Changing the way of learning Daily Current Affairs Capsule 21 th December 2018 1. US starts withdrawing troops from Syria United States has started to withdraw its troops from Syria. President Donald Trump said they have defeated Islamic State group in Syria. US troops have largely been stationed in the Kurdish region in northern Syria. A partnership with an alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, is credited with playing a major role in the virtual elimination of the Islamic State terror group.
The group overran large swathes of Syria four years ago, imposing brutal rule on almost eight million people in the country and neighbouring Iraq. However, the terror group has not disappeared entirely. United States has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria. 2. Three astronauts return from International Space Station Three astronauts have returned to Earth after more than six months aboard the International Space Station. A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA, Sergey Prokopyev from Russia and German astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency landed on the snow-covered steppes in Kazakhstan. The crew radioed that they were feeling fine. Russian rescue teams in helicopters and all-terrain vehicles rushed to the landing site to extract the astronauts from the capsule charred by a fiery ride through the atmosphere. The trio has spent 197 days in space. It was the first mission for Aunon-Chancellor and Prokopyev, while Gerst flew his second to a total of 362 days in orbit, setting the ESA's flight duration record. 3. Gujarat emerges as best performing state in start-up ranking 2018 Gujarat has emerged as the best performing state in the Startup Ranking 2018. The National Report on States' Startup Ranking was unveiled by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi. Gujarat, with 100 percentile, has performed better than all other states in all the seven areas including start up policy, incubation support, seeding innovation and scaling innovation.karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Rajasthan, with a score of more than 85 percentile, have been adjudged the top performers.
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana have been recognised as Leaders. 27 states and 3 union territories participated in the ranking process. 4. Assam govt approves release of Chah Bahgicha Dhan Puraskar Mela The Assam government has approved the release of second instalment of the Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Mela. Assam Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that all the beneficiaries will get 2,500 rs in their bank accounts by 15th of the next month. Government will bear 200 crore rupees towards this. Our Correspondent reports that previously 2,500 rupees was transferred to the each of over 7 lakh account holders in tea garden areas at 26 districts. It may be recalled that the Assam government had announced that 5000 rupees will be provided to tea garden workers who had opened bank accounts after demonetization. 5. Zero defect, Zero Effect - Mantra of Textiles Ministry Textiles industry in India is one of the largest in the world with a huge raw material base and manufacturing strength across all value chains. The strength of India s textiles industry lies both in the hand woven sector as well as mill sector. Traditional sectors like handloom, handicrafts and small scale power loom are the biggest source of employment for millions of people in rural and semi-urban areas. This industry contributes to 7% of industrial output in value terms, 2% of India s GDP and 15% of the country s export earnings. 6. Three day India-China Film Festival to commence on 22nd December
In order to strengthen people-to-people connect and deepen cultural understanding between the two countries, an India-China Film Festival is going to be organized during the 1st India-China High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges from 22nd to 24th December, 2018. The three day Festival will be organized at Siri Fort Auditorium II, New Delhi by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. A total of seven films including four Chinese and three Indian Films will be screened during the Festival. The opening film of the Festival will be CZ12 also known as Chinese Zodiac. The list of Indian films to be screened includes Dangal (Hindi), Maacher Jhol (Bengali) and Ventilator (Marathi). 7. Government Launches Asiatic Lion Conservation Project The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India has launched the Asiatic Lion Conservation Project with an aim to protect and conserve the world s last ranging free population of Asiatic Lion and its associated ecosystem. The Asiatic Lion Conservation Project will strengthen the ongoing measures for conservation and recovery of Asiatic Lion with the help of state-of-the art techniques/ instruments, regular scientific research studies, disease management, Modern surveillance/ patrolling techniques.the total budget of the project for 3 years that amounts to nearly Rs. 9784 lakh will be funded from the Centrally Sponsored Scheme- Development of Wildlife Habitat (CSS-DWH) with the contributing ratio being 60:40 of Central and State share. 8. A UNESCO Category 2, International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography, to be inaugurated at INCOIS, Hyderabad Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment and Forests & Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan will inaugurate the newly constructed International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean) Complex in the INCOIS campus at Hyderabad on 22nd December, 2018.Union
Minister will dedicate ITCOocean to the Former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had contributed significantly to the growth of science and technology in the country. On the occasion, Dr. Vardhan will also name the academic building as Atal Bhavan and the Guest House as Atal Atithi Griha. 9. Harsh Vardhan Shringla appointed new Indian Ambassador to US Harsh Vardhan Shringla has been appointed as the Ambassador of India to the United States of America. Shringla is an Indian Foreign Service officer of 1984 batch. He is presently High Commissioner to Bangladesh. Riva Ganguly Das, 1986 batch IFS, who is presently Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations will take over as the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh.