Daily Current Affairs, 20th December 2018

1) International Human Solidarity Day: 20 December

•International Human Solidarity Day is organized across the world on 20th December. It is a day to celebrate our unity in diversity and also a day to remind governments to respect their commitments to international agreements.

•The General Assembly, on 22 December 2005, by resolution 60/209 identified solidarity as one of the fundamental and universal values.

2) NITI Aayog Released Strategy Document For New India

•NITI Aayog unveiled its comprehensive national Strategy for New India titled ‘Strategy for New India @75’, which defines clear objectives for 2022-23. The document was released by the Finance Minister of India Mr Arun Jaitley.

•The Strategy Document advocates empowering and encouraging women to participate across all sectors of the economy, to build a strong and inclusive New India. It vouches for the transformation of the rural economy, creating a policy environment that enables income security for farmers and modernising agricultural technology for doubling farmers income.

3) India’s Largest Cancer Institute Launched At AIIMS’ Jhajjar Campus

•India’s largest cancer institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been soft launched at Haryana’s Jhajjar area. The institute was finalised at a cost of Rs 2,035crore and the project was approved by the cabinet committee in 2013.

•The aim isto strengthen research and also bring down the patient load at All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS) cancer centre. The hospital will be fully functional by December 2020.

4) Assam Government Announces 3 Schemes For Farmer’s Welfare

•Assam government has announced three schemes for the welfare of farmers. The schemes are the Assam Farmers’ Credit Subsidy Scheme (AFCSS), Assam Farmers’ Interest Relief Scheme (AFIRS) and Assam Farmers’ Incentive Scheme (AFIS).

•The state Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that all three schemes will cover five lakh farmers in the first phase.

•Under AFCSS, whatever amount of loan the farmers took from banks and whatever amount they repaid, 25% of the money will be reimbursed by the state government.

•On AFIRS, the Minister Stated that currently 3% of the 7% interest against farm loan is paid by the Central government and the remaining 4% is required to be paid by farmers. The state government has decided to pay the remaining 4% loan.

•About AFIS, Mr. Sarma stated that the government is focusing on bringing back the defaulting farmers into the banking system.

5) Surrogacy Bill Passed In Lok Sabha

•Lok Sabha has passed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 which is aimed at prohibiting commercial surrogacy and unethical practices relating to it. The Bill has provisions to constitute National Surrogacy Board, State Surrogacy Boards, and appointment of appropriate authorities for regulation of surrogacy.

•It permits surrogacy only for couples who cannot conceive a child. The intending couple must be Indian citizens and married for at least five years with at least one of them being infertile. The surrogate mother has to be a close relative who has been married and has a child of her own.

6) Mord Signs MoU With Maruti Suzuki India Ltd for Training Rural Youth for Skill Development

•Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) signed MoU with Maruti Suzuki India Ltd for training rural youth for skill development in presence of Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar. This partnership between the government and the leading industry from the automotive sector will provide training to atleast 5000 candidates in two years with assured placement to the rural youth of our country.




•Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is the flagship placement linked skill-training programme under the MoRD. 

7) UN States Adopt Global Compact On Refugees

•The U.N. General Assembly voted nearly unanimously to adopt a framework to strengthen the international response to the global refugee crisis. The United States and Hungary were the only two nations that voted against the Global Compact on Refugees, while 181 countries voted in favor. The Dominican Republic, Eritrea, and Libya abstained.

•The Compact comprises:

i) An introduction setting out its background, guiding principles and objectives;

ii) The Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework;

iii) A Programme of Action setting out concrete measures to help meet the objectives of the Compact; and

iv) Arrangements for follow-up and review.

8) Book ‘Changing India’ By Manmohan Singh Released

•Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released his book titled “Changing India”at an event in New Delhi. In the book, the Congress leader narrated his journey from an economist to a politician and shared anecdotes from his life.

9) Pranab K Das Appointed New Chairman of CBIC

•Senior bureaucrat Pranab Kumar Das has been appointed as chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the apex policy-making body for indirect taxes.

•Das, special secretary and member (customs) at CBIC, will succeed S Ramesh. Das, a 1983-batch IRS officer of Customs and Central Excise Cadre was appointed as a member in the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in 2017.

10) Harsh Vardhan Shringla Appointed India’s Ambassador to The US

•The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) appointed Harsh Vardhan Shringla as the new Ambassador of India to the United States of America. 

•Shringla is currently serving as the High Commissioner in Bangladesh. He would be succeeding Navtej Singh Sarna.