1. Photo of owl climbing branch wins comedy wildlife award

A hilarious photograph of an apparently delighted dormouse perched atop a flower has won a top prize at the 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

The adorable snap, which shows the cute rodent climbing up a yarrow flower in the Italian mountains, won the Creatures of the Land category.

The photography competition aims to raise awareness of conservation through comedy – and received more than 3,500 entries from 86 countries.

2. Justice U D Salvi takes charge as acting Chairperson of NGT

Justice Umesh Dattatraya Salvi took charge as the acting Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), following the retirement of Justice Swatanter Kumar.

Justice Salvi will continue in office until the date a new chairperson is appointed or the date of his superannuation, whichever is earlier.

3. Parliament passes Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017

The Parliament has passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill. The bill intends to strengthen corporate governance standards, initiate strict action against defaulting companies and help improve ease of doing business.

It provides for more than 40 amendments to the Companies Act, 2013, which was passed during the previous UPA regime.

4. National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities 3 D Project

National Mission on Monuments & Antiquities (NMMA) gets the documentation done through various Data Resource Centers viz. Universities, Institutions, Museums, State Archaeology Departments, Circles of ASI.

The Government of Tamil Nadu has allotted 2 Acres of land to ASI to establish a site museum at Keezhadi.

5. Promotion of Cultural Traditions, Arts and Literature of Rural and Tribal Areas

Ministry of Culture, Government of India has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) with headquarters at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Allahabad, Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur to promote cultural traditions, arts, literature, folk arts and songs of the rural and tribal areas of the country.

 These ZCCs organize various cultural activities and programmes to preserve various art forms on regular basis.

6. RBI announces additional actions under PCA for UBI

The RBI has initiated additional actions under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework for city-based United Bank of India in view of the high net NPA, low leverage ratio and the need to raise capital based on the bank’s position as on March 31, 2017.

United Bank of India said in a regulatory filing to the BSE that the apex bank had issued these actions in a letter dated December 19, 2017.

7. World Bank provides loans of $125 mn for STRIVE project

World Bank has committed USD 125 million (around Rs 800 crore) loan to India for the STRIVE project for skill development.

The objective of the operation (‘Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement) is to improve access to quality and market-driven vocational training as well as apprenticeships.

8. NASSCOM signs deal with Chinas top internet hub

India’s IT industry association NASSCOM had signed an agreement with China’s top internet hub to co-develop a collaborative technology platform which is expected to provide a major opening for Indian IT-SMEs.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Dalian Municipal People’s Government signed a joint investment agreement in Dalian to co-develop a collaborative technology platform called the Sino-Indian Digital Collaboration Plaza (SIDCOP.)

9. India is the 5th most vacation deprived country globally’

Globally India has been ranked as the fifth most vacation deprived country due to heavy work schedule, according to a survey.

India ranks as the fifth most vacation deprived country globally with 60 per cent respondents corroborating with the view, Expedia Vacation Deprivation Report 2017.

South Korea stood at number one position with 82 per cent, followed by France (66 per cent), Malaysia (65 per cent) and Hong Kong (64 per cent)

10. ISRO and NASA Collaboration

ISRO and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)/ NASA are jointly working on the development of Dual Frequency (L&S band) Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging Satellite named as NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR). The L-band SAR is being developed by JPL/NASA, while ISRO is developing S-band SAR.

The L & S band microwave data obtained from this satellite will be useful for variety of application, which include

• Natural resources mapping & monitoring
• Estimating agricultural biomass over full duration of crop cycle
• Assessing soil moisture
• Monitoring of floods and oil slicks
• Coastal erosion,
• Coastline changes & variation of winds in coastal waters
• Assessment of mangroves
• Surface deformation studies, ice sheet collapses & dynamics etc.

11. France passes law to ban all oil and gas production by 2040

France’s parliament has approved a law banning all exploration and production of oil and natural gas by 2040 within the country and its overseas territories.

The French government claims the ban is a world first. However, it is largely symbolic since oil and gas produced in France accounts for just 1 percent of domestic consumption. The rest is imported.

12. China plans world’s biggest carbon market to curb emissions

The world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China, has launched the world’s biggest ever mechanism to reduce carbon, in the form of an emissions trading system.

China’s top governmental bodies gave their approval to plans for a carbon trading system that will initially cover the country’s heavily polluting power generation plants, and then expand to take in most of the economy.

China has already set out a target of ensuring its still-growing emissions peak by 2030, a target experts say should be met. Which means the highest point will have been reached and emissions will begin to fall.

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