Daily Current Affairs

for app_20201213
Israeli: Former PM Benjamin Netanyahu launches negotiations on govt formation

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched negotiations with his ultra-Orthodox and
far-right allies on government formation in the country. This could be the most right-wing government
in Israel's history. Netanyahu's Likud party won 32 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, the Knesset.
That combined with 18 seats for two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and 14 seats for the rising extreme-
right alliance called Religious Zionism gave the right-wing bloc supporting Mr Netanyahu 64 seats.

South Korea scrambles fighter jets after detecting 180 North Korean warplanes

Tensions in the Korean Peninsula are peaking as South Korea scrambled fighter jets after detecting
about 180 North Korean warplanes flying north of the military border for over four hours. South
Korea’s military said, the North Korean aircraft flew north of the so-called tactical measure line, drawn
up to 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). The military said, South
Korea scrambled 80 aircraft, including, F-35A stealth fighters, in response. About 240 aircraft
participating in the Vigilant Storm air exercises with the United States continued the drills.
 Daily Current Affairs
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Guyana President Dr. Mohamed Ali to be chief guest at 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Convention at Indore

Guyana President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali will be the chief guest at the 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Convention. It will be held from 8th to 10th January next year in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. In a
statement, External Affairs Ministry said, Zaneta Mascarenhas, Member of Parliament of Australia,
will be the guest of honour at the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas which will be held on 8th January next
year. The theme of the 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is - Diaspora: Reliable Partners for India's Progress
in Amrit Kaal.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated once in every two years to strengthen the engagement of the
overseas Indian community with the Government of India and reconnect them with their roots. The
9th of January was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion because it was on this day in 1915,
Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa.

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav to lead Indian delegation at COP 27 in Egypt

Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav will lead Indian delegation to
attend the 27th Session of Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27). The conference is scheduled
to be held at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from 6th to 18th November. At COP 27, countries come together
to take action toward achieving the world's collective climate goals as agreed under the Paris
agreement and the convention. Heads of States and Government will attend the conference.
India will emphasize again its invitation to all countries to join the LiFE movement - Lifestyle for
Environment, a pro-people and pro-planet effort.
 Daily Current Affairs
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Under Make-II project, 5 tech products get Army nod

The Army has approved five Project Sanction Orders (PSOs) for the development of niche technology
by the Indian industry under Make-II route of defence procurement. It includes High Frequency Man
Packed Software Defined Radios (HFSDR), drone kill systems, Infantry Training Weapon Simulator
(IWTS), Medium Range Precision Kill Systems (MRPKS) and 155mm Terminally Guided Munitions
(TGM). Make II projects are essentially industry funded projects involving design, development and
innovative solutions by Indian vendors for development of prototypes.

Mathura-Vrindavan to become carbon neutral

Mathura-Vrindavan, one of India's largest pilgrimage centres, aims to become a “net zero carbon
emission” tourist destination by 2041. This means that tourist vehicles will be banned from the entire
Braj region, which includes famous pilgrim centres such as Vrindavan and Krishna Janmabhoomi.
Instead, only electric vehicles used as public transport will be allowed into the area. All 252 water
bodies and 24 forests in the area will also be revived.
 Daily Current Affairs
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Union Minister Giriraj Singh unveils app_20201213
Agenda for Members of Panchayati Raj Institutions for
Rural Development

Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh has unveiled the booklet - Agenda for Members of
Panchayati Raj Institutions for Rural Development. He said, through this booklet, information about
all the schemes such as MGNREGA, Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojna- National Rural Livelihood Mission,
PM Awas Yojna- Grameen, and PM Gram Sadak Yojna will be available to the representative and the
general public. This booklet will help everyone including the elected members of Gram Panchayats in
understanding the schemes and their eligibility.

15th edition of Urban Mobility India Conference & Expo opened in Kochi

The 15th edition of the Urban Mobility India Conference and Expo organised by the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Affairs opened in Kochi . Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri
and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan jointly inaugurated the event. Senior officers from the
central and state governments, policy makers, managing directors of metro rail companies and
International experts are among those participating in the three-day conference.
 Daily Current Affairs
Twitter sacks 50% staff as Elon for app_20201213
Musk launches overhaul

Twitter sacked half of its 7,500-strong staff on Friday as new owner Elon Musk launched his major
overhaul of the troubled company just a week after his blockbuster takeover. Roughly 50 percent of
employees were impacted and would be denied access to company computers and email on an
immediate basis. Ahead of the layoffs, Twitter closed access to its offices worldwide, asking employees
to stay at home to await news of their fate through an email. Twitter India team has been significantly
impacted by the global lay-offs at the social networking platform with the majority of the about 250-
member team being fired.

The layoff is part of Musk's push to find ways to pay for the mammoth $44 billion deal for which he
took on billions of dollars in debt and sold $15.5 billion worth of Tesla shares, his electric car company.

India's forex reserve goes up by 6.561 bn to reach 531.081 bn US Dollars, says RBI

Reserve Bank of India has said that India's forex reserves increased by 6.561 billion to reach 531.081
billion US Dollars for the week ended October 28. Foreign currency assets increased by 5.772 billion
to 470.847 billion US Dollars. The value of gold reserves increased from 556 million to 37.762 billion
US Dollars. The Special Drawing Rights were up by 85 million to 17.625 billion US Dollars. The country's
reserve position with the IMF also climbed by 48 million to 4.847 billion US Dollars in the reporting
week.
 Daily Current Affairs
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Special Campaign 2.0: Centre earns Rs 364 crore from scrap disposal, says Dr. Jitendra Singh

Minister for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh has said that Special
Campaign 2.0 was highly successful in realizing Prime Minister Modi’s vision for institutionalizing
Swachhata and Minimizing Pendency. Dr Singh said, over 364 crore rupees earned from scrap disposal
and over 88 lakh square feet of space freed during the campaign.

Bank of India Q2 net profit declines 8.7% to Rs. 960 crores

Bank of India’s standalone second-quarter net profit declined 8.65% to Rs. 960 crores from Rs. 1,051
crores in the year-earlier period. Operating profit climbed 26% to Rs. 3,374 crores. Net interest income
rose 44% to Rs. 5,083 crores. Gross NPA ratio declined 349 basis points to 8.51%. Net NPA ratio slid
87 basis points to 1.92%.
 Daily Current Affairs
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Govt.’s SRI Fund commits Rs. 5,000 aid MSMEs

Government-backed Self-Reliant India Fund (SRIF) has committed more than Rs. 5,000 crores to help
small businesses with growth capital in its first year of operations. The fund, which started as part of
the government's flagship 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' programme, has provided approvals to 38 'daughter
funds' with a commitment amount of more than Rs 5,000 crores.

It has a 'Mother Fund-Daughter Fund' structure wherein SRIF, the mother fund, invests up to 20 per
cent of the corpus of the Daughter Fund, which raises the balance 80 per cent of the capital from
outside sources. The arrangement is designed to maximise the fund flow to the target micro, small
and medium enterprises (MSME) sector as the contribution from SRIF gets leveraged five times, taking
the total value of investible funds into MSMEs to Rs 50,000 crore.

RIL names banker Kamath as independent director

The Board of Directors of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has appointed well-known banker K.V. Kamath
as an independent director for a five-year term. Further, Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd. (RSIL), a
wholly owned subsidiary, has appointed Mr. Kamath as an independent director and non-executive
chairman. RSIL will be renamed as Jio Financial Services Ltd. and listed pursuant to a scheme approved
by the board for demerger of the financial services business into RSIL.
 Daily Current Affairs
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Indian men's squash team win their ever gold medal at Asian Team Championships

Indian men's team clinched their first-ever gold at the Asian Squash Team Championships. They
defeated Kuwait in the final in straight sets in Cheongju, South Korea. It was Saurav Ghoshal and Ramit
Tandon who won their games in the final to dole out a 2-0 defeat to Kuwait. Hong Kong upset
favourites Malaysia to win the women's Asian Team Championship title for the fourth time this
millennium.

T20 World Cup: New Zealand defeats Ireland by 35 runs, becomes first team to qualify for semi-
finals

New Zealand becomes the first team to qualify for semi-finals of the T20 World Cup as they defeated
Ireland by 35 runs at the Adelaide Oval. Chasing a target of 186 runs, Ireland could score 150 runs for
9 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. In another match, Australia narrowly defeated Afghanistan by
four runs in their last Super 12 Stage fixture, at the same venue.
 Daily Current Affairs
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NADA India issues notices to athletes not filing whereabouts in stipulated time

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) India has issued notices to athletes for not filing their
whereabouts in the stipulated time. As per NADA Anti-Doping Rules, some athletes, who are part of a
Registered Testing Pool (RTP), are required to provide mandatory whereabouts information in the
online portal. This information is used to locate athletes for effective out-of-competition doping
control.