Current Affairs 26 December 2020

We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 26 December 2020, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2020 events from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, PTI, Indian Express, Business Standard and all Government official websites.

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Top 20 Current Affairs of 26 December 2020

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

India, Japan sign agreement to boost cooperation in Steel Sector; Establish “India-Japan Steel Dialogue”
On December 22, 2020, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Steel, Government of India & Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Government of Japan in the Field of Steel Industry. The agreement will help in boosting India’s steel manufacturing sector, and also in improving the quality & quantity of steel produced in India.
i.The two sides agreed to establish “India-Japan steel dialogue”  at the joint secretary-level for boosting mutual cooperation in the sector.
ii.Under the agreement the 2 sides will also discuss trade and investment related issues & promote sustainable growth in the steel sector.
iii.The cooperation assumes significance as India & Japan were the 2nd & 3rd Largest steel producing countries in 2019 with output of 111.2 Million tons & 99.3 Million tons
iv.The agreement was signed by Pradip Kumar Tripathi, Secretary in the Ministry of Steel & Shigehiro Tanaka, Vice-Minister for International Affairs, Japan.
About Ministry of Steel:
Union Minister – Dharmendra Pradhan
Minister of State – Faggan Singh Kulaste
About Japan:
Prime Minister – Yoshihide Suga
Currency – Japanese Yen
Capital – Tokyo
<<Read Full News>>

India adds Ladakh’s Tso Kar Lake Complex to list of Ramsar Sites; Becomes India’s 42nd & Ladakh’s 2nd Ramsar SiteOn December 24, 2020, Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC), Prakash Javadekar announced that Tso Kar Wetland complex in Changthang region, Ladakh has been added to the list of Ramsar Sites (Wetlands of International Importance).  It will be India’s 42nd site & Ladakh’s 2nd Ramsar Site.

• Tso Kar Wetland complex is the 2, 443rd site of Ramsar.
• Tso Kar Wetland Complex consists of 2 principal waterbodies – Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake & Tso Kar, a hypersaline lake.
• The complex is situated 4, 500 metres above sea level.
• India has the highest number(42 Sites) Ramsar Sites in South Asia.

Key Points:
i.The name ‘Tso Kar’ refers to white salt efflorescence on margins of the lake caused by evaporation of saline waters. Tso Kar covers 9, 577 hectares of land.
ii.Tso Kar is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) as per Bird Life International and is an important place of stopover for migratory birds in the Central Asian Flyway.
About Ramsar Convention:
Secretary General – Martha Rojas Urrego
Secretariat – Gland, Switzerland
<<Read Full News>>

East Coast Railway becomes 1st Railway Zone to use  EoTT System in IndiaEast Coast Railway (ECoR) has become the 1st railway zone in India to commission the use of End of Train Telemetry (EoTT) system. With the installation of EoTT trains can now run without employing guards & brake vans.
i.The main purpose of the device is to establish communication between the Locomotive Pilot (LP) & last wagon of the train for ensuring that the Train is running all coaches and wagons as a single unit.
ii.The main components of the EoTT system are Head of Train (HoT) fitted in locomotive & End of Train (EoT) fitted on the last wagon of the train.
iii.Electric Loco Shed, Angul in Odisha commissioned and tested the EoTT.
iv.The field trials of the device were conducted on a freight train running between Talcher (Odisha) & Paradip (Odisha).
About East Coast Railways (ECoR):
General Manager – Vidya Bhushan
Headquarters – Bhubaneswar, Odisha
<<Read Full News>>

51st round of DG Level Border Coordination meeting between BSF & BGB held in Guwahati, AssamThe 51st round of the 5-day Director General (DG) Level Border Coordination meeting between India’s Border Security Force (BSF) & Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) is taking place at Guwahati, Assam for the 1st time from December 22-26, 2020. This is the 1st time in 4 decades that the Biannual conference is being held outside Delhi.
The 12-member BSF delegation was led by Director General Rakesh Asthana & the 11-member BGB delegation was led by Major General Md Shafeenul Islam.
Objective:
To discuss border related issues & to build coordination between the two border guarding forces.
Key Points of the Meeting:
i.The two sides discussed issues regarding developmental, infrastructure work & joint efforts for implementation of Coordinated Border Management Plan & Confidence Building Measures.
ii.The two sides also held discussions regarding river bank conservation in the border areas.
About Border Security Force(BSF):
Director General– Rakesh Asthana
Headquarters– New Delhi
About Bangladesh:
Prime Minister – Sheikh Hasina
Capital – Dhaka
Currency – Bangladeshi Taka
<<Read Full News>>

Ministry of Power for the 1st time promulgates “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020”On 21st December, 2020 Union Ministry of Power for the 1st time promulgated rules to empower consumers of electricity by issuing “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020”. On the occasion, Union Minister of State for Power R.K. Singh assured that the issued rules will provide consumers with reliable service and quality electricity.
i.Consumers can apply for New electricity connection, pay bills and avail other services through online facilities.
ii.Electricity connections timeline-

• 7 days in Metro cities
• 15 days in Other cities
• 30 days in Rural area

iii.Aimed at improving Ease of Doing Business in India, through seamless process of to avail new connection and effective dispute redressal mechanism.
About Ministry of Power:
Union Minister of State(MoS)- Raj Kumar Singh, Arrah (Bihar) Constituency
Secretary– Sanjiv Nandan Sahai
<<Read Full News>>

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik:India’s largest Hockey Stadium is Set to Build in Rourkela, OdishaOn 25th December, 2020, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced the plan for India’s largest Hockey stadium to be built in Rourkela city, Odisha with a seating capacity of 20,000. The stadium will also be a part of hosting International Hockey Federations’(FIH) 2023 Men’s Hockey World Cup that is planned to be held at Odisha.
About the Stadium:
i.To be built at Biju Patnaik University of Technology Campus owned by the Odisha Government.
ii.Capacity- 15 acres’ land with 20,000 seats
iii.Built at Sundargarh district, from where many Indian hockey legends including former Captain Dilip Tirkey and Sunita Lakra came from.
Note- Current Indian Men’s Hockey team is ranked at 4th Position by International Hockey Federation.
About Odisha:
Festivals- Utkal Divas, Durga Pooja, Kalinga Mahotsav, Konark dance festival
Lakes- Chilika Lake, Tampara lake, Ansupa Lake, Kanjia Lake
About International Hockey Federation (FIH): 
President – Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra
Headquarters – Lausanne, Switzerland

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI Cancelled Licence of Maharashtra-Based Subhadra Local Area Bank

Banking Licence of Subhadra Local Area Bank at Kolhapur, Maharashtra under Section 22 (4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 was cancelled by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with immediate effect from December 24, 2020. But the bank has enough liquidity funds to refund the deposit amounts to its customers.
Reason for Licence Cancellation

• RBI had cancelled the licence due to the bank’s activities lead to affecting the interests of the Bank’s current and future depositors.
• The bank had also breached the minimum net worth requirement for two quarters in the financial year 2019-20.

As per Section 5(b), Subhadra Local Area Bank is banned from conducting the business of ‘banking’ or any additional business activities under Section 6 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with immediate effect.
About Subhadra Local Area Bank
Headquarters – Kolhapur, Maharashtra
MD & CEO       – Mr.Sanjay Aggarwal

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

India Ratings & Research revised India’s FY21 GDP contraction from 11.8% to 7.8%

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) revised its previous projection of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India due to the sustainability of the recovery perceived in Q2 when the economy contracted only 7.5%(-7.5%), after a 23.9% (-23.9%) contraction in Q1. Ind-Ra has revised its estimate for GDP contraction FY 2020-21 to 7.8%(-7.8%) from the earlier projection of 11.8%(-11.8%).
i.This is in line with the revision in the projected contraction of India’s GDP by RBI, ADB, Fitch, and others. Earlier, RBI lowered the projection for the contraction to 7.5% (-7.5%) from 9.5% (-9.5%), ADB to 8% (-8%) from 9% (-9%), and Fitch to 9.4 % (-9.4%) from 10.5% (-10.5%).
ii.Ind-Ra hopes that third-quarter of India’s FY 2020-21 GDP growth expects to be a contraction of 0.8% and fourth quarter FY21 GDP growth to turn positive at 0.3%.
iii.Also the growth of India for the FY 2021-22 is projected to be 9.6% due to the recovery happening in the year 2020-21.
iv.The agency expects 3.5% growth for agriculture and contraction of 10.3% and 9.8% for industry and services, respectively, in 2020-21.
v.The retail and wholesale inflation to average 6.8% and (-)0.3% respectively in 2020-21 and it forecast fiscal deficit of the Centre in at 7% of GDP in FY21 while the current account to be in surplus at 1.1% of GDP and even the capital account is expected to record a surplus of USD 67.3 billion.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS          

Prasanth Prabhakaran Elevated as the MD & CEO of YES Securities

On 23rd December 2020, Prasanth Prabhakaran, joint MD and CEO of YES Securities (India) Limited, wholly-owned subsidiary of YES Bank, was elevated as its MD and CEO with immediate effect. Prasanth Prabhakaran will oversee the investment banking and merchant banking verticals.
Earlier, Along with  Prasanth Prabhakaran, Vikas Dawra served as the Joint MD and CEO of YES Securities (India) Limited.
About Prasanth Prabhakaran:
i.Prasanth Prabhakaran has more than 25 years of experience in banking, financial services and insurance(BFSI) space.
As the joint MD and CEO of YES Securities he has spearheaded the wealth broking and investment advisory and institutional equities business.
ii.He has been working with YES Securities since 2017.
iii.He has also worked with India Infoline, Kotak Securities and HDFC Bank.
About YES Securities (India) Limited:
MD & CEO– Prasanth Prabhakaran
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Established in–  2013 YES Securities a Investment Adviser registered with SEBI under the Merchant Banker & Research Analyst category.

Romania’s Parliament Approved the New Liberal Government: Florin Citu Became New PMOn 23rd December 2020, the Parliament of Romania approved the new liberal government which was voted by the 260 lawmakers out of 465 seats in the two chamber assembly of Romania. Florin Citu, Former investment banker and Finance Minister, of the ruling National Liberal Party (NLP) became the new Prime Minister(PM) of Romania.
Results of the 2020 Elections:
i.The opposition Socialist Democratic Party (PSD) won around 30% of the votes in the election.
ii.PSD was not able to form the government since it failed to get support from more than 50% of the lawmakers in the assembly.
iii.Florin Citu of NLP, was supported by 3 other parties which gave him the majority of the Two chambers of the Parliament of Romania.
iv.The centre right coalition government got 260 votes in favor which is 32 votes more than required and 183 votes against.
About Florin Citu:
i.Florin Citu served as the economist for the European Investment Bank from 2003 to 2005 and Central Bank of New Zealand from 2003 to 2005.
ii.He has served as a senator since 2016.
iii.He served as the finance minister in the liberal government led by Ludovic Orban from november 2019.
iv.He was designated as the Prime Minister of Romania in February 2020.
Key Point:
i.The Cabinet ministers under Florin Citu sworn in at the Cotroceni Palace.
ii.The 21-member cabinet (including PM) of Florin Citu has only one woman, Labor Minister Raluca Turcan, which makes this as one of the most gender unbalanced governments of Romania in the last 30 years.
About Romania:
President– Klaus Iohannis
Capital– Bucharest
Currency– Romanian Leu

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS        

Central bank of India sells its 64.4% in CBHFL for Rs.160cr to Centrum housing FinanceCentral Bank of India selling the entire stake of its joint venture Cent Bank Home Finance Ltd (CBHFL) to Centrum Housing Finance for Rs.160 crore.

• The bank has entered into a binding agreement to divest its entire equity stake of 64.40% i.e. 1,61,00,000 shares of the face value of Rs 10 each in Cent Bank Home Finance Ltd (CBHFL), to Centrum Housing Finance.

About Cent Bank Home Finance Ltd CBHFL)
It is a financing and mortgage company jointly promoted by four public sector institutions — Central Bank of India, National Housing Bank, Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUTTI) and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO).
Central Bank of India
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD & CEO       – Shri Pallav Mohapatra
Tagline            – Central to You Since 1911, Build a better life around us
Established – 1911

SBI Life Insurance acquires 8.99% stake in Paisalo DigitalOn 24 December 2020, SBI Life Insurance Company has acquired 38 lakh equity shares or 8.99% equity stake in non-banking finance company Paisalo Digital. It has acquired equity shares of the Non-Banking Financial Company(NBFC) at Rs 489.99 per share for a consideration of Rs 186.20 Crore.
About Paisalo Digital
It provides loans to individuals, SME,s and MSMEs and to Joint Liability Group (microfinance) through 129 branches across the country. It has a market capitalisation of Rs 2,204.69 crore as of December 24, 2020.
Deputy CEO – Santanu Agarwal
Managing Director – Mr. Sunil Agarwal
Established in – March 5, 1992 under the Companies Act, 1956.
About SBI Life Insurance Company
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD & CEO       – Mahesh Kumar Sharma
Tagline            – With us, You are sure
Established in – 2001

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Thaawarchand Gehlot Launches ‘Swachhata Abhiyan’ Mobile App to Identify, Geotag the data of  Insanitary Latrines &  Manual ScavengersOn December 24, 2020, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot launched a Mobile Application ‘Swachhata Abhiyan’ for identifying & Geo-tagging the data of Insanitary Latrines & Manual Scavengers across the country. Using the app NGOs, Social Organisations & General public can upload details of any insanitary latrine or manual scavengers that they notice.
i.The reported Insanitary Latrines will be replaced with sanitary latrines & Manual Scavengers will be rehabilitated to provide dignity of life to them.
ii.Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Ram Das Athawale & Krishan Pal Gurjar were present during the launch.
iii.Construction or Maintenance of Insanitary latrines & engagement of persons for manual scavenging is prohibited under “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers & Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013”.
<<Read Full News>>

SPORTS

FIFA cancels Men’s 2021 U-20 & U-17 World Cup due to COVID-19; Next Edition of the events to take place in 2023On December 24, 2020, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) announced the cancellation of  2  Men’s Tournaments  –  2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup & 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup due to the impact of COVID-19. FIFA has also announced that

• FIFA U-20 World Cup will be hosted by Indonesia in 2023 &
• FIFA U-17 World Cup will be hosted by Peru in 2023

i.Indonesia & Peru were the hosts of the 2021 Edition.
FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023:
i.FIFA has decided to expand the number of participants in FIFA Women’s World Cup to 32 teams to boost the growth of Women’s Football.
ii.The hosts of the 2023 Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand  will automatically qualify for the Tournament.
FIFA Rankings:
Men’s Ranking (as of December, 2020) – Belgium (Rank-1), France (Rank-2), India ranked at 104th position.
Women’s Ranking (as of December, 2020) – United States of America (Rank-1), Germany (Rank-2), India ranked at  53rd position.
About Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA):
President– Gianni Infantino
Headquarters– Zurich, Switzerland

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Former CM of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis Released the Book “Ayodhya” Authored by Madhav BhandariOn 22nd December 2020, Devendra Fadnavis, the Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and leader of the opposition in the State legislative assembly launched “Ayodhya” the new book authored by Madhav Bhandari, Vice President of BJP (Maharashtra) in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The Marathi book is published by Param Mitra Publications. 
About the Book:
i.The book “Ayodhya” describes the early period of the history and provides the reference document of the protests conducted for the cause of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
ii.The book also presented numerous references related to the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and the destruction of Ram temple due to foreign invasion and about the defeatist mentality imposed on the Hindu community.
iii.The author stated that the book will clear the misconceptions around the Ram janmabhoomi campaign.

IMPORTANT DAYS

7th National Good Governance Day – 25th December 2020

i.National Good Governance Day is annually observed across Indian on 25th December to create awareness about the accountability of the government. The day also marks the birth anniversary of India’s former Prime Minister(PM) and Bharat Ranta Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who served 3 terms as the Prime Minister of India.
ii.The 25th December 2020 marks the celebration of the 7th National Good Governance Day.
iii.The first National Good Governance Day was observed on 25th December 2014.
iv.As a part of the observance of 2020 National Good Governance Day A.K.Bhalla,  Union Home Secretary and Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) released the progress report of Electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS).
v.PM Modi addressed the Nation on the 7th National Good Governance day and sanctioned Rs.18000 crores directly into the bank accounts of 9 crore farmers in around 19000 venues across India under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana(PM-KISAN).
<<Read Full News>>

STATE NEWS

Govt of Odisha in Collaboration with UNICEF Launched Odisha Career Portal for Students i.The Department of School and Mass Education, Government of Odisha in collaboration with UNICEF, launched a career portal – Odisha career portal – for secondary and higher secondary students. This portal will enable adolescent students to get expert advice on their future career.
ii.Samir Ranjan Dash, Odisha’s School and Mass Education Minister launched the Odisha career portal on 24th December 2020.
iv.The portal provides information about career, colleges, professional courses, vocational courses, entrance exams and scholarship opportunities.
About Department of School and Mass Education:
Minister of State– Samir Ranjan Dash
Principal Secretary– Satyabrata Sahu, IAS
About Odisha:
Ramsar sites– Bhitarkanika Mangroves, Chilika Lake
UNESCO Heritage Sites– Konark Sun Temple
<<Read Full News>>

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Launches Digital ‘PR insight’ Mobile App & Web Portal PlatformOn December 23, 2020, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh launched ‘PR Insight’ – a Mobile Application & Web Portal, the application will serve as a platform for receiving feedback from people and will enable Government of Punjab to remove deficiencies in schemes & programs implemented by it. It has been developed by the Directorate of  Information & Public Relations Department, Punjab.
i.The main objective of the application is to restructure the existing schemes & programmes after analyzing the feedback received from people.
ii.News articles from 31 agencies will be analyzed using advanced analytics & sentiment analysis to understand the citizen feedback & perception of Governance by citizens.
iii.The app will help the Government in identifying best practices from positively perceived programmes and replicate it.
About Punjab:
RAMSAR sites – Beas Conservation Reserve, Harike Lake, Kanjli Lake, Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve, Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary, Ropark Lake
Stadiums – Guru Nanak Stadium (Football), PCA IS Bindra Stadium (Cricket)
<<Read Full News>>

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