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- The Centre for Good Governance under the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs has declared that Pimpri Budruk in Pune as the first cashless village in Khed district.
- The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) has come into effect. Any unaccounted cash or deposit in a bank account can be disclosed under the scheme before April 1, 2017. 50% tax and surcharge will be applied on declarations of unaccounted money.
- Himachal Pradesh has managed to achieve 100% Aadhaar Saturation on the basis of 2015 population. It is now the 6th state in the country to do so with the other 5 being Delhi, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.
- The Reserve Bank of India announced special measures to be adopted between 1st Jan 2017 & 31st March 2017 to incentivise greater adoption of digital payment methods such as it has asked issuing entities not to levy any charges for transactions upto 1000 rupees and has advised banks to cap the Merchant Discount Rates for debit card transactions upto 1000 rupees at 0.25% of the transaction value.
- State Bank of India in collaboration with BSNL launched its mobile wallet application ‘State Bank MobiCash’. It will allow users to deposit cash through BSNL retail outlets & withdraw funds from their account. It will be available initially in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana & Bihar.
- Sharad Pawar announced his resignation as Mumbai Cricket Association President. He has been disqualified as a cricket administrator if the BCCI & its state units were to implement the Lodha committee reforms that suggested age and tenure caps
- BEML Ltd. a defence public sector undertaking, has been conferred with CEPM Fellowship Award-2016.
Michael Phelps - India and Tajikistan signed 4 Agreements in areas like double taxation, money laundering and terrorism.
- Rahil Ansari has been appointed as Audi India’s Head February 1, 2017 onwards.
- Priyanka Chopra is the only Indian on IMDb’s Celebrities’ List for 2016 at No. 55. The number 1 celebrity in the list is Sofia Boutella.
- UN Security Council is going to vote on a proposal by France to send observes to Aleppo, Syria. The council will be deliberating on a draft resolution even though Russia is strongly resisting it.
- Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has delayed the withdrawal of the 100- bolivar banknote till 2nd January, 2017.
- American doctor, Heimlich Manoeuvre who invented the manoeuvre used to help choking victims died. This manouvre used thrusts to the abdomen to clear the airway.
- US Swimmer Michael Phelps is going to be awarded the lifetime achievement award at BBC Sports Personality show. He won his 23rd Olympic gold medal this year at Rio and has now retired.
- 18th December is International Migrants Day observed by UN General Assembly. The theme for this year is “ A Day without Migrants”.
- A 2,700-square-meter skating space, which is being considered the world’s largest non-permanent indoor ice rink, has been opened at the Grand Palais in Paris.
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