CURRENT AFFAIRS 11/12/2017

CURRENT AFFAIRS  11/12/2017

1. Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers Meet Begins in Delhi

i. Foreign Ministers of Russia, India, and China (RIC) are holding a trilateral meeting in New Delhi. The meeting is expected to review global and regional issues of mutual interest as well as discuss trilateral exchanges and activities.

ii. The External Affairs Minister will have separate bilateral meetings with her Russian and Chinese counterparts. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Yi have arrived in New Delhi.

2. Diddy Tops the List of 2017's Highest-Paid Musicians: Forbes

i. Musician Diddy was on the top of Forbes’ annual world’s highest-paid musician list shows. He is on top despite not releasing any album in 2017.

ii. The list is based on pretax income from June 1, 2016, through June 1, 2017. The Top 5 Musicians on the list are- 

1. Diddy ($130 M),
2. Beyoncé ($105 M),
3. Drake ($94 M),
4. The Weeknd ($92 M),
5. Coldplay ($88 M).

3. China Starts World's Biggest Floating Solar Project

i. A unit of China Three Gorges Corp. is building a 1 billion yuan ($151 million) floating solar power plant, the world’s biggest, in the nation’s eastern province of Anhui. China Three Gorges New Energy Co. started building the 150-megawatt project in July and part of the plant was connected to the grid.

ii. The project features panels fixed to floats on the surface of a lake that formed after a coal mine collapsed, according to the unit. The entire facility is expected to come online by May 2018.

4. India INX Gets SEBI go-ahead for Listing of Debt Securities

i. BSE's India International Exchange (India INX) has received approval from the capital market regulator SEBI on the framework for the listing of debt securities. 

ii. The move will enable Indian and foreign issuers to issue masala bonds, Eurobonds, and foreign currency bonds from India INX at International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) for the first time.

5. Uma Shankar Appointed RBI Executive Director

i. Uma Shankar, chief general manager (CGM) in charge of the Reserve Bank of India's financial inclusion and development department has taken over as executive director (ED) in the central bank.

ii. Shankar has been elevated after Meena Hemchandra the executive director in charge of the central bank's supervision department retired recently.

6. Maruti Suzuki Replaces SBI as 6th Most Valuable Indian Firm

i. India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki became India's sixth most valued firm, crossing India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI).

ii. Maruti Suzuki's market capitalization stood at Rs 2.73 trillion, marginally ahead of SBI's market value of Rs 2.70 trillion. Reliance Industries is the country's most valued company with a market value of Rs 5.83 trillion, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, ITC and Hindustan Unilever.

7. Pradeep Singh Kharola Takes Over as Air India CMD

i. Senior IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola took charge as the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India. Kharola assumed charge from Rajiv Bansal.

ii. He was the managing director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd since February 2015.

8. Rahul Gandhi Elected Indian National Congress President

i. The Indian National Congress announced that Rahul Gandhi has been elected as its new President, taking over from his mother Sonia Gandhi.

ii. Rahul was declared the party President after no other candidate filed a nomination to contest the presidential elections.

9. India Beat Germany, Win Bronze at Hockey World League Final

i. India defeated Germany 2-1 in the Hockey World League Final to grab the bronze medal at the event, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. SV Sunil and Harmanpreet Singh scored for the world number six Indian side.

ii. The world's fifth-ranked side Germany was without any substitutes as seven of their players were unavailable for the match either due to injury or high fever. For India’s success, Odisha government presented each player a cheque of Rs 10 lakh.

10. Pioneer of DNA Fingerprinting Lalji Singh Passes Away

i. Lalji Singh, a pioneer of DNA fingerprinting technology in India and former Vice-Chancellor of Benares Hindu University, BHU (2011 to 2014), passed away at the age of 70.

ii. Lalji Singh and his team developed the indigenous probe that was first applied to settle paternity disputes in the late 1980s at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad.

11. Veteran Journalist Sukharanjan Sengupta Passes Away

i. Veteran journalist Sukharanjan Sengupta died due to old age-related health problems. He was 85.

ii. Sengupta had worked for Bengali dailies Jugantar and Ananda Bazar Patrika in his long career spanning over six decades.