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CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
National Green Tribunal imposes Rs 100-crore fine on Meghalaya government
- The National Green Tribunal has imposed a fine of 100 crore rupees on Meghalaya government for its failure to curb illegal coal mining in the state.
- The amount of the fine has to be deposited with the Central Pollution Control Board within two months. The action comes after a high-level committee submitted an adverse report to a bench headed by NGT chairperson AK Goel.
Indian Panorama Film Festival inaugurated in New Delhi
- A 10-day long Indian Panorama Film Festival began at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.
- Indian Panorama Film Festival, being organized by Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of I&B, was inaugurated by Secretary, Ministry of I&B, Shri Amit Khare.
- The opening feature film ‘Olu’ directed by ShriShaji N Karun.
World Book Fair inaugurated in Delhi
- The 27th New Delhi World Book Fair inaugurated at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
- Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurated the 9-day annual event.
- All India Radio is the radio partner for the fair.
- To mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, there will be special book exhibition of books on and by Mahatma Gandhi.
- More than 600 publishers will display books at more than 1350 stalls at the fair.
- The theme of this year is ‘Readers with Special Needs’.
Government launched nationwide cleanliness survey ‘Swachh Survekshan 2019’
- Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, launched the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2019’, the fourth edition of the annual nationwide cleanliness survey of urban India in New Delhi.
- The Swachh Survekshan 2019 aims to evaluate the achievements in the cleanliness level in urban areas of the country.
- The survey will cover 40 crore people across over four thousand towns and cities.
- Swachh Survekshan 2019, completely digital and paperless survey, will be completed in a record time of 28 days.
Central Government launched Green-Ag project
- The Government of India launched a Global Environment Facility (GEF) assisted project, namely Green–Ag, in partnership with FAO.
- The overall objective of the project is to catalyse the transformative change of India’s agricultural sector to support achievement of national and global environmental benefits and conservation of critical biodiversity and forest landscapes of five states, namely Madhya Pradesh (Chambal landscape), Mizoram (Dampa landscape), Odisha (Similipal landscape), Rajasthan (Desert National Park landscape) and Uttarakhand (Corbett-Rajaji landscape)
Archaeological Survey of India declared 6 monuments as ‘protected and of national importance’
- The Ministry of Culture announced that ArchaeologicalSurveyofIndia(ASI)declared 6 monuments as ‘protected and of national importance’under theAncient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, in 2018.
These sites are:
- 125-year-old Old High Court Building in Nagpur, Maharashtra,
- The Group of Temples in RanipurJharail in Bolangir district of Odisha,
- 2 Mughal era monuments in Agra- Haveli of Agha Khan and HathiKhana,
- The NeemranaBaori in Alwar district of Rajasthan,
- The Vishnu Temple in Kotali, Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand.
- No new monument was included in the list of sites of national importance In 2016 and 2017,
- The last monument to be included in the list, in 2015, was the Vishnu Temple in Nadavayal in Kerala’s Wayanad district.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL
Trump Signed Asia Reassurance Initiative Act into Law
- S. President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), which passed the U.S. Senate earlier in December.
- The act establishes a multifaceted U.S. strategy to increase U.S. security, economic interests, and values in the Indo-Pacific region,
- Specifically, the ARIA will authorize $1.5 billion in spending for a range of U.S. programs in East and Southeast Asia and develop a long-term strategic vision and a comprehensive, multifaceted, and principled United States policy for the Indo-Pacific region, and for other purposes.
| USEFUL INFO |
| US Capital | Washington DC |
| Currency | Dollar |
| President | Donald Trump |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE
PM Modi inaugurated 6 irrigation projects in Jharkhand
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated six irrigation projects, including the Rs 2,391.36 croreMandal dam that will provide irrigation to 19,604 hectare in Palamau and Garhwa districts.
- The Mandal dam, work on which began in 1972, but has been stalled since 1993, will be built on North Koelriver under Barwadih block in Latehar district.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Jharkhand Capital | Ranchi |
| CM | Raghubar Das |
| Governor | Draupadi Murmu |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
ICICI Bank, Small Business FinCredit join hands to provide loans to MSMEs
- Private lender ICICI Bank has joined hands with Small Business FinCredit (SBFC) to jointly offer loans worth Rs 1 crore to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), for tenure of 15 years per customer.
- Under the pact, the bank will co-originate loan against property with SBFC at a mutually settled ratio.
| ICICI Bank Headquarters | Mumbai |
| Tagline | Hum Hain Na! |
| MD & CEO | Sandeep Bakhshi |
AGS Transact Tech set to launch QR-based cardless withdrawals at white-label ATMs
- Payment solutions provider AGS Transact Technologies has initiated cardless cash withdrawals, based on quick response (QR) code on its white-label ATMs (WLAs).
- AGS Transact operates white-label ATMs under the ‘OnGo’ brand name.
RBI issued fresh guidelines on limiting the customer liability in fraudulent PPI transactions
- Reserve Bank of India has issued fresh guidelines on limiting the customer liability for unauthorised electronic payments involving Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs).
- RBI stated that, the rules are applicable to all authorised non-bank PPI issuers such as Paytm, Mobikwik, PhonePe and Oxigen, among others.
- In case of third-party breach, the customer will not lose any money if reported within three days.
- Fraud is reported within 4-7 days, then the customer liablity is same as the transaction value, or 10,000 per transaction, whichever is lower. PPI issuer shall credit the amount within 10 days.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: Ranking
Andhra Pradesh tops ACI’s Ease of Doing Business index
- Andhra Pradesh has topped the survey of Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI), Singapore’s 2018 Ease of Doing Business (EDB) Index ABC Rankings for economies of 21 states of India, while Maharashtra and Delhi came in second and third place respectively.
- Andhra Pradesh rose from the 5th rank in 2016 to the top spot in 2018.
- Ease of Doing Business (EDB) index is based upon three parameters called ABC, Attractiveness to Investors, Business Friendliness and Competitiveness Policies.
National Entrepreneurship Awards 2018
- The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) concluded the third edition of the National Entrepreneurship Awards.
- 30 young entrepreneurs and 3 entrepreneurship ecosystem builders, conferred with the award.
- The National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) was instituted by MSDE in 2016 to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country.
- RoshanKahtoon, 23, from Bihar, who despite her physical disability, has beaten all odds and has set up a small bangle manufacturing unit.
- Mahipal Chary Kadivendi, 38, of Telangana, who has developed a self-propelled weeder-cum-cultivator that can be used for a number of agricultural processes such as hoeing, weeding, tilling, sowing and also for applying fertilizer or insecticides.
- Shruthi Reddy Sethi, 33, of Kolkata, who began Anthyesti Funeral Services to provide end-to-end funeral management service.
- Each of the enterprise/individual winners receives a trophy, certificate and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, while each of the winning organizations/institutes receives a trophy, certificate and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Justice AsifSaeedKhosa appointed as new Chief Justice of Pakistan
- Justice AsifSaeed Khan Khosa has been appointed new Chief Justice of Pakistan with effect from January 18.
- Justice AsifSaeedKhosa will take oath of his office on January 18 a day after incumbent CJP Justice SaqibNisar retires on January 17,He has been a senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan since 31 December 2016.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
80th National Table Tennis Championship begins in Cuttack
- The 80th National Table Tennis Championship began at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha
- As many as 35 teams, including 550 players from different parts of the country are participating in the mega championship.
- Odisha State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) is hosting the championships after a gap of 18 years.