Current Affairs December 13, 2018
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of December 13, 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. Shaktikanta Das, a retired 1980 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, has been appointed as the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of 3 years. He succeeded the post after the sudden resignation of Urjit Patel as the RBI Governor on December 10, 2018. Prior to this appointment, he was the Member of the 15th Finance Commission and India's sherpa at the 2018 G20 Summit. During his career as an IAS officer, 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.
2. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a Twitter account to spread awareness about cyber crimes and normal precautions to be taken. The Twitter handles - @CyberDost - is aimed at enhancing people's basic knowledge about cyber crimes and precautions to be taken for prevention.
3. Ace Indian pugilist MC Mary Kom has been honoured with the title "Meethoileima" (par excellent queen) by the Manipur Government at a function in Imphal on December 11, 2018. Recently, Mary Kom has won the historic sixth gold medal at the 2018 Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi. Now, she is the most successful boxer in the history of the championship and won the gold exactly 16 years after she had won it for the first time in 2002. She had won gold in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions of the Championship.
4. Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October 2018 at his country's embassy in Istanbul, has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for his work in journalism along with other journalists who faced politcal persecution for their work. Time Magazine referred to Khashoggi as a "Guardian of the Truth". The magazine has also honoured Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo -- currently imprisoned in Myanmar among others.
5. Rajiv Mehrishi, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, has been appointed as Vice-Chair of UN Panel of Auditors for the year 2019. The United Nations Panel of Auditors consists of External Auditors of the United Nations and its agencies. Presently, the panel consists of 11 countries -- India, Germany, Chile, Canada, France, Italy, Philippines, Ghana, Indonesia, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Currently, the panel is chaired by CAG of the UK. The panel held its annual meeting in New York from 3 to 4 December 2018 and discussed various issues concerning audit of United Nations and the agencies under the United Nations System.The panel also elected the CAG of the UK as Chair of the Panel for another term (2019). The next meeting of the panel will be held in in Bonn, Germany in November-December 2019.
6. The armies of India and China has started the 7th edition of joint military exercise ‘Hand-in-Hand 2018’ from Dec 11-23 at Chengdu in China. The purpose of the joint military drill is to improve the capabilities of the two armies in fighting terrorism and promote mutual understanding. Both sides have fielded 100 personnel to take part in the exercise that focusses on tactical level operations in an International Counter Insurgency/Counter Terrorist environment as per UN mandate. The drills are being held after a gap of one year as they could not be held in 2017 because both armies were locked in a 73-day standoff at Doklam in the Sikkim sector.
7. Arundhati Bhattacharya, former chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) has been appointed as SWIFT India Chairman. She will succeed former banker M V Nair. SWIFT India is a joint venture of top Indian public and private sector banks and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).
8. Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh launched an online portal ‘ENSURE’ - National Livestock Mission-EDEG developed by NABARD. The portal will be operated under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries. Under the Mission’s component called Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation (EDEG), subsidy payment for activities related to poultry, small ruminants, pigs etc. through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) goes directly to the beneficiary’s account.The aim of the ENSURE is to connect with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and provide simple, useful and transparent system to the beneficiary. Under the new process, controlling officer/branch manager of the bank, after scrutinizing & sanctioning of proposal, uploads the subsidy claims in the portal. The subsidy will be approved within 30 days from the date of sanction of loan.
9. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has successfully conducted its first-of-its-kind exercise code-named CROSS BOW-18 from the Air Force Station at Suryalanka in Andhra Pradesh on 05th, 07th & 08th Dec 2018, both by day & night in an integrated networked environment. It’s a combined guided weapons firing of Surface-to-Air Missiles, which saw the successful firing of four different classes of missiles like Akash, Spyder, OSA-AK-M and IGLA. The exercise helps improve the combat skills of the missile squadron crew and also strengthen the country's air defence preparedness.
10. DMK MP Kanimozhi has been selected for the Best Woman Parliamentarian (Rajya Sabha) set up by Lokmat newspaper for 2018. A jury of eminent personalities headed by Murali Manohar Joshi selected her for the award and it will be presented to her by Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on December 13.
