of India's financial inclusion
and development department has taken over as executive director (ED) in
the central bank.
- He has been elevated after Meena
Hemchandra the executive director in charge of the central bank's
supervision department retired recently.
11. Kacheguda:
India’s first energy efficient railway station
- Kacheguda railway station in
Hyderabad has become the first energy efficient railway station in the
country.
- The station has achieved 100%
energy efficient status by replacing 1312 conventional lights with light
emitting diode.
12. Pioneer of DNA Fingerprinting Lalji Singh
Passes Away
- Lalji Singh, a pioneer of DNA
fingerprinting technology in India and former Vice-Chancellor of Benares
Hindu University, BHU (2011 to 2014), passed away at the age of 70.
- Lalji Singh and his team
developed the indigenous probe that was first applied to settle paternity
disputes in the late 1980s at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
(CCMB) Hyderabad.
13. Pradeep Singh Kharola Takes Over as Air India
CMD
- Senior IAS officer Pradeep Singh
Kharola took charge as the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India.
Kharola assumed charge from Rajiv Bansal.
- He was the managing director of
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited since February 2015.
14. MamtaKalia
chosen for VyasSamman 2017
- Renowned Hindi writer MamtaKalia
has been chosen for VyasSamman for her novel ‘DukkhamSukkham’.
- She was selected by the
selection committee headed by renowned author VishwanathPrasad Tiwari.
15. India
to host South-East Asia Connectivity Summit
- India will host the South-East
Asia Connectivity Summit on December 11-12.
- It will be a part of India’s Act
East Policy and will be very crucial as it comes ahead of the visit of the
leaders of the 10 members of ASEAN.
- ASEAN members are: Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
16. Japan, US and South Korea to hold 2-day
missile tracking drill amid rising tension in Korean Peninsula
- The more North Korea becomes
stubborn against the US, the US and its allies in the region are also
preparing more for the crisis. Amid the ongoing show of force US, Japan
and South Korea will hold two days of missile tracking drills.
- This one will be the sixth set
of drills of its kind with the aim to cope with the growing North Korean
missile threat.
- The first exercise sharing
information in tracking ballistic missiles among the three nations was
held in June. It will be held in waters near the Korean Peninsula and
Japan.
- The exercise is being held as
North Korea fired a powerful missile last month which could target the
entire US mainland. Since then, the US and North Korea had enough angry
exchange of words.
17. China Starts World's Biggest Floating Solar
Project
- International Affairs A unit of
China Three Gorges Corp. is building a 1 billion yuan ($151 million)
floating solar power plant, the world’s biggest, in the nation’s eastern
province of Anhui.
- China Three Gorges New Energy
Company started building the 150-megawatt project in July and part of the
plant was connected to the grid.
- The project features panels
fixed to floats on the surface of a lake that formed after a coal mine
collapsed, according to the unit. The entire facility is expected to come
online by May 2018.
