DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Dec. 8, 2021

India adds Ghana and Tanzania in the list of “at-risk” countries

Tags: National News

India has  added Ghana and Tanzania to the list of “at risk” countries, passengers from where have to follow additional COVID-19 testing and quarantine measures. Countries in Europe, including the U.K., and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tanzania and Israel have been placed in the “at risk” category. 

Last week, the Government announced stricter protocols for passengers arriving from “at-risk” countries which require mandatory testing on arrival in India. Passengers have to wait for their test results, which can take up to six hours, before they exit the airport or take a connecting flight.

Nagaland Government cancel Hornbill festival

Tags: State News

Nagaland Government has cancelled the famous annual “Hornbill festival “ as a respect to the 14 villagers mistakenly killed by the army during an anti-insurgent operation in the Mon district of Nagaland on 4 December .   

Chief Minister of Nagaland : Neiphiu Rio

Governor : Jagdhish Mukhi

Hornbill festival

The Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 to 10 December, in Nagaland to commemorate the founding of the State of Nagaland on 1 December 1963.

Nagaland was created after the partition of Assam.

To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year in the first week of December. The first festival was held in 2000.

The festival is named after the Indian hornbill bird , which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state's tribes.

US to diplomatic boycott Beijing winter olympics

Tags: International News

The US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, a move that has been heavily criticised by Beijing.

The White House said no official delegation would be sent to the Games because of concerns about China's human rights record especially its treatment of Uighur muslim in Xinjinag provinces.

However American sports persons will participate in the winter  olympic games.

Following the US announcement, New Zealand  and Australia also announced a diplomatic boycott of the games though their athletes be  participating in the games.

Winter Olympics Games 

The winter olympics games are organised every fours by the International Olympic Committee .

The games include sports which are played on snow and ice.

The Summer and Winter olympics were organised by the International Olympics Committee in the same year but in 1986 it was decided to hold the two games separately on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years.

So after the 1992 winter games next was the Winter games held in 1994 while the Summer Olympics was held in 1996 after 1992.

The first Winter Olympic Games was held in  1924 at Chamonix, France.

24th Games will be held in Beijing, China 2022.

25th games will be held in Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo , Italy.

ADB to provide loan to India

Tags: Economics/Business

Government of India and Asian Development Bank(ADB) has signed two agreement for loan to projects in India 

  • ADB will provide a $125 million loan to improve access to safe and affordable drinking water supply and citywide inclusive sanitation services in Dehradun and Nainital cities in the state of Uttarakhand.
  • It will also provide a $150 million loan to provide access to inclusive, resilient, and sustainable housing for the urban poor in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Asian Development Bank 

It was set up in 1966 after a resolution was passed at the first Ministerial Conference on Asian Economic Cooperation held by the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East in 1963 .

ADB was conceived in the early 1960s as a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world.

Originally there were 31 members when the Bank was set up in 1966 and now it has  68 members—of which 49 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside.

India is the largest recipient of ADB loan 

Headquarter of ADB : Mandaluyong City, Manila, Philippines

Current President of ADB: Masatsugu Asakawa  of Japan 

City Union Bank Launches payment keychain “On the Go”

Tags: Economics/Business

  • Private sector lender City Union Bank (CUB), in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and manufacturing partner Seshaasai, has unveiled ‘On-the-Go’ contactless wearable keychains for debit cards.
  • The device would enable customers to make fast payments up to ₹5,000 in all RuPay enabled point-of-sale devices without entering a PIN,
  • For payments above ₹5,000, customers would need to tap and then enter the PIN.

Headquarters of City Union Bank :Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu.

DRDO successfully tests VL-SRSAM

Tags: Defence

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO)  successfully flight tested Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile(VL-SRSAM) today by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. 

The air defence system is being developed by DRDO for naval warships and the new system can engage targets at a range of 15 KM.

DRDO

It is a premier research and development agency engaged in  developing new weapons and systems for the Indian Armed forces .

Under the Integrated  Guided Missile Development Programme(IGMDP) launched in the 1980s it developed a number of missile systems for India like Prithvi, Agni ,Akaash, Nag etc.

  •  It was established in 1958
  • Its Headquarters : New Delhi
  • Its current chairman :Dr G Satheesh Reddy
  • It comes under the Ministry of Defence. Government of India .
  • Missile Testing site in India :

The Integrated test range of DRDO to test missiles is at Abdul Kalam Island(earlier called as wheeler Island )and Chandipur Island off the coast of Odisha in Bay of Bengal.

Air version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile successfully test-fired from Sukhoi 30 MK-I off Odisha coast

Tags: Defence

Air version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test fired from the supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I at 1030 hrs from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha .

The launch is a major milestone in the BrahMos development. It clears the system for the serial production of air-version BrahMos missiles within the country.

Brahmos 

BrahMos is a Joint Venture between India (DRDO) and Russia (NPOM) for the development, production and marketing of the supersonic cruise missile.

The company was established on 12 February 1998  with India holding 50.5% share and Russia holding 49.5% shares.

 Brahmos is the first supersonic cruise missile in the world with a range of 290 km.

Brahmos missile is being  developed for the Air force, Navy and Army .

Lockheed Martin to make fighter aircrafts wings prototype in India

Tags: Defence

  • US defence company Lockheed Martin  has selected Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Ltd (TLMAL) as a potential future co-producer of fighter aircraft wings in India.
  • TLMAL, is   a joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems Ltd and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of the United States.
  • Lockheed Martin and TLMAL had in 2018 entered into an agreement to develop a fighter plane wings prototype at its Hyderabad  plant.
  • Lockheed Martin is a major defence company of the United States which manufactures a number of defence products like F-16,F-21,F-22,F-35.
  • It wants to sell F-22 fighter aircraft to India.

Sunil Arora joins advisory body of IDEA

Tags: Person in news

  • Former Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has been appointed to the advisory council of the International Institute for   Democracy  and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).
  • He was the 23rd  Chief Election commissioner of India  from 2nd December 2018 to 12th April, 2021.
  • International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
  • It is an intergovernmental organisation of   34 member countries.

Padma Shri awardee Nanda Kishore Prusty passes away

Tags: Person in news

Nanda Prusty was a 98-year-old school teacher from Jajpur, popularly known as Nanda Sir who provided free education to generations of children since independence.

He was awarded Padma Shri 2021 under the "Literature and Education" category by President Ram Nath Kovind in November.

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