VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF NOVEMBER 27^th , 2018

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF NOVEMBER 27^th, 2018

1.     Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu is on an official visit to India. 

a.      During this visit, he held delegation level talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi. 

b.      They discussed diversifying the historical relations and boosting cooperation in the fields of agriculture, ICT, health and pharma, education, tourism, and culture.

c.      About Romania :

i)      President : Klaus Iohannis

ii)    Prime Minister : Viorica Dancila

iii) Capital : Bucharest

iv)  Official Language : Romanian

v)    Curency : Romanian Leu

2.     Pakistan is going to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit, as per local media reports quoting Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry. 

a.      India had boycotted the summit which was to be held in Pakistan in 2016 following the terror attack in Uri. 

b.      The Summit was eventually cancelled after Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also pulled out.

3.     1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Sunil Arora, has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

a.      He will replace O P Rawat on 2nd December 2018.

b.      With this, Arora will be the 23rd CEC of India.

c.      He will have nearly two-and-a-half-year tenure as CEC and  General Election 2019 will be conducted under his stewardship.

4.     Akhilesh Ranjan, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) member has been appointed as the Convenor of Task Force that is drafting New Direct Tax Legislation (Law). 

a.      He will replace Arbind Modi who retired in September 2018. 

b.      Note : The task force was constituted in November 2017 in order to review Income-tax Act, 1961 and to draft new direct tax law in consonance with the economic needs of the country.

5.     Ahead of the official release of the second-quarter GDP figures, State Bank of India (SBI) estimated India’s economy to expand by 7.5-7.6 percent, slower than the prior quarter, mainly on account of a slowdown in rural demand. 

6.     NASA's InSight spacecraft landed on Mars after nearly a seven-month, 458-million-kilometre journey.

a.      The 360-kg lander also shared its first photo from Mars, showing an area called Elysium Planitia, where it will dig five metres below the surface. 

b.      The $993-million mission will measure the Mars' internal heat and study quakes.

7.     The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $200 million loan agreement to finance widening and upgrading of about 230 Kilometers State Highways in Bihar to all-weather standards with road safety features.

8.     India and China today signed a protocol to amend the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between the two countries.

a.      This protocol among, other things, updates the existing provisions for the exchange of information to the latest international standards.

b.      It also incorporates changes required to implement a treaty-related minimum standards under the action reports of Base Erosion & Profit shifting (BEPS) Project, in which India had participated on an equal footing.

9.     Veteran Bollywood playback singer Mohammad Aziz (64) passed away.

a.      The singer has lent his voice to over 2000 songs in Hindi, Bengali and Odia films.

b.      Aziz, who was known for his love for Mohammad Rafi, started his musical career in Kolkata and then moved to Mumbai.

10.The Netherlands women’s hockey team won its 7th Women’s Hockey Champions Trophy at the Wujin Hockey Stadium in Changzhou, China by defeating Australia. 

11.Haryana's Manu Bhaker has won a double Gold in junior sport pistol while Ravi Kumar and Rahi Sarnobat were crowned national champions in the men and women’s events respectively in Thiruvananthapuram.