Current Affairs December 06, 2018
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of December 06, 2018 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. On 3rd December 2018, the 80th Session of the Policy Commission of the World Customs Organization (WCO) was held in Mumbai, Maharashtra . The Session is being organized by the WCO and hosted by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), India. The Indian delegation was headed by CBIC Chairman, S Ramesh. The custom heads of more than 30 countries participated in the 3-day long discussion on various matters related to customs. Some of the important topics discussed during the meeting include trade facilitation, controlling illicit financial flow, performance measurement, challenges of small island economies, etc. The WCO is the only global organization which defines global standards and procedures for customs clearances at the border and their implementation. It is headquartered at Brussels, Belgium.
2. Atlawim Debebe of Ethiopia has won the 2018 Pune International Marathon with the timing of 2 hours 17 minutes 17 seconds. Teshome Getachew claimed second and Bekele Asefa third position. Both of them are also from Ethiopia.In women’s Full Marathon Pascalia Chepkogei from Kenya stood first with the timing of 2 hour 50 minutes 27 seconds. Among Indian runners this year also Karan Singh of Bombay Engineering Group stood first in Men’s category. In women’s Full marathon Urvi Tambe stood first amongst Indian participants. Along with 100 foreign runners, more than 15 thousand people participated in this oldest International Marathon this year. This is 33rd year of Pune International Marathon.
3. The first-ever bilateral air exercise “EX SHINYUU Maitri-2018 “ has started between Japanese Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) and Indian Air Force at A F Station Agra in Uttar Pradesh from 03-07 Dec 18. The IAF is participating with An-32 and C-17 aircraft with aircrew & observers. The theme of the exercise is joint Mobility/Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) on Transport aircraft. The focus of the exercise is set for the IAF and JASDF crews to undertake Joint Mobility/ HADR operations. Display of heavy loading/ off loading are also planned to be practiced during this exercise.
4. In Uttar Pradesh, the International conference on bears has started in Agra from December 3, 2018. The four-day conference is aimed at sharing knowledge on principles of the welfare of bears and other wild animals in zoos, sanctuaries and rescue centres. The conference has been Hosted by Wildlife SOS in collaboration with Bear Care Group from the US and Canada. It is focused on bear care, wildlife conservation and human wildlife conflict mitigation. More than 80 delegates from 11 countries viz. US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, Demark, the Netherlands, Vietnam etc., participated in the conference.
5. Luka Modric, Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder, has been honoured with the perstigiuos 2018 Men’s Ballon d’Or award. With this, he ended Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s decade-long dominance in the men’s awards. Modric won his third successive Champions League title in May 2018 and also captained Croatia to its first FIFA World Cup final in Russia. He was named player of the tournament despite his side losing 4-2 to France. For the first time in the history of the Ballon d'Or prize, the female player category was awarded in 2018. Hence, Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg has become the first-ever recipient of the women's Ballon d'Or. The Ballon d'Or is an annual football award presented by French magazine France Football.
6. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently announced a new initiative ‘PEETHA’ to create awareness about various government schemes and improve transparency. It also aims at improving transparency in the distribution of individual and social benefits. The acronym ‘PEETHA’ stands for Peoples Empowerment Enabling Transparency and Accountability. The PEETHA is a sub-scheme of the state government's flagship Ama Gaon Ama Bikas yojana. As part of the initiative, camps will be organised at gram panchayat level from 15th to 20th of each month, beginning from December 2018. Every month the best panchayat in each Block will be given Rs 5 lakh for organising PEETHA. Upon completion of the camps, the best panchayats in each district will be awarded at the district Level. Similarly, panchayats, blocks and best districts will be awarded with special funds at the state level.
7. Ajay Narayan Jha, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Manipur Tripura cadre, has been appointed the new Finance Secretary of India. He succeeded Hasmukh Adhia. The Finance Secretary is the Permanent Secretary-level civil servant, who plays a leadership role in the bureaucracy of the Finance Ministry.
8. On December 1, Nagaland became the first state in the northeastern region and 2nd in the country after Himachal Pradesh to adopt a Pan-India single emergency number ‘112’ under ERSS ( Emergency Response Support System) project. It was launched by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at Kohima, which coincided with the Formation Day of Nagaland and the inaugural day of Hornbill Festival 2018. Now, the residents can dial 112 or use Panic Button on their phones or 112 India mobile App to connect to a single number based 112 emergency services which will connect to Police, Fire, Health and other helplines through an Emergency Response Centre in the State. As a special feature, to ensure safety of women, a unique ‘SHOUT’ feature has been introduced in 112 India mobile App. This allows victims to seek immediate assistance from registered volunteers in the vicinity apart from contacting Emergency Response Centre. The SHOUT feature is exclusively available to women.
9. Pawan Singh has become the first Indian to be elected one of seven member’s of the Judges Committee of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF). He also holds the post of the Joint Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and was a former coach of the Indian shooting team.Recently, Raninder Singh, President of NRAI had become the first Indian to be elected Vice President of ISSF. While, India’s Olympic and world champion shooter Abhinav Bindra has been bestowed with the prestigious ISSF’s highest shooting honour ‘Blue Cross’at the General Assembly in Munich for his outstanding services as the chairman of the International Shooting Sport Federation’s Athletes Committee. The Blue Cross is the highest laurel for shooters given by the ISSF.
10. Ullas Narayan has created history by winning India's first ever International medal in Ultra Running. He finished third at the 2018 International Association of Ultra Running (IAU) 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championship in Taipei. A group bronze medal was also won by the Indian team which had Narayan (250 km), Sunil Sharma (202 km) and LL Meena (192 km). Ultra races involve running over extremely long distances which are far longer than the traditional races. These races take place over two modalities – either over a set distance like 50 km, 100 km and longer events or a set time (like 6 hr, 24 hr, and multi-day events).
