11th December 2014 - Important Current Affairs updates

sponsored links

International Affairs

• India's initiative for an International Day of Yoga on June 21 to be discussed at UN today.
• 175 nations sign up as sponsors 

Books & Authors

• The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years - Pranab Mukherjee

National Affairs

• Russian President Vladimir Putin is in India to attend 15th India-Russia annual summit.

• He held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further boost cooperation between the two strategic partners in crucial sectors like defence, energy and trade at a time when Russian economy was facing Western sanctions.
• India and Russia sign 16 agreements on oil, defence, atomic energy, and other sectors.
• In a major boost to India's defence sector, Modi in a joint statement with Putin said that Russia has offered to fully manufacture in India one of its most advanced helicopters.
• A proposal to give Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, triggered after assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has been approved by the government
• FIR filed against Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani in the bar licence bribery case.
• Cabinet approves Insurance Laws Amendment Bill, 2008 increasing FDI in the insurance sector to 49 per cent.
• Cabinet gives nod for 25 Solar parks of 500 Mega Watt and amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003 to achieve energy security.
• The Cabinet also cleared a proposal for setting up of a Rs 500-crore Credit Guarantee Fund for Factoring for MSME units. 
• World Diamond Conference started at the Vigyan Bhawan convention complex in Delhi today.
• Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• The conference is a joint effort of the World Diamond Mark Foundation (WDMF), the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India.
• This Conference is a first of its kind in the world.
• Twelve Indian companies will buy diamonds worth $2.1 billion in the next three years directly from Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA.
• These companies have signed three-year contracts with ALROSA during the World Diamond Conference

Awards & Honors

• In acknowledgement of their efforts to end the financial exploitation of children and to ensure the right of all children to an education, a US Senate resolution has been introduced to recognise Nobel laureates Kaliash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai as "symbols of peace."

Science & Technology

• Thirty years after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to venture into space, flying aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft,  Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, an Indian crew capsule that could one day carry astronauts will get their first trial next week (18th December).

Business & Economy

• Global economy will grow by more than 3 percent in 2015 and 2016 however the growth will be uneven in some regions, predicts the United Nations.
• The UN's annual economic report said that growth edged up in 2014 at an estimated 2.6 percent.
• The UN is forecasting 3.1 percent economic growth in 2015 and 3.3 percent growth in 2016.
• India’s economic growth is expected to improve to 6.3 per cent in 2016 with the country leading economic recovery in South Asia.
• Concerned over a number of ponzi operators continuing to collect funds even after being barred to do so, regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today cautioned investors and general public against dealing with such entities and not be lured by promises of high returns, makes public a list of 51 banned companies.
• The Delhi High Court in an interim order has restrained Xiaomi as well as online e-commerce site Flipkart from selling in India handsets of the Chinese mobile maker that run on the technology patented by Ericsson.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here

sponsored links