VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF DECEMBER 9^th, 2018

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF DECEMBER 9^th, 2018

1.     (9th December) is International Anti-Corruption Day. 

a.      This Day was launched on 9th October 2003 by the General Assembly of the United Nations as a way of raising awareness of corruption and highlighting the role of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in combating and preventing it. 

b.      Theme of the International Anti-Corruption Day 2018 : “United Against Corruption”.

2.     Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has conducted Regional Level Marine Oil Pollution Response Exercise titled ‘Clean Sea– 2018’ at sea off Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar (A&B) Islands. 

a.      Objective of Clean Sea 2018 : To ascertain preparedness of IGC, resource agencies and other stakeholders in responding to major oil spill in line with provisions of National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP).

b.      ICG ships Viswasth, Vijith, Rajveer, Rajshri, 4 interceptor boats and its air assets Dornier and Chetak helicopters participated in the exercise.

3.     India is set to get its 1st underwater museum off the Puducherry coast, giving a boost to tourism in the Union territory. 

a)     INS Cuddalore, a Pondicherry-class vessel that was decommissioned in March, will be turned into the country's first underwater museum.

4.     The India Water Impact Summit-2018 was recently held in New Delhi.

a.      This is an annual event where stakeholders get together to discuss, debate and develop model solutions for some of biggest water related problems in the country. 

b.      The discussions this year were on rejuvenation of Ganga River Basin.

c.      This summit was jointly organized by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga).

5.     Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Minister for Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu today inaugurated the Kannur International Airport.

a.      This is Kerala's 4th International Airport. 

b.      Spread across 2,000 acres and costing over ₹1,800 crore, the airport can handle around 2,000 passengers at a time and will serve more than 15 lakh international passengers annually.

6.     The Union Cabinet has given its in principle approval for strategic sale of Central Government’s existing 52.63% of total paid up equity shareholding in Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) to Power Finance Corporation (PFC) along with transfer of management control. 

a.      Note : Both REC and PFC are Central Public Sector Enterprises are under the Ministry of Power.

7.     Maharashtra Government has launched World Bank assisted SMART Project to transform rural Maharashtra. 

a.      SMART - State of Maharashtra’s Agribusiness and Rural Transformation  

b.      This initiative is in line with Union Government’s step towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022. 

c.      Aim of SMART Project : To revamp agricultural value chains, with special focus on marginal farmers across 1,000 villages.

8.     Mexico's Vanessa Ponce de Leon was crowned Miss World 2018 by the outgoing pageant winner, India's Manushi Chhillar.

a.      She has completed her degree in International Business. 

b.      Currently she is on the Board of Directors of a rehab centre for girls and a volunteer for 'Migrantes en el Camino', she also works as a model.  

c.      Nicolene Limsnukan (Thailand) was named the first runner-up. 

d.      Anukreethy Vas, who represented India at the pageant, managed to reach the Top 30, but couldn't make it to the Top 12 winner's list.

9.     Mr India Prathamesh Maulingkar was named Mr Supranational 2018 during the third edition of the pageant that took place in Poland. 

a.      Mr Poland was declared as the first runner up and Mr Brazil as the second runner up.

10.Bollywood Actor Salman Khan won the Best Entertainment Host Award for 'Bigg Boss' at the inaugural Asian Academy Creative Awards in Singapore. 

a.      Director Anurag Kashyap won the Best Direction [Fiction] Award for season one of 'Sacred Games' 

11.Bollywood Actress Janhvi Kapoor is going to be honoured with the 'Arets Stjerneskudd' Rising Talent of the Year award by the Norwegian Consulate General. 

12.Manju Baruah has become the 1st woman tea garden manager in Assam's nearly 200-year-old tea industry when she was promoted as the manager of Apeejay Tea's Hilika Tea Estate in Tinsukia. 

13.The Indian hockey team defeated Canada to gain a direct entry into the quarter-finals of the Hockey World Cup 2018 in Odisha.