Current Affairs December 2016: Useful for #CLAT #IIFT #CMAT #MBAEntrance #UPSC #Civil Services #SNAP

1) Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code associated with quicker resolution of insolvency cases

2) Chandrababu Naidu (Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh) headed by 13-member committee, including 6 Chief Ministers, to suggest an action plan to rapidly expand the use of digital payment platforms across the country.

five other Chief Ministers – Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Sikkim’s Pawan Kumar Chamling, Puducherry’s V Narayanasamy and Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will function as the Member Secretary, while the planning body’s Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya will be a member of the committee.

3) The Supreme Court in its historic ordered all cinema halls across the country to play the national anthem before the screening of films.

Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1951

4)  India will acquire 145 M777 ultralight howitzer guns United States

5) ‘Nada’ is the name of the cyclone that emerged from a depression formed over the southwest Bay of Bengal

The cyclone is named Nada by Oman as per the cyclone naming convention followed by the South Asian countries.

6) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revised the ceiling on issuance of securities under the Market stabilization scheme (MSS) to Rs. 6 trillion (Rs. 6 lakh crore). from Rs. 30,000 crore

7) Paris, Mexico City, Madrid and Athens announced that they have agreed to ban the use of diesel vehicles in their cities by 2025.

8) Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn (New name King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun) became Thailand’s new King. he succeeded late father King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

9) Magnus Carlsen (Norway) won his third consecutive World Chess champion title as he defeated challenger Sergey Karjakin (Russia)

10) Bombay Dyeing Manufacturing Company, one of the oldest textile businesses (1879) in India, officially closed its manufacturing operations. Now focus on retail business.

11) The sixth ministerial conference of the ‘Heart of Asia-(Istanbul Process) was held at Amritsar. The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process was launched in 2011   

The platform was floated to encourage security, political and economic cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours.

12) Chitra Ramkrishna resigned from the post of the MD and CEO of NSE,

Ramkrishna was the third woman to head an exchange in the Asia-Pacific region after Sri Lanka’s Colombo Stock Exchange and China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Ramkrishna was the second-highest paid executive in the financial services industry, second only to Aditya Puri, MD of HDFC Bank, who took Rs 9.7 crore in FY16.

13) Venezuela was removed as a member of South American trade bloc Mercosur.

Mercosur was created as a customs union in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Venezuela became the group’s fifth member in 2012.

14) world’s first polluted river was discovered by scientists at Jorden. The river is believed to have been polluted some 7,000 years ago, by Neolithic human by combustion of copper. Now it is Vanish.

This region is home to the world’s first industrial revolution.

15) The Indian women’s cricket team defeated in Asia Cup-T20 Cup from Pakistan (its sixth consecutive title of Pakistan)

16) World Aids Day observed 1^st December

17) Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography "Playing it my way" named Book of the Year

18) India's GDP growth stays healthy at 7.3% in Q2

19) UNESCO includes Yoga in Intangible Cultural Heritage list

20) International Day of Persons with Disabilities being observed on 03rd December (started from 1992 by UNO)

21) Chicago Airport, Atlanta and Dallas Airports all top three airports for connectivity in World.

22) Jamaican Usain Bolt wins a record sixth Consecutive 'Athlete of the Year' award.

23) Former Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) SP Tyagi was arrested for his alleged involvement in The Agusta Westland (UK based Helicopter Maker) VVIP chopper deal

Agusta Westland VVIP chopper deal worth Rs. 3,600 crores,

Tyagi headed the Indian Air Force between 2004 and 2007.

24) Allahabad High Court declared ‘Triple Talaq’ (“instant divorce”) is “cruel” and “most demeaning”

25) Park Geun-hye is the first woman President of South Korea facing Impeachment process

Park was allegedly involved in a case of collusion (Conspiracy) with a long-time friend to extort money from companies and to give that confidante extraordinary sway over government decisions.

26) John Glenn became the first-ever U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth in 1962. Soviet Union leaped ahead of the U.S. in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

27) Resourcesat-2A remote sensing satellite that was successfully launched by ISRO from Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) by PSLV-C36 rocket. It was the 37th consecutive successful flight of the indigenous light-lifting rocket, the PSLV.

Resourcesat-2A is the third remote sensing satellite under ‘Resource sat’ series. Resourcesat-1 was put in space in October 2003 and Resourcesat-2 in April 2011, each with a planned life of five years.

28) The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel

29) The government will observe B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary (April 14) as Water Day’

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti

He favoured to all-India policy for the development of water resources by River Valley Authority or corporation for integrated development of rivers. & introduced the concept of multi-purpose development of river basins. after Independence  

multipurpose development Government started Damodar, Mahanadi Multi purpose dam project.  

30) Republican Party President Donald Trump named Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ for 2016

Democrat Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was the No. 2 finalist.

31) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa passed away. She was state Chief Minister for six terms.

M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), the founder of the AIADMK

She was buried near the grave of his mentor M.G. Ramachandran on Chennai’s famous Marina Beach.

O. Panneerselvam became the 20th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

32) Largest FDI invested in India by Singapore, the US, UK and the Netherlands.

33) Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar will be the next (44^th) Chief Justice of India, He will replace Chief Justice T.S. Thakur. He will also be the first Supreme Court Chief Justice from the Sikh community.

34) The International Volunteer Day (IVD) & World Soil Day observed across the world on 5 December

35) Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have been jointly named "Asian of the Year 2016" by Singapore-based newspaper The Straits Times.

36) Amazon launches global startup program 'Launchpad' in India

37) The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named English as the most powerful language followed by Mandarin

Hindi is 10^th Ranked language

38) NITI Aayog to provide Rs 5 lakh per district for digitization

39) ‘DigiShala’ is 24-hours TV channel launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for pushing digital transactions

40) ISI Chief Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar was removed from his post by Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa

41) Singapore Slammers team won the International Premier Tennis League (ITPL) title for 2016. victory over table-toppers Indian Aces in Hyderabad on 11 December 2016.

42) Viola Desmond (black civil rights leader-1940) first Canadian woman on $ 10 banknote

Viola Desmond will replacing the nation's first prime minister John A Macdonald

43) Committee headed by Ratan P. Watal submitted its report to Finance Minster to boost Digital Payment

44) The Rajasthan High Court cancelled the Rajasthan Special Backward Classes (SBC) reservation Act 2015 that allowed for 5% quota to Gujjars and five other communities of the state.

45) Virat Kohli Becomes First Indian Captain to Score Three Double Centuries against England

46) The Human Rights Day is observed across the world on 10 December (from 1948)

47) Japan launches Kounotori 6 cargo spaceship to ISS-International Space Station (ISS).

The H-2B rocket carrying the spaceship lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

48) L&T bags contract to convert Sardar Patel Stadium (Motera-Ahmedabad) to world’s biggest cricket stadium

Now largest Cricket Ground is Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

Motera’s seating capacity will go up from present 54,000 to seat about 1,10,000 that will put MCG’s 100,024 in the shade.

49) ‘Vardah’ cyclonic storm strike over Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh

The name ‘Vardah’ is given by Pakistan as per cyclone naming conventions and stands for red rose in Urdu.

50) Gotthard-tunnel (GTT) its world’s longest rail tunnel located in Switzerland its 57-km long, this tunnel, which took 17 years to build, Connecting between Rotterdam to the Adriatic.

Second longest is Japan’s 53.9 km Seikan tunnel

Third longest is 50.5 km Channel tunnel connecting Britain and France

51) 14444 nationwide toll-free helpline number for educate people and provide support related to cashless mode of transactions.

The Government has already launched a TV channel (‘Digishala’) and a website (‘CashlessIndia’) to promote the cause of digital transactions.

52) ‘Narmada Seva Yatra’ is the launched by the Madhya Pradesh Government for Narmada river pollution free by seeking public participation and creating awareness

53) Bill English sworn as new Prime Minister of New Zealand to replace John Key

John Key, resigned due to family reasons a few days ago.

54) Sweden was one of the first countries to implement a heavy tax on fossil fuels in 1991.

55) South-American country Venezuela ordered 100 bolivar bill demonetizations for alleged cash hoarding and huge inflation in the country

The 100-bolivar bill is worth fewer than three cents of a dollar at current market rates. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast the inflation rate will hit 475% by the end of this year.

Falling prices for Venezuela’s crucial oil exports have caused a shortage of dollars in the country, driving up prices of imports of food, medicine and other crucial goods.

56) World largest defence expense Countries are

USA-$622 Billion, China-$191.75 Billion, United Kingdom, $53.81 Billion, India $50.67 Billion

Saudi Arabia (48.68 billion) and Russia ($48.44 billion).

57) During December 2016, the Syrian government troops recaptured major parts of Aleppo city

58) Pranab Mukherjee launches Kailash Satyarthi’s ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ campaign. for end child labour, child slavery and violence against children .

59) Cyrus Mistry removed as Director of Tata Industries

60) China launches advanced weather satellite Fengyun-4

61) Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese Prime Minister, was sworn as the ninth UN Secretary-General, He replace Ban Ki-moon

193-member Countries in UNO.

First UNO secretary was Trygve Lie (1945-46) Norway

62) Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) beat rival Lionel Messi (Argentina) to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or award for the fourth time. (2008,13,14,16)

63) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has signed an agreement with Alpha Design Technologies P Ltd-Bangalore (six companies Group) to deliver India's first industry-built satellite

64) Gujarat will open Wagah-like border viewing point at Nadabet near Suigam Banaskantha.

65) Andrei Karlov Russian Ambassador at Ankara who was shot dead by a gunman

66) Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of India’s first ever ‘Indian Institute of Skills’ (IIS) at Kanpur

67) India notched up its highest Test score in an innings (759 for 7) as Karun Nair became the second Indian to score triple century (303) in a Test match against England in Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Till now India’s highest test score was 726 for 9 (declared) against Sri Lanka at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in 2009.

Virendra Sehwag has achieved this distinction twice.

68) Atletico de Kolkata won the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) defeated hosts Kerala Blasters in the final at Kochi

69) Puerto Rico, Stephanie Del Valle was crowned 66^th Miss World 2016 which held in Washington D.C.

70) India won 11^th men Junior Hockey World Cup against Belgium.

Played at Lucknow’s Major Dhyan Chand Stadium

71) The Union Govt. notified the new Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) officially known as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana with Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 2016 which effect from 17 December 2016. To 31 March 2017.

Under the scheme, a declarant of undisclosed income needs to pay a tax of 30%, a penalty of 10% and a Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Cess of 33% on the tax, all of which add up to around 50%.

72) The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 replaced by The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2016 which mention 21 disabilities previous was 7

Speech and Language Disability and Specific Learning Disability have been added for the first time. Acid Attack Victims have been included. Dwarfism, muscular dystrophy has been indicated as separate class of specified disability, three blood disorders, Thalassemia, Haemophilia and Sickle Cell disease, reservation in higher education, government jobs, reservation in allocation of land, poverty alleviation schemes etc. have been provided for persons with benchmark disabilities and those with high support needs.

73) Lt. General Bipin Rawat appointed as 26^th Chief of the Indian Army, he will succeed Dalbir Singh.

His appointment became a controversial one, as it was done superseding two senior-most Lt. Generals, Praveen Bakshi and P. M. Hariz.

The only other time the senior-most officer has not been appointed Chief was in 1983, when Lt. Gen S.K. Sinha was overlooked for the post in favour of Gen. A.S. Vaidya.

Lt. Gen Bakshi, who heads the Kolkata-headquartered Eastern Command, is from the Armoured Corps. On the other hand, Lt. Gen Hariz, who is from the Mechanised Infantry, heads the Pune-headquartered Southern Command.

75) Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa appointed the next 22th Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) he will succeed from Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha

76) Anil Dhasmana appointed as the new Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the external intelligence wing of India. He will succeed Rajinder Khanna

77) Rajiv Jain appointed as the next Chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Internal intelligence wing of India he will succeed Dineshwar Sharma

78) first Humsafar Express, train runs between Gorakhpur and Anand Vihar

Humsafar coaches manufactured at Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh.

79) seven airports (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad) of India became ‘tag-free’ for hand baggage

India has the system of stamping boarding pass and hand baggage since 1992

80)  The Supreme Court ordered closure of all liquor shops along national and state highways in the country. This order will come into effect from 1 April 2017

81) V.K. Sharma appointed as the new Chairman of state-owned Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC). He replaced S.K. Roy.

LIC is the largest financial institution in the country with over Rs. 22 trillion in assets, which is over 15% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) of Rs.134 trillion.

82) ‘Babur Pakistan’s indigenously-designed cruise missile capable of hitting targets at 700 km

83) Smriti Mandhana Indian woman cricketer named in the ICC’s Women’s Team of the Year 2016

84) Nigeria's Amina Mohammed appointed as new UN deputy Secretary­ General

Antonio Guterres is United Nations (UN) Secretary-General

85) State Bank MobiCash Mobile Wallet launched

86) International Human Solidarity (Harmony)  Day 20 December

87) Priyanka Chopra becomes Assam tourism brand ambassador

88) Rajasthan government has launched a subsidised meal scheme ‘Annapurna Rasoi'.  As per the scheme, the poor and the needy will get breakfast for Rs 5 and lunch or dinner for Rs 8.

The scheme has been launched in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, Bikaner, Udaipur, Bharatpur, Baran, Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh and Jhalawar.

89) PM Modi to unveil 8^th Vibrant Gujarat summit in January 2017, Started From 2003

90) Manipur Chief Minister inaugurates two new districts Pherzawl and Noney.

Now, the total number of the district is 11.

91) India emerge as the sixth largest economy in the world (2.30 Trillion US$) as United Kingdom ($2.29) trillion
92) foreign banks in India Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
93) Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung submitted his resignation
94) Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin third Indian cricketer to win the coveted Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for 2016. Rahul Dravid (2004) and Sachin Tendulkar (2010)
Virat Kohli was named the captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Year

95) India (28,279 MW in 2016) has ranked 4th in the Global Wind Power Installed Capacity index after China, USA and Germany.

96) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has launched India’s first cashless bazaar (900 Shops) in Raipur.

97) India has received largest FDI from Singapore ($ 13.69 Billion) in 2015-16 followed by Mauritius, the US, the Netherlands and Japan,

98) China commissioned its first seven-tonne helicopter AC352

99) Hrithik Roshan has paid highest advance taxpaying  Rs 80 crore followed by

Aamir Khan, Rs. 74 crore, Ranbir Kapoor, Rs 37 crore

100) Salman Khan has been ranked No. 1 on the fifth Forbes India Celebrity 100 List.  He earned a revenue of Rs 270.33 crore.

Followed by Shah Rukh Khan Rs 221.75 crore.

101) World's first solar road opens in France

102) Argentina win FIFA Team of the Year title

103) The union government will set up toll-free number 10588 to provide relevant information and guidance directly to the pregnant women.

104) Bengali poet Shankha Ghosh to get 2016 Jnanpith Award for 2016.

105) Kisan Diwas is observed every year on 23 December across India since 2001

Kisan Diwan is also known as Farmers Day or Charan Singh Jayanti

106) France is the first to use drones for its national mail service

107) Good Governance Day observed 25th December birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee

108) Sri Lanka claims world’s tallest artificial Christmas tree

73-meter (238-foot) tree, built in capital Colombo,

Existing Guinness record held by a Chinese firm that put up a 55-meter (180-foot) tree-like tower in the city of Guangzhou last year (2015).

109) The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully flight tested the Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off Odisha coast.

Capable of engaging ground targets with high precision covering a range of around 100 km, SAAW precision-guided bomb is an indigenous designed and developed class smart weapon weighing 120 kg.

110) Google India, Consumer Affairs Ministry join hands for online consumer protection

After the US, Facebook received most data requests from Indian govt in 6 months

111) Pakistani Hindus can register for Indian citizenship with fee as low as Rs 100 (Before was 15000 Rs.)

112) Lucky Grahak Yojana also known as Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana launched

113) Andhra Pradesh’s own classical dance ‘Kuchipudi’ found a place in the Guinness World Records. when a record 6,117 dancers came together to present a show at the IGMC Stadium in Vijayawada.

114) India’s first 2G Ethanol Bio-refinery set up by Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) at Bathinda in Punjab at a cost of Rs 600 crore .

115) India successfully test-fires nuclear capable Agni-V from Wheeler Island off Odisha. Range is  5,000-km

116) Tantalum carbide (TaC) and hafnium carbide (HfC) are refractory materials which have 4,000 degrees Celsius resistant. By Imperial College London.

117) Dinanath Bhargava, a co-artist in the team that sketched the national emblem ‘Lion Capital of Ashoka’ and decorated the pages of the Constitution’s manuscript,

118) British singer George Michael dies

119) Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) launched a new mobile Unstructured Supplementary Service Data-USSD app for enabling simpler payments without cash. All UPI (United Payments Interface)
Even banks not connected to UPI can receive money through BHIM through IFSC, an 11-digit code assigned to every bank branch by the Reserve Bank of India. Even without a smartphone, anyone can use BHIM to make payments by dialing *99# from any kind of mobile phone (number registered with the bank).
BHIM is now available as an Android version download now, and iOS is coming soon. There is a Rs. 10,000 per transaction limit, and Rs. 20,000 per day for BHIM.
120) Agni-5 (Range-5K) India’s longest range nuclear capable missile was successfully tested by the DRDO from the Kalam Island off Odisha coast
It was the first test of the Agni-5 missile after India became a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
121) Shankha Ghosh (Bangla) was chosen for the 52^nd Jnanpith Award for 2016.Also received Sahitya Academi award in 1999.
Award presented by Time of India (Sahu jain family)
122) Anil Baijal appointed as the new Lt. Governor (LG) of Delhi. He replaced Najeeb Jung
123) Viral V. Acharya appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
RBI currently has three other deputy governors – SS Mundra, NS Vishwanathan and R Gandhi.
124) Meghalaya will host the National Games of 2022 as declared by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)

125) China operationalized world’s longest bullet train/Maglav network that is 2,252 kilometers in length. connects with Shanghai and Kunming

126) Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) established at ACP for heavy cargo aircraft Like Globemaster.

127) Polavaram Irrigation Project (over Godawari river) started at AP

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

128) Dr Barbara Jatta becomes first ever female director of Vatican Museums

129) Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) its replaced by JNNURM

130) Rajasthani writer Satya Narayan chosen for 26^th Bihari Puraskar

131) Suresh Kalmadi declines post of Indian Olympic Association-IOA Life President

132) Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) Recently revised treaties with Mauritius and Cyprus and the joint declaration signed with Switzerland.

133 ) V K Sasikala takes charge as AIADMK General Secretary -All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)

134) World's highest bridge opens in China

The Beipanjiang Bridge soars 565 metres (1,854 feet) above a river and connects the two mountainous provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou.