Current Affairs Updates: 28 December 2019

1. China has successfully launched its largest carrier rocket “Long March-5“. The rocket was launched from
Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province. The rocket is also known as CZ-5. It
was China’s third attempt to launch the rocket. The Chinese rocket carried the Shijian-20 satellite, a
communication satellite and placed it into its designated orbit. The Shijian-20 satellite will lay the
foundation for the development of highly sensitive space probes.

2. Russia’s 1st missile unit equipped with Avangard Hypersonic glide vehicle enters into service. Russia’s
defence ministry stated that a new hypersonic weapon with latest strategic missiles of intercontinental
range has become operational. The nuclear-capable missiles can travel more than 20 times the speed of
sound. They have a “glide system” that affords great manoeuvrability and could make them impossible
to defend against.

3. The first edition of Mandu Festival begins at Mandu, picturesque fort city of Madhya Pradesh. The event
is organized by Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board. The festival will witness a celebration of the historic
heritage blended with the modern vibrancy of the city culture.

4. Veteran Political cartoonist Vikas Sabnis has passed away recently. He recently completed 50 years of
illustrious career in 2018. He was inspired by Bal Thackeray and RK Laxman.

5. The Indian Air Force bids farewell to the iconic “MiG-27” with a decommissioning ceremony at the
Jodhpur air base. The Mig 27 is a soviet origin aircraft that was built under licence by HAL and became a
part of the IAF strike fleet in 1985.

6. Raksha Mantri has launched the “DefExpo 2020” mobile app of the forthcoming DefExpo 2020. The app
has been developed by Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence (MoD).

7. Noted Economist and Political Analyst S Gurumurthy released a book titled “Politics of Opportunism:
Regional Parties, Coalitions, Centre-State Relations in India”.

8. AIR organises National Symposium of Poets 2020

9. The Union Ministry of Finance(MoF) in its latest notification has made it mandatory to submit the proof
of Aadhaar number of senior citizens who have invested in the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana
(PMVVY). This move was done to bring transparency to financial processes and to reduce the incidence
of frauds.

10. Home minister Shri Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of India’s first transit-oriented development
(TOD) project. Under this project state of the art infrastructure zone including Delhi’s tallest tower(161
m) will be built. The tower will be built in eastern part of Delhi at Karkardooma and is named as ‘East
Delhi Hub’.
11. The Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy (MoP,NRE) Raj Kumar Singh has announced
that India is likely to cross its 100 GigaWatt (GW) energy capacity mark in 2020. However the
government also needed to promote storage to ensure 24×7 clean energy supply as coal fired thermal
power still remains as the basic use in the country.

12. Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has inaugurated the 4 days long, second
edition of the ‘Eat Right Mela’ along with 11th National Street food festival at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium
in New Delhi. The event was organized by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in
collaboration with National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) to encourage people for
having healthier diets to reduce disease burden in the country. The theme of the mela is “Healthier
Diets”.

13. National Tribal Dance Festival namely “Tribal fest 2019” begun in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh,
which was presided over by the state’s Chief Minister (CM) Bhupesh Baghel. The festival was
inaugurated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. It is for the first time that festival is being organized in
Chhattisgarh.

14. Minister (EAM), Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who was on a 2-day (22-23 December 2019 ) visit to Iran, co-
chaired the 19th Joint Commission Meeting 2019 with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Tehran,
Iran.

15. Krishnamachari Srikkanth (60), Former Indian cricket team captain and member of the 1983 World Cup
winning team & former Indian women’s Cricket team captain Anjum Chopra (42) will be the recipient of
prestigious Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s CK Nayudu Lifetime Award for the year 2019 .The
award will be presented on January 12 during the BCCI Annual Award function in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

16. Malala Yousafzai (also known as Malala), a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest
Nobel Peace Prize (2014) laureate, was named as “the most famous teenager in the world” by the United
Nations (UN) in its ‘decade in review’ report released.

17. Sanjay Dharwadker authored the book titled “Diamond In My Palm” that describes, how the world’s 12
greatest diamonds originated from Golconda and Kollur mines in Andhra Pradesh & later took away by
Mughals, Persians, Brits, French, Turks and Russians after centuries of bloody wars, conspiracies and
million-dollar deals, and now ensconced in their national treasures

18. The Chief Minister (CM) of Haryana Shri Manohar Lal Khattar launched 5 new e-initiatives, including
Lokayukta portal and 42 new schemes and services on the Saral portal, at the State-level Good
Governance programme

19. Tropical Cyclone Sarai has lashed the Pacific island nation Fiji, with 140 km/h winds forcing hundreds of
people to evacuate to higher ground ahead of possible flooding.