Daily Current Affairs and Gk : 12th December 2015

Dec 18, 2015

Daily Current Affairs and Gk : 12th December 2015=>UNESCO designated Varanasi and Jaipur as Creative Cities Network members.

Two Indian cities, Varanasi and Jaipur have made it to the Creative City Network of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the first time ever.
Varanasi and Jaipur made it to the network in the categories, City of Music and City of Crafts and Folk Art respectively.

Prakash Kumar appointed as new SAIL chairman.

The post of permanent chairman in the company has been lying vacant since incumbent CS Verma was refused an extension by the government in June.

Salman Rushdie honored with Mailer Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

India-born author Salman Rushdie on 10 December 2015 was awarded the prestigious Mailer Prize for lifetime achievement.
American experimental performance artist Laurie Anderson presented the award to Rushdie at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York City.
The prestigious Mailer Prize honours writers who fully exercise their freedom of creativity and thrive on dialogue and debate.
The prize is given to writers whose work over the years has challenged readers’ perspectives on the world around them.

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National Commission for Safai Karamcharis recommends to make it a permanent and Statutory Body.

National Commission for Safai Karamcharis presented its Annual Report 2014-15 to the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot.
It recommended make the Commission a permanent and statutory body with powers of Civil Court to lend it more credibility.
The Contract system should be abolished and ensure payment of minimum wages for Safai Karamcharis.
Death victims among Safai Karamcharis should be compensated with a minimum 10 lakh rupees as has already been ordered by the Supreme Court

India and Japan signed deals on bullet train, defence and civil nuclear energy.

India and Japan inked a number of pacts in key areas of defence and nuclear energy as well as building of first bullet train network between Mumbai-Ahmedabad at a cost of about Rs 98,000 crore.
The strategic pacts were inked after the summit between PM Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during which they also discussed international and regional issues of mutual importance including UN security reforms.

India, Japan signs protocol for amending double taxation avoidance pact.

GoI and the Government of Japan inked a protocol for amending the existing convention for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.
The existing convention was signed in 1989.
The protocol was signed by Dr Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary on behalf of India.
Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan signed the protocol on behalf of the Government of Japan.

Myanmar launched its first UNECSO Biosphere Reserve Inle Lake.

The Inle Lake was designated as UNESCO Biosphere reserve in Paris in June 2015.
With this, Myanmar fulfilled its commitment to bio-diversity and eco-system conservation under the UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Prorgamme.

Deborah Herold, Indian Cyclist became world no. 4 cyclist.

Indian cyclist Deborah Herold on 11 December 2015 became the first Indian female cyclist to be ranked fourth in the World Elite Women Ranking for the 500m time trial event.
The ranking was issued by cycling world body International Cycling Union (UCI).
Besides, the Indian team also improved its world ranking to 13th.
India is the highest ranking Asian country in 500m time trial. China fetched the 15th spot in the ranking.

2015 Aegis Graham Bell Award for innovation in IoT.

Company was awarded for developing a solution for the Internet of Things (IoT).
Wipro’s IoT solution, Universal Data Parser (UDP), fetched the prestigious award.
The Aegis School of Business established the Aegis Graham Bell Awards as a tribute to the father of the telephony, Sir Alexander Graham Bell.
The award is intended to promote innovation, entrepreneurship in the field of Telecom, Internet, Media & Edutainment (TIME) and to provide recognition for outstanding contributions in this field in India.

Elizabeth Susan Koshy clinches Gold in 59^th National Shooting Championships.

Kerala’s Elizabeth Susan Koshy on 11 December 2015 won the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Gold.
The 59th National Shooting Championships held at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting range in New Delhi.

Haryana’s Anjum Moudgil won the silver medal and Gaayathri N of Tamil Nadu fetched the bronze in the championship.