12 December 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das (IAS officer -1980 batch Tamil Nadu) has been appointed as the 25th governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of three years.
Mr. Das replaces Urjit Patel, who resigned from the central bank.
He served in various capacities for Indian and Tamil Nadu governments, including as Economic Affairs Secretary of India, Revenue Secretary of India, Fertilizers Secretary of India.
Mr. Das (63-year) retired as the Economic Affairs Secretary in May 2017.
Currently, He is a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission and also represents India at the G-20 in the role of a sherpa.

Know About Shaktikanta Das:

Mr.Das was schooled at the Demonstration Multipurpose School, Bhubaneswar.
He obtained bachelor's (BA) and master's degrees (MA) in history from the St. Stephen's College at the University of Delhi.
He did advance financial management course from IIM Bangalore and development banking and institutional credit from the NIBM.

Note:

RBI was established during the British rule under the RBI Act, 1934 and commenced its operations on 1st April 1935.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India is the chief executive of India's central bank and the ex-officio chairperson of its Central Board of Directors.
There are four deputy governors BP Kanungo, N S Vishwanathan, Viral Acharya and Mahesh Kumar Jain.

The International Universal Health Coverage Day (UHC Day) is celebrated globally on 12^th December.
The theme for the 2018 UHC Day is "Unite for Universal Health Coverage: Now is the Time for Collective Action".
The objective of the day to raise awareness of the need for strong and resilient health systems and universal health coverage with multi-stakeholder partners.

Note:

In 2017 the United Nations proclaimed 12 December as International Universal Health Coverage Day by resolution 72/138.

National Affairs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the two-day fourth Partners’ Forum in New Delhi.
The objective of the conference is to improve knowledge and accountability to accelerate action on women's, children's and adolescent health.
The Partners’ Forum is a global health partnership (launched - Sep 2005) to accelerate efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality, improve adolescent, child, newborn and maternal health.
Ministry of health in association with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child health, PMNCH is hosting the international conference.
Around 1500 participants from 85 countries are participating in the conference to improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
This is the second time India is hosting the Partners’ Forum.

The Uttar Pradesh state cabinet headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has decided to establish an umbrella university to control all the medical & dental colleges and nursing institutions in the state.
The university will be named after former Prime minister ‘Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’.
It will be quite helpful in controlling the quality of medical education by one syllabus and one education session.
It will also help in transparency in entrance and examination system.

Shi Yomi has become the 23rd district of Arunachal Pradesh.
It was inaugurated by Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister) in presence of Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju.
Two more districts (Pakke-Kesang and Lepa Rada) will be formally inaugurated in the state within taking the total to 25.
In August 2018, Arunachal Pradesh Legislative assembly has passed Arunachal Pradesh Re-Organisation of Districts (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for the creation of three new districts.

As per WHO’s 2018 Global Nutrition Report, India has the highest number of ‘stunted’ children in the world.
Around third of all stunted children worldwide are to be found in India as per the recently released WHO’s Global Nutrition Report, 2018.
Stunting among children aged under five has fallen from 32.6% (in 2000) to 22.2% (in 2017).

Note:

The 2018 Global Nutrition Report shares insights into the current state of global nutrition, highlighting the unacceptably high burden of malnutrition in the world.
The report is delivered by an Independent Expert Group and guided at a strategic level by a Stakeholder Group, whose members also review the Report.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Indian Bank for violating cybersecurity norms.
This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered by the bank with its customers.
This penalty has been imposed in the exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Israel has become a full member (38^th-member) of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
FATF is an international body (established in 1989) to set up to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other threats to the international financial system.
Now, Israel has taken its place alongside 37 other members including most of the G20.

At the end of the 39th session of the GCC summit (in Riyadh), the council issued the ‘Riyadh Declaration’, which included 72 items covering matters related to the Gulf countries.
The 40th session of the GCC summit will be held in the UAE.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a political and economic alliance of six countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) in the Arabian Peninsula
The GCC promotes economic, security, cultural and social cooperation between the six states and holds a summit every year to discuss cooperation and regional affairs.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been named the Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ alongside several other journalists.
Journalist Khashoggi was murdered in October 2018 at his country’s Istanbul consulate.

Note:

Times Person of the Year is an annual issue of the United States news magazine Time.
It features and profiles a person, a group, an idea, or an object that ‘for better or for worse’ has done the most to influence the events of the year".

Manipur Government honoured MC Mary Kom (AIBA World Women Boxing Gold medalist) with the title "Meethoileima" (Outstanding Queen) title at a function held at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex Imphal.
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh handed over a cheque of ten lakh rupees to her.
Mr. Singh also declared that the Imphal West DC Road towards Game Village will be named as MC Mary Kom Road.