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- Switzerland Withdraws India’s Most Favored Nation Status; 3 Indians In Forbes Top 100 Powerful Women
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PM Modi presided over the fourth National Conference of Chief Secretaries. Bloomberg released the list of the 25 richest families in the world. At the same time, Mohammad Aamir retired from international cricket for the second time.
Information about some such major current affairs, which are important for students preparing for government jobs…
International
1. Switzerland ended India’s most favored nation status: The Government of Switzerland withdrew the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status from India on 13 December. Under MFN, all the countries under the World Trade Organization (WTO) give each other the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status. WTO is an organization of the United Nations (UNO), which has 164 member countries.
After being given Most Favored Nation (MFN) status, all countries can easily do business with each other without any discrimination.
- After this decision of the Swiss government, now Indian companies operating there will have to pay 10% more tax from January 1, 2025.
- Switzerland had granted MNF nation status to India under the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
- Two countries enter into Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) among themselves to protect their citizens and companies from double tax. Under this, companies or individuals do not have to pay tax in two different countries for their services or products.
- On November 13, Switzerland said that it had to take this step because of the decision of the Indian Supreme Court.
- In fact, last year, in a case related to Nestle, the Supreme Court of India had ruled that DTAA cannot be implemented unless it is notified under the Income Tax Act.
- This decision meant that companies like Nestle would have to pay more tax on their dividends. Earlier, Delhi High Court had ordered that companies and individuals working for or in foreign entities should not have to pay double tax. The Supreme Court overturned this decision.
- Nestle is a Swiss company. Its headquarters is in Vevey city of Switzerland.
2. President removed in South Korea: The impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-sol was passed in South Korea on December 14. After the passing of this resolution the powers of the President were immediately suspended. Now Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will serve as acting president.
In Parliament, 204 votes were cast against Yun while only 85 votes were cast in his support. 3 MPs did not vote.
- President Yoon imposed martial law in the country on the night of 3 December.
- However, after huge protests, he withdrew his decision within 6 hours.
- After this step of Yoon, he was facing a lot of opposition in South Korea. Last Saturday also an impeachment motion was brought to remove him but it could not be passed by a few votes.
- After the impeachment, the proposal will now be presented before the court.
- Further process will be started only if 6 out of 9 judges give verdict against the President.
- Elections have to be held within 60 days of impeachment.
- During this period, the powers of the President are in the hands of the Prime Minister.
RANK & REPORT
3. 3 Indians included in Forbes’ list of 100 most powerful women: Business magazine Forbes on November 13 released its annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world for the year 2024. This includes 3 women from India. The list includes Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, HCL Corporation CEO Roshni Nadar Malhotra and Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
Forbes has decided the ranking on the basis of parameters like money, media, influence and sphere of influence etc.
- In this list, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stood first, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde stood second and Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni stood third.
- 65-year-old Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made it to the Forbes list for the sixth time. This time she has been ranked 28th.
- Last year she was at 32nd position. In 2022, he got 36th position.
- Sitharaman is the Finance Minister and Corporate Affairs Minister of India since 2019. She was also the 28th Defense Minister from 2017 to 2019. She is the second woman Defense Minister and Finance Minister after Indira Gandhi.
- Roshni Nadar is the first woman to lead HCL Corporation. He is ranked 81st in the Forbes list. She was ranked 60th in 2023, 54th in 2019 and 55th in 2020.
- Kiran (71), founder of Biocon Limited, is a prominent Indian billionaire entrepreneur. She has been ranked 82nd in the Forbes list. She was ranked 76th in the year 2023 and 68th in 2019.
- SAIL’s first woman president Soma Mandal, who made it to the list last year, missed out this time.
- Forbes is an American business magazine, which releases the list of the world’s most powerful people every year.
- For political leaders, the magazine has kept GDP and population as standards, while for corporate leaders, revenue, valuation and number of employees have been kept as standards.
4. Bloomberg released the list of 25 richest families in the world: Bloomberg released the list of the world’s 25 richest families on December 13. His wealth has increased by Rs 34.5 lakh crore this year. The Walton family, which runs consumer retail company Walmart, tops the list. This family was at second position last year.
The total net worth of the Walton family was Rs 36.7 lakh crore, which is Rs 14.6 lakh crore more than last year.
- The royal families of UAE and Qatar are at second and third place in the list.
- The Ambani family is at 8th position with a net worth of Rs 8.45 lakh crore.
- India’s Mistry family stood at 23rd position with a net worth of Rs 3.5 lakh crore. The family owns the Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
- The total wealth of the world’s top 25 richest families is Rs 211 lakh crore.
- More than 70% of the families have been included in the top-25 families of this list for the last several years.
NATIONAL
5. PM Modi presided over the fourth national conference of chief secretaries: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the fourth National Conference of Chief Secretaries in New Delhi on December 14. Chief Secretaries, senior officers and domain experts of all the states are participating in this conference. Its theme is ‘Promoting Entrepreneurship, Employment and Skilling’.
This 3-day long conference started on December 13 and will continue till December 15, 2024.
- The National Conference of Chief Secretaries is being organized for the last three years. Its first conference was held in Dharamshala in June 2022.
- Whereas, the second and third conferences were held in New Delhi in January 2023 and December 2023 respectively.
- This time in the fourth national conference, detailed discussions are being held on 6 sectors i.e. manufacturing, services, rural non-farm, urban, renewable energy and economy.
- Besides, the best practices of the states will also be discussed in this conference.
- In this conference, special sessions will be organized on ‘Frontier Technology for Developed India, Development of Cities as Economic Growth Hubs, Economic Reforms in States for Investment, and Capacity Building through Mission Karmayogi’ etc.
- Apart from this, self-reliance in agriculture, PM Surya Ghar and Indian knowledge tradition will be discussed.
Sport
6. Mohammad Aamir retires from international cricket again: Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Aamir has retired from international cricket. Aamir has retired from international cricket for the second time. Aamir took retirement for the first time from Test cricket in 2019 and from white ball cricket in December 2020.
In the year 2024, Mohammad Aamir returned to the Pakistan team for the T20 World Cup.
- Aamir played 36 Tests, 61 ODIs and 62 T20 International matches for Pakistan.
- Aamir has taken 71 wickets in 62 T-20 International matches, while his best was 4 wickets for 13 runs.
- Furthermore, he took 119 wickets in 36 Test matches, while he took 81 wickets in 61 ODI matches.
7. Ban on bowling of Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib Al Hasan: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has banned the bowling of Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib Al Hasan on 14 December. Now he will not be able to bowl in any ECB tournament. This ban has been implemented from December 10.
All-rounder Shakib, 37, played and bowled one match for Surrey in the County Championship in September. During this time the on-field umpire had found his bowling action illegal and reported him. The English Board has taken action on that report.
- Shakil Al Hasan had failed in a test held at Loughborough University on 10 December.
- To remove the suspension, he will have to take the test again.
- For the re-test, Shakib’s elbow extension must be less than the prescribed 15-degree limit.
- Shakib Al Hasan had announced his retirement during Bangladesh’s India tour in September 2024.
TODAY’S HISTORY
History of 14 December: On this day in 1911, Roald Amundsen of Norway reached the Earth’s South Pole (Antarctica). He is the first person in the world to accomplish this feat. Roald Amundsen and his team hoisted the Norwegian flag after reaching Antarctica. Amundson’s team also included 3 men and 52 dogs, but only 16 dogs reached Antarctica. The remaining dogs were eaten by Amundson and his team. This team left for Antarctica on October 19, 1911 and reached there after a journey of about two months. After Amundsen, on 1 November 1911, Robert Scott’s team from Norway also set out towards the South Pole. But, when his team reached here on 17 January 1912, they came to know that Amundsen had already reached here.
Scott died while returning from the South Pole.
- In 1921, Annie Besant was awarded the degree of ‘Doctor of Letters’ by Banaras Hindu University.
- In 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected President of the Constituent Assembly of India.
- In 1995, the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia signed the Dayton Treaty in Paris, ending the three-and-a-half-year Balkan war.
- In 1997, all countries of the world agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
- In 2000, George Walker Bush was elected the 43rd President of the United States.
- The first anti-corruption agreement was signed by 73 countries in Merida, Mexico in 2003.
Also read previous current affairs…
Current Affairs 13 December: PM Modi launches 167 projects worth Rs 5,700 crore; Deal worth Rs 13,500 crore between Defense Ministry and HAL
Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024 passed in Lok Sabha. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand inaugurated the 10th World Ayurveda Congress 2024. Volcano erupts on Jupiter’s satellite moon. Read the full news…
2. Current Affairs 12 December: Gukesh D becomes world chess champion; ‘One Nation-One Election’ bill approved by Cabinet; Trump is TIME’s ‘Person of the Year’
Elon Musk becomes the first person to have a net worth of $400 billion. ‘Khelo India Winter Games 2025’ will start in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. At the same time, ‘Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’ said in its annual report that in the year 2024, 54 journalists were killed all over the world. Read the full news…