Daily Current Affairs, 23rd and 24th December 2018

1) National Farmers’ Day: 23rd December

•National Farmers’ Day (Kisan Diwas) 2018 was celebrated all over India on 23rd of December. It is celebrated in the honour of the former Prime Minister of India Chaudhary Charan Singh with the focus on the upliftment of the status of farmers.

•In Lucknow, a program was organised by Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He also unveiled a statue of Sri Chaudhary Charan Singh in Ghaziabad and announce the allocation of Rs. 325 crore for the development of the city and rural areas.

2) National Consumer Day: 24th December

•Every Year 24th December is observed as National Consumer Day with a specific theme in India. This year the National Consumer Day is celebrated with the theme “Timely Disposal of Consumer Complaints”.

•On this day the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the president. The enactment of this Act is considered as a historic milestone in the consumer movement in the country.

3) PM Releases Commemorative Rs 100 Coin In Honour Of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi releases a 100 rupees commemorative coin in honour of former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary, which falls on 25th December, is celebrated as ‘Good Governance Day’.

•He was conferred with the Bharat Ratna was in 2014. PM Modi stated that the voice of Atal Ji was the voice of common people of India for four decades.

4) PM Modi Announces New Award For National Integration

•PM Narendra Modi announced the institution of ‘Sardar Patel Award for National Integration’, which would be given for “outstanding efforts to further national integration”.

•PM Modi stated that the award will be a “fitting tribute” to Patel who devoted his life towards “unifying India”. He added that the award will inspire people to work towards national integration.

5) India’s Vedangi Kulkarni Becomes Fastest Asian to Cycle The Globe

•The 20-year old Indian woman Vedangi Kulkarni becomes the fastest Asian to cycle the globe. She had completed 29,000 kilometres’ distance required to qualify as bicycling across the globe. Vedangi spent 159 days peddling up to 300 kilometers a day in 14 countries.

•Starting off from Perth in July, she will now be flying back to the Australian city to complete the record by cycling a 15-kilometre distance to reach the same place from where she started. Vedangi hails from Pune.

6) India Successfully Test-Fires Nuclear-Capable Agni-IV Missile

•India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of 4,000 km, as part of a user trial by the Army. The strategic surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile was flight tested from launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Dr Abdul Kalam Island, earlier known as Wheeler Island.

•This was the 7th trial of Agni-IV missile. The last trial conducted by the strategic force command (SFC) of the Indian Army from the same base on January 2, 2018 was successful.

7) PM Modi Unveiled Projects Worth Rs 14,500 Crore In Odisha

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated several projects worth over Rs 14,500 crduring a day-long visit to Odisha. The Prime Minister dedicated the new campus of IIT-Bhubaneswar at Aragul and launched a slew of projects related to higher education, health, road and highways , and culture.

•He laid the foundation of Paradip-Hyderabad Pipeline Product Project by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Bokaro-Angul section of Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Gas Pipeline Project by Gas Authority of India Limited. Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Lalitgiri Archaeological Museum and released a commemorative coin and a postage stamp in memory of Paika Rebellion at a function in IIT Bhubaneswar.

8) 3 States Among Best Performing States Under Maternity Benefit Programme: WCD

•Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were the top three performing states under the maternity benefit programme Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). Minister of State for the Women and Child Development Ministry Virendra Kumar stated PMMVY is a centrally-sponsored scheme under which the cost-sharing ratio between the Centre, states and the Union Territories with the legislation is 60:40.

•For the eight northeastern states and the three Himalayan states it is 90:10, and 100 per cent central assistance for the Union Territories without the legislation. About 51.70 lakh beneficiaries are covered annually under the PMMVY and grants-in-aid amounting to Rs 2,048.59 crores and Rs 369.31 crores have been sanctioned to the states and the Union Territories during the year 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.

9) Manipur Assembly Passes Anti-mob Violence Bill

•The Manipur Assembly has passed a bill which recommends life imprisonment for those involved in mob violence if it results in the death of a person. Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who also holds charge of the Home department, moved the ‘The Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Bill, 2018’ in the state Assembly. The bill was passed by the Assembly unanimously.

•It recommends a rigorous life imprisonment term if the crime results in the death of a victim. The bill was introduced in the Assembly in the wake of incidents of mob lynchings in the state.

10) Defence Minister Inaugurates Information Fusion Centre in Gurugram

•Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre (IFC) in Gurugram that aims to collaborate with partner countries and multi-national agencies to develop maritime awareness and share information on vessels.

•The IFC has been established at the Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurugram which is the single point centre interlinking all the coastal radar chains to generate a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500-km long coastline.

11) Indian Railways Bags 17 Awards For Energy Conservation

Indian Railways bagged 17 awards at the ‘National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA) 2018’ held in New Delhi.

•Under ‘transport‘ category, Indian Railways obtained 10 awards for the subsector railway station. Vidisha railway station in Madhya Pradesh won the first prize.

•Under ‘building‘ category, Indian Railways got three awards for subsector Railway hospitals. Railway hospitals of Izzatnagar division won the first prize.

•Under ‘institution‘ category, Indian Railways bagged four awards for subsector state PWD, CPWD and PHED. Passenger reservation system complex building of Secunderabad division won the first prize.

The awards are given by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Powerto various institutions for adopting energy efficiency measures.

12) Burundi Names Gitega As New Capital

•Burundi declared the small central city of Gitega the country’s new political capital, in line with a presidential promise, made a decade ago.

•A government spokesman named Gitega while also stating that the previous capital Bujumbura, on the north-eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, would in future function solely as the country’s economic centre.

13) BVP Rao Elected Archery Association of India President

•BVP Rao has been elected as the president of the Archery Association of India in the polls held under a High Court-appointed administrator. Rao, who represented Archery Association of Assam, beat Rupak Debroy of Tripura at the elections held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

•A retired IAS officer of Assam cadre, Rao earlier served as vice president of the archery association of the northeastern state. He was also earlier associated with Sports Authority of India in various capacities.