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 each update. Make use of it.
Always Keep Yourself Updated!!!
1. India, S’pore lift ties to strategic partnership, ink 10 pacts
India and Singapore have elevated their ties to the ‘strategic partnership’ level and signed bilateral India and Singaporeagreements for enhanced defence cooperation and in areas like cyber security, shipping and civil aviation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong. Modi also met Singapore President Tony Tan Keng on the second day of his visit and was accorded a ceremonial welcome here at Istana, the official residence and office of the President.
Quick Link – India and Singapore Pacts
2. IDBI Bank becomes first commercial state-owned bank to raise $350 million via selling green bonds
IDBI Bank has become the first commercial state-owned bank to raise $350 million via selling green bonds, where proceeds are used for clean energy projects. The company has a pipeline of more than $1 billion clean energy projects requiring credit lines. In futures, IDBI may sell more such bonds depending on those project status. Bonds were priced at 4.26% (fixed rate) after adding a mark-up or spread of 255 basis points on five-year US Treasury, now at 1.71%.
Bond will be of five-year maturity. This is a part of the bank’s medium-term-note programme, set at $5 billion over next few years. The bank has already lent $300 million to such projects and is in talks with several others to lend $2 billion over the next 12-15 months.
Quick Link – IDBI bank
3. China, Thailand joint air force exercise highlights warming ties
Thailand’s military held an air show with China ahead of joint manoeuvres in a sign of warming ties. Five Thai and Chinese military planes performed aerobatic demonstrations for assembled media, flying some 3,000 feet (900 metres) above ground at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, around 260 km (161 miles) northeast of Bangkok. Chinese and Thai air forces will conduct their first joint exercises that China has said are aimed at increasing “mutual trust and friendship.”
Quick Link – China and Thailand
4. Dharamsala to be developed as Smart City
The state government was mulling to develop Dharamsala into a ‘Smart City’ as it is an international tourist destination of the country. Himachal Urban Development, Town and Country Planning Minister Sudhir Sharma said that the district will not only be developed as a Smart City, but also as a progressive and inclusive city of the country.
5. Ex-Gujarat HC judge M R Calla elected President of retired judges body
Justice MR Calla, retired judge of the Rajasthan and Gujarat high courts, has been appointed as the President of Association of Retired Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts of India. Justice Calla was unanimously elected as President of the association for a term of two years at the two-day Annual General Meeting of the association held from November 21.
The other appointments made during the meeting were those of retired high court judges Justices SK Dubey and Bhaskar Rao as Vice Presidents of the association, while Justice A K Srivastav was elected as the Secretary General and Justice Fakhruddin was re-elected as its Treasurer.
Quick Link – Appointments in Retired Judges Association
6. Hockey India announces NTPC as sponsor
Hockey India, the apex organisation governing field hockey in India, has announced NTPC Limited, the largest power utility of the country as an Official Partner for the Hero Hockey World League Final 2015. The Hero Hockey World League Final will be played at the newly inaugurated Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel International Hockey Stadium, Raipur, India from the 27th November- 6th December 2015.
NTPC’s partnership is the third signing by Hockey India for the Hero Hockey World League Final this year after securing National Mineral Development Corporation as the Principal Partner and South Eastern Coalfields Limited as the first Official Partner for the year’s biggest international hockey event in the world.
Quick Link – Hockey India
7. 690 million children at risk from climate change: UNICEF
According to UNICEF, nearly 690 million of the world’s 2.3 billion children live in areas most exposed to climate change, facing higher rates of death, poverty and disease from global warming. Almost 530 million children live in countries hardest-hit by high floods and tropical storms, mostly in Asia. An additional 160 million kids are growing up in areas suffering severe droughts, mostly in Africa. US President Barack Obama and China’s Xi Jinping are joining more than 135 world leaders in Paris for an international conference aimed at clinching the first agreement on tackling global warming in 20 years.
Quick Link – 690 Million Children
8. Nielsen launches India’s first digital advertisement measurement system
Global marketing research firm Nielsen has launched India’s first digital advertisement measurement system that will help marketers in the country find out the return on investment of their campaigns on the internet and mobile platforms. The Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) system can measure all kinds of display and video ads across all digital platforms.
The new system can measure online advertising audiences, reach and frequency of digital ad campaigns, and gross rating points (GRP) of the ads like age group and gender of the audience who viewed the ad. DAR is already operational in more than a dozen countries including the US, China, Brazil and France.
Quick Link – Nielsen
9. ‘For Indians, Bali most popular global destination in winter’
This winter, Bali, a city in Indonesia, has topped the list of most popular international destination for Indian travellers while Goa is the most preferred domestic destination, according to a survey.
The report ‘Winter Vacation Value Report’ revealed that destinations having colder climatic conditions during winter are finding favour with the Indian travellers – Jaipur, New Delhi, Manali, Shimla and Agra – all feature in the top 10 list.
10. Indo-Pak border in Jaisalmer lighted with Solar power
India-Pakistan border in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan has been successfully lighted with solar power. The floodlights, along with fencing and border posts managed by Border Security Force (BSF) were supplied with the solar power generated from 5 MW solar power plant installed at Tata area, Jaisalmer. The solar energy vapour plant was installed by the Union Home ministry at a cost of 6 crore and 45 lakh rupees in sarkari tala area of Jaisalmer. The pilot project was set up the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Power generated from the plant would be sold by SECI at the rate of 5 rupees 45 paise per unit.
Quick Link – Indo-Pak Border
11. Conservative Mauricio Macri wins presidential polls in Argentina
Conservative Mauricio Macri has been confirmed as the winner in Argentina’s presidential elections after his ruling party opponent conceded. With almost all votes counted, Mr Macri led Daniel Scioli by 51.5% to 48.5%. Mr Macri’s victory is the first in more than a decade for Argentina’s centre-right opposition and ends the 12-year rule of the Peronist Party. His victory completes a turnaround for Mr Macri, who is currently mayor of Buenos Aires, after he lost in the first round of voting to Mr Scioli.
Quick Link – Mauricio Macri
12. Sri Lanka won’t allow any country to set up naval base on its territory
Sri Lankan Government has announced that they would not any country to set up naval base on its territory. This announcement was made by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe while he was speaking at the International Maritime Dialogue at Galle, Sri Lanka.
13. Delhi assembly passes CrPC (Delhi Amendment) Bill, 2015
Delhi Assembly has passed a Bill proposing amendments in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), setting up another flash point with the Centre, as it seeks to broaden the scope of magisterial probes into cases of kidnapping, rape and disappearances. The Opposition BJP accused the AAP government of “challenging” the authority of Parliament by empowering itself through the move. CrPC is a subject in the Concurrent list.
Till now, magisterial probe is ordered only in cases of custodial death, homicide, suicide of a woman or death of a woman. Through the amendment to section 176(1) of CrPC the government wants to widen its scope to cover any other cases of suspicious disappearance, rapes in police custody, and suspicious death.
Quick Link – Delhi Assembly
14. Rishi Gour appointed as Country President of Sodexo India On-site Services
Sodexo, the world leader in Quality of Life services, has announced the appointment of Rishi Gour as Country President of India. Sodexo India On-site Services is a leading provider of services that impact the Quality of Life of clients and their employees in the corporate segment and remote sites, patients and visitors in the healthcare segment, and students and faculty in the education segment. Sodexo is considered a strategic partner to its clients and delivers more than 40 different food and facilities management solutions across 1200+ sites.
Quick Link – Rishi Gour
16. Kuldip Nayar honoured with Ramnath Goenka Lifetime Achievement Award
Veteran journalist, columnist and author Kuldip Nayar has been honoured with ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his contribution to journalism at the eighth edition of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence awards for years 2013 and 2014. Nayar is former editor of the Indian Express. During Emergency he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for leading a protest against the excesses of the administration. The award for the years 2013 and 2014 was handed over by Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley, who also handed several awards in different categories to over 56 journalists for their exceptional reportage in print as well as broadcast media.
Quick Link – Ramnath Goenka Lifetime Achievement Award
17. Michael Keating appointed as Special Representative for Somalia and Head of UNSOM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the appointment of Michael Keating of the United Kingdom as his new Special Representative for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). Mr. Keating will succeed Nicholas Kay of the United Kingdom who will complete his assignment at the end of the year. Mr. Keating brings to this position extensive experience in supporting political and peace building transitions, as well as leading complex humanitarian and recovery programmes in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.
Quick Link – Michael Keating
18. UNISDR released the report titled The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) on 23 November 2015 released the report titled The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters. The report was compiled by UNISDR and the Belgian-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).
The report depicts that over the last 20 years, 90 percent of major disasters have been caused by 6457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other weather-related events.
19. Ratan Tata invests in S’pore’s startup Crayon Data
Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in Singapore-based big data company Crayon Data. The investment was made in his personal capacity. Crayon, a portfolio company of Jungle Ventures, had previously raised 10 million Singapore dollars in seed and Series A funding from angel institutional investors like Jungle Ventures and Spring Seeds.
The veteran industrialist has been aggressively investing in startups, ranging from e-commerce firms to cab aggregators. He has invested in firms like Snapdeal, Kaaryah, Urban Ladder, Bluestone, CarDekho, Sabse Technologies, Xiaomi and Ola. Tata, who served as chairman of Tata Sons for over two decades until his retirement in 2012, has also joined some venture capital funds as advisor, including Kalaari Capital and Jungle Ventures in the past year.
Quick Link – Ratan Tata
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