24th December 2016 Important Daily Current Affairs

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Dear Great Ambitionists, here are today's (24th December 2016) Important Current Affairs updates. Happy Reading :)

Daily Current Affairs of 24th December 2016

MOUs & Agreements

• US President Barack Obama signs National Defence Authorisation Act 2017 to recognise India as America's major defence partner.
• India and Kazakhstan today inked a new protocol to take forward bilateral ties, especially in trade and economic spheres.
• Both parties discussed prospects for cooperation in fields like energy, investment, tourism, and agriculture.
• The protocol was signed during the 5th Kazakh-Indian Joint Working Group on trade and economic cooperation meeting.

National Current Affairs

• National Consumers Day / National Consumers Right Day is observed today with the objective of providing better protection of consumer’s interest.
• This day is being observed since the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was enacted on this day in 1986.
• Theme of the year 2016 : Alternate Consumer Disputes Redressal
  
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid the foundation stone (performed Jal Pujan) of 'Shiv Smarak', a ₹3,600-crore memorial of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai. 
• Located 1.5 km off the coast, it will house Shivaji's 192 m tall statue. 
• Taller than New York's Statue of Liberty, it would reportedly be the world's tallest statue once completed.
• The Ministry of External Affairs today announced revised passport application rules, under which producing birth certificate is not mandatory and Aadhar cards will be accepted as proof of birth. 
• Note : According to the statutory provisions of the Passports Rules, 1980, all the applicants born after January 26, 1989, had to submit a birth certificate in order to receive their passports.
• The Ministry of External Affairs also allowed sadhus and sanyasis (saints and hermits) to apply for a passport by giving their spiritual Guru's name instead of names of their parents.
• In an initiative to provide equal opportunities for women, Karnataka government has removed restrictions on allowing women to work in night shifts in all sectors. 
• However, employers will have to carry out measures to ensure the security of female employees. 
• Note : Currently, the allowance is only for women working in Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services sectors.
• The Delhi Metro today announced that it will make 10 of its stations cashless from January 1 by opting for digital payment app Paytm for token purchase and smart card recharge. 
• The stations chosen are,
• Rohini East, 
• Rohini West, 
• MG Road Station, 
• Mayur Vihar Phase-I, 
• Nirman Vihar, 
• Tilak Nagar, 
• Janakpuri West, 
• Noida Sector-15, 
• Nehru Place,
• Kailash Colony
• The NITI Aayog along with Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has rolled out Performance on Health Outcomes index to rank States on the basis of their performance on measurable health indicators. 
• The index was developed with inputs from domestic and international experts, including academicians and development partners as well as feedback from States.
• NITI - National Institution for Transforming India

Recent Schemes in News

• The Odisha Government launched the Biju Sishu Surakshya Yojana, a scheme to nurture the orphan and HIV-infected children residing in different child care institutions and orphanages. 
• Main Aim of this scheme : to facilitate care and protection towards orphans and HIV infected children of the state. 
• To promote digital payment methods to encourage consumers and merchants to increasingly shift to these payment modes, the government of India is going to launch two schemes Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana for Merchants on 25th December 2016.
• Lucky Grahak Yojana sheme is for Consumers. 
• Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana is for Merchants. 
• The schemes are aimed at encouraging people to move towards significantly higher usage of digital transactions through the offer of incentives.
• The schemes will be implemented by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). 
• Note : Only those transactions that take place through RuPay Cards, USSD, UPI and AEPS are eligible for these schemes.

New Appointments

• Pope Francis has chosen Dr Barbara Jatta as the first woman to direct the Vatican Museums. 
• Barbara, who is presently the Deputy Director of the museums, will assume office on January 1, 2017, becoming the highest-ranking female administrator in the Vatican.

Awards & Honors

• Veteran Bengali poet and literary critic Shankha Ghosh has been choosen for this year's Jnanpith Award 2016 - India's highest literary award. 
• He is the 52nd recipient of this award and 6th Bengali litterateur to bag this prestigious literary award.
• Check complete details about this award and shankha ghosh from here

Bankng & Economic Affairs

• India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank,  has launched EazyPay mobile application for merchants that allows all-in-one acceptance payments platform. 
• This app consolidates all digital wallets, QR code, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and credit & debit cards modes of payments. 
• With this, ICICI Bank became first bank in the country to roll out all-in-one payments platform.

Sports Current Affairs

• The Indian Under-19 cricket team beat Sri Lanka by 34 runs to win the 2016 edition of the Youth Asia Cup, their third consecutive title win.
• 16-time World Champion Pankaj Advani wins National title in 6-red Snooker, the shorter format of the game.

This is the end of today's Daily Current Affairs session friends. Good Day :)

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