The Daily Briefs are a comprehensive update of current affairs for the day. To know more about them, read this. If you’d like to receive updates for current affairs every day, you’ll need to subscribe here, and all the previous Briefs can be accessed at the archives here. Also, do consider enrolling to our mock tests!
- V K Sasikala, who was seen as the most trusted aide of Late Jayalalithaa, has been appointed as the General Secretary of the AIADMK party. This is seen as a move to take her closer to the Chief Minister’s position.
- The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas had started the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme to increase the usage of LGP cylinders for cooking. It idea was the replace fuel from wood in the villages as it causes health as well as environmental problems. The scheme gave out Rs. 1,600/- to each household which took a new connection. All in all, the target of 1.5 Crore new connections was met. This is the first welfare scheme by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. Its tagline was ‘Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan’.
- The Government is planning to set up Financial Data Management Centre (FDMC) which will collate information from various regulators such as SEBI, NABARD, etc. This move was based on the recommendation of the Ajay Tyagi committee.
- The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation have conducted Swachh Swasth Sarvatra in New Delhi. This was a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission and it aims to construct toilets and inculcate a behavioural change in the people to achieve open defecation-free India by the year 2019. The program was conducted to commemorate the Good Governance Day which is celebrated on the 25th of December to celebrate the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
- The Congress of Colombia (its Parliament) has approved the peace agreement with the FARC group. The FARC group is a Marxist outfit which led a five decade long civil war. This civil war is said to be one of the most brutal in the history of the continent with about 2.6 lakh deaths. In the month of September, a referendum was held asking people of Columbia if they approve of the peace agreement. The results showed that the majority voted against the agreement. Hence, the Government of Colombia had to renegotiate an agreement and go for the option of ratifying it in the Parliament instead of going for another referendum.
- China has started operations on the longest High Speed Railway line in the world. The Shanghai to Kunming line stretches 2252 kilometres and it takes only 11 hours to reach from one end to another. The maximum speed on this line is 330 kilometres (crazy!).
Beipanjiang Bridge
- Beipanjiang Bridge is the tallest bridge in the world. It is suspended over a 1854 feet gorge in China and connects the province of Guizhou and Yunnan. It is over the Beipan River.
- Shahrukh Khan will be awarded the 4th Yash Chopra Award. The first award was presented to Lata Mangeshkar. The award has been instituted by TSR Foundation in Mumbai.
Today’s Quiz
thank you
thanks