Current affairs notes on 16/12/2018-22/12/2018

1.The minister of state for health and family welfare Anupriya Patel announced that West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh emerged the largest beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat.

2.The Indian Coast Guard has launched 'Operation Oliva' as part of its annual mission to ensure the safe mid-sea sojourn of breeding Olive Ridley sea turtles in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary area, Devi river mouth, and Rushikulya beach of Odisha. 

3.The Nepal government banned Indian currency above Rs 100. New Indian note of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 denominations were banned as the Nepal government has not yet legalised them in the market.

4.T.C. Barupal was appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Guinea. He is presently Consul General of India, Zanzibar.

5.Pu Zoramthanga, the President of Mizo National Front (MNF), has been sworn-in as the new Chief Minister of Mizoram.

6.On the occasion of 2018 National Energy Conservation Day (NECD), the Ministry of Power has launched the ECO Niwas Samhita 2018 - an Energy Conservation Building Code for Residential Buildings (ECBC-R) - to promote energy efficiency in home construction.

7.Noted English author Amitav Ghosh has been honoured with 54th Jnanpith Award for 2018 for his outstanding contribution towards literature.

8.Mr. Ranil Wickremsinghe was sworn in as Prime minister of Sri Lanka by President Maithripala Sirisena thus bringing an end to the weeks-long political crisis in the country. 

9.Philippine's Catriona Gray has been crowned Miss Universe 2018, becoming the fourth woman from the country to win the title.

10.Pakistan will host the 2020 Asia cricket cup. 

11.The nation celebrated Vijay Diwas to commemorate India's victory over Pakistan in 1971 war - the war for the Independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan. The day marks the end of Bangladesh Liberation War.

12.Rio Olympics Silver medallist PV Sindhu became the first Indian to lift the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals title at Guangzhou, China.

13.In Hockey, Belgium has claimed their first ever World Cup title. They defeated Netherlands 3-2 in a dramatic shoot-out in the final of the 14th edition of Men's World Cup 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

14.India has been ranked 108th in World Economic Forum (WEF) gender gap index 2018,Iceland topped the list .

15.The International Tennis Federation announced Romania's Simona Halep as the 2018 ITF World Champion. It is the first year Halep has been recognised. The International Tennis Federation announced Serbia's Novak Djokovic as the 2018 ITF World Champion in mens category.

16.India’s first military flight using blended bio-jet fuel has been successfully flown by Indian Air Force (IAF) through an AN-32 transport aircraft in Chandigarh.

17.Asma Jahangir, the late Pakistan lawyer, and human rights activist, has been awarded the UN Human Rights Prize for 2018. 

18.On 16th December 2018,India launched the Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS) to improve data relay and communication links with its remote sensing earth observation satellites. The two-satellite IDRSS will maintain continuous communication link with India's remote sensing earth observation satellites.

19.An international team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant object ever spotted in our solar system. It’s provisional designation is ‘2018 VG18’ & nicknamed as "Farout" for its extremely distant location.

20.The Department of Posts (DoP) has recently released the commemorative Postage Stamp on Rajkumar Shukla, who was associated with Champaran Satyagraha on 1917.

21.Australia has recognized West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. With this, Australia has become one of the few countries that officially recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

22.India’s first railway university has been opened in Vadodara– It is named as the National Rail and Transportation Institution (NRTI).

23.Project Great Indian Bustard in the state of Rajasthan , Desert National Park Sanctuary — Rajasthan.Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary – Andhra Pradesh.Karera Wildlife Sanctuary– Madhya Pradesh are protected areas.

24.One of the most active volcanoes of Indonesia, Mount Soputan volcano, erupted recently. It is located on the Sulawesi island in Indonesia.

25. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has started the process of “comprehensively amending” the backbone of forest governance in India—the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (IFA).

26.Shiksha Setu is a mobile application launched by Haryana Government.It's to bring in Transparency in the education department and in the administration of colleges .

27.ISRO has launched military communication satellite GSAT-7A. GSAT-7A was succesfully injected into its orbit by GSLV-F11 that was launched from Sriharikota.  It is the heaviest satellite being launched by GSLV with an indigenously developed cryogenic stage.

Thank you..