Current Affairs December 07, 2018

In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of December 07, 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. The Glasgow-based British artist Charlotte Prodger has won the prestigious £25,000 Turner Prize 2018 for her film work examining landscapes and gender identity. She has been hailed for her work ‘Bridgit’, which was shot using her phone, and for the multi-format film ‘Stoneymollan Trail’, exhibited at Bergen Kunsthall. Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presented the award at a ceremony held at Tate Britain in London. The Turner Prize award, named after the 19th-century English painter J. M. W. Turner since 1984, is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. Beside Prodger , the other 2018 shortlisted artists were Forensic Architecture, Naeem Mohaiemen, and Luke Willis Thompson.

2. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has recently inaugurated a new Project namely- “Development of Tribal Circuit : Peren-Kohima-Wokha Project” at Kisama Heritage Village in Nagaland. under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. This is the first project to be implemented in the state under Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Union Ministry of Tourism. The project was sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism in November 2015 for Rs. 97.36 Crores. Under the project the Ministry has developed facilities like Tribal Tourist Village, Eco Log Huts, Open Air Theatre, Tribal Rejuvenation Centre, Cafeteria, Helipad, Tourist Interpretation Centre, Wayside Amenities, Last Mile Connectivity, Public Conveniences, Multipurpose Hall, Nature Trails, Trekking Routes etc. In addition to the above project, the Ministry has sanctioned another project in Nagaland “Development of Tribal circuit: Mokokchung–Tuensang-Mon” for Rs.99.67 crore. The implementation of the project is in progress.

3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the India’s longest rail-road bridge - Bogibeel Bridge on December 25, which is also marked as the Good Governance Day (GGD). The 4.94 km long bridge connects the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra & falls in the eastern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge, which has been constructed by the Indian Railways, is 32m above the water level of the river and will provide connectivity to the northeast. Bogibeel is part of infrastructure projects planned by India to improve logistics along the border in Arunachal Pradesh. This includes the construction of a trans-Arunachal highway on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, and new road and rail links over the mighty river and its major tributaries such as the Dibang, Lohit, Subansiri and Kameng. India and China share a nearly 4,000 km border.

4. On December 5, India Water Impact Summit (IWIS-2018) has been inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. The discussions this year will be on the rejuvenation of the Ganga River Basin. Here, the spotlight will be on 5 states viz. Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and Bihar, to showcase the efforts and works going on within the respective states. The 2018 Summit also introduced the inaugural Ganga Financing Forum (GFF) that will bring a number of institutions to a common knowledge, information and partnership platform. The 3-days summit is jointly organized by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga). The Summit is an annual event where stakeholders will discuss and develop model solutions for some of the biggest water-related problems in the country. Nearly 200 domestic and international participants from nearly 15 countries are participating in the summit.

5. Ministry of Railways’ National Rail Museum (NRM) has signed pact with Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (MTWM) to foster tourism in Delhi NCR. It is first time ever public-private museum collaboration that shall attract more tourists to both NRM and MTWM. As a part of the collaboration, a special discount of 35% on ticket prices will be offered to NRM visitors when they visit Madame Tussauds Museum. Similarly, MTWM visitors will be getting an attractive discount of 30% on combo packages of NRM. In addition, there will be a special provision for school groups. School children will be able to enjoy both museums at a 45% discount. This will help in promoting railway heritage and also enable children to learn about national heroes, thereby making the student excursion more inclusive, holistic and interesting. MTWM is the 23rd Wax museum of Madame Tussauds in Connaught Place (CP), New Delhi. This is the first wax museum in India of this renowned brand.

6. On December 4, ISRO’s heaviest and most advanced high throughput communication satellite ‘GSAT-11’ was successfully launched by an European Ariane-5 vehicle (Flight VA246) rocket from Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana. Initially, the satellite is placed in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and will be raised to the Geostationary Orbit (36,000 km above the equator) through phase-wise orbit-raising manoeuvres in the days ahead, using its on-board propulsion systems. GSAT-11 will be positioned at 74-degree east longitude in the geostationary orbit.The mission of the 5,854-kg giant 'bird' is to provide high data rate connectivity to users of Indian mainland and islands through 32 user beams in Ku-band and 8 hub beams in Ka-band. It will boost the broadband connectivity to rural and inaccessible Gram Panchayats under BharatNet Project which is part of the Digital India initiative. The satellite is capable of providing high bandwidth connectivity with speeds of up to 16 gigabytes per second. GSAT-11’ s co-passenger is South Korea’s GEO-KOMPSAT-2A, a meteorology satellite.

7. Asian Games gold medalist Swapna Barman has become the brand ambassador for State Bank of India (SBI)’s unified integrated app ‘YONO (You Only Need One)’. Through YONO, users are capable to access a variety of financial and other services such as taxi bookings, online shopping, or medical bill payments. It is the first digital banking platform that offers customised products and offers from over 60 e-commerce players. This is also the first to offer online purchase and view of insurance policies without redirecting customers to the respective service providers. It can be accessed through mobile phones and on the web. Hails from West Bengal, Barman clinched gold in the women’s heptathlon with 6026 points at the 18th Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta. With this, she created history by becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold.

8. The book titled ‘Blue Waters Ahoy!’ has been authored by Vice Admiral Anup Singh, who retired as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Naval Command in 2011. The book, which chronicles the Indian Navy’s History from 2001-10, has recently released by Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff. This is, in fact, the 6th volume of the Navy’s history; the first five having covered the period from 1945 to 2000. This unique undertaking by the Indian Navy can be traced back to 1968, when the Service established a History Cell. The idea was collation and subsequent analysis of historical data relevant to the evolution of the Navy. Generally, each such volume has covered the period of a decade, and it has been a tradition to release it on the occasion of Navy Day (4th December).

9. Noted agriculturalist Nel Jayaraman (54), who pioneered the protection and propagation of indigenous paddy varieties in Tamil Nadu, passed away in Chennai on December 6, 2018. Hailing from Thiruthuraipoondi, in the heart of Tamil Nadu’s delta rice bowl, Jayaraman has been credited with documenting and protecting more than 170 paddy varieties.His diligent work in the field of protecting the gene prototypes of indigenous paddy varieties won him the National Award in 2015 and a state award in 2011.

10. Odisha’s Kandhamal Haldi (turmeric variety), famous for its healing properties, will soon gets Geographical Indications (GI) tag. Its registration was applied by Kandhamal Apex Spices Association for Marketing (KASAM) and was accepted under sub-section (1) of Section 13 of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.The golden yellow spice is named after the district where it is produced, has been cultivated since time immemorial and is known for its medicinal value. It is the main cash crop of tribal people in Kandhamal. More than 60,000 families (nearly 50% of Kandhamal population) are engaged in growing the variety. Apart from domestic use, turmeric is also used for cosmetic and medicinal purposes.


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