25-26 December 2017 - Daily Current Affairs

25-26 December 2017 - Daily Current Affairs

Vijay Rupani sworn in as Chief Minister of Gujarat

• Gujarat’s Governor O P Kohli administered the oaths of office to Mr. Vijay Rupani (61-year) as Chief Minister of the state and Nitin Patel as Deputy Chief Minister along with Cabinet colleagues in Gandhinagar.
• The new Rupani cabinet is small in size with 9 cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state.
• The Cabinet has one female face, Vibhavriben Dave as MoS (Minister of State).
• In the Gujarat (14th State Assembly) elections, BJP had won 99 seats in the 182-member house.
• The strength of the Opposition Congress and its allies in the new House is 80.

Note:

• Mr. Rupani studied Bachelor of Arts from Dharmendrasinhji Arts College and LLB from Saurashtra University.
• He retained Rajkot West constituency in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, 2017.

PM Modi flags off Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line

• The Prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi has flagged of a rapid transit system in Delhi, Magenta line (12.64 Km).
• The first section 12.64 Km stretch from Kalkaji Mandir (Delhi located) to Botanical Garden (Noida-located) will reduce the travel time of its commuters from 52 minutes to 19 minutes.
• The remaining section of the line is scheduled to be functional by March 2018.
• With this line, footfall at Noida’s Botanical Garden station is expected to increase three times daily (from 30,000 to 97,000 passengers).
• This is the first ever train to be used with Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling technology which facilitates movement of trains with a frequency of 90 to 100 seconds.

Note:

• Delhi Metro is a 50:50 joint venture of the Centre and state of Delhi.
• The Magenta line has planned interchanges with the Yellow, Blue, and the Violet lines of the Delhi Metro network.

Mumbai gets country's first AC suburban train

• Mumbai Railway Service (Western Railway) as the first ever Air-Conditioned local train has been flagged off from Borivali station in Mumbai.
• The AC local will operate only on the Churchgate-Borivili section and make six trips daily (12 services per day) and from 1^st January next year.
• The train will not operate on Saturdays and Sundays as it requires maintenance.

Note: Out of 12 services of AC Local train 8 will run fast and will only halt at the major station like Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra, Andheri, Borivali, Bhayander and Vasai Road in both direction.

J&K Deputy CM Nirmal Singh launches high-speed broadband internet service in the state

• The Deputy Chief Minister of J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) Mr. Nirmal Singh has launched a high-speed broadband internet service in the state.
• People living in Jammu, Srinagar, Ladakh, and Katra will be able to avail the benefits of the service.
• The launch of the service will help in achieving the goal of the Digital India programme launched by the central Govt.

Vice President Naidu inaugurates Centenary celebrations of Yoga Institute in Mumbai

• Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated the Centenary celebrations of the Yoga Institute in Mumbai.
• The institute was founded by Shree Yogendraji Mani Haribhai Desai, the disciple of Paramahans Madhavadasji in 1918.
• Yoga makes its practitioners perfect and helps them in contributing towards the society and the country.

UP govt launches free household power connection scheme 'Prakash hai to Vikas hai'

• The Uttar Pradesh Govt. has launched a free household power connection scheme 'Prakash hai to vikas hai' for the poor in to mark former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary.
• Under the scheme, the government will cover 16 million households by the end of next year.
• Initially, the two villages Lohban and Gausana of Mathura district have been covered for 100% electrification.
• The state govt. has also introduced Kisan Uday Yojana scheme for farmers in which existing 5 HP/7.5 horse-power submersible and coupling sets of farmers will be replaced free of cost.

Veteran actor Partha Mukhopadhyay passes away

• Veteran Bengali film actor Partha Mukhopadhyay (70-years) has passed away due to cardiac arrest in Kolkata.
• Mukhopadhyay had depicted the number of roles in classics like Atithi, Balika Badhu, Amar Prithivi, Baghbandir Khela, Agniswar.
• He had the distinction of having acted in films helmed by renowned directors such as Tapan Sinha, Tarun Majumdar, and Goutam Ghosh.

25^th December: Good Governance Day

• The Good Governance Day is celebrated every year across the country on December 25 to mark the birthday anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The day was established in 2014 to honor Mr. Vajpayee by fostering awareness among the people of accountability in government.

Note: On 23 December 2014, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was announced as recipients of India's highest civilian award for merit, the Bharat Ratna.

Govt extends deadline for pasting stickers reflecting new MRP after GST

• The union govt. has allowed companies to paste price stickers on unsold packaged products to reflect new MRP post GST till March 2018.
• In the last GST Council meeting, the rates of GST have been reduced to about 200 items.
• To ensure GST cuts are passed on to consumers, the union govt. had directed state legal metrology officers to check if companies are pasting the new MRP stickers.
• The Ministry has permitted the companies to paste additional stickers under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.

Govt directs NGOs to open account in any designated bank within month for transparency

• The Union Home Ministry has directed all NGOs, business entities, and individuals who receive funds from abroad to open accounts in any of the 32 designated banks, within a month for higher-level of transparency.
• Earlier, the govt. has decided that all banks where the FCRA registered persons and organizations have opened their foreign contribution accounts will be integrated with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) for providing a higher level of transparency & hassle-free reporting compliance.

Saba Karim appointed BCCI General Manager - Cricket Operations

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim as the General Manager (GM), Cricket Operations.
• The General Manager's post had been left vacant after the resignation of MV Sridhar.
• As a Cricket Operations, he will give strategic direction to the cricket department, implementing the operational plans, budgeting, determining and monitoring the compliance of match playing regulations, standards of venues & administration of the domestic program.

Note: Karim played one Test and 34 One-Day Internationals for India, in an international career that spanned from January 1997 to November 2000.

India finish as runners-up in SAFF U-15 Women's Championships

• India finished as runners-up in the SAFF Under-15 Women's Championships.
• India lost to Bangladesh 0-1 in the final at Dhaka.
• This is the first South Asian title for Bangladesh in women's football.
• India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan participated in this South Asian Football Federation tournament.

Boxer Vijender Singh retains WBO Oriental & Asia Pacific Super Middleweight titles

• Olympic bronze medallist Boxer Vijender Singh (32-years) has defended his WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific Super Middleweight titles with a unanimous verdict over Ghana’s Ernest Amuzu at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
• With this victory, Vijender has now won 10 pro bouts on the trot and retains twin titles.
• He has won all his nine fights and emerged as the king of 'Rumble Rajasthan'.

Indian boxers claim 3 gold, 1 silver & bronze medal at Galym Tournament

• Indian boxers have claimed three gold, a silver, and a bronze medal at the Galym Zharylgapov Boxing Tournament in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. \
• The country's Gold Medal winners were K Shyam Kumar (49kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).
• Tanwar (19-year) was adjudged the best boxer of the tournament.
• The silver medal came through national champion Manish Kaushik(60kg), while Mandeep Jangra (75 kg) accounted for the Bronze after going down in the semi-finals.