Daily Current Affairs - 12th December 2015

1. Canada welcomes first batch of Syrian refugees

(i) Accepting the first planned batch of 25,000 Syrian refugees in its country, Canada welcomed the refugees who escaped war and poverty from Syria. 

(ii) The newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  and several members of his Liberal government were on hand to greet the Syrians as they arrived on a troop transport plane in Toronto. 

(iii) The refugees arrived in Canada in few weeks from its announcement that Canada would pull its fighter jets from a U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

2. Pakistan test fires Nuclear capable Shaheen III missile

(i) Recently, Pakistan successfully test fired Shaheen -III missile, the missile is surface to surface medium range missile capable of carrying conventional and nuclear war-heads within the range   of 2,750kms.

(ii) Pakistan had test-fires Shaheen I and Shaheen II missiles in 2014, of which Shaheen I was capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads with a range of 900 kms and Shaheen II is capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads upto a range of 1500kms.

3. Japan to import Maruti Suzuki cars from India

(i) Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe recently arrived in India on a three day visit for the annual summit talks, starting December 11 - December 13. 

(ii) India and Japan are expected to finalise deals worth Rs. 98,000 crore including India's first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad which will be funded by Japan and dialogue on the civil nuclear deal and Defence ties. 

(iii) One of the highlights of Premier Abe's visit was that for the first time Japan has announced to import Maruti Suzuki cars from India.

4. Inle Lake - marked as Myanmar' s first biosphere reserve 

(i) Recently, Myanmar launched its country's first Biosphere Reserve -- Inle lake in Shan state.

(ii) The Inle lake which is about  89,721 hectares' was designated as Myanmar's first biosphere reserve under Unesco's Man and the Biosphere programme in Paris, France in June 2015. 

(iii) This marked the beginning of Myanmar commitment to eco-system conservation and                bio-diversity.

5. Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmed Javed appointed as the new envoy to Saudi Arabia 

(i)  In a recent appointment, Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmad Javed has been appointed as the new envoy to Saudi Arabia. 

(ii) Javed, who is a 1980's batch IPS officer is expected to retire on January 31, 2016, on completion of his term at the Mumbai police commissioner he is to serve his  new assignment. 

(iii) With this he becomes the fourth IPS officer to be appointed as Indian Ambassador to a foreign country which otherwise is a domain of the Indian Foreign Service.

6. SC upholds law passed by Haryana state govt. which bans illiterate person from contesting for Panchayat Polls 

(i) Recently, the Supreme Court of India upheld the law enacted by the Haryana government which bars illiterate persons from contesting panchayat polls in the state of Haryana.

(ii) This decision by the Supreme Court has received mixed reaction, though this decision is in sync with most  educated Indians, there are others who argue that  run a panchayat or any office of responsibility you need intelligence which can be developed through either formal education or through exposure to everyday ground realities.

(iii) As per reports, following this judgement, around  68% of scheduled caste women and 41% of scheduled caste men will not be eligible to contest panchayat polls.

7. Odisha Government signs MoU with Wildlife Trust of India

(i) With the view to address the increasing number of elephants killed by train accidents Odisha state government signed an MoU with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to develop a mitigation plan. 

(ii) As per reports the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) will be tasked with identify and mapping the accident prone sites and habitats of elephants and also identify factors - ecological, physical and man-made- responsible for accidental deaths of elephants. 

(iii) Forest and Environment minister Bijayshree Routray , on signing the MoU informed, "WTI will prepare a detailed report on mitigation plan and implement the Rs 9.9 lakh project over a period of 12 months."

8. Losoong festival celebrated to mark the beginning of New Year in Sikkim 

(i) The Sikkimese New Year, Lossong which is also called as Namsoong was recently celebrated in Sikkim. 

(ii) The festival is also known by many other names such as Sonam Losar or the farmers' New Year, and it marks the end of the harvest season. 

(iii) The festival sees participation by various ethnic groups of the state, the Bhutia and Lepcha communities every year in welcoming the new year.

9. RBI includes IDBI Bank second schedule of the RBI Act.

(i) In a recent development, the Reserve Bank of India announced that the IDBI Bank had been included in the Second Schedule of the RBI Act. 

(ii) Earlier in 2015, IDBI Bank started its operations and formal services with a total of 23 branches all over India. 

(iii) Of these branches 15 branches were in rural Madhya Pradesh and its concentrates on technology, hit has begun operations in corporate  and wholesale banking, rural banking and treasury verticals.

10. Sundaram PNB Paribas launches special loan scheme to benefit Chennai flood affected people

(i)  Sundaram PNB Paribas, which is a joint venture between Sundaram Finance and France based BNP Paribas recently announced a special loan scheme to benefit the customers affected by the Chennai floods. 

(ii) As per the scheme Sundaram BNP Paribas Home Finance will  extend housing loans up to Rs 10 lakh at a fixed interest rate of 8.50 per cent per annum. 

(iii) The company in its statement clarified that, the special scheme valid for disbursements till June  30 ,2016 would help customers reconstruct and renovate their housing units.

11. Sharad Pawar releases his book titled, Life on My Terms - 'From the Grassroots to the Corridors of Power

(i) Maharashtra's Nationalist Congress party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar recently released his book titled, 'Life on My Terms - 'From the Grassroots to the Corridors of Power' on the occasion of his 75th birthday celebrated on Thursday. 

(ii) In his book Pawar revealed that, "Congress chief Sonia Gandhi did not let him become Prime Minister in 1991 as he had an "independent mind" and his election to the post would "not be  good for the first family." 

(iii) Pawar parted ways with Indian National Congress in 1999 after opposing  Sonia Gandhi's nomination for PM Candidate because of her foreign origin and formed Nationalist Congress  Party.

12. Shahrukh Khan tops the 2015 Forbes India celebrity 100 list 

(i) Bollywood celebrity Shahrukh Khan topped the list of 2015 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list.

(ii) Shahrukh who stood in third position in 2014, wrested Salman Khan to come back to top 1 on the list. Actor Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan ranked second and third on the list.

(iii) Shahrukh Khan's earning, which  is an estimated  Rs 257.5 crore is highest ever any celebrity has earned in the past four year history of Forbes India Celebrity 100 list. 

(iv) Cricketer M S Dhoni and Actor Aamir Khan were ranked 4th and 5th on the list.