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Current Affairs 29 December 2019
Hemant Soren Takes Oath As 11th Chief Minister Of Jharkhand
- The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president Hemant Soren took oath as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand in Ranchi on December 29, 2019.
- This is the second time that Mr Soren is being sworn in as the chief minister. Before this, Soren served as the 5th Chief Minister of Jharkhand (13 July 2013 – 28 December 2014).
- He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Droupadi Murmu.
- It must be noted that JMM fought the state Assembly elections in alliance with the Congress party and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and got majority with 41 seats in the 81-member house. JMM (30 seats), Congress (16) and RJD (1).
- Meanwhile, the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das submitted his resignation to the Governor on December 23, 2019 after BJP under his leadership managed to win only 25 seats out of 81 assembly seats.
MyGov reaches 1 crore registered users: PMO
- The Prime Minister’s Office has informed that the Central government’s citizen-centric online engagement platform, MyGov.in, has reached one crore registered users.
- MyGov was launched on 26 July 2014 to offer a platform for the voice and views of the people of India.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar unveils life-size statue of Arun Jaitley in Patna to mark his Birth Anniversary
- Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar unveiled a life-size statue of former Union Minister Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) at Kankarbagh area in Patna, Bihar on his birth anniversary on December 28, 2019.
- The state shall henceforth observe Jaitley’s birth anniversary as a state function every year.
HM Amit Shah lays Foundation Stone of India’s First transit-oriented development project ‘East Delhi Hub’
- The Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone for India’s first transit-oriented development (TOD) project in New Delhi, under which a state-of-the-art infrastructure zone will be constructed.
- The TOD infrastructure project has been titled as ‘East Delhi Hub’.
- The project will be developed at Karkardooma area spread over an area of 30 hectares and will come in the next three and a half years.
- It will include a 48-storey signature tower, which will become Delhi’s tallest tower.
- The project will be implemented by National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).
MOSPI constitutes High Level Standing Committee on Economic Statistics headed by Pronab Sen
- The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has set up a 27-member single standing committee on economic statistics (SCES) to deliberate and develop methodologies for surveys on industry, services and employment, to improve quality of data.
- Earlier multiple panels used to be constituted to deliberate on these issues.
- The high-level panel will be headed by India’s first Chief Statistician Pronab Sen.
- The SCES will subsume in it the four standing committees on labour force statistics, industrial statistics, services sector and unincorporated sector enterprises.
- It will review the existing framework of data sources, indicators and definitions of index of industrial production, periodic labour force survey, time use survey, economic census and unorganised sector statistics, among others.
First Edition of Mandu Festival Begins in Madhya Pradesh
- The first edition of Mandu Festival kicked-off at Mandu, a world-famous picturesque tourist destination located in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
- The five-day event has been organised by Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board from December 28, 2019 to January 01, 2020.
- The event is a initiative to dive deep into the rich history of the city.
RBI directs large Co-operative Banks to Report all exposures of Rs 5 crore and Above
- The Reserve Bank of India has decided that all Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs) having total assets of Rs 500 crore and above as on 31 March, 2018 shall report their credit information, including classification of an account as Special Mention Account (SMA), on all borrowers having aggregate exposures of Rs 5 crore and above with them to Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) maintained by the Reserve Bank.
- Aggregate exposure shall include all fund-based and non-fund based exposure, including investment exposure on the borrower.
- Initially, UCBs will be required to submit CRILC Report on quarterly basis with effect from December 31, 2019 until further directions by RBI.
- CRILC: The Reserve Bank in its fifth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement (December 05, 2019), announced the creation of Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) of scheduled commercial banks, all India financial institutions and certain non-banking financial companies for strengthening offsite supervision and early recognition of financial distress.
No MDR charges will be applicable on transactions through RuPay, UPI platforms from 01 January 2020
- The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that no Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) will be applicable on transactions made through RuPay and UPI platforms with effect from 01 January 2020.
- Also, all companies with a turnover of Rs 50 crore and above will now be mandated to provide the facility of payment through RuPay Debit card and UPI QR code to their customers.
- Merchant Discount Rate (MDR)
- The cost paid by a merchant to a bank for accepting payment from their customers via digital means. It is expressed in percentage of the transaction amount.
UN General Assembly approves $3.07 billion budget for 2020
- The UN General Assembly has adopted the regular operating budget of $3.07 billion ($3,073,830,500) for the United Nations for the year 2020 and for the first time includes funding for the investigation of war crimes in Syria and Myanmar.
- It is also for the first time since 1973 that the UN is adopting an annual operating budget instead of a two-year.
- Previously the budgets for the Syria and Myanmar investigations were financed by voluntary contributions but now in 2020, the funding has been transferred to the UN secretariat’s budget and will receive compulsory contributions from the 193 member states.
- The UN’s operating budget is separate from the annual budget for peacekeeping operations.
Russia deploys World’s first Avangard Hypersonic Missile System into Service
- In a landmark event, on 27 December 2019, Russian military deployed its first regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles officially into service, thus putting Russia ahead of other nations.
- The new missile system, called Avangard, is equipped with hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), placed on top of intercontinental ballistic missile, and can hit almost any point in the world.
- The Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle can fly at 27 times the speed of sound.
- As per Russian Defence Ministry, not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons.
China Successfully Launches Country’s largest carrier rocket Long March-5
- On December 27, 2019, China successfully launched the largest carrier rocket of the country, Long March-5, from Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province.
- The rocket, also known as CZ-5, blasted off carrying an experimental communications satellite, Shijian-20, into geostationary transfer orbit.
- It was the country’s third attempt to launch the rocket.
- The first attempt on 3 November 2016 and second attempt on 2 July 2017, both failed due to an engine problem in the first stage.
- CZ-5 is heavy lift launch system developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) and will open way for China’s planned Mars mission, lunar sample-return mission, and modular space station, all of which require the lifting capabilities of a heavy lift launch vehicle.
Veteran Political Cartoonist Vikas Sabnis passes away
- Veteran Political cartoonist Vikas Sabnis, who made caricatures and political cartoons on various subjects and issues, passed away. He was 69.
- Inspired by cartoonists R K Laxman and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, he had started his career in 1968 and completed 50 years of illustrious career in 2018.
- Sabnis has worked as a staff cartoonist at various newspapers, including the Times of India and the Mid-day.
Vishwesha Theertha Swami of Pejawar Matha in Karnataka passes away
- Sri Vishvesha Teertha Swamiji of the renowned Sri Pejawara Matha, Udupi, Karnataka passed away. He was 88 years old seer.
- Swamiji was the 32nd seer to head this matha.
- He will now be succeeded by Sri Vishvaprasanna Tirtha.
- Pejavara Matha is one of the eight Ashta Mathas of Udupi.
- The Ashta Mathas of Udupi are a group of eight mathas or Hindu monasteries established by Sri Madhvacharya, the founder of the Dvaita school of Hindu thought.