Daily GK : 21 Dec 2016

Honours & Awards

1. Healthy Ministry wins gold in the Web Ratna Category

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has won the gold in the "Web Ratna category" in the recently concluded Digital India awards, 2016.
• Digital India awards (earlier known as the Web Ratna Awards) was instituted under the Ambit of National Portal of India.
• The award acknowledges exemplary initiatives of various government entities in the realm of e-governance.

Note: 

• Web Ratna award felicitates a Ministry or Department of the Government of India which has a comprehensive web presence and to display the level of accountability in terms of quantity, quality, the spectrum of coverage and innovation ascertaining user satisfaction. 

National Affairs

2. Farmers to get 60 days more to repay crop loans due in Nov-Dec 2016

• The union govt. will provide the additional grace period of 60 days to the farmers, whose crop loan dues fall between 1st  Nov. to 31st Dec this year due to demonetization of high-value notes.
• If such farmers repay the loan within 60 days with effect from the date, they will be eligible for prompt repayment incentive for FY 2016-17.
• The prompt payee farmers in effect avail short term crop loans at 4% per annum.
• The Government provides crop loans at subvented rates of interest at 7%  per annum.
• An added incentive of 3% per annum is provided to the farmers for prompt repayment of loans within due date and up to a maximum period of one year.

3. CBSE decides to make board exams mandatory for Class X from 2018

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided that Class X Board exams will be compulsory from the academic session 2017-18 .
• The languages listed in schedule VIII of the Constitution should be taught under the "Three language formula" under which Hindi, English and Indian language are taught could be extended till Class X and the Foreign language might be treated as fourth and elective.
• Currently, it is optional for CBSE students to choose either the Board exam or a school-based examination.

4. Rs 50,000 fine on airlines if their planes empty human waste in air

• A bench headed by National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chairperson Swatanter Kumar has ordered to impose a fine of Rs. 50,000 on airlines whose aircraft empty toilet tanks in air while landing and splattering human waste on houses.
• NGT asked Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA) to issue directions that aircraft on landing shall be subjected to surprise inspection to see that human waste tanks are not empty.
• Normally, the waste in the aircraft tanks are disposed of by ground handling personnel once the plane lands.

5. Govt. announces Rs 207 crore project for protection of Majuli island

• The union minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Dr Jitendra Singh has announced to provide 207 crore rupees for protection and development of the world heritage island  Majuli (Assam).
• Majuli district is the largest river island of the world it covers an area of around 340 miles and nearly 1 lakh 60 thousand people reside at the Majuli river island.
• The amount will be spent primarily for safeguarding the land loss due to erosion and to protect the 80-kilometers length of the bank line on the right bank of river Brahmaputra along Majuli island.

6. Haryana issues petro cards to drivers for digital payments of fuel

• The Haryana government has issued "petro cards" to its drivers for cashless payments for fuel and also announced prizes on daily basis for the citizens who would be registering and transacting proactively towards cashless transactions.
• Two oil companies like 'Indian Oil' and 'Bharat Petroleum' have been shortlisted for this purpose.
• The State Bank of India (SBI) will install 3000 Point of Sale (POS) Machines at various state government offices across the state without any charges.
• A scheme has been launched to give away 5 prizes of Rs. ten thousand each, 10  prizes of Rs. five thousand each and 50 prizes of Rs. one thousand each on daily basis till  31th Dec.2016.

7. Maharashtra govt. announces to create separate OBC ministry

• The Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced that a separate Ministry will be created for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
• This ministry will be headed by an independent minister.
• The government has come up with a target of planting 50 crore saplings in next three years to increase the green cover across the state.

International Affairs

8. Flock launches world’s first chat operating system

• A team messenger for businesses Flock has launched world's first chat operating system "FlockOS" which allows developers to build customised apps, bots and integrations on Flock.
• With FlockOS, we have thrown open our platform to the global developer community. 
• Developers can build apps with 'FlockOS', that provide a tightly integrated experience by using widgets.
• This OS provides setup slash commands, providing an additional option for users to interact with the app.

National & International Appointment

9. Deepak Agarwal appointed Noida CEO Authority

• The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed  Deepak Agarwal (2000-batch IAS officer of UP cadre) as the  Chief executive officer (CEO) of Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) as the CEO of Noida Authority.
• Until now, P K Agarwal was officiating as the CEO of Noida Authority.
• P K Agarwal will continue to function as the additional CEO of Noida Authority.

Sports

10. AIBA grants full membership to Boxing Federation of India

• The Amateur International Boxing Association amateur (AIBA) unanimously granted full membership to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) at a meeting in Montreux (Switzerland).
• Now, India has returned to the international boxing fold.
• Earlier, India's International suspension for the past four years had resulted in the isolation of the country's boxers.

Note:

• The Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA) is the Sports organisation that sanctions amateur (Olympic-style) boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.
• Recently, AIBA has been trying to build its own professional version of boxing, where boxers would retain their Olympic eligibility, through the team tournament league known as World Series of Boxing and AIBA Pro Boxing.