Today's Important Current Affairs 31st December 2017 with PDF If you are appearing for any Government Recruitment Exam, it is important that you are familiar with the happenings around the world. Current Affairs is an important part of your syllabus apart from English, Quantitative Aptitude or Logical Reasoning! Thus, we bring you the Important General Awareness in PDF. Now, Banking, SSC and Insurance aspirants can read the update containing all the Important Current Affairs 31st December 2017. You can also attempt daily important current affairs quiz for yesterday: Current Affairs Quiz - 30th December 2017 Important Current Affairs 31st December 2017 Academy for Labourers o The Haryana government would soon open an academy for training labourers engaged in construction work so that they could get better employment opportunities. o The labourers will be trained to become carpenters, plumbers, painters, electricians etc. o In order to give the labourers equal status, the state government has, during three years, distributed about Rs 250 crore for their upliftment. Mr. Vineet appointed chief secretary o Vineet Chowdhary, a 1982 batch IAS officer of Himachal cadre, has been appointed as the chief secretary of the Himachal government. 1 P a g e
o Chowdhary replaced Vidya Charan Pharka, who was appointed chief secretary on June 1, 2016, superseding 6 senior IAS officers, including Chowdhary. o Pharka, a 1983 batch officer, has now been posted as the principal advisor to the government. New Chief Secretary of Rajasthan o IAS officer N C Goel has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Rajasthan. o Goel, a 1982-batch IAS officer, earlier held the charge of Additional Chief Secretary of Forest & Environment, Tourism, Art & Culture Department, Mines & Petroleum departments. o Goel has held top posts, including the CMD of Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation. o He replaced Ashok Jain who completed 6 months on the post. Sivagiri pilgrimage celebrations o Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 85th annual Sivagiri pilgrimage celebrations at Sivagiri Mutt in Kerala via video conferencing. o The Sivagiri Mutt is a major spiritual-cum-pilgrim centre of the Ezhava community in Kerala and was established by Sri Narayana Guru. o Sri Narayana Guru propagated the message of 'One Caste, One Religion and One God for Mankind'. China tests first photovoltaic highway o China has successfully tested its 1 st photovoltaic highway based on homegrown technology, in it's eastern Shandong province. o The road is constructed using solar panels which have a thin sheet of clear concrete on top of them. Panels will transfer energy to electric vehicles passing on top of them. o With this China became the 2 nd country to construct a photovoltaic highway. Viswanathan Anand bags bronze 2 P a g e
o Grand Master Viswanathan Anand continued his excellent run by bagging a bronze in the World Blitz Chess Championship at Riyadh, Saudi. o He defeated Maxim Vachier-Lagrave of France in the final round to take his tally to 14.5 points. o World Champion Magnus Carlsen won the tournament scoring 16 points followed by Sergey Karjakin with 14.5 points out of the maximum possible 21 points. Maiga appointed as the new PM o Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has appointed Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, a former defense and foreign minister and intelligence chief as the new Prime Minister. o Maiga will form a new government. This is done after his predecessor Abdoulaye Idrissa Maiga and his entire cabinet's resignation. o The new government will be the fifth to serve under President Keita since his election in 2013. Rajinikanth to launch political party o Tamil Nadu Superstar Rajinikanth has announced his political debut. o He will launch his own party which will contest for all 234 constituencies in next assembly polls in the state. o He said the party will be launched ahead of Assembly elections at an appropriate time. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe named ICCR chief o National vice-president of BJP, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe has been appointed as the President of Indian Council of Cultural Relations. o He will replace Lokesh Chandra, who was a scholar & thinker & had been appointed by the NDA govt in 2014. o ICCR is an autonomous organisation of India, involved in India's external cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their peoples. 3 P a g e
Israel withdraws from UNESCO o Israel has formally notified UNESCO of its withdrawal from the education and science organization. o Israel, which has been a member since 1949, has nine sites on the list, including the ancient Masada fortress next to the Dead Sea. o Tensions had been bubbling since UNESCO controversially admitted Palestine as a member state in 2011 - a move opposed by the US and Israel. Allahabad Bank and NeSL tie up o Allahabad Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with National E-Governance Services Ltd (NeSL). o The partnership could help in minimising the resolution period for cases referred by the bank to the National Company Law Tribunal. o NeSL is India's first Information Utility registered with Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India under the aegis of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Sue Grafton passes away o Sue Grafton, author of best-selling alphabet series of mystery novels died in Santa Barbara. o Her series of murder mystery novels, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet, have been translated into 26 languages & regularly topped best-seller lists in US. o She received numerous awards for her work including from British Crime Writers' Association & Mystery Writers of America. World's second largest cryptocurrency o Cryptocurrency 'Ripple' has surpassed ethereum as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. o Ripple had a market cap of $86.3 billion, surpassing ethereum's $73 billion. 4 P a g e
o Bitcoin remains the largest digital currency by far, having a market capitalization of roughly $247 billion, accounting for about 41% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. Pratibha Gai get top royal honour o Scientist Pratibha Laxman Gai has been named for damehood, the female equivalent of knighthood, for "services to chemical sciences and technology". o She is the fourth Indian-origin woman conferred with the honour since it was instituted in 1917. o Gai has patented inventions in the fields of hydrocarbon catalysis/polymers, electronic ceramics, Piezoelectrics & nanocoatings for polymers & food. Govt. injects funds into 6 public banks o Centre has pumped in capital of Rs.7,577 crore in various weak public sector banks. o This capital infusion would help banks shore up their capital adequacy as they close the books for Dec quarter. o Govt released Rs. 2,257 crore to BOI, while IDBI Bank was infused with Rs. 2,729 crore. o All these banks are saddled with huge NPA & are under the prompt corrective action framework of RBI. PNB hikes interest on term deposits o PNB has announced raising interest rates by up to 1.25% on domestic term deposits of up to Rs. 10 crore for different tenures, effective from Jan 1, 2018. o For 1 yr term, rate has been increased from 5% to 5.7% on bulk term deposits. o In maturity buckets of 3 yrs to 10 yrs, rate has been increased from 5% to 5.25%. In maturity bucket of 91 to 179 days, rate is up from 6 to 6.25%. 5 P a g e
Nepal bans solo climbing on Mt Everest o Nepal banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mt Everest, in an attempt to reduce accidents & make mountaineering safer. o New regulations prohibit double amputee & blind climbers from attempting to reach the Everest without a valid medical certificate. o The death toll so far this season stands at 6, nearly 300 people have died since the 1 st ascent to the peak made in 1953. Saurabh Chawla appointed DLF Group CFO o DLF has announced the appointment of Saurabh Chawla as the Key Managerial Personnel & Group Chief Financial Officer. o The appointment follows the elevation of former Group CFO Ashok Kumar Tyagi as the whole-time director of the company. o He currently spearheads the Investor Relations function at the Group level and is also responsible for Private Equity, M&A transactions within the DLF Group. Farewell to MiG-27 ML Bahadur o Indian Air Force has bid farewell to MiG-27 ML Bahadur over Hasimara Air Force base in West Bengal. o The MiG-27 ML, codenamed 'Bahadur' had an impeccable track record in its more than 3 decades of glorious service to the nation. o Its capability of dropping bombs, rockets, precision munitions guided by laser & fire air-to-air missiles for self-defence made it a lethal & potent weapon platform. Ronaldo won the Best Player award o Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Best Player of the Year accolade at the Globe Soccer Awards. o Ronaldo retained the award, making it four wins overall, after helping his club defend the Champions League and win the Liga title. 6 P a g e
o Ronaldo was named winner ahead of Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain Neymar Attempt Daily Current Affairs Quiz 7 P a g e