Download : 30th November, 2016 – Current Affairs PDF
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National
47th Edition of the International Film Festival of India in Goa
- The festival screened over 300 films including 4 premieres, 6 international premieres, 26 Asian premieres 104 Indian premieres and Oscar-winning entries from nearly 90 countries.
- IFFI 2016 also featured the National Film Archives of India’s (NFAI) exhibition with theme: “Azadi 70 Saal, Yaad Karo Qurbani”(70 Years of Independence, Remember the Sacrifices) to commemorate 70 years of Indian Independence.
- South Korean film director and writer, Im Kwon Taek conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI 2016
Akodara Village becomes India’s first Digital Village
- Akodara in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat has become the first Digital Village in India.
- The village, located 90 km from Ahmedabad, was adopted by the ICICI Bank under Digital Village project in 2015 that developed it as a digitized village with a rural branch of the bank.
- The bank has provided training to villagers to use digital technology to reduce dependence on cash. The villagers’ most important transactions selling agri-produce at the local market or mandi or selling milk at the co-operative society have been made cashless.
- The banks also launched other initiatives, like school automation, WiFi connectivity, a village website, a digital screen for commodity prices at the bank branch and skills development workshops for women to learn tailoring and office administration free of cost.
Chandrababu Naidu to head CMs Committee on Demonetisation
- Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N. Chandrababu Naidu has been nominated by the Central Government to head the sub-committee constituted to deal with the situation arising out of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes.
- The move aims to stop the Opposition’s attack on the Centre’s demonetization decision.
78 schemes covered under DBT system so far
- 78 schemes including Jhan Dhan and MGNREGAbeing implemented by 17 ministries and departments are covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
- Under the proposed system, 100% subsidy on various fertilizer grades shall be released to the manufacturers and importers on the basis of actual sales made by the retailer to the beneficiaries.
- The government has decided to introduce DBT system for fertilizer subsidy payments which is slightly different from normal DBT implemented in LPG subsidy.
Telangana village renamed ‘Kavithapuram’ after CM’s daughter, TRS MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha
- Villagers of Khanapur in Telangana’s Nizamabad district have renamed their village as ‘Kavithapuram’ after the daughter of CM K Chandrasekhar Rao.
‘Indian Police at Your Call’ mobile app
- The app was developed by Nation Information Centre (NIC). It has been developed on Android and iOS platforms.
- The app provides the names of the police stations, distance from the place where you are and how much time it will take to reach police station one wants to go to.
- It provides the police station number, number of control room and also the SP office number. However, no mobile phones numbers are provided.
- It also promotes facility to “Tap to Call” any of these police stations and know the route and road distance to reach there.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board sets up two advisory committees
- The two advisory committees setup include one for services and the other for corporate insolvency and liquidation.
- IBBI seeks to consolidate and amend laws relating to reorganization as well as insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner.
International
WHO settles India, EU medicine dispute issue
- World Health Organisation (WHO) settled a long standing dispute and battle between India and the European Union (EU) about labeling of drugs by clarifying that ‘counterfeit’— will now be used by member States with respect to protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
- This decision to drop the term ‘counterfeit’and retain ‘falsified’ to describe medicines of inferior quality was taken by a WHO’s technical working group on draft to find a perfect definitions of substandard/spurious /falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products.
- The major European and US pharmaceutical companies used the term to stop Indian made cheap generic drugs exported to other countries by showing that they were in violation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
- The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health.
Zimbabwe Launches ‘Bond Notes’
- Zimbabwe launches ‘bond notes’ currency in bid to ease cash crunch.
Business & Economy
RBI relaxes withdrawal limits for deposits made in legal tender
- RBI allowed bank customers to withdraw the deposits made in current legal tender notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 2000 beyond the current withdrawal limits of 24,000 per week.
- For current accounts, the withdrawal limit is Rs 50,000 a week for small traders.
- According to Reserve Bank of India certain depositors are hesitating to deposit their money into bank accounts due to the current limits on cash withdrawals.
- People have exchanged and deposited about Rs 8.45 lakh crore worth of scrapped Rs. 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes at different banks till 27 November.
ICICI Bank to convert 100 villages into digital in 100 days
- ICICI Bank announced to transform 100 villages into ‘ICICI Digital Villages’ in 100 days to enable villagers go in cash less banking and payments transactions.
- People from 100 villages will be able to open bank accounts using Aadhar-based e-KYC and make cashless payments to retail stores through a unique SMS/USSD-based mobile solution.
- ICICI bank will provide vocational training to 10,000 villagers in first 100 days and offer them credit linkages so that the villagers can start their own business ventures
- ICICI bank has taken step to resolve the ongoing currency issue after the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes along with the introduction of new notes.
Indus Towers to invest Rs 100 crore to set up 500 new sites across India
- Telecom tower provider Indus Towers planned to invest Rs 100 crore in India to set up 500 new sites within a year.
Government approves 6 new SEZs for IT, biotech
- The Union Government has approved six proposals from four developers to set up new special economic zones(SEZs) IT and biotechnology across Telangana, Haryana and Karnataka .
- A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which business and trade laws differ from the rest of the country.
- Aims : To increased trade, increased investment, job creation and effective administration.
Cognizant to acquire Mirabeau BV to expand digital expertise
- Cognizant will acquire Mirabeau BV for an undisclosed amount to expand Cognizant’s digital business capabilities in the Netherlands and across
- Mirabeau specializes in verticals like travel and hospitality, financial services, retail, and B2B sectors. Its clients includes brands such as KLM, ING, Air France, Maxeda, MoneYou, LeasePlan.com, and Transavia.
- It has260 specialists will become part of the Digital Business practice at Cognizant, which has a majority of its workforce in India.
Awards
Awards at the 47th International Film Festival of India
- Special jury award: The Throne (South Korea) directed by Lee Joon-Ik.
- Best Actor Female award: Elina Vaska (Latvia) for Mellow Mud.
- Best Actor Male award: Farhad Aslani (Iran) for Daughter.
- Best Director award: Jointly-shared by Soner Caner and Baris Kaya for Turkish film “Rauf”.
- ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal Prize: Turkish director Mustafa Kara for his film “Cold of Kalandar”.
- Special Jury mention award: Tiffany Hsuig for the Korean movie “The Apology”.
- Centenary Award for the Best Debut Feature of the director: Pepa San Martin for the film “Ra Ra”.
- Iranian film “Daughter” has won the coveted Golden Peacock award at the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
People in News
Stripe’s co-founder, John Collison, is world’s youngest self-made billionaire
- According to Forbes, the co-founder brothers of Stripe Inc., Patrick Collison and John Collison, are officially the world’s youngest self-made billionaires
- The Company raised $150 million
- In July 2015, a fundraising round had valued the company at $5 billion which means the company has experienced a growth of $4.2 billion in just over a year.
- Stripe Inc., which is based in San Francisco operates in over 25 countries and allows both private individuals and businesses to accept payments over the Internet
Susan Kiefel become Australia’s first woman highest ranking judge
- Former law firm receptionist Susan Kiefel is appointed as Australia’s first woman Chief Justice of Australia on November 29, 2016 by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
- Kiefel will become the 13th Chief Justice of Australia and the senior judge on the seven-judge bench
- She became the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland state in 1993.
- She is currently one of three women on the High Court bench and the longest serving judge after French.
Lt General AK Bhatt appointed as new DGMO
- Indian Army appointed Major General AK Bhatt as new Director General of Military Operations (DGMO)
- Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh promoted to General Officer Commanding of Strike 1 Corps.
Myntra appoints Ajit Narayanan as its new CTO
- Prior to this, Narayanan was working as the head of engineering at Myntra.
- Indian fashion e-commerce marketplace company Myntra’s chief technology and product officer Shamik Sharma has moved into an advisory role.
Cipla appoints Ireena Vittal as independent director
- Indian multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Cipla is appointed Ireena Vittal as an independent director on its board
- Vittal has experience in management consulting and is recognised as a thought leader for consumer-facing companies in emerging markets.
Sports
Pankaj Advani claims bronze medal at IBSF World Snooker Championship
- Fifteen-time world champion Pankaj Advani suffered a 2-7 loss in the semifinals and settled for a bronze medal at the IBSF World Snooker Championship
- He is the only player in the world to compete at the world championship level in both sports and be successful in all the formats of both billiards and snooker.
- The IBSF World Snooker Championship (aka World Amateur Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional snooker tournament in the world.