Daily Current Affairs, 27th December 2018

1) Madhya Pradesh Declares Kuno As National Park

•Madhya Pradesh State government has declared Kuno wildlife sanctuary as a national park in compliance with the last condition imposed by a Supreme Court-appointed committee for the much awaited ‘translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir in Gujarat.’

•The move is expected to pave way for translocation of lions from Gir in Gujarat to Kuno. It is spread over 750 sq km area.

2) Dwijing Festival Begins in Assam

•In Assam, the third Dwijing Festival has begun on the bank of Aye river at Chirangdistrict. Around 15 lakh tourists will participate in the festival. Assam PHE minister Rihon Daimary inaugurated the festival in presence of several dignitaries.

•Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal will attend the event. Adventure sports, food mart, cultural events, traditional games are being organized in the 12-day long event. Participants from Thailand, Bhutan and Bangladesh have reached the festival.

3) Andhra Pradesh Gets New High Court in Amaravati

•The separate High Court for Andhra Pradesh will start functioning from January 1. Ministry of Law and Justice notified the constitution of the High Court in Amaravati.

•Andhra Pradesh High Court will be the 25th High Court in the country. The Hyderabad High Court has been functioning as common high court till now after bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

4) NITI Aayog Releases 2nd Delta Ranking of Aspirational Districts

•The NITI Aayog released the Second Delta ranking for the Aspirational Districts which measures the incremental progress made by them between June 1, 2018 and October 31, 2018, across six developmental areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion, Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure. The Second Delta Ranking was released by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

•In the overall ranking, the most improved districts are as follows:

Rank	District	State
1	Virudhunagar	Tamil Nadu
2	Nuapada	Odisha
3	Siddharthnagar	Uttar Pradesh
4	Aurangabad	Bihar
5	Koraput	Odisha

•The Second Delta ranking also details the following districts as Least Improved over the period of June – October 2018:

Rank	District	State
107	Kiphire	Nagaland
108	Giridih	Jharkhand
109	Chatra	Jharkhand
110	Hailakandi	Assam
111	Pakur	Jharkhand

5) Bhutanese PM Dr. Lotay Tshering On 3-day Visit To India

•Prime Minister of Bhutan Dr. Lotay Tshering arrived in New Delhi on a three-day official visit to India. The visit of the Bhutanese Prime Minister is taking place during the Golden Jubilee year of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries. During his visit, Bhutanese PM will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

6) Sitarist Manju Mehta Gets ‘Tansen Samman’

•Noted sitar player Manju Mehta has been conferred with the ‘Tansen Samman’ for 2018 by the Madhya Pradesh government for her contribution in the field of music. Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar presented the award to Mehta, 74, at the inaugural ceremony of the Tansen Music Festival.

•The ‘Raja Mansingh Tomar Honour’ was given to the Sankat Mochan Pratishthan in Varanasi for 2017 and the Natrang Pratishthan of New Delhi for 2018. The award is given to institutions for nurturing good music.

7) Aadi Sai Vijaykaran Wins ‘Top Debater In The World’ Title

•Aadi Sai Vijaykaran created history by winning the Junior Debate Championship at the World Scholar’s Cup held at Yale University, the USA.

•The theme for the cup was ‘An Entangled World: diplomacy, human relationships, the science of memory, and literature, art’. It is the first time an individual from India has won the coveted title.

8) Ricky Ponting Inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

•Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was formally inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Ponting received his commemorative cap from compatriot ICC Cricket Hall of Famer, Glenn McGrath at the MCG.

•Ponting was named in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame along with former India captain Rahul Dravid and England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor during the ICC Annual Conference in Dublin.