Daily Current Affairs, 04th December 2018

1) Indian Navy Day: 4 December

•Navy Day is being celebrated in India on 4th December. The day is celebrated in honour of the maritime force’s role during the war with Pakistan in 1971 when Indian warships attacked Karachi port and successfully hurt Pakistani operations in the western coast.

•The Day is also celebrated to highlight the role the Navy plays in securing the country’s marine borders during peacetime and carrying out humanitarian missions. As per the recent Data, since 2008, 70 Indian naval warships have been deployed, which safely escorted over 3440 ships with over 25,000 mariners on board.

2) Nagaland Becomes First North-Eastern State To Launch Single Emergency Number ‘112’

•Nagaland became the first state in the Northeast and second in the country, after Himachal Pradesh, to launch a pan-India single-number (112) emergency mobile application which will have a special women safety feature for immediate assistance from police and volunteers.

•Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh stated that a ‘SHOUT‘ feature has been made available exclusively for women in the ‘112 India’ mobile app which is connected to the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS). The launch coincided with the state’s formation day and the inaugural day of the 2018 edition of the Hornbill Festival.

3) Qatar To Leave OPEC From January 2019

•Qatar has announced its decision to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from January 2019 and focus more on the production of natural gas. The announcement was made by Qatar’s new energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi. 

•Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of LPG. Qatar also wants to raise its oil production from 4.8 million barrels of oil equivalent a day to 6.5 million barrels.

4) Bahrain and Maharashtra Government Signs MoU on Fintech

•The Economic Development Board (EDB), the investment promotion arm of the Kingdom of Bahrain signed an MoU with the Maharashtra Government to provide a framework for Co-operation between the two authorities to promote FinTech in their respective markets.

•The MoU was signed by Dr. Simon Galpin, MD, EDB & Shri S.V.R. Srinivas, IAS Principal Secretary, DIT. This MoU is in line with the EDB’s aims of exploring greater synergies between India and Bahrain in the financial technology space and will last for an initial period of three years.

5) Pawan Singh First Indian To Be Elected In ISSF’s Judges Committee

•Pawan Singh has become the first Indian to be elected one of seven member’s of the Judges Committee of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF). Mr. Singh also holds the post of the Joint Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).

•Mr. Singh got elected onto the seven members’ Judges Committee for which 22 candidates from all over the world were in the fray. Members of the administrative council of ISSF voted to select the committee during the elections held at Munich. The ISSF elections take place every four years.

6) ‘PAiSA’ Launched Under Day-NULM

•“PAiSA – Portal for Affordable Credit and Interest Subvention Access”, a centralized electronic platform for processing interest subvention on bank loans to beneficiaries under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) was launched by Sh. Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

•The web platform has been designed and developed by Allahabad Bank which is the Nodal bank. All 35 states / UTs & all scheduled commercial banks, RRBs, and Cooperative Banks are expected to be on board the PAiSA portal soon.

7) ADB, Centre Sign $85 million Loan to Support Odisha Skill Development Project

•The Centre and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed an 85 million dollar loan to improve skill development eco-system in Odisha. An advanced skill training center, the World Skill Center (WSC) will also be established in Bhubaneswar with the help of a loan.

•The Odisha Skill Development Project agreement was signed by Additional Secretary in the Finance Ministry Sameer Kumar Khare and Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission Kenichi Yokoyama in New Delhi.

8) ECB Launched TIPS Instant Payment System

•The European Central Bank launched a new system aimed at letting banks settle payments instantly across Europe, helping them to compete with PayPal and other global tech giants.

•Developed in just over a year, the ECB’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS)system will let people and companies in Europe transfer euros to each other within seconds and regardless of the opening hours of their local bank. TIPS is open only to providers that have an account at a central bank connected to the euro zone’s TARGET 2 network, meaning it is effectively restricted to European Union banks.

9) Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik Win Gold At Wrestling Nationals

•Indian star wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik successfully emerged champions in the 57 kg and 62 kg title respectively in the Tata Motors Senior Women’s National Championship.

•Vinesh Phogat bagged her sixth National title. She had earlier won five Nationals in a row from 2012 to 2016. Sakshi put up a confident show to win the title in the 62 kg without losing a single point. The event was hosted by Uttar Pradesh.