Daily Current Affairs 13th December, 2019

Daily Current Affairs 13 December 2019 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Cabinet approves ‘Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme’

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme.

• The scheme, to be offered by the Central government to Public Sector Banks (PSBs) for purchasing high-rated pooled assets from financially sound Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)/Housing Finance Companies (HFCs), with the amount of overall guarantee being limited to first loss of up to 10 per cent of fair value of assets being purchased by the banks under the Scheme, or Rs 10,000 crore, whichever is lower, as agreed by Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).

Inner Line Permit regime extended to Manipur, Prez Kovind signs order

President Ram Nath Kovind signed an order to extend Inner Line Permit (ILP) to Manipur. Manipur is the fourth state after Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram where the ILP regime has been made applicable.

• To visit the ILP-regime states, outsiders, including people from other states of the country, need to take permission.

Inauguration of Navarms 2019 4th International Seminar Cum Exhibition on Naval Weapon Systems

The fourth edition of International Seminar cum Exhibition on Naval Weapon Systems ‘NAVARMS – 2019’ with the theme ‘Make in India – Fight Category: Opportunities and Imperatives’ was inaugurated in New Delhi.

• The inaugural session of the seminar was attended by more than 300 delegates from three services, Min of Defence, DRDO, DGQA, DGAQA, OFs, DPSUs, Indian and international Industries and reps of foreign mission of friendly countries.

3 day “International Seminar on Climate Smart Farming Systems” for BIMSTEC countries begins in New Delhi

The three day ‘International Seminar on Climate Smart Farming Systems’ for BIMSTEC countries organized by the Department of Agricultural Research & Education, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare and Indian Council of Agricultural Research began in New Delhi.

• The objective of this International Seminar is to have experience sharing to enable improvement of tropical smallholder farming systems for greater productivity and resilience to climate change through ecological approaches.

FICCI organizes its 9th Global Sports Summit ‘TURF 2019’ Powered by FIT INDIA

FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) organised its highly prestigious Global Sports Summit “TURF” at the FICCI, Federation house New Delhi. This was the 9th edition of the Global Summit which witnessed esteemed sports personalities, administrators and members from the Indian sports fraternity be a part of the event.

• These awards are an attempt by FICCI to acknowledge the contribution and felicitate sports achievers and the various stakeholders who co-create the evolving sports ecosystem.

ISRO begins preparations for setting up third rocket launchpad

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has begun preparatory works for setting up a third rocket launchpad in the small coastal hamlet of Kulashekhrapattinam in the Thuthukudi district of Tamil Nadu.

• At present, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has two launch pads at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The demand for additional launch pads has arisen as a result of the increase in the number of satellite launches from India, both for domestic and international customers.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Bougainville Votes to become World’s Newest Country

The South Pacific region of Bougainville voted overwhelmingly to become the world’s newest nation by gaining independence from Papua New Guinea.

• Chairman of the Bougainville Referendum Commission Bertie Ahern declared that 1,76,928 people — around 98% of voters — had backed independence with just 3,043 supporting the option of remaining part of Papua New Guinea with more autonomy.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Nomura to acquire Greentech Capital Advisors

Asia’s global investment bank Nomura announced the proposed acquisition of Greentech Capital Advisors, a leading boutique investment banking firm focused on supporting clients across sustainable technology and infrastructure.

• Greentech, to be rebranded as Nomura Greentech after the closing of the transaction.
• The transaction is expected to close on March 31 next year.

SPORTS

LaLiga names Rohit Sharma as brand ambassador

Spain’s football league LaLiga appointed Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma as its brand ambassador in India.

• The Indian cricketer is the first-ever non-footballer brand ambassador appointed by LaLiga globally and will be the face of the league in India.

AWARDS

FICCI India Sports Award 2019

The coveted FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) India Sports Awards 2019, an attempt by FICCI to acknowledge and recognize the contribution of sports persons and various stakeholders who deliver excellent results during the year have been conferred as:

Best State Promoting Sports –

• Odisha

Click here for all awards

Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi awarded the first Siu-Ka-Pha Award

The Siu-Ka-Pha Award was presented to noted educationist, Botanist and folklore researcher Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi for his effort and contribution in the field of botany and science. The inaugural edition of the award carried a citation, a memento, a cheleng chador and Rs.10,000. 

Nirmala Sitharaman 34th among world’s 100 most powerful women: Forbes

The Forbes 2019 list of ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ has been topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde in the second spot and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, ranked third. Also on the list is Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (29).

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman(34th), HCL Corporation CEO and Executive Director Roshni Nadar Malhotra(54th) and Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw(65) have been named among the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes.

Tata Power ranks among top 10 companies with highest corporate governance score

For the first time, Tata Power has been ranked among top 10 companies in this year’s Indian Corporate Governance Scorecard which is developed jointly by BSE Ltd, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Institutional Investor Advisory Services India Ltd (IiAS) with the financial support of Japan’s government.

• It is also the first time that the company has entered in leadership category which features six companies with the highest scores.

IIT Gold-Medalist’s innovation wins the “Oscars” of education in London

“International Changemaker Olympiad”, a global program founded by Rahul Adhikari, an IIT Gold-Medalist, has won the Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education Award, popularly known as the “Oscars” of education, in London for their transformative work in the education space.

• Rahul’s work was the winner in the “Sustainability” category and was also the top innovation from the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Space startup with AI solution to stubble burning wins ‘Space Oscar’

Setting an exciting standard for emerging tech startups in India, Gurgaon-based startup Blue Sky Analytics this week won the ‘Space Oscars’.

• The big data and AI-based startup that deals with geospatial data platforms for environmental data, won the Copernicus Masters Award under the ‘Social Entrepreneurship Challenge’ category for their product Zuri, an AI-enabled platform for monitoring and regulating farm fires in India.

Infosys presented UN Global Climate Action Award at COP 25

Digital services major Infosys is the first Indian corporate to have been presented the prestigious United Nations Global Climate Action Award in the ‘climate neutral now’ category at UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25) held at Madrid in Spain.

• Infosys won the award for its carbon neutral programme which delivers scalable, innovative and practical climate actions that address climate change and help drive progress on many other sustainable development goals like gender equality, health and well-being and economic opportunity.

Click here to read Daily Current Affairs