Current Affairs 17th December 2018

Current Affairs 18th December 2018 - Important Points

• Belgium wins Hockey World Cup 2018 Title on - 16th December 2018
• Ranil Wickremesinghe took oath as Prime Minister of - Sri Lanka
• NITI Aayog organised Women Transforming - India Awards 2018
• Joshna Chinappa wins - National Squash Women’s Singles Title
• Member countries finalise ‘Katowice package’ rules at COP24 to implement - 2015 Paris Climate Agreement
• Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016  approved by - Lok Sabha 

Current Affairs 18th December 2018 - Details

Belgium wins Hockey World Cup 2018 Title on - 16th December 2018

Belgium Hockey team secured their 1st ever Word cup title on 16 December 2018 after they beaten The Netherlands in sudden death. Belgium, which also secured a Silver medal in Rio Olympics 2016, finished with a history by defeating the opponents by 3-2 in the penalty shoot-out after finals ended without any goal.
Belgium hockey team registered its 2nd biggest international title after securing a Silver medal in Rio
Olympics silver in 2016 and ending up 2nd in the 2017 Euro Hockey Championships.
More about Hockey World Cup 2018

• The Hockey World Cup 2018 was organised at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha from 28th November-16th December 2018.
• It was the 14th edition of the Hockey World cup. Belgium completed 1st, while the Netherlands and
  Australia ended 2nd and 3rd individually.
• Australia beaten England by 8-1 to secure 3rd place. Belgium came 5th in the last edition of the Hockey World Cup which was played at The Hague, Netherlands.
• India came at 6th position in the Hockey World Cup 2018. The Belgian Hockey player, Arthur Van Doren, was bestowed as the Best Player of the Hockey World Cup 2018 tournament.
• Australia’s Blake Govers and Belgium’s Alexander Hendrickx recorded the greatest number of 7 goals in the tournament. Primin Blaak was the goalkeeper of the tournament and team of Spain was presented Fair Play award.

Ranil Wickremesinghe took oath as Prime Minister of - Sri Lanka

On 16th December 2018, Ranil Wickremesinghe has once again developed as the PM of Sri Lanka after the end of the weeks-long political crisis in the island country.
On 26 October 2018, Mr Ranil Wickremsing was exiled as PM, Sri Lanka.  He was substituted by Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PM. Mr. Rajapaksa resigned on 15 October 2018 after he failed to demonstrate majority in the Sri Lankan Parliament. Ranil Wickremesinghe has been taken oath as the PM for 5th time which is a record in Sri Lanka.
About Ranil Wickremesinghe

• Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician and the obligatory PM Sri Lanka. He belongs to United National Party and has worked as its leader since 1994.
• He got elected as Member of Parliament for the 1st time in 1977 from Colombo District.
• Ranil Wickremesinghe was designated as the Deputy Minister Foreign Affairs in the J. R. Jayewardene’s administration.
• He also became the youngest cabinet minister of Sri Lanka after he was promoted to the post of Minister of Youth Affairs & Employment.
• Ranil Wickremesinghe has also been the PM of Sri Lanka from 1993-1994 and 2001-2004.
• After the murder of Gamini Dissanayake, during the 1994 presidential election
  campaign, Wickremesinghe was selected the party leader of the United National Party in November 1994.
• Maithripala Sirisena beaten Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2015 President elections of Sri Lanka. Subsequent, on 8th January 2015, Wickremesinghe was selected as PM by Sirisena.

NITI Aayog organised Women Transforming - India Awards 2018

15 women business tycoons were bestowed awards at the recently concluded Women Transforming
India Awards 2018 in New Delhi. The Women Transforming India Awards are planned by NITI Aayog. It
was the third edition of these awards.
Vice-President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu, were the chief guest on this event.  He also released the
upgraded version of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform web portal at the programme. M Venkaiah
Naidu praised the effort of the NITI Aayog for creating Women Entrepreneurship Platform 2.0 and
placing gender equality at the centre of its policy choices.
About Women Business Entrepreneurship Platform

• The primary aim of Women Entrepreneurship Platform is to encourage and support both established and aspiring Indian women business tycoons.
• Women Business Entrepreneurship Platform is the 1st of its kind platform that permits the partner firms to provide various support services to Indian women business tycoons.
• It goals to transform the business ecosystem for women business tycoons in the nation. It pursues to become a single-stop resource centre for Indian women business tycoons.
• It also delivers for meeting and working in association of various shareholders in the business space on a One-platform Many firms including Google, UN India Business Forum, CRISIL, SIDBI, NIC, NASSCOM, WEE Foundation, SEWA bank, MannDeshi Foundation and many more are the partners in the Women Business Entrepreneurship Platform.

Joshna Chinappa wins - National Squash Women’s Singles Title

Joshna Chinappa secured the National Squash Women’s Singles title after she beaten Urwashi Joshi in the final match by 9-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-5 points. It was her 16th National championship and with this victory, she has equalled the record of Bhuvaneshwari Kumari of winning 16 titles.
Squash is a ball game played by 2/4 players in a 4-walled court with hollow rubber ball. In India, the game is not very popular but gearing-up gradually.
The Squash Rackets Federation of India is India’s squash governing organisation. Presently, most popular squash players in India are Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal.
Dipika was the 1st Indian female to break into the leading 10 in the Women’s Squash Association
rankings.
About Joshna Chinappa

• Joshna Chinappa is the 1st Indian squash player to secure the British Squash Championship in 2003.
• She secured this title in the under-19 category. She is also the youngest Indian women’s National Squash winner.
• Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik secured the squash women’s doubles Gold medal in 2014 at the Commonwealth Games. It was India’s 1st ever award in squash at the Commonwealth Games.
• Mahesh Mangaonkar beaten Vikram Malhotra in the final game by 11-4, 13-15, 11-2, 5-11, 15-13 to secure Men’s Singles title.
• It was the 75th edition of the tournament. This is the first title for Mahesh Mangaonkar. The entire
  championship was organised in Noida.

Member countries finalise ‘Katowice package’ rules at COP24 to implement - 2015 Paris Climate Agreement

The 2018 UN Climate Change Conference that occurred between 2nd to 15th December 2018 in
Katowice, Poland, was the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change as COP24. It is also referred to as the Katowice Climate Change Conference/Katowice Climate
Talks. The most significant outcome of COP24 was that the nations have decided on rules for the
execution of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Main Outcomes of COP 24

• The participating countries agreed on the guidelines to execute the Paris Agreement that will come into effect in 2020.
• The guidelines are related to how the member countries will check the carbon-emissions and report on their emissions-cutting efforts. This guidebook can be known as the detailed ‘Operating Manual’ of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
• The members of the conference did not decide to ‘welcome’ the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on 1.5°C. The United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia & Kuwait declined to “welcome” the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.
• The parties to the conference decided to record the pledges in a public registry, according to the present interim portal.
• The public registry will continue to have a search function, although many attempts have been made to get it erased.
• It was also decided among the members that future pledges should conceal a ‘common timeframe’ from 2031. The number of years for the timeframe will be decided later.

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016  approved by - Lok Sabha 

The Lok Sabha has approved the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, which pursues to empower the transgender community in the nation by delivering them a separate identity. The bill was produced in the parliament 2 years ago has been approved with 27 modifications. The key aim of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, is to describe transgenders and exclude discrimination against the transgender community.
Highlights of the Bill

• The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 outlines a transgender as one who is partly female or male; or a mixture of female & male; or neither female nor male.
• Moreover, the bill explains that the person’s gender must not match the allocated gender at the time of birth.
• Every transgender individual in the nation must obtain an ID certificate which will be utilised as the proof of recognition as a transgender person and to reward all the rights under the Bill.
• The ID certificate would be sanctioned by the District Magistrate on the endorsement of a Screening Committee.
• The screening committee for endorsing the certificate would consist of a medical officer, a
  psychologist/psychiatrist, a district welfare officer, a government delegate, and a transgender individual.
• The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 bans discriminating with transgenders in
  education, employment, healthcare and other related areas.
• The Bill guides the central and state governments for assigning welfare schemes to the Transgender community in concerned areas.