Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Quick Gyan (QG) Section of D2G. QG is just a glimpse of what happened today all over the world.
Only For Serious Candidates : We strongly recommend you to read the Current Affairs in detail. For your convenience, we have provided quick links under the updates. Make use of it.
Always Keep Yourself Updated!!!
1. ISRO’s PSLV to launch 6 Singapore satellites today
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has begun the 59-hour countdown for the launch of 6 Singapore satellites onboard its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C29, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. PSLV is scheduled to launch at 6.00 pm on December 16, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The 59 hr countdown activity of PSLV-C29/TeLEOS-1 Mission has started at 07:00 hr IST, Monday, December 14, 2015.
This would be PSLV’s 32nd flight carrying satellites. Antrix Corporation Ltd., the commercial arm of ISRO, has provided launch services in PSLV for 51 customer satellites from 20 countries. Of the six being carried on PSLv C29, TeLEOS-1 is the primary satellite weighing 400kg whereas the other five satellites include two micro-satellites and three nano-satellites. These would be launched into a 550-km circular orbit inclined at 15 degrees to the equator. TeLEOS-1 is the first Singapore commercial earth observation satellite and would be launched into a low Earth orbit for “remote sensing” applications.
Quick Link – ISRO
2. Bengaluru san Franscisco sign pact to be sister cities
Bengaluru, the silicon valleys of the east and San Francisco the silicon valley of the west have inked pacts to foster cultural bonds by entering in the field of public art and promoting women entrepreneurship. A letter of Intent has been signed between the civic administrators of both the cities in which it is decided interactive art installations will be set up in public spaces near Cubbon Park and Vidhana Soudha stations of Bengaluru Metro as well as San Francisco’s Civic Center Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station.
A delegation headed by Karnataka minister for industries and tourism R.V. Deshpande toured the US and France at the start of the month of December and made a presentation on ‘Invest Karnataka 2016’ before officials at the Bay Area Council, San Francisco.
Quick Link – Sister Cities
3. Honda car India introduces Honda connect at Rs. 2,999
Honda Cars India introduced Honda Connect – an App that provides convenient access to detailed information about Honda vehicles and other services. For its usage, a ‘Connected Device’ is required and the initial 20,000 customers will be provided with this device from Honda at a subsidized rate of Rs. 2,999.
Quick Link – Honda Connect
4. World Bank approves USD 1.5b to support clean India campaign
The World Bank has approved a USD 1.5 billion loan for the ambitious clean India campaign. It aims to support the government in its efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation and end the practice of open defecation by 2019. As per World Bank statistics, of the 2.4 billion people who lack access to improved sanitation globally, more than 750 million live in India, with 80 per cent living in rural areas. More than 500 million of the rural population in India continue to defecate in the open, suffering from preventable deaths, illness, stunting, harassment and economic losses.
Quick Link – World Bank
5. Govt eyes Rs. 10000 cr a year from Swachh Bharat Cess
Government is about to add Rs 10,000 crore revenue in a full fiscal by levying Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC). Resources generated from the cess will be utilised for financing and promoting initiatives towards Swachh Bharat. As you all must be aware, the government has imposed SBC of 0.5 per cent on all services liable for service tax, effective November 15, 2015 to boost Sawcch Bharat Abhiyan.
What is Swachh Bahart Cess?
It is a Cess which shall be levied and collected in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VI of the Finance Act, 2015,called Swachh Bharat Cess, as service tax on all the taxable services at the rate of 0.5% of the value of taxable service
Quick Link – Swachh bharat cess
6. Air pollution levels above prescribed limits in 15 of 17 Indian cities with NAQI stations
Greenpace India reported that Air pollution levels exceeds the prescribed standards in 15 out of 17 Indian cities where National Air Quality Index (NAQI) stations are situated. The report said that the official data confirmed that exposure to toxic particulate pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) is alarmingly high in most Indian cities and National Ambient Air Quality Standards are being continuously violated.
The NGO released a ranking report of the 17 cities covered by NAQI on 15th December 2015. This report is the first analysis of air pollution levels in Indian cities carried out using the NAQI system. The report said that Delhi’s levels over the eight months of data were 12 times as high as the WHO annual guideline and three times as high as the national standard. Another six cities Lucknow, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Varanasi — had average levels at least 10 times as high as the WHO annual guideline
Quick Link – NAQI
7. Apurvi Chandela bags air rifle gold
Apurvi Chandela won the women’s gold in air rifle in the 59th National shooting championship on December 15. Geetakshi Dixit clinched the silver, one point behind Apurvi. In the final, Anjum Moudgil led throughout before she stumbled with shots of 9.6 and 9.9 that left her win the bronze medal. Apurvi had a 0.4 point lead over Geetakshi before the last two shots. Apurvi responded with shots of 10.0 and 10.6, while Geetakshi delivered the first shot that was not a 10 in the final.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was the chief guest, impressed with shots of 10.5 and 10.6 with the air rifle, before awarding the medals.
Quick Link – Apurvi Chandela
8. Petrol price cut 50 paisa/liter, diesel by 46 paisa
Oil MARKETING companies have slashed petrol prices by Rs 50 paise a litre and simultaneously, have brought down diesel prices also by 46 paise. Similarly, a litre of diesel will cost Rs 46.09 as compared to Rs 46.55 now, said Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’s biggest fuel retailer said.
Tuesday’s cut in prices is the second this month. OIL firms had last cut petrol price by 58 paise per litre and diesel by 25 paise on December 1. “The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and rupee-dollar exchange rate warrant a decrease in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision,” IOC said in a statement.
Quick Link – IOC
9. Google CEO Sundar Pichai to Meet PM Modi President Mukherjee
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first visit to India since he took the top job in August. There will be no new launches this time, but Pichai will meet Google employees. The India-born CEO, who will visit India on Dec 16 and 17, is scheduled to address the media on Dec 16. He will meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad later.
On Dec 17, Pichai will meet Modi after which he will attend a chat session with students of Shri Ram College of Commerce. In the evening, he will attend a banquet hosted by President Mukherjee. Modi, during his US visit in September, met Pichai at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Santa Clara.
Quick Link – Sundar Pichai
10. India Business Card for SAARC trade
India is all set to launch an “India Business Card” for the business community in SAARC countries.The stumbling block so far for issuance of this card had been Pakistan, but the decks have now been cleared with renewed ties with Pakistan. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi all set to visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC summit in late 2016, the government wants to deliver on the announcements he made during the summit in Nepal.
In the past two weeks, India and Pakistan have had two meetings at the level of National Security Adviser (NSA) and foreign ministers. Earlier in July, India relaxed business visa norms for Pakistan, which is valid for three years now, up from one year earlier, and businessmen would be able to visit up to 15 places. Intelligence agencies had expressed apprehension over easing visa restrictions on businessmen from Pakistan, but the government prevailed over their concerns saying it was required to bring in normality in the region.
Quick Link – SAARC
11. Japan’s SoftBank wins first solar project in India
Marking its debut in the Indian solar sector after its investment announcement of $20 billion, Japan’s Soft Bank won its first solar power project in India. The Japanese firm won the 350 megawatt (Mw) project, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM), through its joint venture (JV) company SBG Cleantech. SBG Cleantech bid the lowest tariff of Rs 4.63 per unit to win the entire tendered capacity of 350 Mw. This is the lowest bid this year for solar power. Last month, US firm Sun Edison had won a 500-Mw solar power park in Andhra Pradesh at the same tariff.
Quick Link – SoftBank
12. Saudi Arabia reopens its embassy in Iraq after 25 years
Saudi Arabia has reopened its embassy in Iraq, a quarter of a century after Riyadh broke off diplomatic relations with Baghdad following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The staff of the Saudi embassy arrived on Dec 15 in Baghdad. They were met at the airport. The staff consists of 35 people, led by the ambassador’s deputy. The Saudi ambassador to Baghdad was due to arrive by Dec 17 and would attend an official opening ceremony.
Quick Link – Saudi Arabia
13. Transactions above Rs. 2 lakh need PAN from January 1
In a bid to curtail domestic black MONEY flow, the finance ministry on Dec 15 announced mandatory furnishing of permanent account number (PAN) for all transactions above Rs 2 lakh through all payment modes with effect from January 1, 2016. This is a relaxation from an proposal to make PAN mandatory for sale and purchase of items above Rs 1 lakh. Accepting the recommendations of the special investigation team on black money, finance minister Arun Jaitley had in the 2015-16 Budget proposed to make PAN details mandatory for all sale and purchase of Rs 1 lakh and above. However, it met with resistance from TRADE and industry associations that argued the lower limit would affect business. Besides, the ministry rationalised monetary limits for certain transactions requiring mandatory quoting of PAN.
Quick Link – PAN
14. IAEA ends 12 year Iran Nuclear Weapon probe
The global nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has ended its 12-year investigation into concerns that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons. The move is seen as a key step towards lifting UN, EU and US sanctions. The IAEA concluded that Iran conducted nuclear weapons-related research until 2003 and to a lesser extent until 2009, but found no evidence of this since. Iran had warned that unless this happened, it would not implement key parts of July’s accord with six major powers to scale down its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
After stalling for many years, Iran agreed in July to cooperate with the IAEA to address the claims, which it has always rejected, allowing inspectors to visit sites and providing additional information. As a result the IAEA on Dec. 2 released a “final assessment” — even though it did not receive all the information it sought — concluding that some of the allegations were indeed accurate.
Quick Link – IAEA
15. SC bans diesel vehicles above 2000 CC engine upto 31st March
The Supreme Court has banned the registration of new diesel-guzzling luxury cars and SUVs with an engine capacity of over 2000 cc until March 31. The decision effectively stops the sale of popular vehicles such as Toyota’s Innova, Mahindra & Mahindra’s Scorpio, the Tata Safari and Sumo, and Mitsubishi Pajero during the ban period, but existing diesel cars can continue to ply. It also hurts luxury car-makers across the board as most of their best-sellers are diesel-driven.
The Apex court has also said that it would consider a plea for new registrations when Euro-4 diesel engines with improved emission standards are introduced in April next year. It added that buyers of diesel vehicles should pay environment compensation charge while getting their cars registered.
Quick Link – Ban on diesel vehicles
16. Arun Kumar Jain appointed as Chairman of CBDT
Senior revenue service officer Arun Kumar Jain has been appointed as the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The appointment has been also approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Quick Link – Arun Kumar Jain
17. SC appoints retired Justice Virendra Singh as UP Lokayukta
A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and NV Ramana appointed former Allahabad High Court judge Virendra Singh as the new UP Lokayukta, after recording the repeated failure of the state government to comply with the court’s directives — the state government has breached at least three deadlines in the last one year. Snubbing the Akhilesh Yadav government, the court refused to wait any further to enable the three functionaries — the Chief Minster, Leader of Opposition and High Court Chief Justice — to reach an agreement on the new incumbent, and made the appointment straightaway by exercising its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution.
Quick Link – UP Lokayukta
18. Vijay Diwas observed across the country
Vijay Diwas has been observed across India on 16 December 2015. On this day, nation remembers martyrs, who laid down their lives during Indo-Pak War of 1971. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army Chief D S Suhag, Navy Chief R K Dhowan and Air Chief Arup Raha remembered martyrs and paid tributes at Amar Jawan Jyoti in New Delhi
Quick Link – Vijay Diwas
19. Sachin and Ganguly in Warne’s greatest Indian Test XI
Warne, who has been naming his preferred XIs from different countries on his facebook page, turned his attention to India in the latest post. The criterion for selection was that Warne must have competed against the selected players. Not surprisingly, cricket’s highest run-scorer Tendulkar was Warne’s choice for No.4 spot in his side. The opening slots went to Virender Sehwag and Navjot Singh Sidhu followed by the ever-dependable Rahul Dravid at No.3.
Tendulkar, who scored 15,921 runs with 51 hundreds in 200 Tests, was hardly a surprise. But Warne said that he was in a dilemma about whether to go for VVS Laxman or Mohammad Azharuddin for No.6 position. All-rounder Kapil Dev and current limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni are also in the list. Dhoni has not played international cricket against Warne but made the cut owing to the IPL face-offs between the two. Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath formed the bowling attack of Warne’s line-up.
Quick Link – Indian Test XI
Happy Reading!!
