Current Affairs Updates - 15 December 2017

Current Affairs Updates - 15 December 2017

Important Days

President of India will preside as the Chief Guest over the National Energy Conservation Day celebrations, to be held in New Delhi, on 14th December, 2017.

• Hon’ble President of India will give away National Energy Conservation Awards to industries that have demonstrated measurable reductions in their energy use as part of the National Energy Conservation Awards Programme. During the event, a short film on the Energy Efficiency achievements in the Industry Sector will also be shown. Further, Shri Kovind will present the National Painting Competition Prizes and visit the exhibition of the prize -winning paintings. 

New Appointments: National

Senior Advocate Vikas Singh Elected As New Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President.

• Another Senior Advocate Sukumar Pattjoshi  and Vikrant Yadav have been elected as Vice President and General Secretary of SCBA respectively. Advocate Rahul Kaushik has been re-elected as Joint Secretary of the bar.

Banking/Economic Affairs

RBI imposes restrictions on Corporation Bank as its bad loans crosses 10% 

• The government owned bank said that the RBI has triggered prompt corrective action (PCA) against it in view of high non-performing loans and requirement to raise capital. 
• This makes Corporation Bank eighth bank to face restriction in a span of 10 months. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a Rs3 crore penalty on private sector lender IndusInd Bank for not following the central bank’s rules on classification of bad loans.

• The statutory inspection of the bank with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2016 revealed, inter alia, violations of various regulations issued by RBI in the assessment of non-performing assets (NPAs) and extension of NFB (non-fund based) facilities,” the central bank said in a press release.

Rankings

India ranks 100 in ‘The Legatum Prosperity Index 2017’ among 149 countries.

• The Legatum Prosperity Index is the world’s leading global measure of economic and social wellbeing that studies 104 indicators under these categories: Economic Quality, Business Environment, Governance, Personal Freedom, Social Capital, Safety and Security, Education, Health and Natural Environment.

National Affairs

OBOPAY, the global mobile payment solutions company, has announced that the company has secured a licence for Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate a semi-closed loop wallet in the country.

• Using the PPI licence, OBOPAY will solve various payment related problems for their partner clients - bringing efficiency and transparency to the payments process, improving reporting and reducing turnaround times for funds transfers," the company said.

The Centre informed the Supreme Court that it will set up at least 12 special courts to try exclusively criminal cases involving MPs and MLAs.

• The government, in an affidavit, said it had allotted 7.8 crore and framed a scheme to set up the special courts.
• The document, filed through Reeta Vasishta, Additional Secretary, Law and Justice Ministry, said the scheme had been given in-principle approval by the Finance Ministry on December 8.

International Affairs

Sri Lanka has become the 163rd nation to accede to the anti-personnel mine ban convention.

• Sri Lanka's Permanent Mission to the UN Rohan Perera deposited the Instrument of Accession to the Convention of the Prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and on their destruction, it said.
• The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, commonly referred to as the Mine Ban Treaty or Ottawa Treaty, was adopted on September 18, 1997 at the Diplomatic Conference on an International Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Land Mines at Oslo, Norway.

Norway has completed its transition to digital radio, becoming the first country in the world to shut down national broadcasts of its FM network.

• The country’s most northern regions and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic switched to digital audio broadcasting (DAB) as scheduled on Wednesday, said Digitalradio Norge (DRN), an umbrella group for Norway’s public and commercial radio.

Defence & Railway

Ministry of Railways has introduced online bill tracking system for vendors and contractors.

• The move aims at enhancing transparency in the processing and settlement of bills by tracking the status of bills of contractors and vendors. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India’s first Scorpene submarine, the INS Kalvari, in Mumbai.

• A Scorpene submarine is a class of diesel-electric attack submarines designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS and are being manufactured by Mazagon Dock Ltd in Mumbai.
• The submarine can undertake multiple missions, including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and area surveillance.

Agreements (MoU)

 India and Morocco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for enhanced cooperation in the health sector in New Delhi.

• J P Nadda mentioned that both the countries share a strong and rich traditional relationship. He highlighted that India is producer of quality generic medicines and drugs that are exported to more than 200 countries and has a strong and robust public health system monitored through National Health Mission. 

An MoU was signed between Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for facilitating the supply of sand for highways construction work. 

• Concessionaires working on highways projects have been facing a shortage of sand at many sites. The MoU aims to fill this gap by facilitating the availability of sand for these concessionaires. 

World Bank will provide 250 million dollar loan to India for skill development programme to support livelihood.

• World Bank’s financing arm International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will provide this 250 million dollar loan. The loan agreement was signed here by economic affairs department joint secretary Sameer Kumar Khare on behalf of the government and Junaid Kamal Ahmad, World Bank, country director for India.

Awards & Honours

Prince William Presents J.K. Rowling With Royal Companion Of Honor Award.

• The royal family has just presented J.K. Rowling with a Companion of Honor award at Buckingham Palace.
• The “Harry Potter” author received the prestigious award from Prince William on Tuesday, as recognition of her services to literature and philanthropy.

Obituary 

Senior Congressman and ex-speaker of Delhi Assembly Chaudhary Prem Singh passed away.

• Chaudhary Prem Singh (85) breathed his last at Max Hospital, Saket, at 10.10 pm, senior Delhi Congress leader Chatar Singh said.
• Prem Singh had suffered a heart attack while participating in a party event on Dr Ambedkars Mahaparinirvan Divas on December 6, Chatar Singh added.