Daily Current Affairs 8th Dec 2021 – News, MCQs & Videos

Get All the Important Current Affairs of 8th Dec 2021 in this blog. It covers all important sections like Banking Current Affairs, Finance Current Affairs, Sports Current Affairs, Latest Appointments, Awards and more. In this blog, you also get to solve Important Current Affairs MCQs of 8th Dec 2021.

Daily Current Affairs 8th Dec 2021

National News

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), under the Ministry of
New & Renewable Energy has signed an MoU with the THDC India Limited (THDCIL), to
provide financial and technological support to develop renewable energy projects.
The IREDA has also signed an MoU with Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation
Limited (BVFCL), under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers to provide techno-financial
expertise to develop RE energy projects and fundraising.

▪ Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA):
▪ Founded: 11 March 1987
▪ Headquarters: New Delhi
▪ Chairman and Managing Director: Pradip Kumar Das

11th edition of Exercise EKUVERIN-21 between India and Maldives will be conducted
at Kadhdhoo Island, Maldives.

The exercise will enhance synergy and inter-operability between the Armed Forces of
both the nations conducting Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency Operations.

Note: Some Important Exercise:
▪ Red Flag-India and US
▪ Al Nagah-India and Oman
▪ Naseem-Al-Bahr-India and Oman
▪ Garuda Shakti-India and Indonesia
▪ Desert Warrior- India and Egypt

Sandhayak, the first of the four Survey Vessels (Large) Project being built for the Indian
Navy (IN) was launched in Hooghly River of Kolkata, West Bengal in the presence of
Minister of State (MoS) Ajay Bhatt, Ministry of Defence

• It was designed and developed by Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU), Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).
• The contract for building four survey ships is priced at Rs 2435 Crores.

▪ Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Limited:
▪ Founded: 1884
▪ Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
▪ Chairman & Managing Director: Rear Admiral Vipin Kumar Saxena (Retd)

Banking News

PNB launches android app for differently-abled employees

• Punjab National Bank (PNB) said it has launched PNB Pride-CRMD module tool, an android-based application for differently-abled employees, to monitor and effectively follow up with the special mention account (SMA) borrowers.
• This tool shall be compatible with iOS also very soon, it said.
• SMA accounts are stressed loans recognized early, enabling banks to initiate timely remedial actions, and preventing such borrowers from slipping to NPA

To make daily transactions of its customers more secure and easier, J&K Bank launched
its revised and refurbished Mobile Banking App mPay Delight for the public.

Notably, available on Google Play Store & Apple store, J&K Bank mPay Delight app has
been made more user friendly, vibrant and easier to use with biometric fingerprint
authentication for faster and more secure Logins.

▪ Headquarters: Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir
▪ Baldev Prakash: Managing Director and CEO of J&K Bank
▪ Rajesh Kumar Chhibber is the present Chairman

Paytm, has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer its startup toolkit to
startups onboarded on AWS Activate, a program that offers startups free tools, resources,
and more to quickly get started on AWS.

• Paytm will help entrepreneurs operating in India in the AWS Activate program grow their businesses with payment, distribution, and growth solutions.
• The Paytm startup toolkit is a single-stop platform that offers solutions in the domain of payments, payouts, banking and distribution with services including Paytm Payment Gateway, which helps businesses accept digital payments on their website, app

Financial News

Paytm announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Paytm Money has launched Portfolio
Management Services (PMS) Marketplace for HNI (High Networth Individuals) investors.

• The marketplace has been launched in partnership with PMS advisory startup PMS Bazaar.
• The platform aims to offer a transparent and comprehensive analysis of all PMS schemesfor HNI investors.
• PMS is an investment service offered to HNIs with SEBI mandating a minimum investment of ₹50 lakh.
• The PMS marketplace will offer key parameters for PMS schemes such as total assets, inception date, benchmark, and fund manager details for each scheme.

Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has launched India’s first FASTag-based metro parking
facility, at the Kashmere Gate metro station in partnership with Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC)

• HDFC Bank and Paytm have partnered to build comprehensive solutions across payment gateway, point of sale machines and credit products.
• Paytm Payments Bank has become the first bank in the country to achieve the milestone of issuing 1 crore FASTags.
• Paytm has announced the launch of Postpaid Mini, small-ticket loans that will give users the flexibility to access loans ranging from Rs 250 – Rs 1,000, in partnership with Aditya Birla Finance Ltd.
• HDFC Bank has announced its partnership with leading payments company Paytm, to offer co-branded credit cards on the Visa platform to businesspersons, millennials and merchants.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) over certain specified violations, as referred in Section 26 (2) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

Sports News

12th Men’s FIH Junior Hockey World Cup 2021 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha

• Argentina junior men’s hockey team defeated Germany by 4-2 in the final of the 2021 Men’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup (WC) to clinch their second Junior Men’s Hockey WC title at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• This was held from November 24, 2021- December 5, 2021.
• Third place was clinched by France after defeating India by 3-1 in the Bronze medal match.
• Best Player of the Tournament: Timothée Clément (FRANCE)
• Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Anton Brinckman (GERMANY)
• Hero Top Scorer of the Tournament: Miles Bukkens (NETHERLANDS) (18 goals)
• Odisha Fair Play Award: Team Chile
• Hockey India Maximum Team Goals: NETHERLANDS (45 goals)
• Hockey India Best Goal Saved of the Tournament: Mahmoud Seleem (EGYPT)
• India Best Coach of the Tournament: Johannes Schmitz (GERMANY)

Appointment

Government has expanded the Steering Committee for Advancing Local Value-Add and
Exports (SCALE committee) by adding three new members from different industries.

The SCALE Committee is formed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, working
closely with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under
Ministry’s guidance.

▪ Current Members: 14 (Headed by former Mahindra CEO Pawan Goenka)
▪ 3 New Members:
▪ Manish Sharma, Panasonic India Chairman and CEO
▪ Vikram S Kirloskar, Toyota Kirloskar Vice-Chairman
▪ Jalaj Dani, Asian Paints co-promoter and Chairman Addverb Technologies

Recent Committees
▪ Committee to determine RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products)
rates for exports from SEZs, EOUs: Gopal Krishna Pillai
▪ Central Vista Oversight Committee’ to expedite pace of project: Ratan P Watal
▪ Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s committee to review criteria for
reservation for EWS: Ajay Bhushan Pandey
▪ NITI Aayog’s committee to formulate an action plan for Online Dispute Resolution
(ODR): Arjan Kumar Sikri
▪ RBI’s advisory committee to assist RCL’s administrator Nageswar Rao: Sanjeev Nautiyal,
Srinivasan Varadarajan, Praveen P Kadle

Unix, an Indian Mobile Accessories manufacturing brand, has signed Indian Cricket Fast
Bowler Jasprit Bumrah as its Brand Ambassador to increase visibility of their products.

UNIX is a popular Indian brand that offers the latest and widest range of mobile
accessories for your smartphones.

Books and Author

• Vice President (VP) M. Venkaiah Naidu launched a book titled ‘The Midway Battle: Modi’s Roller-coaster Second Term’ authored by Gautam Chintamani and published by Bloomsbury India at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas, New Delhi.
• The book mentioned the political scenario of India. It marks the second tenure of the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The Midway Battle shed light on the various legislations like the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, triple talaq, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as well as farming laws

Public Service Ethics’ has been authored by Prabhat Kumar, former Governor of
Jharkhand.

• The book was released by VP M Venkaiah Naidu.
• The book is published by IC Centre for Governance.
• It deals with ethics in governance and public service and proposes a collective quest for ethical India.
• It doesn’t just talk about the problems and the crisis of ethics – it gives practical and positive solutions and tells you how to head in the right direction.

Download:

Weekly Current Affairs

Monthly Current Affairs

Current Affairs 8th Dec 2021 – MCQs

Q. Who has been appointed as the chairman of India Tourism Development
Corporation (ITDC) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
a) GKV Rao
b) Rajnish Kumar
c) Sambit Patra
d) Amit Agrawal
e) Shyamal Misra

Answer: Option C

▪ India Tourism Development Corporation is a hospitality, retail and education company
owned by Government of India, under Ministry of Tourism. Established in 1966
▪ IAS officer, GKV Rao will hold the post of managing director of ITDC.

Q. Who among the following has been signed as Brand Ambassador for 50th year
Celebrations of Arunachal Pradesh?

(a) Rahul Mittra
(b) Sanjay Dutt
(c) Lovlina Borgohain
(d) Rahul Dravid
(e) Both A & B

Answer: Option B

▪ Sanjay Dutt as the brand ambassador and award-winning filmmaker and branding
expert Rahul Mittra as brand advisor of the occasion of their golden jubilee celebrations,
marking the 50th year of the naming of the state.
▪ Sanjay Dutt launched a media campaign for the month-long celebrations, from 20th
January to 20th February 2022
▪ Became a state on 20 February 1987
▪ Arunachal Pradesh Capital: Itanagar;
▪ Arunachal Pradesh Chief minister: Pema Khandu;
▪ Arunachal Pradesh Governor: B. D. Mishra.

Q. Who has been appointed as chairperson of the National Highways Authority of
India (NHAI).
a) Alka Upadhyaya
b) Sanjay Bandopadhyay
c) Sundeep Kumar Nayak
d) Dharmendra S Gangwar
e) G Asok Kumar

Answer: Option A

▪ Centre has appointed Alka Upadhyaya as chairperson of the National Highways Authority
of India (NHAI).
▪ A 1990-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, Upadhyaya is currently Additional
Secretary, Department of Rural Development.

Q. Government will launch SRESHTA scheme for socio economics upliftment and
overall development of Scheduled Castes students. What does 2nd S stand for in SRESHTA
scheme?

(a) Scheme
(b) Survey
(c) Students
(d) Scheduled
(e) Social

Answer: Option C

➢ Government will launch Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SRESHTA) for socio economics upliftment and overall development of
Scheduled Castes students.
➢ In the next 5 years, the ministry has decided to extend support to 24800 meritorious SC
students, involving Rs. 300 crores approx., for providing them with quality residential
education from class 9 to 12 in reputed private residential schools in aspirational districts
identified by the NITI Aayog

Q. India and the EU have agreed on a detailed work programme until which year to
implement the 2016 EU-India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership
a) 2023
b) 2025
c) 2027
d) 2030
e) 2050

Answer: Option A

▪ With a focus on increasing technical cooperation in the area of energy efficiency,
renewable energy, cooperation within the International Solar Alliance and green
hydrogen

That is all from us in this blog on Current Affairs 8th Dec 2021.