Current Affairs, December 2018

31st December, Current Affairs:

• Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has secured a fourth term with a landslide victory in polls.
• Smriti Mandhan won the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Women's ODI Player of the Year, while Harmanpreet Kaur was named captain of ICC Women's T20I Team of the Year.
• Bigg Boss 12 concluded with the announcement of Dipika Kakar as winner.

30th December, Current Affairs:

• Legendary filmmaker Mrinal Sen passes away at the age of 95 in Kolkata. Best known for films like Bhuvan Shome, Neel Akasher Neechey, Calcutta 71 and Padatik, Sen, along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, was one of the faces of Bengali parallel cinema. Sen received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is the country's highest award in cinema, in 2003.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the renaming of three islands of Andaman and Nicobar to mark the 75th anniversary of the raising of the Indian national flag by freedom movement icon Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose during the fight for India's independence. The Ross Island was renamed to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, the Neil Island would now be known as Shaheed Dweep and the Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep.

28th December, Current Affairs:

• The Union cabinet approved a budget of Rs 10,000 crore for India's space mission Gaganyaan which aims to send three astronauts to space for a minimum of seven days.
• The Union Government approved amendments to the POCSO Act 2012.

27th December, Current Affairs:

• Lok Sabha passes Triple Talaq Bill. While 245 voters were in favour of the bill, 11 voted against it.

25th December, Current Affairs:

• Christmas is celebrated today across the world.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today opened the Bogibeel railroad bridge in Assam, billed as India's longest railroad bridge.

23rd December, Current Affairs:

• India on Sunday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike ranges of 4,000 km.
• A volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait.
• Real Madrid wins third straight Club World Cup title after defeating Al Ain by 4-1 in the final at Abu Dhabi.

22nd December, Current Affairs:

• The Goods and Services Tax Council on Wednesday slashed tax rates for 33 items that have been reduced from 18 per cent to 12 and 5 per cent respectively.

19th December, Current Affairs:

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched GSAT-7A, a geostationary communication satellite, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. This new satellite, along with GSAT-7 and GSAT-6, dubbed the "Indian Angry Bird", will form the band of communications satellite for use by the Indian military.
• President Ram Nath Kovind signed the proclamation paving the way for imposition of central rule in Jammu and Kashmir. President’s rule will come into force in Jammu and Kashmir from midnight today after expiry of six months of Governor’s rule.
• Lok Sabha approves Bill that bans commercial surrogacy.

17th December, Current Affairs:

• Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath take oath as the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively.
• Bhupesh Baghel sworn in as the Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh.
• Catriona Elisa Gray from Philippines was crowned Miss Universe 2018.

16th December, Current Affairs:

• PV Sindhu made history by becoming the first Indian to win the BWF World Tour Finals tournament. Sindhu defeated Nozomi Okuhara in the title clash by 21-19, 21-17.
• Belgium became the World champions for the first time after defeating Netherlands by 3-2 in final of the Hockey World Cup 2018.

15th December, Current Affairs:

• Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned as the prime minister of Sri Lanka after a two-month power tussle.
• Mizo National Front (MNF) President Zoramthanga sworn in as Mizoram Chief Minister for 3rd times.

14th December, Current Affairs:

• Noted English writer Amitav Ghosh has been honoured with this year's Jnanpith Award, a literary award given to an author for "outstanding contribution towards literature". Mr. Ghosh is also recipient of the Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi Award.
• The Nepal government has banned the use of Indian currency notes of ₹2,000, ₹500 and ₹200 denominations.

13th December, Current Affairs:

• K Chandrashekar Rao took oath as the Chief Minister of Telangana for a second time.

11th December, Current Affairs:

• Former Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das appointed as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
• Congress wins the Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assemby elections. In Madhya Pradesh it is neck to neck battle between Congress and BJP. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi wins the Telangana Assembly election. The Mizo National Front (MNF) wins the Assembly election in Mizoram.
• Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh resigned from his post after the defeat of BJP in the assembly election.
• Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” alongside several other journalists.
• Economist Surjit Bhalla has resigned as a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
• The Winter Session of Parliament begins from today.

10th December, Current Affairs:

• Human Rights Day is observed today.
• Dr. Urjit Patel steps down as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor. Dr. Patel, was appointed the Governor of the RBI in 2016.
• India successfully test-fired nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-V from Dr. Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha. Agni-V is an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a strike range of over 5,000 km.
• Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant made history by equalling the world record for most catches taken in a Test, snaring 11 in the opening clash against the hosts in Adelaide.

9th December, Current Affairs:

• Miss Mexico Vanessa Ponce de Leon crowned as the 69th Miss World.

7th December, Current Affairs:

• 67% voting turnout in the Assembly elections held for 119 constituencies in Telangana. In Rajasthan Assembly elections, 74% voting recorded.
• The Indian Government appointed Krishnamurthy Subramanian as chief economic advisor. He will fill the role vacated by Arvind Subramanian in June this year. Krishnamurthy Subramanian is a professor from Indian School of Business.

6th December, Current Affairs:

• Sahitya Akademi Award for 2018 announces winners in 24 languages. The winners comprising seven collections of poetry, six novels, six short story collections, three works of literary criticism and two collections of essays.
• Pakistan's leg-spinner Yasir Shah became the fastest cricketer to take 200 Test wickets. He reaches the milestone in his 33rd Test, beating Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett's record of 36 Tests.

5th December, Current Affairs:

• Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO's GSAT-11 satellite also called the "Big Bird” was successfully launched into space from the French space port of Kourou in South America.
• The Reserve Bank of India has kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% after its bi-monthly policy review.
• Team India skipper Virat Kohli has been declared the highest earning sportsperson in the country by Forbes India.

4th December, Current Affairs:

• Navy Day in India is celebrated today.
• The gas-rich state of Qatar decided to leave OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) on January 1, 2019 after nearly 60 years.
• Real Madrid's Croatia midfielder Luka Modric was named winner of the 2018 Ballon d'Or. 2017 winner Ronaldo came second, while Atletico Madrid and France striker Antoine Griezmann came third. Olympique Lyonnais and Norway forward Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural Ballon d'Or award for the best player in women's football.
• Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has announced retirement from all forms cricket. Delhi's next Ranji Trophy encounter against Andhra, beginning December 6, will be his last game. In a Test career spanning from 2004 to 2016, Gambhir scored 4119 runs at an average of 42.92 with nine hundreds and 22 fifties.

2nd December, Current Affairs:

• India will host the G-20 summit in 2022, a year when India will complete 75 years of its independence.
• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be chief guest at India's 70th Republic Day celebrations next year.

1st December, Current Affairs:

• World AIDS Day observed today to raise awareness about the fight against HIV/AIDS and remember all those who have died from it.
• The 2018 G20 Summit is being held in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who helped steer America through the end of the Cold War, died Friday at age 94.

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