Daily GK 16 Dec 2016

Honours & Awards

1. ICFA presents `Global Agriculture Leadership Award 2016' to Ratan Tata

• The Indian council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) has presented “Global Agriculture Leadership Award 2016” to Interim Chairman of Tata sons Ratan Tata in Mumbai (Maharashtra).
• He was conferred with the award for his transformational role in scaling Tata Group as the globally admired group during 20 years as chairman.

National Affairs

2. e-Tourist visa extended to citizens of 161 countries

• The Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (Independent Charge) Mahesh Sharma has announced in Rajya Sabha that the union govt. has extended the facility of e-Tourist Visa Scheme for 161 countries citizens.
• Under e-Tourist Visa Scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising him/her to travel to India after it has been approved.
• The tourist can travel with a print-out of this authorisation.
• When the traveller arrives in India, they will need to have biometric information taken at the airport and their passport will be stamped.

Note:

• Applicants of Pakistani origin should apply for a traditional visa, not the online visa.

3.Andhra Pradesh records 5% more growth than all India rate

• Andhra Pradesh has registered 5%  more growth in comparison to all India growth rate of the first half during the year 2016-17.
• A detailed roadmap was laid to achieve targeted growth rate of 15.28%.
• The Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr Naidu has congratulated the Energy department on their outstanding performance.

4. Punjab to provide free LPG to BPL families missed in SECC 2011

• Punjab will provide free LPG connections to those BPL families who were missed in the 2011 Socio Economic Caste Census on the lines of Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana.
• A decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
• The State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department has an E-PDS portal and the details of beneficiaries under Household Priority and Antodaya Yojana has been uploaded.
• Aadhaar numbers of the beneficiaries have been seeded at the portal and the list has been de-duplicated with LPG Consumers Data provided by public sector oil companies to weed out identified LPG consumers from this list.

5. Andhra Pradesh to develop six smart cities in state

• In the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister  Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided to develop 6 smart cities in the state.
• These cities are Eluru, Nellore, Ongole, Anantapur, Kurnool and Srikakulam.
• A 'Smart City' is an urban region, which is highly sophisticated in terms of communications, overall infrastructure, market viability, etc.

6. Kochi to get India’s first transgender school

• Sahaj International School in Kochi will be the first residential transgender school in the country and it will be inaugurated on 30th December 2016.
• The school will initially accommodate ten transgender children, who will study under the National Open School system.
• The school will led by six transgenders working with the TransIndia Foundation.

7. Assam starts project to make Majuli India's first ever carbon neutral district

• The Assam Government has initiated a project to make the river island Majuli as the first ever Carbon Neutral District in India.
• The Department of Environment and Forest has launched a project 'Sustainable Action for Climate Resilient Development in Majuli'.
• This will enable landscape planning for reducing emissions and improving forest health of Majuli.
• All these activities shall lead to Majuli being a Carbon Neutral District by 2020.

Banking & Finance

8. US Federal Reserve raises interest rates for  the second time in a decade

• The US Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate by 0 (point) 25%, first time in 2016.
• The bank has voted unanimously to raise the key rate to a range of 0.5% to 0.75%, citing a stronger economic growth and rising employment.
• According to the Federal Reserve System Board, the increase in the federal fund rate is appropriate in light of the progress the country has seen toward the goals of maximum employment and 2% inflation.

International Affairs

9. India & ASEAN set target of $100 billion trade to be achieved by 2020

• India and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) have set a target of trading at 100 billion dollars to be achieved by 2020.
• Currently, the trade between ASEAN and India is 57 billion.
• ASEAN and India will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2017, which will be attended by the head of states of all the ASEAN countries.

10. Bangladesh celebrating 45th anniversary of victory over Pakistan

• Today, Bangladesh is celebrating 45 years of its emergence as a new country on the map of the world on 16th December in 1971 after nine-month long 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
• The country is recalling the sacrifices of more than 3 million martyrs.
• On this day, the Chief of Pakistani Army General AAK Niazi along with 93,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to the allied forces of Mukti Fouz and Indian Army at Ramna Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka following a defeat.
• India entered the war on 3rd December 1971 and in 13-day war culminated in the birth of the new Bangla nation.

National & International Appointment

11. Amina Mohammed named UN's Deputy Secretary-General

• The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced the appointment of Nigeria's Environment Minister Amina Mohammed to be the UN's deputy secretary-general.
• Guterres has made gender parity a priority of his tenure which begins from first of January.

12.Indian-American woman elected as Mayor of Californian city

• An Indian-American woman Savita Vaidhyanathan has been elected as the new Mayor of the key Californian city of Cupertino.
• Vaidhyanathan is an MBA who worked as a high school Math teacher and an officer in a commercial bank as well as in non-profit management.
• According to Forbes, she is one of the most educated small towns in the country with local public schools ranking highly.

13. Govt appoints Sunil Arora as IICA Director General

• An IAS officer Sunil Arora (1980-batch Rajasthan cadre) has been appointed as the Director General(DG) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA).
• Presently,  Mr Arora serving as an advisor at Prasar Bharati.

Note:

• The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) is a capacity building organisation and agency under the aegis and jurisdiction of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India.
• It was established in 2008 at Manesar, Gurugram(Haryana).