DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 24 DEC 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 24 DEC 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      MEA LAUNCHED SAMEEP TO TAKE INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY TO STUDENTS ACROSS COUNTRY
i. With an aim to bring the foreign policy to the masses the External Affairs Ministry has come up with an initiative called SAMEEP - 'Students and MEA Engagement Programme'. Under this MEA official will talk to students to help them better understand foreign policy.
ii. The main objective of SAMEEP is to take Indian foreign policy and its global engagements to students across the country. Under this programme, all the ministry officers - under-secretary and above - will be asked to go to their hometowns, particularly their alma maters.


2.      RUSSIA’S DEPUTY PM DMITRY ROGOZIN VISITS INDIA
i. Russia’s Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin arrived in New Delhi. He will co-chair the meeting of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation.
ii. The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will host Mr. Rogozin and lead the Indian side. The meeting will enable the two sides to review the progress achieved by various working groups and sub-groups under the IRIGC-TEC.

3.      BENGALURU TO HOST 7TH INTERNATIONAL COFFEE FESTIVAL
i. The 7th edition of the India International Coffee Festival will be held in Bengaluru from January 16-19. The 4-day IICF 2018, being organized by the India Coffee Trust and State-run Coffee Board to promote the Indian coffees globally.
ii. As per the officials, IICF 2018 would be a precursor to the International Coffee Organization’s World Coffee Conference being hosted by India in Bengaluru in 2020.

4.      GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED ‘GANGA GRAM’ PROJECT AT GANGA GRAM SWACHATA SAMMELAN
i. The government had formally launched the ‘Ganga Gram’ project at the Ganga Gram Swachata Sammelan in New Delhi.
ii. As part of its clean Ganga mission – Namami Gange, the Ganga Gram project is an integrated approach for the holistic development of villages situated on the banks of the holy river with the active participation of villagers.

5.      AIRTEL PAYMENTS BANK CEO SHASHI ARORA RESIGNS
i. Airtel Payments Bank Chief Executive Shashi Arora has quit the company after a recent controversy surrounding India’s largest telecom operator and its payment bank’s alleged violation of rules on using Aadhaar for its electronic know-your-customer verification process.
ii. Recently, UIDAI has temporarily barred Airtel Payments Bank from conducting Aadhaar-based SIM verification of mobile customers using e-KYC process. The suspension of the e-KYC license of Airtel Payments Bank has not been revoked yet.

6.      SBI CARD AND BHARAT PETROLEUM LAUNCH BPCL SBI CARD
i. SBI Card, the credit card issuer and Bharat Petroleum, the leading petroleum company in India announced the launch of the BPCL SBI Card – the most rewarding fuel co-branded credit card in the country.
ii. The BPCL SBI Card will offer up to 70 liters of free fuel per year to cardholders.  It has been launched on the Visa platform.

7.      LT GEN B S SAHRAWAT TAKES OVER AS DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF NCC
i. Lieutenant General B S Sahrawat took over the reins of National Cadet Corps as its Director General. The General Officer is a third generation army officer.
ii. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He has been awarded the Sena Medal during the floods of Kosi River in Bihar in 2008.

8.      QUIKR ACQUIRES HDFC'S DIGITAL, REALTY UNITS IN ALL STOCK DEAL
i. India's largest mortgage lender HDFC has sold its realty brokerage business HDFC Realty and its digital real estate business HDFC Developers which owns HDFC Real Estate Destination to online classifieds player Quikr.
ii. The all-stock deal will see HDFC pick up around 3.5% stake in Quikr for the two businesses, which have collectively been valued at about Rs 357 cr.

9.      M. SUBBARAYUDU APPOINTED AS NEXT AMBASSADOR OF INDIA TO THE REPUBLIC OF PERU
i. Shri M. Subbarayudu, presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Peru.

10.  NATION CELEBRATES KISAN DIWAS- 23RD DECEMBER
i. Kisan Diwas (Farmer's Day) is observed every year on 23 December to celebrate the birth anniversary of the fifth prime minister of India Chaudhary Charan Singh.
ii. He was the PM of India for a very short tenure starting from 28th of July 1979 until 14th January 1980.  A Kisan leader, Late Chaudhary Charan Singh belonged to a peasant family.

11.  BENGALI SINGER JATILESWAR MUKHOPADHYAY PASSES AWAY
i. Acclaimed Bengali singer Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay passed away in Kolkata following a prolonged illness. He was 82.
ii. He passed away due to multi-organ failure. The West Bengal government had conferred him with the Sangeet Samman award in 2012.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. THE GOVERNMENT HAD FORMALLY LAUNCHED THE ‘GANGA GRAM’ PROJECT AT THE GANGA GRAM SWACHATA SAMMELAN IN NEW DELHI. THE WATER RESOURCES AND GANGA REJUVENATION MINISTER OF INDIA IS
a) Ramvilas Paswan
b)  Uma Bharti
c)  Dharmendra Pradhan
d)  Nitin Gadkari
Q2. WHICH CITY WILL HOST THE SEVENTH EDITION OF THE INDIA INTERNATIONAL COFFEE FESTIVAL IN JANUARY, 2018?
a)  Bhubaneshwar
b)  New Delhi
c)  Chennai
d)  Bengaluru
Q3. INDIA'S LARGEST MORTGAGE LENDER HDFC HAS SOLD ITS REALTY BROKERAGE BUSINESS HDFC REALTY TO?
a)  Paisabazar
b)  Quikr
c)  Snapdeal
d)  Policymaker
Q4. LIMA IS THE CAPITAL CITY OF?
a)  Peru
 b)  Israel
c)  Kuwait
d)  Suva
Q5. NAME THE RUSSIA’S DEPUTY PM WHO WAS RECENTLY IN INDIA TO ATTEND THE MEETING OF  INDIA-RUSSIA INTER-GOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION ON TRADE, ECONOMIC, SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGICAL AND  CULTURAL COOPERATION?
a)  Alexander Rutskoy
b)  Dmitry Medvedev
c)  Boris Yeltsin
d)  Dmitry Rogozin
ANSWERS:                                   
1 - D    2 - C    3 - B    4 - A    5 - D