VINTAGE: Important Current Affairs of 14th and 15th December 2015

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in India on a three-day from Dec 11 to Dec 13 for firming up on India’s first bullet train and over progress in the talks on a civil nuclear deal.
Certain provisions of Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules have been amended with effect from 12 November 2015, and comprehensive Railway Passengers Rules 2015 have been notified through Gazette Notification G.S.R. 836(E). dated 4 November 2015.

Turkmenistan started work on its 1,814 Km natural gas pipeline to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) project funded by Asian Development Bank. It designed to reduce its dependence on gas sales to Russia and China.

The ground-breaking ceremony took place at city of Mary of Turkmenistan which was attended by Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif and Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari.
Project outlay – $10 bn
Completion time – December 2019
Leading partner – Turkmengaz

Haryana became the 11^th state to join UDAY scheme (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) for reviving debt- laden discoms.

Other states communicated in-principle approval to the Power Ministry for joining the UDAY scheme includes – Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
About UDAY: UDAY aims at reviving ailing state electricity boards and operational efficiencies of power distribution companies. It envisages on reducing interest burden, cost of power and AT&C losses.

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP 21 was held in Paris, France from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties with a proposal of achieving zero GHG emissions growth by 2060-80.

The conference reached its objective for the first time to achieve a global agreement onreduction of climate change in the Paris Agreement, which was adopted with acclamation by nearly all states.
On the sidelines of summit 189 parties had submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) on climate actions.

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has declared the tiny West African country an Islamic republic as because Islam is the majority religion of its citizens and is an attempt to break away from the country’s colonial past.

At the annual World Travel Awards Grand Finale gala ceremony 2015, Etihad Airways has been awarded the World’s Leading Airline award for the seventh consecutive year. Etihad Airways is the second-largest airline of the United Arab Emirates.

Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi was elected as the first woman to the council of Madrakah, a region in the holy city of Mecca Saudi Arabia.
A five-member judicial commission with representatives from military fraternity, the government appointed Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, former Chief Justice of Patna High Court to head the one-man judicial committee to look into the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.
Healthcare IT solutions and advisory services company HealthFore Technologies will merge with Oscar Investments, pursuant to the approval of scheme of amalgamation between the two entities.

In this regard, the combined entity will be renamed as HealthFore Technologies Ltd.
As per the scheme of amalgamation, shareholders of HealthFore Technologies Ltdwill receive 3 shares of Oscar Investments for every 20 shares held in HealthFore Technologies Ltd.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal launch a mobile app on the occasion of the National Energy Conservation Day to help consumers compare and choose energy efficient appliances available in the market.

About App : The mobile application will allow consumers to instantly compare personalised energy savings across all products of a specific class and thus enable them to choose more efficient products available in the market.

Odisha government has engaged Wildlife Trust of India to prepare a comprehensive wildlife management plan for the state.The MoU beween state forest and environment department and WTI was signed and as per the agreement management plans will be prepared for protected areas as well as areas outside.

A major objective behind the pact will be to reduce animal mortality by identifying conflict zones.

Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar with a score of 588 defeated Gurpreet Singh by two points to win the centre fire pistol gold in the 59th National shooting championship at Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad
National energy conservation day is celebrated every year by the people all over the India on14^thof December every year.

Purpose :To aware people about the importance of energy as well as saving or conserving the more energy by using less energy.
On Nov 14^th Pranab Mukherjee inaugurating the Annual National Energy Conservation Day in New Delhi to promote energy efficiency, along with high energy prices and structural changes in the Indian economy towards the services sector have resulted in a sharp decline in energy intensity of the Indian economy.

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