Current
Affairs Daily Updates: 12th Dec 2017
1. Union
Health Minister J P Nadda launches new initiatives on Universal Health Coverage
Day
- Union Health Minister JP Nadda
launched new initiatives including Laqshya-A Labour Room Quality Improvement
Initiative and safe delivery application at a function in New Delhi on the
occasion of Universal Health Coverage Day.
- The main goal of this initiative
is to reduce preventable maternal and newborn mortality, morbidity and
stillbirths associated with the care around delivery in Labour room.
- The Safe Delivery Application is
a mHealth tool that can be used for health workers who manage normal and
complicated deliveries in the peripheral areas. It can play a pivotal role
in training, post-training reinforcement, mentoring and demonstration.
- The main aim is to safe Delivery
Application is a mHealth tool that can be used for health workers who
manage normal and complicated deliveries in the peripheral areas. It can
play a pivotal role in training, post-training reinforcement, mentoring
and demonstration.
2. Rahul Gandhi Elected Indian National Congress
President
- The Indian National Congress
announced that Rahul Gandhi has been elected as its new President, taking
over from his mother Sonia Gandhi.
- Rahul was declared the party
President after no other candidate filed a nomination to contest the
presidential elections.
- The Congress had earlier
announced that 89 nominations were filed proposing Rahul Gandhi's
candidacy for the presidential elections.
3. Vice President Confers Yeraringan Award to M.S.
Swaminathan
- The Vice President of India,
Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu conferred 'Yeraringan' Award to Prof. M.S.
Swaminathan, in Chennai. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan was a transformative
leader who has inspired many scientists to focus on the problem of Indian
agriculture.
- The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri
Banwarilal Purohit was present on the occasion.
- He has shown to the entire world
how research can reach the farms and transform farmers’ lives.
4. Electronics and IT Ministry Launched First
NIC-CERT
- Electronics and Information
Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launched first NIC-CERT, a setup
of National Informatics Centre to prevent and predict cyber attacks on
government utilities.
- They launched in New Delhi.
- NIC-CERT has been set up with the
objective of creating a comprehensive framework that integrates
world-class security components and inbuilt threat intelligence for
detection, prevention and incident response.
5. Mount Hope Becomes UK's New Highest Mountain
- Britain is a new highest
mountain after new satellite data revealed the peak was almost 400 metres
taller than previously thought.
- Mount Hope, in the British
Atlantic Territory, was recently re-measured and found to be 377 metres
taller than previous calculations.
- This takes it to 3,239 metres,
meaning it knocks Mount Jackson, the current title holder at 3,184 metres,
off the top spot.
6. Jitu Rai And Heena Sidhu Win Medals at Asian
Championships
- Pistol aces Jitu Rai and Heena
Sidhu bagged a bronze each to continue India's medal charge at the 10th
Asian Championship 10m Rifle/Pistol in Wako City, Japan.
- Jitu won an individual bronze in
the men's 10m Air Pistol, which also helped the Indian team comprising
Shahzad Rizvi and Omkar Singh besides Jitu, to bag the Team gold in the
event.
- Heena claimed an individual
bronze in the women's 10m Air Pistol. Her effort, along with teammates
Shri Nivetha Paramantham and Harveen Srao, helped the Team clinch a
silver.
7. Union Government Fixes Sovereign Gold Bond Rate
at Rs 2890/gram
- The Union government fixed Rs
2,890 per gram as the price of new series of sovereign gold bonds (SGBs).
- The government, in consultation
with the Reserve Bank, has decided to offer a discount of Rs 50 per gram
to investors applying online and making payments digitally.
- Earlier, Government had floated
Series III of Sovereign Gold Bonds 2017-18, for the period from October
09, 2017 to December 27, 2017.
- Under the scheme, the bonds are
denominated in units of one gram of gold and multiples thereof. Minimum
investment in the bonds is one gram, with a maximum limit of 500 grams per
person, per financial year.
8. Finance Minister Holds 5th Pre-Budget
Consultation Meeting
- The Finance Minister of India
Arun Jaitley holds his 5th Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting with the
leading Economists in New Delhi.
- According to the Finance
Minister, India recorded an average growth of 7.5% from 2014-15 to
2016-17, significantly higher as compared to the growth in the previous
two years.
- The fiscal deficit as a ratio of
GDP stood at 3.9% in 2015-16 and 3.5% in 2016-17 and is budgeted to be
3.2% for the Current Financial Year 2017-18.
9. India to Host 2021 Champions Trophy, 2023 World
Cup
- India is all set to host the
2023 World Cup, the global cricketing event’s 13th edition after the BCCI
confirmed the host nation. India will also host the upcoming Champions
Trophy in 2021.
- The ICC World Cup 2019 will be
held in England and Wales. This will be the first time that the event will
be held entirely in India: the nation on three occasions previously,
hosted the World Cup partially (1987, 1996 and 2011).
10. Saurabh Chaudhary Claims Youth Olympics Games
Spot with Gold
- India's Saurabh Chaudhary
qualified for the Youth Olympics Games with a gold medal and a junior
world record in 10m air pistol at the ongoing Asia Youth Olympics Games
qualification tournament in Wako City, Japan.
- He became the third Indian to
bag quota places for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games at the 10th Asian Airgun
Championship.
- The 15-year-old shot a record
score of 243.1 in the final to storm to the top of the podium, after
finishing third in the qualification round with a score of 573.
11. Australia Beat Argentina to Win Gold in Hockey
World League Final
- Australia beat Argentina 2-1 in
the final of the Hockey World League Final (HWLF) to win gold at Kalinga
Stadium, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
- Argentina beat India (who won
bronze earlier) in the semifinals.
- Blake Govers scored the winner
from a penalty corner with just three minutes left in the game.
- Earlier, Australia scored first
through Jeremy Hayward in the 17th minute. Australia thus became champions
for the second time in a row and will go down in international hockey
history as the last team ever to win Hockey World League Final.
12. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra tops in highest
number of cyber-crimes
- Uttar Pradesh stands on top of
recording highest number of cyber crimes in India followed by Maharashtra.
- While Assam stands on the fifth
position, as per latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), a total of 696 cybercrime cases were reported during 2016 in
Assam, which is an increase of over 44 percent compared to the previous
year. In 2015, there were 483 such cases in the State.
- All the 696 cases reported in
Assam during 2016, 156 had illegal gain as the motive, 329 were on account
of emotional motives like revenge, three were committed with an intention
to outrage the modesty of women, 59 were attributed to extortion and
blackmailing, 41 were committed with the motive of sexual exploitation, 35
were intended for causing disrepute, five were committed with intention to
incite hate crimes against some particular community, One was a prank, 10
had political motives, and 57 for other reasons.
- Nationally, a total of 12,317
cases of cybercrimes were reported in 2016 compared to 11,592 in 2015,
which is an increase of over six per cent.
13. UN pays tribute to the 14 peacekeepers killed
in recent attack in Congo
- Recently 14 United Nations
Peacekeepers were killed in Congo and several others were injured. Later
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described as the “worst attack” on
UN peacekeepers or UN “blue helmets” in recent history.
- The mission's military, police
and civilian staff were encouraged to continue their efforts to implement
the operation's mandate, including the protection of civilians. “We are
determined to continue our work
14. India bags rich haul of 21 medals including
six gold at Asian Airgun Shooting Championships
- India bagged a rich haul of 21
medals including six gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals at the
10th Asian Airgun Shooting Championships which was concluded on Monday in
Wako City, Japan.
- On the last of a championship,
Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Baker booked quota places for the 2018 Youth
Olympic Games (YOG) by winning a gold and a silver each. Saurabh Chaudhary
won both the individual as well as the Team gold in the men's 10m Air
Pistol Youth event, while Baker clinched a silver in the women's 10m Air
Pistol Youth. India claimed another silver in junior women's 10m Air
Pistol.
- India added four medals to their
kitty on the final day of the competition to finish with a total haul of
21 medals over four days, including six gold, eight silver and seven
bronze, besides four Youth Olympic Games quotas.
