- Rahul Gandhi elected Indian National Congress President
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was elected unopposed as president of the Indian National Congress.
He is the 16th president of the Congress since Independence and sixth from the Nehru-Gandhi clan to take over the party reins. Mr. Gandhi has been vice-president of the party since 2013.
- Uma Shankar Appointed RBI Executive Director
Uma Shankar, chief general manager (CGM) in charge of the Reserve Bank of India’s financial inclusion and development department has taken over as executive director (ED) in the central bank.
Shankar has been elevated after Meena Hemchandra the executive director in charge of the central bank’s supervision department retired at the end of November.
- Ravi Shankar Prasad launches first NIC CERT
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology inaugurated the “NIC-CERT”, a setup of National Informatics Centre, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on 11th December 2017.
NIC-CERT has been setup with the objective of creating a comprehensive framework that integrates world class security components and inbuilt threat intelligence for detection, prevention and incident response.
Using the tools the team will correlate events that would help in generating a canvas of the attack surface and identify the vulnerabilities and possible exploits.
The gathered intelligence assimilated with the knowledge of the open web would give the CERT the ability prevent and predict attacks.
- J P Nadda launches new initiatives on Universal Health Coverage Day, 2017
The Union Health Minister and MoS (Finance) launched “LaQshya| लक्ष्य’’ – Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiative, a Safe Delivery Mobile Application for health workers who manage normal and complicated deliveries in the peripheral areas, and also released the Operational Guidelines for Obstetric High Dependency Units (HDUs) and Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
- 10 December 2017: Human Rights day
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December every year. This year’s Human Rights Day is devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50th anniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966.
Theme: Let’s stand up for equality, justice and human dignity
- 11 December 2017: International Mountain Day
International Mountain Day 2017 was observed globally on Monday under the theme of “Mountains Under Pressure: Climate, Hunger, Migration“.
This years’ world day provides an occasion to highlight how climate, hunger and migration are affecting highlands and ensure that sustainable mountain development is integrated into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the implementation of Paris Climate Agreement.
- China launches Algeria’s first communication satellite
China has successfully launched Algeria’s first communication satellite, the first project in aerospace industry between the North African nation and Beijing.
The Alcomsat-1 was launched into a present orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
It will be used by Algeria for broadcast and television, emergency communication, distance education, e-governance, enterprise communication, broadband access and satellite-based navigation
- India’s first-ever mobile food testing laboratory launched
Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has launched country’s first-ever mobile food testing laboratory.
Parrikar unveiled the vehicle, worth Rs 41 lakh, in presence of Goa Food and Drugs Administration minister Vishwajit Rane.
The laboratory mounted on a bus will be travelling across the state checking food samples on the spot.
- India INX Gets SEBI go-ahead for Listing of Debt Securities
BSE’s India International Exchange (India INX) has received approval from the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on the framework for listing of debt securities.
The move will enable Indian and foreign issuers to issue masala bonds, eurobonds and foreign currency bonds from India INX at International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) for the first time
- India to host 2-day Connectivity Summit with ASEAN countries
Keeping with Indias initiative of connectivity with southeast Asia under its Act East Policy, New Delhi will host an Asean-India Connectivity Summit (AICS) on December 11-12 on the theme “Powering Digital and Physical Linkages for Asia in the 21st Century.
The event comes ahead of the visit of the leaders of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) here next month for the commemorative summit of 25 years of the India-Asean dialogue partnership.
- China Starts World’s Biggest Floating Solar Project
A unit of China Three Gorges Corp. is building a floating solar power plant, the world’s biggest, at a cost of 1 billion yuan ($151 million) in the nation’s eastern province of Anhui.
The project features panels fixed to floats on the surface of a lake, which formed after a coal mine collapsed, according to the unit. The entire facility is expected to come on stream by May 2018.
China Three Gorges New Energy Company started building the 150-megawatt project in July and part of the plant has been connected to the grid
- Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers Meet Begins in Delhi
India, Australia, the US and Japan sat down for talks on cooperation in the “Indo-Pacific”—seen as a possible security framework among the four against a rising China—Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj will meet her counterparts from Russia and China for discussions on deepening coordination in the Asia-Pacific region.
India is also expected to discuss, mainly with Russia, the fast tracking of the 7,200km-long International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) linking India, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia with Europe.
- Sri Lanka formally hands over Hambantota Port to China
Sri Lanka was formally handed over the strategic southern port of Hambantota to China on a 99- year lease, in a deal dubbed by the opposition as a sell-out.
Two Chinese firms — Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) and Hambantota International Port Services (HIPS) managed by the China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort) and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will own the port and the investment zone around it
- US, Japan, South Korea conduct joint missile tracking drill
The US, South Korea and Japan started joint exercises to track missiles from North Korea, Seoul’s military said, following the nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s longest-range test launch to date.
The trilateral drill comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and declared it had achieved nuclear statehood, escalating global alarm over its weapons push.
- ‘Father of DNA fingerprinting in India’ passes away aged 70
Dr Lalji Singh, also known as the ‘father of DNA fingerprinting in India’ passed away at the age of 70.
Singh was the founder of two premier scientific institutions — Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics(CDFD) and the Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES). Both of the centres are located in Hyderabad.
- Veteran Journalist Sukharanjan Sengupta Passes Away
Veteran journalist Sukharanjan Sengupta died. He was 85. Sengupta had worked for Bengali dailies Jugantar and Ananda Bazar Patrika in his long career spanning over six decades.
**************************************
