National
• Coast Guard DIG B.K. Loshali has been sacked following a Board of Inquiry over his comments that contradicted the government’s stand on the sinking of a Pakistan fishing boat in 2014.
• Justice (Retd) L. Narasimha Reddy, former chief justice of Patna High Court, will head the judicial committee, which will look into the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for the ex-servicemen.
• Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to submit smart city plans for three selected cities to Union Government.
• India has been placed at 130th position in the 2015 Human Development Index (HDI) among the 188 countries.
• The World Bank has approved a USD 1.5 billion loan for the ambitious clean India campaign to support the government in its efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation and end the practice of open defecation by 2019.
• The government has made it mandatory to quote PAN (permanent account number) for all transactions in excess of Rs.2 lakh, regardless of the mode of payment, to curb black money.
• Combined Commanders Conference, an annual tri-services event chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was held on board INS Vikramaditya about 50 kms off Kochi coast.
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has ended its 12-year investigation into concerns that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons.
• Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order Amendment Bill, 2015 in the Parliament.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully placed six commercial satellites from Singapore in their dedicated orbits.
• The Supreme Court has appointed Justice (Retd) Virendra Singh as new Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh. The first of its kind order given , the SC has invoked its constitutional power and appointed retired HC judge as UP Lokayukta after
• state machinery failed to appoint it.The order was given as per Article 142 of Constitution.
• India has raised concerns over massive subsidization of farm sectors by developed (rich) countries. These concerns were raised Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman during the 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Nairobi, Kenya.
• The Union Cabinet has given its approval to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa) countries for energy conservation.
• The Union Cabinet has approved a policy framework for development of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in unexplored coal and lignite bearing areas in the country.
• The Lok Sabha passed the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by voice vote for speedy disposal of arbitration cases. The bill seeks to amend Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to make of commercial disputes more user-friendly and cost effective which in turn will lead to expeditious disposal of cases.
• President of France Francois Hollande will be the Chief Guest at the 67th Republic Day parade of January 26, 2016.
• Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cleared the purchase of Russian advance S-400 Trium Air Defence Missile Systems at an estimated cost of 40,000 crore rupees.
• The Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government authorities not to permit any construction on water bodies in the entire State till January 18, 2016.
• India lowered its GDP growth projection for the current year to 7-7.5 per cent against 8.1-8.5 per cent forecast earlier and said that while the macro economy is stable, the real economy needs policy attention.
• The University of South Florida (USF) has announced a postgraduate fellowship in the name of former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam to support accomplished and talented Indian students looking to study abroad.
• Pension fund regulatory body PFRDA has started using PAN instead of Aadhaar for validation of new customers who can now be registered online under the National Pension System (NPS) scheme.
• Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic religious sister and missionary will be given Sainthood i.e. will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in September 2016.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has formally inaugurated the All-India conference of Directors General of Police (AICDGPs) at Dhordo in white Rann of Kutch region near Bhuj, Gujarat.
• West Bengal Government has approved proposal for formation of five new districts in the state. With this the total number of districts of Bengal will increase to 24.
• India’s biggest Wildlife Rescue Centre named as Gorewada Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Centre has been commissioned at Gorewada near Nagpur, Maharashtra.
• Uttar Pradesh government has decided to enforce the ban on the use of polythene across the state to protect the environment and public health.
International
• Saudi voters have elected 20 women for local government seats, according to results, a day after women voted and ran in elections for the first time in the country’s history.
• Powerful Typhoon Melor (also known as Nona) has hit the central Philippines battering the coast with powerful winds with speed of 20kph followed by intense rainfall.
• An Indian-origin politician, Pravin Gordhan has been appointed as South Africa’s new Finance Minister. With this he becomes country’s third Finance Minister in a week. He replaces David van Rooyen who was appointed on 10 November 2015.
• New Zealanders chose a new flag design. Final results from a postal ballot were announced. The winning design features a silver fern and red stars on a black and blue background. The new design will now go head-to-head against the current flag in a national vote in March.
• Pakistan successfully test-fired a nuclear capable ballistic missile with a range of 900 kilometres, days after testing a similar missile capable of hitting targets as far as 2,750 kilometres away, bringing many Indian cities under its range.
• Saudi Arabia has launched Islamic Military Coalition, a new military alliance of 34 nations mainly Muslim nations to fight terrorism.
• United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously adopted resolution cut off supply of revenue flows to Islamic State (IS) militant group.
• Afghanistan has become the 163th WTO member and the 36th least developed country (LDC) to join the global trade body after 11 years of negotiations, Xinhua reported.
• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously adopted a resolution No. 2254 outlining a peace process in Syria.
• The United States (US) Senate has ratified reforms in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost the representation of emerging economies as part of a budget bill.
• The United States (US) has lifted a 40 year ban on oil exports marking a historic shift for the booming US oil industry.
Sports
• West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels has been banned from bowling for 12 months by the International Cricket Council after undergoing testing on his action.
• Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar, with a score of 588, pipped Gurpreet Singh by two points to win the centre fire pistol gold in the 59th National shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad.
• India’s star golfer Anirban Lahiri (28) has won the coveted Order of Merit crown of Asian Tour for year 2015.
• India’s limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni emerged the top draw in the IPL draft with the Sanjeev Goenka-owned new franchise Pune opting to pick him first for the stipulated price of Rs. 12.5 crore.
• Apurvi Chandela won the women’s gold in air rifle in the 59th National shooting championship.
• The iconic Sachin Tendulkar was an expected pick for the No.4 slot while Sourav Ganguly was preferred in the leadership position in Australian spin legend Shane Warne’s greatest Indian Test XI.
• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has decided to launch prosecution proceedings against India Cements for non-compliance with certain provisions of companies law in relation to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
• McCullum became the player with most consecutive appearances from debut in Tests. McCullum went past South African A.B. de Villiers’ mark of 98 successive Tests.
• Barcelona FC has won the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup for a record third time. In the final match played at International Stadium Yokoham in Japan the winning team defeated River Plate FC by 3-0 goals.
• Chennaiyin FC has won the second edition of Indian Super League (ISL) Football tournament. In the final played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa, they defeated hosts Goa FC by 3-2 goals score.
Death
• Benedict Anderson, a Cornell University scholar who became one of the most influential voices in the fields of nationalism and Southeast Asian studies, died on Sunday in Indonesia. He was 79.
Business and Economy
• The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched three separate indices on three corporate houses of India viz. Tata, Aditya Birla and Mahindra Group.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued fresh norms on how banks ought to calculate their lending rates — a move which is aimed at lowering borrowing costs at a time when lenders are reluctant to do so. The new method — Marginal Cost of funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) — will replace the present base rate system.
Awards
• Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman (70) has been awarded 2016 Genesis Prize which is also known as Jewish Nobel prize.
• Sahitya Academy has announced the names of 23 poets and authors who will be conferred the prestigious 2015 Sahitya Akademi Award. This award has recognized premier works in 23 Indian languages that includes 6 books of short stories, 6 of poetry, 4 novels, 2 books each of essays, criticism and plays and 1 memoir.
New Appointments/ Resignations
• Senior revenue service officer A.K. Jain was appointed Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of Income Tax department.
• Former Delhi High Court Judge Reva Khetrapal took oath as Lokayukta of Delhi. Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung administered the oath to office at a function held at Raj Niwas.
Science and Technology:
• The average temperature over Arctic land for the year ending in September 2015 was the highest on record indicating that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as other parts of the Earth.
• Union Government has given in principle approval to work on Loon project of internet search engine giant Google for providing Internet connectivity by using large balloons.
• Former Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur has been appointed as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), breaking away from the convention of appointing the head from among the serving Information Commissioners.
• Avani Davda, chief executive officer of Tata Starbucks, a joint venture of Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks Corp, has resigned to pursue opportunities outside the group.
Days of the Week
• 18 December International Migrants Day
• 20 December International Human Solidarity Day
• 24 Dec- National Consumers Rights Day
Current Affairs: 21st December, 2015 Important Days in November and December Current Affairs bullet points Round up 7th to 14th December, 2015 Current Affairs Round up November, 2015.
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