Daily GK Updates - 15th December, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.Mr. Zoramthanga sworn in as Chief Minister of Mizoram : Mizo National Front (MNF) head, Mr Zoramthanga (74-years) took oath as the Chief Minister of Mizoram (third time).Governor Rajasekharan administered the oath ceremony at the Raj Bhavan, in Aizawl. In the 40-seated Assembly, MNF has secured a landslide victory bagging 26 seats.

2. IB, R&AW chiefs get a six-month extension : The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the extension of Intelligence Bureau Director (Rajiv Jain) & Research & Analysis Wing Secretary (Anil K Dhasmana) for six-month extensions.ACC has also redesignated Anil Srivastava (1985-batch IAS officer of the MP cadre) from the advisor, NITI Aayog, to principal advisor.The Director of Intelligence Bureau (DIB) is the chief executive of ‘Intelligence Bureau’.

3. Mahinda Rajapaksa resigns as Sri Lanka’s PM : Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister.Ranil Wickremesinghe (removed from the post on 26th October 2018) is expected to take oath as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister again.Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed as the premiere on 26th October by the president after sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe.On the 3rd December 2018, a court issued an interim order preventing Mahinda Rajapaksha from functioning in the position.

4.  Novelist' Amitav Ghosh wins Jnanpith Award for 2018 :  velist Amitav Ghosh (62-year) will receive the country’s highest literary honour Jnanpith Award 2018 (54th).  Ghosh treads through historical settings to the modern era and weaves a space where the past connects with the present in relevant ways.Ghosh is the recipient of the Padma Shri (2007) and Sahitya Akademi Award.His fiction is endowed with extraordinary depth and substance through his academic training as a historian and a social anthropologist.

5. President Kovind lays foundation stone of Railway Station at Kevadia  : President Ramnath Kovind laid the foundation stone of new ultra-modern Railway Station at Kevadia in Narmada district of Gujarat.The station will connect the Statue of Unity project to the rest of India through broad gauge railway line.Earlier, President Kovind visited the Statue of Unity (the world’s tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) at Kevadia Colony in Narmada district.He visited various places like ‘Valley of Flowers’, ‘Wall of Unity’, ‘Museum and Exhibition Halls’ and viewers' gallery at the venue of Statue of Unity.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World’s first floating nuclear plant operational in Russia : According to Russian state-run atomic energy corporation Rosatom, World’s first 'floating nuclear power plant' (FNPP) for installation in remote areas has been started and brought to 10% of its capacity. They are designed to maintain both uninterruptible power and plentiful desalinated water supply in remote areas.The world’s first floating nuclear power plant has been started at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in Saint Petersburg, Russia.This site, known as Akademik Lomonosov, is the property of the Russian nuclear operator Rosenergoatom.

2.  Sweden moves to ban outdoor smoking : The Swedish Parliament extended the smoking ban as of 1^st July 2019. Sweden is banning outdoor smoking in certain public places including playgrounds and train station platforms.Currently, Smoking is allowed only in designated smoking areas in most workplaces and public places. According to the new law, the goal is to make the Scandinavian country smoke-free by 2025.

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING/FINANCE:

1.Yes Bank names Brahm Dutt as Interim Chairman : Yes Bank Ltd has named Brahm Dutt (one of its independent directors)as the bank’s part-time non executive  independent chairman. Earlier, former Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla  resigned from the position. Brahm Dutt is a former bureaucrat and is one of the oldest members of Yes Bank’s board.