02 December 2017 - Daily Current Affairs

02 December 2017 - Daily Current Affairs

Surya Prakash re-appointed as Chairman of Prasar Bharati

• A. Surya Prakash has been re-appointed as the Chairman of Prasar Bharati Board.
• President Ram Nath Kovind approved the appointment on the recommendation of the Selection Committee.
• The term of the tenure will be February 8, 2020.
• Earlier in October 2017, he retired from the post of Chairman.
• Prasar Bharati established by a 1990 Act of Parliament, as an autonomous body. It is India's largest public broadcasting agency. It comprises of Doordarshan television and All India Radio.

S K Chourasia appointed Chairman of Ordnance Factory Board

• Sunil Kumar Chourasia has been appointed as the new Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and Chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).
• Earlier, he was the member of Ordnance Factory Board and was in charge of Material & Components division.

Diya Mirza appointed UNEP Goodwill Ambassador

• Dia Mirza has been appointed UN Environment's Goodwill Ambassador for India.
• As a Goodwill Ambassador, the Dia Mirza will work with the UN to further spread the message on key areas which includes climate change, wildlife protection, and clean air & seas.
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is founded by Maurice Strong in June 1972.
• The main objective of the UNEP is to promote environmental activities and assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
• Erik Solheim is the current head of the UNEP. The headquarter of UNEP is located in Nairobi, Kenya.

India re-elected to International Maritime Organisation Council

• India is re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organisation.
• India secured the second-highest 144 number of votes from member countries, after Germany’s 146 votes.
• YK Sinha, India’s ambassador to the UK, represented India at the assembly in London.
• India joined the International Maritime Organisation Council as a member in 1959.
• The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the agency of United Nation which plays an important role in relation to the global shipping industry.
• It was established in 1959.
• The IMO has 172 Member States and three Associate Members.
• Headquarter of IMO – London, United Kingdom
• Head - Kitack Lim

Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium held in New Delhi

• The 22^nd meeting of the Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium held in New Delhi.
• The meeting was chaired by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
• The Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is an autonomous society established in 1994 and is registered under Societies Registration Act 1860.
• It is promoted by Union Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers’ Welfare.
• SFAC is also registered as Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFC) by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

National Nutrition Mission approved by Union Cabinet

• The Union Cabinet has approved the setting of National Nutrition Mission (NNM) with an outlay of 9046.17 crore rupees for three years.
• It will be rolled out in three phases from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
• The function of NNM is to monitor various schemes contributing towards addressing malnutrition.
• More than 10 crore people will be benefitted by this programme.
• All the States and districts will be covered in a phased manner i.e. 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20.
• It is an apex body under Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Core sector grows 4.7% in October 2017

• The growth of Core sector has grown till 4.7% in the month of October 2017.
• The data is shared by the of eight core industries released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• This is the highest core sector growth since March 2017.
• The eight core sectors include - coal, natural gas, crude oil, refinery products, cement, fertilizers, steel, and electricity.

UPI transactions cross 10 crores in November

The number of transactions on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), has crossed 10 crores mark in November 2017.

UPI is a mobile-digital payment interface which is introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

In August 2017, the transactions on UPI platform is around 1.66 crore. In September it crossed up to 3 crores and which increased to 7.67 crores in October.

Amit Shah named Yahoo India’s ‘Personality of the Year’

• Amit Shah, President of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) named as the Yahoo’s Personality of the Year.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the most searched personality and bags Yahoo’s People’s Choice Award for Personality of the Year 2017.

Other awards include –

• ‘Most Searched Newsy Terms’ category - Aadhaar
• Top Business Story – GST
• Most Searched Female Celebrity - Sunny Leone
• Most Searched Male Celebrity - Vinod Khanna, who passed away this year.
• Most searched sports personalities - Olympian and badminton player PV Sindhu, women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj and team member Harmanpreet Kaur 

Konark festival begins in Odisha

• The 31^st edition of the Konark festival begins in Odisha. The festival held every year from 1^st to 5^th December.
• The objective of the festival is to promote the diverse Indian dance heritage as well as the popularity of Konark Temple and Odisha as a tourist destination.
• Many celebrated dancers from all over the country perform in this festival.
• The festival was first stated in 1986 which is organized in the state jointly by Odisha Tourism and Odissi Research Centre.

‘Two’ first novel in English by Gulzar released

• Veteran lyricist Gulzar has come out with his novel ‘Two’ which is a debut novel in English.
• The novel revolves around the area of Punjab which became Pakistan after Partition.
• The novel was originally written in “Urdu’ later it translated into the English form.

Sreerupa Mukherjee, former woman cricketer passes away

• Former woman cricketer of India & Coach Sreerupa Mukherjee passed away in Kolkata.
• She was 65 years old.
• She had played two One Day Internationals for India against New Zealand.
• She was also the cricket manager of the Indian women’s team during three World Cups — 1993, 1997 and 2000.