The Most Important Current Affairs December 2021: India's Harnaaz Sandhu Crowned 70th Miss Universe 2021

The Monthly Hindu Review|Current Affairs | December 2021
The Most Important Current Affairs December 2021

India’s Harnaaz Sandhu crowned 70th Miss 1. Anuradha Sarma Pujari (Assamese)
Universe 2021 2. Bratya Basu (Bengali)
3. Mwdai Gahai (Bodo)
Actor-model Harnaaz Sandhu made history as she was 4. Raj Rahi (Dogri)
crowned Miss Universe 2021 beating contestants from
5. Namita Gokhale (English)
80 countries, 21 years after India last brought home the
6. Daya Prakash Sinha (Hindi)
title. While Paraguay’s Nadia Ferreira, 22, finished
7. DS Nagabhushana (Kannada)
second, South Africa’s Lalela Mswane, 24, came third.
8. Wali Mohd Aseer Kashtawari (Kashmiri)
History of India in Miss Universe title: 9. Sanjiv Verenkar (Konkani)
Only two Indians before Ms Sandhu have won the title 10. George Onakkoor (Malayalam)
of Miss Universe— actors Sushmita Sen in 1994 and 11. Kiran Gurav (Marathi)
Lara Dutta in 2000. The 70th edition of the event was 12. Chhabilal Upadhyaya (Nepali)
held in Eilat, Israel, where the 21-year-old bagged the 13. Hrushikesh Mallick (Odia)
coveted pageant. 14. Khalid Hussain (Punjabi)
Career of Harnaaz Sandhu: 15. Meethesh Nirmohi (Rajasthani)
The Chandigarh-based model, who is pursuing her 16. Vindeshwariprasad Mishr “Vinay” (Sanskrit)
master’s degree in public administration, was crowned 17. Niranjan Hansda (Santali)
by her predecessor Andrea Meza of Mexico, who won 18. Arjun Chawla (Sindhi)
the pageant in 2020. Ms Sandhu started her journey in 19. Ambai (Tamil)
pageantry when she won Times Fresh Face in 2017, 20. Gorati Venkanna (Telugu)
representing Chandigarh at the age of 17. She later won
Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2021:
the LIVA Miss Diva Universe 2021 title.
The Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2021 were
About the ceremony: awarded for 22 Indian languages and the award in
The ceremony was hosted by Steve Harvey and saw Tamil will be declared later, there was no award given
performances from American singer JoJo. The selection in Rajasthani language this year. Author Megha
committee included actor and Miss Universe India 2015 Majumdar won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar
Urvashi Rautela, Adamari López, Adriana Lima, 2021 for her debut book 'A Burning', published in 2020.
Cheslie Kryst, Iris Mittenaere, Lori Harvey, Marian 1. Abhijit Bora (Assamese)
Rivera and Rena Sofer. 2. Gourob Chakraborty (Bengali)
3. Gautom Daimary (Bodo)
Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 Announced 4. Arun Akash Dev (Dogri)
Sahitya Akademi announced its prestigious Sahitya 5. Megha Majumdar (English)
Akademi Awards, Yuva Puraskar and Bal Sahitya 6. Drashti Soni (Gujarati)
Puraskar 2021 in various languages. According to the 7. Himanshu Vajpai (Hindi)
board, an engraved copper plate, shawl and an amount 8. L.Lakshmi Narayan Swamy (Kannada)
of Rs 1 lakh will be given to the main Sahitya Akademi 9. Razi Tahir Bhagat (Kashmiri)
prize winner and an engraved copper plate and an 10. Sharddha Garad (Konkani)
amount of Rs 50,000 each will be given to the Yuva 11. Amit Mishra (Maithili)
Puraskar and Bal Sahitya Puraskar. 12. Mobin Mohan (Malayalam)
13. Lenin Khmancha (Manipuri)
Sahitya Akademi Award 2021:
14. Pranav Sakhadeo (Marathi)
The Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 was given in 20
15. Mahesh Dahal (Nepali)
Indian languages, the winner of Gujarati, Maithili,
16. Debabrata Das (Odia)
Manipuri, and Urdu languages will be announced at a
17. Veerdavinder Singh (Punjabi)
later date. Seven books of poetry, two novels, five books
of short stories, two plays, one book each of biography, 18. Swetapadma Satapathy (Sanskrit)
autobiography, criticism, and epic poetry have won the 19. Kuna Hansdah (Santali)
Sahitya Akademi Awards 2021. Author, Namita 20. Rakesh Shewani (Sindhi)
Gokhale was awarded for her novel Things to Leave 21. Thagulla Gopal (Telugu)
Behind 22. Umar Farhat (Urdu)
3 www.bankersadda.com | www.sscadda.com | www.careerpower.in | Adda247 App

The Monthly Hindu Review|Current Affairs|December 2021
Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2021: World Athletics Awards 2021: Full list of
The Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2021 was given in 22 Indian winners:
languages, no Bal Sahitya Puraskar was given in
Legendary Indian long jumper Anju Bobby George has
Gujarati and Punjabi languages this year. Anita
won the Woman of the Year Award by World Athletics
Vachharajani has been named as the recipient of the
at the World Athletics Awards 2021 for grooming
Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2021 for the biography "Amrita talent in the country and advocating gender equality.
Sher-Gil: Rebel with a Paintbrush". Hindi writer She is the first Indian to be honoured by the sport’s
Devendra Mewari won the award for his play titled world body during its annual awards function.
"Natak Natak me Vigyan".
Category Winners
1. Mrinal Chandra Kalita (Assamese)
Elaine Thompson-Herah
2. Sunirmal Chakraborty (Bengali) World Athletes of the
(Jamaica) and Karsten
3. Ratneshwar Narzary (Bodo) Year
Warholm (Norway)
4. Narsingh Dev Jamval (Dogri)
Female Rising Star Athing Mu (United States)
5. Anita Vaccharajani (English)
Erriyon Knighton (United
6. Devendra Mewari (Hindi) Male Rising Star
States)
7. Basu Bevinagida (Kannada)
Federacion Costarricense
8. Majeed Majazi (Kashmiri) Member Federations
de Atletismo (Costa Rica)
9. Sumedha Kamat Desai (Konkani) Award
Brazil
10. Anmol Jha (Maithili) Mutaz Barshim (Qatar)
11. Raghunath Paleri (Malayalam) Inspiration Award and Gianmarco Tamberi
12. Ningombam Jadumani Singh (Manipuri) (Italy)
13. Sanjay Wagh (Marathi) Peter Diamond, Executive
14. Sudarsha Ambatey (Nepali) Vice President of NBC
President’s Award
15. Digaraj Brahma (Odia) Olympic Programming
16. Kirti Sharma (Rajasthani) (US)
17. Asha Agarwal (Sanskrit) Coaching Bobby Kersee (United
18. Sova Hansda (Santali) Achievement Award States)
19. Kishin Khubchandani "Ranjayal" (Sindhi) Woman of the Year
Anju Bobby George
Award
20. Mu. Murugesh (Tamil)
Photograph by Ryan
21. Devaraju Maharaju (Telugu) Jean-Pierre Durand
Pierse of the women’s
22. Kausar Siddiqui (Urdu) World Athletics
high jump qualifying at
Photograph of the
the Tokyo Olympic
Year
Games
RBI Monetary Policy: Repo rate unchanged for

the 9th consecutive time
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC) headed by Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das kept the repo rate
unchanged at 4 per cent for the ninth consecutive time
while maintaining an ‘accommodative stance’ as long as
necessary. The reverse repo rate will continue to be 3.35
per cent. The central bank had last revised the policy
rate on May 22, 2020, in an off-policy cycle to perk up
demand by cutting the interest rate to a historic low.
The meeting was held between December (6 to 8). The
remaining will take place in February (7 to 9, 2022).

The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and bank • It highlights that economic reforms and
rates remain unchanged: liberalization that India has adopted, have mostly
• Policy Repo Rate: 4.00% benefited the top 1 per cent.
• Reverse Repo Rate: 3.35% • The report identifies India as a poor and unequal
• Marginal Standing Facility Rate: 4.25% country, with an affluent elite.
• Bank Rate: 4.25% • 1 per cent richest people in India hold 22% of the
• CRR: 4% total national income in 2021, while the top 10 %
• SLR: 18.00% owns 57 per cent of the income.
RBI Monetary Policy Highlights & Key Decisions: • The average national income of the Indian adult
• The projection for real GDP growth is retained at population is Rs 204,200 in 2021, on the basis of
9.5% in 2021-22, consisting of 6.6% in Q3, & 6% in purchasing power parity.
Q4. Real GDP growth is projected at 17.2% for Q1 of • However, the report clarified that the average
2022-23 and at 7.8% for Q2 of 2022-23. national income of a country masks inequalities.
• The inflation projection was retained for FY22 at The scenario in the world’s richest nation
5.3%, 5.1% for Q3, 5.7% for Q4, and 5% for Q1 FY23. The ratio in the richest nation that is the US, is 1 to 17.
The composition of the Monetary Policy Committee is The richest ten of the global population owns 52 per
as follows: cent of global income. On the other hand, the poorest
• Governor of the Reserve Bank of India – half of the population earns 8.5 per cent of the global
Chairperson, ex officio: Shri Shaktikanta Das. income.
• Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, in Global Scenario
charge of Monetary Policy– Member, ex officio: Dr The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are the
Michael Debabrata Patra. most unequal regions in the world, whereas Europe has
• One officer of the Reserve Bank of India to be the lowest inequality levels. In Europe, the top 10 per
nominated by the Central Board – Member, ex cent income share is around 36 per cent, whereas in
officio: Dr Mridul K. Saggar. MENA it is 58 per cent.
• A professor at the Mumbai-based Indira Gandhi
Institute of Developmental Research: Prof. Ashima Indian Shuttler PV Sindhu won Silver at BWF
Goyal.
World Tour Finals 2021
• A professor of finance at the Indian Institute of
Management in Ahmedabad: Prof. Jayanth R Indian Shuttler and 2-time Olympic medalist Pusarla V
Varma. Sindhu, world’s number 7, won the silver at the 2021
• An agricultural economist and a senior adviser with Badminton World Federation(BWF) World Tour
the National Council of Applied Economic Research Finals, officially known as the HSBC BWF World Tour
in New Delhi: Dr Shashanka Bhide. Finals 2021. The reigning world champion PV Sindhu
has won the BWF World Tour finals in 2018 and became
World Inequality Report 2022 announced the only Indian to achieve the feat.
France-based World Inequality Lab published its report HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2021 Winners:
titled “World Inequality Report 2022”. This report was
Category Winner Runner-up
authored by Lucas Chancel, who is the co-director of
World Inequality Lab. It was coordinated by famed Women’s An Se Young
PV Sindhu (India)
French economist Thomas Piketty. In 2021 the top 10 Singles title (South Korea)
percent and top 1 percent of the Indian population hold Men’s Viktor Axelsen Kunlavut Vitidsarn
57 percent and 22 percent of total national income Single title (Denmark) (Thailand)
respectively, whereas the share of the bottom 50 percent Takuro Hoki Marcus Fernaldi
Men’s
has gone down to 13 percent. and Yugo Gideon and Kevin
double
Kobayashi Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
Key Findings analysis on inequalities in India: Title
(Japan) (Indonesia)
• The report notes that the top 1 % of India’s
Kim So-yeong
population owns more than one-fifth of the total Women’s Nami Matsuyama
and Kong
national income in 2021. Double and Chiharu Shida.
Hee-yong
• The bottom half of the population earns just 13.1 Title (Japan)
(South Korea)
per cent.
Argentina beat six-time champions Germany to Fortune India’s List of Top 5 Most Powerful Women
lift Junior hockey world cup in India:
Argentina showcased its organised game with great Rank Name Position
composure to beat six-time champion German side 4-2 Nirmala Union Ministry,
and win the title after 16 years in the men’s Hockey 1
Sitharaman Ministry of Finance
Junior World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium. Argentina
Reliance Foundation
has become the only third team after Germany (six
2 Nita Ambani Chairperson and
wins) and India (2001, 2016) to win multiple Junior
Goodwill Ambassador
Hockey WC titles. Defending champions India finished
fourth in the junior hockey world cup 2021 after losing Chief Scientist, World
Soumya
1-3 to France in the third-place match. 3 Health Organization
Swaminathan
(WHO)
Other Awards:
Kiran Executive Chairperson,
• Best Player of the Tournament: Timothée Clément 4
Mazumdar-Shaw Biocon
(FRANCE)
• Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Anton Co-founder and Joint
Brinckman (GERMANY) 5 Suchitra Ella MD, Bharat Biotech
• Hero Top Scorer of the Tournament: Miles International Ltd
Bukkens (NETHERLANDS) (18 goals)
• Odisha Fair Play Award: Team Chile Sunil Gavaskar honoured with SJFI Medal
• Odisha Fans Choice Award for Best Goal of the 2021
Tournament: Ignacio Nardolillo (ARGENTINA)
• Hockey India Maximum Team Goals: The Sports Journalists’ Federation of India (SJFI) has
NETHERLANDS (45 goals) decided to honour former Indian Cricketer and cricket
• Hockey India Best Goal Saved of the Tournament: commentator Sunil Manohar Gavaskar with its
Mahmoud Seleem (EGYPT) prestigious ‘SJFI Medal 2021’ at SJFI Annual General
• AM/NS India Best Coach of the Tournament: Meeting (AGM) in Guwahati, Assam. SJFI Medal is the
Johannes Schmitz (GERMANY) highest honour of SJFI. SJFI was founded on 27th
FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2021 February 1976 at the Eden Gardens, Calcutta (now
The FIH Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2021 was Kolkata), West Bengal.
hosted by Bhubaneswar, Odisha between November
Other SJFI Awards:
24- December 5, 2021. The top 16 teams had
participated in the tournament including India, Award Winner
Germany, Belgium, Argentina, Canada, South Africa,
SJFI Sportsman of the
Egypt, Pakistan, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, France, Chile, Neeraj Chopra (Javelin)
year 2021
Spain, USA and the Netherlands.
SJFI Sportswoman of the Mirabai Chanu
year 2021 (Weightlifting)
Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women in India
SJFI Team of the Year Indian Men’s Hockey
2021 announced
2021 team
Fortune India released the list of most powerful women Pramod Bhagat
in India 2021 in which Union Minister, Ministry of SJFI Parathletes of the
(Badminton) and Sumit
Finance & Ministry of Corporate Affairs Nirmala year 2021(Men)
Antil (Javelin)
Sitharaman ranked 1st. She is followed by Reliance
SJFI Parathletes of the Avani Lekhara (rifle
Foundation Chairperson and Goodwill Ambassador
year 2021(Women) shooter)
Nita Ambani in 2nd position, and Soumya
Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health SJFI Special Recognition Olympic Gold Quest
Organization (WHO) at 3rd. Award (OGQ)

David Warner & Hayley Matthews Bags ICC What was trending in 2021 in India?
Player Of The Month For November Google India has announced the results for its year in
Australia opener David Warner and West Indies all- search 2021 mentioning the top search trends of 2021 in
rounder Hayley Matthews have been voted the ICC India. The listing of top google trends in India has
Players of the Month for November. Warner, revealed what Indians searched in the year 2021 across
nominated for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month Overall, sports, news, personalities, among other
award alongside Pakistan’s Abid Ali and New categories. As per Google India’s ‘Year in Search 2021’,
Zealand’s Tim Southee, emerged victorious with the
the Indian Premier League (IPL) has filled the top spot
most votes, following his crucial role in Australia’s
for the trending query overall in 2021.
triumph in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
Why David Warner? See what was trending in 2021- India (Overall)
Australian opener David Warner has bagged the ICC Ranking Overall
Player Of The Month for November. The southpaw has
1 Indian Premier League
been in scintillating form in recent times. He was the
Player of the Tournament as Australia won their 2 CoWIN
maiden T20 World Cup title. He then started the Ashes 3 ICC T20 World Cup
series with a bang by scoring 94 in the first Test at The 4 Euro Cup
Gabba. 5 Tokyo Olympics
Why Hayley Matthews? 6 COVID Vaccine
West Indies all-rounder Hayley Matthews secured the 7 Free Fire redeem code
Women’s Player of the Month award. David Warner 8 Copa America
scored 289 runs in seven matches in the tournament at a
9 Neeraj Chopra
strike rate of 146.70, out of which 209 runs came from
four games in November. He scored 89 against West 10 Aryan Khan
Indies in a Super 12 game against the West Indies
which was his highest score of the tournament. YouGov: PM Modi world's 8th most admired
man in 2021
Google trends: See what was trending in 2021
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ranked 8th on the
Google has published its annual overview of key search list of the world's top 20 most admired men, in a survey
trends, which provides a somewhat dizzying reminder carried out by data analytics company YouGov. PM
of all the things that have happened in 2021 – which
Modi is ahead of Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan
really feels like it’s only lasted for a few months.
Google’s 2021 Search Trends mini-site includes data on and Virat Kohli. The list has been compiled taking
all the key topics of interest, including overall searches feedback from 42,000 people in 38 countries.
and news events. Google’s long-time tradition of Apart from PM Modi, the other Indian men who,
releasing “Year in Search” annually has become a norm according to the survey, were the most admired in 2021
for those who are curious over the most searched topics include Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh
on the platform. Bachchan and Virat Kohli. The list also includes the
See what was trending in 2021- Global (Overall): most admired Indian women of 2021 has Priyanka
Chopra, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sudha Murty.
Ranking Overall
1 Australia vs India List of the world's 20 most admired men:
2 India vs England Rank Personality
3 Indian Premier League 1 Barack Obama
4 NBA
2 Bill Gates
5 Euro 2021
3 Xi Jinping
6 Copa América
4 Cristiano Ronaldo
7 India vs New Zealand
8 T20 World Cup 5 Jackie Chan
9 Squid Game 6 Elon Musk
10 DMX 7 Lionel Messi

Rank Personality Emma Raducanu wins BBC Sports Personality
8 Narendra Modi of the Year 2021
9 Vladimir Putin
Tennis star Emma Raducanu is the BBC’s Sports
10 Jack Ma
Personality of the Year for 2021. She beat Tom
11 Warren Buffett
Daley(diver) and Adam Peaty (swimmer) into second
12 Sachin Tendulkar
and third place, while England’s men’s footballers were
13 Donald Trump
named team of the year and Gareth Southgate the
14 Shah Rukh Khan
coach, as a triumphant period for British sport across
15 Amitabh Bachchan the board was commemorated at a ceremony in Salford.
16 Pope Francis Tom Daley won gold for the first time at his fourth
17 Imran Khan Olympics in Tokyo.
18 Virat Kohli
Other award winners at Sports Personality 2021:
19 Andy Lau
20 Joe Biden Categories Winners
List of the world's 20 most admired women: Helen Rollason Award Jen Beattie
Coach of the Year Gareth Southgate
Rank Personality
England men’s football
1 Michelle Obama Team of the Year
team
2 Angelina Jolie World Sport Star Rachael Blackmore
3 Queen Elizabeth II Lifetime Achievement Simone Biles
4 Oprah Winfrey Unsung Hero Sam Barlow
5 Scarlett Johansson Young Sports

Sky Brown
Personality of the Year
6 Emma Watson
7 Taylor Swift
O.P. Jindal Global University won “Digital
8 Angela Merkel Innovation of the Year” award
9 Malala Yousafzai
O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has won the
10 Priyanka Chopra
‘Digital Innovation of the Year Award’ in the
11 Kamala Harris prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Asia
12 Hillary Clinton Awards 2021 for creating a free, cloud-based
application to help schools and universities manage
13 Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
data. JGU was the only Indian University to be
14 Sudha Murty
shortlisted for the “Digital Innovation of the Year”.
15 Greta Thunberg The university was awarded under the ‘Technological
16 Melania Trump or Digital Innovation of the Year category for its
17 Lisa transformative work in the last 2 years. This award is
also a reflection of JGU’s commitment to ensure
18 Liu Yifei
continued education for its students during the ongoing
19 Yang Mi
pandemic. In March 2020, we were faced with one of
20 Jacinda Ardern the most unprecedented crises of our time.

Times Higher Education Awards Asia 2021 winners: Winners of BWF World Championship 2021:
Category Winner Category Winner Runner

Leadership and Kalinga Institute of Men’s Loh Kean Yew Srikanth
Management Team of the Industrial Technology Singles (Singapore) Kidambi (India)
Year (India) Akane
Saint Joseph University Women’s Tai – Tzu Ying
Workplace of the Year Yamaguchi
of Beirut (Lebanon) Singles (Chinese Taipei)
(Japan)
International Strategy of Hangzhou Dianzi
Takuro Hoki &
the Year University of Hong Kong Men’s He Jiting & Tan
Yugo Kobayashi
Teaching and Learning National University of Doubles Qiang (China)
Strategy of the Year Singapore (Japan)
Institute Teknologi Lee So-hee &
THE Datapoints Social Chen Qingchen
Sepuluh Nopember Women’s Shin Seung-
Impact Award & Jia Yifan
(Indonesia) Doubles Chan (South
(China)
THE Datapoints Korea)
University Utara
Improved Performance Dechapol
(Malaysia) Yuta Watanabe
Award Puavaranukroh
Excellence and Hong Kong Baptist Mixed & Arisa
& Sapsiree
Innovation in the Arts University Doubles Higashino
Taerattanachai
Technological or Digital O.P. Jindal Global (Japan)
(Thailand)
Innovation of the Year University (India)
Outstanding Support for University Teknologi
List of GST Collection
Students Petronas (Malaysia)
Hanoi University of • November 2021: Rs 1.31 lakh crores
Student Recruitment
Science and Technology • October 2021: Rs 1.30 lakh crores
Campaign of the Year
(Vietnam) • September 2021: Rs. 1,17,010 crores
• August 2021: Rs. 1.12 lakh crores
BWF World Championships 2021
• July 2021: Rs. 1,16,393 crores
The 2021 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World • June 2021: Rs. 92,849 crores
championship (officially known as the TotalEnergies • May 2021: Rs. 1,02,709 crores
BWF World Championships 2021), an annual • April 2021: Rs. 1.41 lakh crores (All time Highest)
tournament was held between 12th December 2021 and
• March 2021: Rs. 1.24 lakh crores
19th December 2021 in Huelva, Spain. Loh Kean Yew of
• February 2021: Rs 1,13,143 crores
Singapore won the Men’s Singles title and Akane
Yamaguchi of Japan won the Women’s Singles title of • January 2021: Rs. 1,19,847 crores
BWF World Championship 2021.
Good Governance Index 2021: Gujarat topped
the ranking
Good Governance Index 2021 was launched by Union
Minister Amit Shah on the occasion of the Good
Governance Day on 25 December 2021. GGI 2021 was
prepared by the Department of Administration Reforms
and Public Grievances (DARPG). The GGI 2021
framework covered 10 sectors and 58 indicators. The
aim of the Good Governance Index is to create a tool
that can be used uniformly across the states for
assessing the impact of various interventions that are
taken up by Central and State Governments.

10 Governance Sectors are: • Public Infrastructure and Utilities
• Agriculture and Allied Sectors • Economic Governance
• Social Welfare & Development
• Commerce & Industries
• Judicial & Public Security
• Human Resource and Development • Environment
• Public Health • Citizen-Centric Governance
Top ranking states in sectors as well as composite ranks:
Sectors Group A Group B NE & Hill States UTs
Agriculture and Allied
Andhra Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Mizoram D & N Haveli
Sectors
Commerce &
Telangana Uttar Pradesh J&K Daman & Diu
Industries
Human Resource and
Punjab Odisha Himachal Pradesh Chandigarh
Development
Public Health Kerala West Bengal Mizoram A & N Island
Public Infrastructure
Goa Bihar Himachal Pradesh A & N Island
and Utilities
Economic Governance Gujarat Odisha Tripura Delhi
Social Welfare &
Telangana Chhattisgarh Sikkim D & N Havelli
Development
Judicial & Public
Tamil Nadu Rajasthan Nagaland Chandigarh
Security
Environment Kerala Rajasthan Manipur Daman & Diu
Citizen-Centric
Haryana Rajasthan Uttarakhand Delhi
Governance
Composite Gujarat Madhya Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Delhi
What is the Good Governance Index? In Global Scenario:
Good Governance Index is an implementable and The annual league table also predicted that China will
comprehensive framework that assesses the state of overtake the US to be the largest economy in 2030 (two
Governance across the Indian States and Union years later than the forecast in 2021). The world
Territories enabling ranking of States and districts. economy is set to surpass $100 trillion for the first time
in 2022.
CEBR: India to become 3rd largest economy in
2031 The World Economic League Table 2022 shows the
economic forecasts for 191 countries to 2036:
The Centre for Economics and Business Research
(CEBR) from the United Kingdom has predicted that Ranking out of
2021 2022 2026 2031 2036
the Indian economy will become the world’s third- 191 countries
largest by the year 2031. In the year 2022, India is set to
India 7 6 5 3 3
regain its sixth position in World Economic League
Table (WELT) from France, as per CEBR. United States 1 1 1 2 2
In the year 2020, India’s GDP had witnessed a
contraction of 7.3% due to the COVID-19 pandemic and China 2 2 2 1 1
subsequent lockdown leading to constraints on
Japan 3 3 3 4 5
economic activity. India has witnessed a large scale
spread of infections and has the third-highest death toll Germany 4 4 4 5 4
worldwide, behind US and Brazil. However, with the
help of emergency aid and prompt measures taken by UK 5 5 6 6 6
the Indian government, the country has recovered from
the second wave of COVID-19. France 6 7 7 7 7

NITI Aayog released 4th State Health Index Past recipients of PETA India’s Person of the Year
Award:
NITI Aayog has released the fourth edition of the State
• Dr Shashi Tharoor, for supporting Compassionate
Health Index for 2019–20 that provides incremental
Citizen, PETA India’s humane education
performance in health outcomes and status. The index
programme for children, as well as other education
is developed by: NITI Aayog, World Bank, and
on animal protection;
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The
• Former Supreme Court Justice KS Panicker
report, titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”,
Radhakrishnan, for the landmark judgement
ranks states and Union Territories on their year-on-year
against the use of bulls in performances;
incremental performance in health outcomes as well as
• Cricketer Virat Kohli, for calling for the release of
their overall status. The index is being compiled and
an abused elephant and stronger penalties for
published since 2017. The reports aim to nudge
states/UTs towards building robust health systems and animal abusers;
improving service delivery. • Comedian Kapil Sharma, for encouraging people to
adopt dogs;
To ensure comparison among similar entities, the • Actors John Abraham, Anushka Sharma, Sunny
ranking is categorised as ‘Larger States’, ‘Smaller Leone, R Madhavan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Hema
States’ and ‘Union Territories’:
Malini, and Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, for helping
• Among the ‘Larger States’, in terms of annual
animals in various ways.
incremental performance, Uttar Pradesh, Assam
and Telangana are the top three ranking states.
• Among ‘Smaller States’, Mizoram and Meghalaya
Banking and Financial Current Affairs
registered the maximum annual incremental • India1 Payments has crossed a milestone on
progress. deploying 10000 white-label ATMs, which was
• Among UTs, Delhi, followed by Jammu and called as “India1ATMs”. India1 Payments is IPO-
Kashmir, showed the best incremental bound and is promoted by the Banktech Group of
performance.
Australia. It was formerly known as BTI Payments.
• On overall ranking based on the composite index
India1 ATM has become the second-largest white
score in 2019–20, the top-ranking states were Kerala
label ATM brand on semi-urban and rural areas.
and Tamil Nadu among the ‘Larger States’,
With the deployment of 10000 ATMs, India1
Mizoram and Tripura among the ‘Smaller States’,
Payments has become the largest player in this
and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
segment.
and Chandigarh among the UTs.
• State Bank of India (SBI) listed its USD 650-
million green bonds simultaneously on the India
PETA: Alia Bhatt India’s 2021 Person of the
International Exchange (India INX) and the
Year
Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE). This dual
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) listing is in line with 2021’s topic of the World
India has named Bollywood star Alia Bhatt its 2021 Investor Week (WIW), ‘sustainable finance’, as
Person of the Year. She is an animal lover and often indicated by the regulatory body International
shares pictures with her pets. This year, Alia Bhatt Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). India
invested in Phool, the company behind Fleather, which INX has now emerged as the leading bond listing
is a vegan leather made from discarded temple flowers. venue with over $33 billion.
Her vegan kidswear line, Ed-a-Mamma, also won a • Private sector lender, Federal Bank has launched a
2021 PETA India fashion award for helping to nurture feature-rich savings bank product for women. The
kids’ love for animals and nature. Alia also starred in a savings scheme is called Mahila Mitra Plus and
pro-adoption PETA India campaign to help cats and provides a curated set of features, designed to make
dogs. She has used her position to call for stronger financial planning and investments easy for
animal protection laws. women.

• IDFC FIRST Bank announced the launch of FIRST • Federal Bank has entered into a Bancassurance
Private Infinite, the country’s first-ever standalone partnership with Star Health and Allied Insurance
metal debit card, in partnership with Visa. FIRST Co Ltd as a corporate agent to provide health
Private Infinite is a lifetime free card designed insurance products for the Bank’s 8.90 million
specifically for customers who are part of the Bank’s
customers across India.
FIRST Private program, premium savings and
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made Legal
wealth offering.
• Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched the PNB Entity Identifier (LEI) mandatory for cross-border
Pride-CRMD module tool, an android-based transactions for capital or current account
application for differently-abled employees to transactions of Rs 50 crore and above, from October
monitor and effectively follow up with the special 1 next year. The LEI is a 20-digit number used to
mention account (SMA) borrowers. The Pride- uniquely identify parties to financial transactions
CRMD module has built-in TalkBack software that worldwide to improve the quality and accuracy of
allows the visually impaired to access the system financial data systems.
freely and to interact with customers by tapping on
• Bank of Baroda (BoB) has launched a solution for
their phones.
digital banking payments, named bob World Wave.
• City Union Bank (CUB), in collaboration with
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) Wearable technology is witnessing the rise of
and its manufacturing partner Seshaasai, has tremendous interest across the world and lenders
announced the launch of RuPay On-the-Go are using this opportunity to adopt the more
contactless wearable keychain for its debit card convenient and cashless digital payments systems.
customers. This contactless wearable keychain will This is an innovative solution, intended to perfectly
be part of their daily lifestyle and enable customers deliver preventive health actions as well as easier
to tap and make cashless payments securely. payment transactions.
• The Reserve Bank of India has imposed several
• Axis Bank is working with new digital services
restrictions on Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank
from provider Swift to provide a comprehensive
Ltd, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, including
restrictions on withdrawals up to Rs. 10,000 for digital solution to clients. The bank is integrating
customers. RBI has issued the directions in the with different digitization initiatives by government
exercise of powers vested in it under subsection (1) bodies and service providers to extend an end-to-
of Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 end service to business clients.
read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced a
1949 for six months. prompt corrective action (PCA) framework for
• Paytm Payments Bank has been given the large non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)
scheduled bank status by the Reserve Bank of
with effect from October 2022, putting restrictions
India. The bank has been included in the Second
on para-banks whenever vital financial metrics dip
Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934
and the approval will help it to bring more financial below the prescribed threshold.
services and products. The bank supports 33.3 crore • The Life Insurance Corporation of India has
Paytm Wallets and enables consumers to make launched a new non-linked, non-participating,
payments at over 87,000 online merchants and 2.11 individual savings life insurance plan called Dhan
crore in-store merchants. Rekha, it offers special premium rates for female
• Shivalik Small Finance Bank (SSFB) signed a lives. The plan is also allowed for the third gender
partnership agreement with fintech firm, Indiagold adding that all benefits under the plan are fully
to launch India’s first Loan against Digital Gold. guaranteed. There are special premium rates for
This agreement will enable customers to use their
female lives. The plan is allowed to Third Gender.
digital gold balance to avail of instant and digital
All Benefits under the plan are fully guaranteed.
loans up to Rs. 60,000 and also seamlessly access
gold loans starting at a monthly interest of just 1%. • A penalty of Rs 1.8 crores has been imposed on
To provide access to secure and affordable credit to Punjab National Bank (PNB) by the Reserve Bank
the customers looking for quick liquidity against of India (RBI), while ICICI Bank has been fined Rs
their gold assets. 30 lakh for deficiencies in regulatory compliances.
• Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the • Government of India and the Germany
Department of Financial Services, the Ministry of Development Bank- KfW (Kreditanstalt fur
Finance, has decided to make the Scheduled Wiederaufbau) signed a 26 million euros loan for a
payments banks and scheduled small finance 40.35 km Surat Metro Rail project in Gujarat.
banks (SFBs) eligible to conduct Government • Central Bank of India and U GRO Capital has
agency business. In May this year, RBI has revised signed a co-lending agreement and plans to
the existing guidelines on ‘Appointment of
disburse up to Rs 1,000 crore to medium, small and
Scheduled Private Sector Banks as Agency Banks
micro enterprises (MSMEs) over the next 12
of RBI’ for authorising Scheduled Private Sector
Banks as agency banks of RBI for conducting govt months. The disbursement will be to U GRO
business (Central and/or State). Capital's varied MSME segments under its
• Equitas Small Finance Bank has empanelled as the programs - Pratham, Sanjeevani, Saathi, GRO
banking partner of the state government of MSME and machinery financing.
Maharashtra with an aim to offer its services to • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the
employees of the State Government. The Bandhan empanelment of CSB Bank, a private sector lender
Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, and the South Indian as an ‘Agency Bank’. Through this appointment,
Bank have been assigned the role of distributing the CSB Bank will undertake the general banking
salaries and allowances to the government business of the central and state governments under
employees. the guidelines set by the RBI.
• State Bank of India(SBI) acquired a minority stake
• Paytm Payments Bank has partnered with
(less than 50 per cent) in JSW Cement Limited for
MoneyGram, a peer-to-peer remittance company to
an investment of INR 100 crore through
Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares enable international fund transfer directly to Paytm
(CCPS). The SBI is working as a strategic investor at Wallet. Under the Partnership, MoneyGram users
JSW Cement and has invested in the company abroad can now transfer money to any full Know
through CCPS. The conversion of such CCPS into Your Customer (KYC)-compliant Paytm wallet.
common equity of the company will be linked to the MoneyGram transactions in India received digitally
JSW Cement’s business performance and valuation stands at nearly 50 per cent of all transactions
at the time of the proposed initial public offering. received in the country. This is MoneyGram’s first
• Bank of Baroda has announced it has won the #1 mobile wallet partnership in India.
position in overall digital transactions amongst • BOB Financial Solutions Ltd. (BFSL), a wholly-
large banks for FY20-21. The bank showed the owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB) and the
exceptional growth of digital payment transactions
Indian Navy have introduced a co-branded credit
achievement and was felicitated by the Ministry of
card for the personnel of the Indian Navy. The card
Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY),
will be equipped with contactless features and
Govt. of India at the Digital Payments Utsav.
• Axis Bank has announced the approval to reclassify offered on the RuPay platform.
Oriental Insurance Company Ltd (OICL) from • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the card-
promoter category to public category shareholder in on-file (CoF) tokenization deadline by 6 months
the bank. In October, applications were made to i.e., to June 30, 2022. Earlier the deadline was fixed
BSE and NSE for reclassification of The New till December 31, 2021. In March 2020, RBI had
Oriental Insurance Co to the public category from issued guidelines for the regulation of payment
the promoter category. aggregators and payment gateways, prohibiting
• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance became the first payment aggregators and merchants to store
Indian insurance company to sign United Nations- customer card credentials within their database or
supported Principles for Responsible Investment server from 30 June 2021.
(UNPRI), to demonstrate commitment towards the
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed
environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
monetary penalties on two payment system
In order to promote sustainability, IPRULIFE is
integrating ESG factors into its investment operators, One Mobikwik Systems Private
management framework. The UNPRI is an investor Limited and Spice Money Limited, for violation of
initiative in partnership with the two bodies of the norms. Both the payment companies have been
United Nations – the UN Environment Programme slapped with a fine of Rs 1 crore, as per the order
Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact. issued by the central bank.
• HDFC Bank has signed an MoU with India Post Economy Current Affairs
Payments Bank (IPPB) to offer banking services to
over 4.7 crore customers of IPPB in semi-urban and • Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-
rural areas. Under the MoU, out of 4.7 crores, operation and Development (OECD) decreased
customers around 90 per cent reside in rural areas.
India’s growth forecast to 9.4% for FY22 from 9.7%
The HDFC bank aims to boost its financial inclusion
drive by leveraging IPPB’s network of 650 branches estimated in September 2021. It has projected the
and over 136,000 banking access points. Indian economy to grow at 8.1% in FY23, and
• HDFC Life signed a bancassurance (Bank- moderate to 5% in FY24. OECD lowered the global
Insurance) agreement with South Indian Bank to growth forecast for 2021 to 5.6% from 5.7% earlier.
enable customers of the South Indian Bank to avail • The rating agency, India Ratings and Research
HDFC Life’s life insurance products and services to
(Ind-Ra) expects India’s Gross Domestic Product
the customers of South Indian Bank. This
bancassurance arrangement will enable customers (GDP) in the Second Quarter of Financial Year-2022
of the South Indian Bank to avail HDFC Life’s wide (Q2 FY22) at 3 per cent and in FY22 at 9.4 per cent.
range of life insurance products which include • The Singapore-based DBS Bank’s economic
solutions for protection, savings and investment, research team has revised India’s FY23 growth
retirement and critical illness. This bancassurance forecast upwards to 7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y)
partnership will further strengthen HDFC Life’s
business across India. (CY2022 6.5 per cent) from 6 per cent earlier.
• IndusInd Bank has partnered with the National • S&P Global Ratings has retained the Gross
Payments Corporation to offer real-time cross- Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast of India
border remittances to India using UPI IDs, for its unchanged at 9.5 percent for the financial year 2021-
Money Transfer Operator (MTO) partners. It is the 22 (FY22) and 7.8 per cent for the year ending FY23.
first Indian bank to go live on UPI for cross-border
GDP growth projection of India was revised for FY
payments/NRI remittances.
• IndusInd Bank has announced the launch of ‘green 24 to 6 per cent from 5.7 percent estimated earlier.
fixed deposits’, whereby the deposit proceeds will • Wall Street brokerage, Goldman Sachs has
be used to finance projects and firms supporting the estimated India’s GDP growth at 9.1 per cent in
UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A 2022. After India’s economy contracted by a sharp 7
green deposit is a fixed-term deposit for investors per cent in 2020, Goldman Sachs pegged the
looking to invest their surplus cash reserves in
economy to grow at 8 per cent in 2021 and 9.1 per
environmentally friendly projects. These deposits
will be offered to both retail & corporate customers. cent in 2022. It earlier estimated India’s economic
• Axis Bank has become the second-largest growth to 11.1 per cent in the fiscal year to March
merchant-acquiring bank in the country, 31, 2022.
leapfrogging two spaces during 2021 by installing • Fitch Ratings has slashed India’s economic growth
over two lakh card-swipe machines during the year.
forecast in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) to 8.4
This is part of the bank’s ‘Axis One’ strategy where
it approaches the customers by offering its entire per cent and raised the growth projection to 10.3
gamut of products instead of a standalone service. per cent for FY23, compared to October 2021 rating
projections of 8.7 per cent (FY22) and 10 per cent
(FY23).
• The gross GST revenue collected in the month of
November 2021 is Rs 1,31,526 crores. The CGST
was Rs 23,978 crore, SGST is Rs 31,127 crore. The
IGST was Rs 66,815 crores (of this Rs 32,165 crores
was collected from the goods imported).
• Asian Development Bank has trimmed its 2021
growth forecast for India to 9.7 per cent from 10 per
cent but left the 2022 growth forecast unchanged at
7.5 per cent. The inflation forecast of developing
Asia was revised to 2.1 per cent for 2021 and
unchanged at 7 per cent for 2022.
• Producers’ inflation based on the Wholesale Price • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the Board
Index (WPI) has reached an all-time high in the of Directors of Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL), a Non-
current series at 14.23 per cent in November. This is Banking Financial Company (NBFC), by exercising
the eighth successive month of double digits WPI its power conferred under Section 45-IE (1) of the
(mainly due to the hardening of prices of mineral RBI Act, 1934. RCL is promoted by Anil Dhirubhai
oils, basic metals, crude petroleum and natural gas). Ambani’s Reliance Group. In this regard, the apex
Wholesale Price-based Index (WPI) inflation base
bank has appointed Nageswar Rao Y (Ex-Executive
year is 2011-12. Also, the spike is highest since April
Director, Bank of Maharashtra) as the
2005.
Administrator of the company under Section 45-IE
• India has registered the highest ever annual
(2) of the RBI Act.
Foreign Direct Investment inflow of $ 81.97 bn in
2020-21. FDI inflows in the last seven financial years • Paytm, a leading digital ecosystem for consumers
is over $ 440 bn, which is nearly 58 % of the total and merchants has partnered with Amazon Web
FDI inflow in the last 21 financial years. The top five Services (AWS) to offer Paytm Startup Toolkit
countries from where FDI Equity Inflows were with exclusive payment services to early-stage
received during 2014-2021 are Singapore, Indian startups. Paytm will help entrepreneurs to
Mauritius, USA, Netherland & Japan. grow businesses with payment, distribution, and
• According to the finance ministry, advance tax growth solutions who are operating in India in the
collection increased by 53.50 per cent to Rs 4.60 AWS Activate.
lakh crore so far this fiscal year, indicating a • Phi Commerce’s API (Application programming
recovery in the economy. Direct tax collections for interface) first digital payments platform, PayPhi
2021-22, as of December 16, show that net has become the first certified tokenization service
collections are at Rs 9.45 lakh crore compared to Rs
for NTS supporting tokenization of RuPay cards.
5.88 lakh crore over the year-ago period,
Tokenization of cards as an alternate to storing card
representing an increase of 60.8 per cent.
details with merchants. NPCI’s NTS platform
enables PayPhi Tokenization service to provide
Business Current Affairs partner merchants and aggregators with TROF.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has Token Reference On File (TROF) turns sensitive
approved a $500 million loan to the Government of cardholder data into randomly generated 16 digit
India to help improve the quality of the country’s numbers called “token” with no meaningful value if
school education and mitigate the impact of the breached.
Covid-19) pandemic on students’ learning. The loan • Bharti Airtel and Invest India, National Investment
supports the Integrated Scheme for School Promotion and Facilitation Agency jointly launched
Education (Samagra Shiksha) and the new ‘Airtel India Startup Innovation Challenge’ for
Exemplar School Initiative of the Ministry of
Startups to develop solutions in 5G, IoT. Under the
Education (MOE) to improve education quality by
Startup Innovation Challenge, early-stage
focussing on inclusive and equitable learning
technology companies are being invited to
outcomes.
demonstrate differentiated solutions in areas such
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its
as 5G, Cloud computing, the Internet of Things
approval to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to
raise its stake in private lender Kotak Mahindra (IoT), and digital entertainment.
Bank to 9.99 per cent. Currently, LIC holds 4.96% • Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has
stake in the private lender. Kotak Mahindra Bank received approval from the Reserve Bank of India
Limited has received an intimation from LIC stating to increase its stake to 9.99 per cent in IndusInd
that the RBI had granted its approval to LIC, for Bank of the total issued and paid-up capital of the
increasing its holding in the Bank up to 9.99 per private sector lender. The approval will be valid for
cent of the paid-up equity share capital of the Bank. 1 year i.e., up to December 8, 2022.
• A leading private general insurer in India, Bajaj • The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has
Allianz General Insurance has started its approved the acquisition of a shareholding in Air
‘#Care4Hockey’ Campaign to elevate field India by Talace Private Limited, a wholly-owned
Hockey’s recognition in India. The company has subsidiary of Tata Sons. The regulator also
partnered with Padma Shri (2020) Rani Rampal, approved stake acquisition by Talace in Air India
Indian Women’s Hockey Team Captain, who will
Express and Air India SATS Airport Services along
be the face of the campaign. ‘#Care4Hockey’ is a
with the acquisition of shares in Air India.
one of its kind campaign which aims to support the
Currently, Air India is wholly owned by the
development of Hockey in India from the grass-root
level. government.
• Paytm, which got listed in bourses last month, has • Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has
announced the launch of Paytm Wealth Academy, a announced that it has acquired a 4.93 per cent
tech-powered educational platform. The launch of equity share in Indian Gas Exchange Limited – the
the wealth academy is initially on the Paytm Money country’s first automated national level gas
app, the wealth management app owned by exchange. The Board of Indian Oil at its meeting
Paytm’s wholly-owned subsidiary Paytm Money. held on 20 December 2021 has accorded approval
Paytm Wealth Academy will initially be available to for the acquisition of 36,93,750 equity shares of the
select users, followed by a complete rollout.
face value of Rs. 10/- each equivalent to 4.93 per
• Edtech platform firm Adda247 has acquired UPSC-
cent of the share capital in Indian Gas Exchange
focused ed-tech platform StudyIQ Education for
Limited (IGX).
$20 million (150 crores) in a cash and stock deal.
• Mastercard and Google announced a tokenization
Speaking on the acquisition, Adda247 founder and
CEO Anil Nagar said it’s a strategic acquisition for method that enables Google Pay users to safely
Adda247. StudyIQ Education has over 11 million transact using their Mastercard credit cards and
subscribers on Youtube and the platform receives debit cards. With this collaboration, Google Pay
close to 100 million views a month, the company Android users can scan and pay across all Bharat
claims. The current acquisition will give Adda247 QR-enabled merchants, tap-and-pay, and make in-
an edge in the UPSC segment. app transactions through their Mastercard debit
• WhatsApp has announced the Digital Payments and credit card.
Utsav for 500 villages in India. WhatsApp’s Digital • Wipro has signed an agreement to acquire Edgile, a
Payments Utsav is a pilot program that promotes
transformational cyber security consulting
digital payments to empower individuals and
provider, for $230 million. Founded in 2001, Edgile
businesses and is meant as a project to further the
is recognised by security and risk leaders for its
cause of financial inclusion. The aim is to empower
business-aligned cyber security capability, deep
villagers with access to digital payments via the
‘payments on WhatsApp’. understanding of the changing regulatory
• Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a environment and enabling cloud transformations
Rs 2653.05 crore (USD 350 million) policy-based that help secure the modern enterprise. It has an
loan to improve urban services in India. This loan onsite workforce of 182 employees.
supports the policies formulated by the Ministry of • State Bank of India will acquire up to 9.95 per cent
Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to benefit stake in India International Clearing Corporation
the urban poor, economically weaker sections, and (IFSC) Ltd subject to a maximum investment of Rs
low-income groups. ADB will also provide 34.03 crore. The Clearing Corporation is a GIFT City
knowledge and advisory support to MoHUA in
(Gandhinagar, Gujarat) based Market Infrastructure
program implementation, monitoring and
Institution (MII).
evaluation.

International Current Affairs • German lawmakers officially elected Social
Democrat, Olaf Scholz as the new chancellor,
• Barbados has become the World’s newest republic, putting an end to 16 years of conservative rule
around 400 years after it became a British colony. under Angela Merkel. He will lead a government
Barbados is said to have been made a ‘slave society composed of his Social Democrat Party, the
by the British. It first became an English colony in business-friendly Free Democrats and the Greens, a
1625. It gained its independence in 1966. Barbados, coalition of parties never tried before at the federal
the Caribbean Island nation, removed Queen level in Germany.
Elizabeth II as the head of the state. • Canada will join the United States, the United
• The former Finance Minister of Sweden, Eva Kingdom and Australia diplomatic boycott of the
Magdalena Andersson from the Social Democratic Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights
Party (SDP) won her 2nd election and became the concerns. The announcement came after the White
1st female Prime Minister (PM) of Sweden. On 24 House, the Australian government and the UK
November 2021, she was first elected as the PM but government confirmed diplomatic boycotts of the
later resigned after her coalition partner (Green Winter Games in February to protest Chinese
Party) quit the government and the budget failed to human rights abuses. China has vowed to react
pass. Swedan’s Parliament is known as Riksdag. with “firm countermeasures.”
Sweden is the last Nordic country to get a female • Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu
Prime Minister. Kyi was sentenced to four years imprisonment after
• US military personnel and Bangladesh Navy (BN) being found guilty on two charges, the first verdicts
began the 27th annual Cooperation Afloat in a raft of criminal cases that the country’s military
Readiness and Training (CARAT) maritime has brought against her since seizing power 10
exercise virtually from 1 December in the Bay of months ago. Ms Suu Kyi was convicted of charges
Bengal. The nine-day exercise focuses on a wide of incitement and violating pandemic rules. The 76-
range of naval capabilities and includes cooperative year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate is facing a total
actions that demonstrate the US and Bangladesh’s of 11 charges which can bring in a maximum
capacity to work together to ensure a free and open imprisonment of 102 years.
Indo-Pacific. • The United Arab Emirates has announced to
• International Monetary Fund Chief Economist, change its existing five-day workweek to a four-
Gita Gopinath is set to take over from Geoffrey and-a-half day starting January 1, becoming the
Okamoto as the institution’s No. 2 official. The IMF world’s first country to make the employee-friendly
has done some changes in the roles and transition as part of its efforts to improve
responsibilities of the fund’s senior management productivity and work-life balance.
• US President Joe Biden has elevated Indian-
team. In which they introduced deputy managing
American political advisor Gautam Raghavan as
director for the first time and it is gone to the first
the head of the White House Office of Presidential
female named Indian born economist Gita
Personnel. White House Presidential Personnel
Gopinath.
Office (PPO), also written as Office of Presidential
• The President of Gambia, Adama Barrow, won the
Personnel, is the White House office tasked with
second term as President during Gambia’s
vetting new appointees. The PPO is one of the
presidential election by achieving over 53% votes
offices most responsible for assessing candidates to
from 50 of 53 constituencies. He defeated his main
work at or for the White House.
challenger Ousainou Darboe who won 27.7% of
• Dubai became the world’s first government to turn
vote. The results of the election were declared by
100% paperless, the announcement was made by
Electoral commission Chairman Alieu Momarr the United Arab Emirate (UAE) Crown Prince,
Njai. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al
• The Biden administration has announced that US Maktoum.
officials will not attend the 2022 Winter Olympics • China successfully launched a new group of
in Beijing after China pledged unspecified satellites Shijian-6 05 into space from the Jiuquan
“countermeasures” against any such diplomatic Satellite Launch Center in northwest China for
boycott. The US cited that “China’s human rights space exploration and new technology tests. The
ATROCITIES” is the main reason for its boycott. satellites were launched by a Long March-4B rocket
The US has named the boycott as “Diplomatic which marked the 400th mission of Long March
Boycott”. series carrier rockets.
• Malta became the first European country to allow National Current Affairs
limited cultivation and possession of cannabis for
• The First Edition of the Indian Young Water
personal use, following a vote in parliament. The
Professionals Programme was launched virtually.
Maltese parliament voted in favour of the reform The program was taken up under National
last week, with 36 votes in favour and 27 against. Hydrology Project. The India Young Water
• Karl Nehammer was sworn in as new Austria’s Professional Programme is unique and different
chancellor by Alexander Van der Bellen, President from typical capacity building and training
of Austria in a ceremony in Hofburg Palace, Vienna, programs. It focuses on the engaged Training and
Austria. He is succeeding the career diplomat Learning Model.
• All India Radio has decided to begin a new
Alexander Schallenberg who took charge as
programme called AIRNxt to offer youth a platform
chancellor in October 2021. to air their voices as part of the ongoing Azadi Ka
• 35-year-old, Gabriel Boric, has won Chile Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. AIR stations will
presidential elections, to become the youngest-ever allow youngsters from local colleges, universities to
President-elect of Chile. He defeated his opposition take part in programming, allowing them to discuss
Jose Antonio Kast in the elections. Gabriel Boric and curate youth-centric shows.
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
will assume office in March 2022, will become the
and the Department of Telecommunications
youngest president in Chile’s history. Official
operating under the Ministry of Communications
results gave Mr Boric 56% of the votes against Mr conducted a Joint Cyber Drill 2021. The cyber drill
Kast’s 44%. was conducted for the Critical Network
• China has launched a new satellite with a camera Infrastructure operators of India. The Critical
capable of taking photos of the ground with a Network Infrastructure are the systems, assets and
resolution of five meters, according to the National networks that are essential to ensure the security of
Space Administration of China (CNSA). The a country.
• India and Bangladesh have decided to celebrate
satellite, called “Ziyuan-1 02E” or “Five Meter 02
December 6, the day on which India formally
Optical Satellite”. recognized Bangladesh, as “Maitri Diwas”
• Somalian Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble (Friendship Day). During the visit of PM Narendra
has been suspended. President Mohamed Modi to Bangladesh in March 2021 to attend the
Abdullahi Farmajo has suspended the Prime national day of Bangladesh, it was decided to
Minister, who is facing allegations of involvement commemorate 6 December as Maitri Diwas
in the theft of land. Mohamed Roble accused the (Friendship Day). Ten days before the liberation of
Bangladesh, India had recognised Bangladesh on 6
President of trying to stage a coup and said, he
December 1971. India was one of the first countries
would continue in office. to establish bilateral diplomatic ties with
• Japan has introduced a minibus lookalike world’s Bangladesh.
first dual-mode vehicle (DMV) in its town of • Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has
Kaiyo. The vehicle can run on normal rubber tyres formed a three-member committee to review the
on the road but its steel wheels, which are in its criteria for reservation for the Economically Weaker
underbelly, descend when it hits the rail tracks. The Sections (EWS) category in terms of the provisions
of the explanation to Article 15 of the Constitution.
DMV can carry up to 21 passengers and runs at a
The committee has been asked to complete its work
speed of 60km/h on rail tracks and can go as fast as within three weeks. Former Finance Secretary Ajay
around 100km/h on public roads. Bhushan Pandey will head the committee.
• Egypt added as the fourth new member of BRICS • The nation will have nine nuclear reactors by 2024
New Development Bank. Bangladesh, UAE, and and a new nuclear project, the first in northern
Uruguay joined BRICS New Development Bank in India, will come up 150 kms away from Delhi in
September 2021. Membership expansion enables Gorakhpur of Haryana, the government informed
the Rajya Sabha. By 2024, India will have nine
New Development Bank to position itself as a
nuclear reactors plus 12 new additional ones which
premier development institution for emerging
were approved during the Covid times with a
economies. capacity of 9000 MW.
• Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting • The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
Anurag Singh Thakur and Uttar Pradesh Chief has granted Observer Status to International Solar
Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated Earth Alliance (ISA) by adopting resolution 76/123. This
Station of Doordarshan Kendra at Gorakhpur. decision has been taken based on the UNGA’s Sixth
Three FM stations of All India Radio were also Committee report. In November 2015, ISA was
inaugurated virtually on the occasion. This will be
jointly launched by India and France during the
the second earth station of Doordarshan in Uttar
Pradesh and it is being built at a cost of Rs.7 crore. 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated COP-21 in Paris, France to promote solar energy
and laid the foundation stone of multiple projects among its Member Countries.
worth Rs 18,000 crore at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. • India assumed the Chairmanship of Council of
The 7 projects inaugurated consist of initiatives Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of Shanghai
focusing on making travel safer including the 120 Cooperation Organization (RATS SCO) for 1 year
MW Vyasi Hydroelectric Project, along with from October 28, 2021.
Himalayan Culture Centre in Dehradun. • The NITI Aayog has planned to establish 1000 Atal
• Former chief election commissioner (CEC) Sunil Tinkering Laboratories in Jammu and Kashmir.
Arora has been invited to join the board of advisers
Out of 1000 Atal Tinkering Laboratories, 187 will be
at the International Institute for Democracy and
established by the end of the financial year 2021-22.
Electoral Assistance, also known as International
IDEA. IDEA has a 15-member board of advisers, all • India has been re-elected to International Maritime
of whom are eminent personalities from a wide Organisation (IMO) Council for the 2022-2023
variety of backgrounds. biennium under category B states. The Assembly of
• The National Institution of Transforming India the International Maritime Organization has elected
(NITI) Aayog launched the ‘e-Sawaari India the Members of its Council for the 2022-2023
Electric Bus Coalition’ in partnership with biennium.
Convergence Energy Service Ltd (CESL) and World • Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the
Resources Institute, India (WRI India) and with the first phase of the Rs 339 crore Kashi Vishwanath
support from Transformative Urban Mobility
Corridor project that connects the temple town’s
Initiative (TUMI). The objective of the initiative is to
two iconic landmarks – Kashi Vishwanath temple
share knowledge of various stakeholders – Central
& State Govt. agencies, transit service providers, and Ganga ghats.
original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), on • Union Minister Social Justice and Empowerment,
accelerating the process towards seamless adoption Dr Virendra Kumar has launched National
of e-bus services in India. Helpline against atrocities on SCs, STs. The
• Union Minister of State for Education, Dr Subhas objective of the helpline, reportedly, is to build
Sarkar has informed that the government is all set awareness about the provisions of the Act that are
to launch Bhasha Sangam mobile app. The mobile aimed at ending discrimination and providing
app is developed to give users familiarity with protection to all. The Helpline will be available 24-7
common expressions of daily conversation in
on toll-free number – 14566.
scheduled Indian languages. The app has 100+
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the
sentences, designed on different themes that allow
people to learn basic conversation in 22 Indian Saryu Nahar National Project in Balrampur, Uttar
languages, test themselves and generate online Pradesh. The project will provide assured water for
certificates. irrigation to over 14 lakh hectares of land and
• Ministry of Power is celebrating the Energy benefit about 29 lakh farmers, mainly in eastern
Conservation Week from 8th to 14th December Uttar Pradesh.
2021 under “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”. • Union Home Minister Amit Shah has laid the
Celebration by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency will foundation stone of Umiya Mata Dham temple and
include three major activities i.e. National Painting temple premises under Maa Umiya Dham
Competition for school children, National Energy
Development Project at Umiya Campus in Sola in
Conservation Awards (NECA) for Industries and
establishments and National Energy Efficiency Ahmedabad, Gujarat. They will be developed at a
Innovation Awards (NEEIA) to recognize cost of Rs 1,500 crore on 74,000 square yards of
innovative energy efficiency technologies. land.
• Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) • Niti Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission has unveiled
Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh Vernacular Innovation Programme, which will
inaugurated the seventh edition of the India enable innovators and entrepreneurs in India to
International Science Festival at Panaji, Goa. The have access to the innovation ecosystem in 22
theme of the 4-day science festival is ‘Azadi Ka scheduled languages by the Centre. This will help
Amrit Mahotsav’ – “Celebrating Creativity, in overcoming the barriers of language & empower
Science, Technology and Innovation for a innovators. To get the program rolling, AIM NITI
prosperous India”. First India International Science
Aayog is launching a train-the-trainer program
Festival was held in 2015 at IIT Delhi.
where it will collaborate with the Design
• The proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage
Department of IIT Delhi to coach the VTF in design
for women from 18 to 21 was cleared by the Union
thinking and entrepreneurship and the adaptation
Cabinet. Presently, the minimum age of marriage
of these subjects in the 22 languages and cultures.
for men is 21 but for women, it is 18. The
• Docprime tech has launched India’s first health
government will now look to introduce
locker integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital
amendments to the Prohibition of Child Marriage
Act, Special Marriage Act, and the Hindu Mission (ABDM). ABDM was launched in August
Marriage Act to bring the plan into action. This will 2020 for developing an integrated digital health
give a chance to the girls to study more. They will infrastructure in the country. ABDM integrated
be able to enjoy their independence. They will also Health Locker will provide users a digital and self-
get better employment opportunities.” consented health data management system without
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the any charges. It will store and manage health records
foundation stone of Ganga Expressway in electronically.
Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. PM Modi also • Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated
addressed a rally at Railway Ground, Rouza on the and laid the foundation of the hydropower projects
occasion. After completion of work, it will become worth Rs 11000 crore in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.
the longest expressway of Uttar Pradesh. It will He inaugurated the Sawra-Kuddu Hydro Power
connect the western and eastern regions of the state. Project, a 111 MW Project which has been built at a
It starts near the Bijauli village in Meerut. It will cost of around Rs 2,080 crore.
extend till near the Judapur Dandu village in • Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the
Prayagraj. 356 Km long Bina Refinery (Madhya Pradesh)-
• On the occasion of Goa Liberation Day, Prime POL Terminal at Panki (Kanpur, UP)
Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated and laid
Multiproduct pipeline project ( capacity of 45
the foundation stone of several development
million metric tonnes per annum) with an outlay of
projects worth over 650 crores rupees in Goa. He
Rs 1524 crore (Rs. 1227 crores in UP and Rs. 297
felicitated freedom fighters and veterans of
crores in MP).
‘Operation Vijay’ at the function. He appreciated
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for keeping the pace
of development up in the state.
• The total number of beneficiaries under the Centre’s
financial inclusion scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan
Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), has crossed the 44 crore
mark. The total number of accounts opened under
PMJDY stood at 44.05 crores, with a total balance of
₹1,47,812 crore as on December 8. Uttar Pradesh
tops the list with the highest number of accounts
followed by Bihar. Since its launch in 2014, the
scheme has been steadily expanding its base.
States Current Affairs • Himachal Pradesh Police has conducted the
‘President’s Colour Award’ ceremony at Shimla’s
• Nagaland DGP T. John Longkumer officially historic Ridge Ground. The Governor bestowed the
launched the ‘Call your Cop’ mobile App at Police ‘President’s Color Award’ to the State Police on this
Headquarters in Kohima. The App was developed occasion. Director-General of Police Sanjay Kundu
by Excellogics Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd. The App received the award on the behalf of state police.
will enable all citizens of the state especially those • Jharkhand Chief Minister, Hemant Soren has
in distress to get in touch directly with the police as launched a web portal named ‘Hamar Apan
easily available with just one click away. Budget’ and a mobile application prepared by the
• Varanasi, a city in Uttar Pradesh is all set to become state finance Department from the Chief Minister’s
the first Indian city to start ropeway service as a residential office in Ranchi. Through this portal, the
mode of public transport in order to ease the traffic general public of the state can share their
congestion. The proposed ropeway will be suggestions for the 2022-23 budget.
constructed between Cantt Railway Station • Gujarat has left behind Maharashtra to become the
(Varanasi Junction) to Church Square (Godauliya) country’s leading manufacturing hub, according to
covering an aerial distance of 3.45 km. data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Gujarat
• Kerala Tourism launched the ‘STREET’ project to saw its Gross Value Addition (GVA) in
promote and take tourism deep into the interiors manufacturing grow by 15.9 per cent annually
and rural hinterland of Kerala. The project would between FY12 to FY20 to stand at Rs 5.11 lakh crore,
help visitors experience the diversity of offerings in data shows. GVA is an economic metric that
these locales. The STREET is an acronym for measures the supply of goods and services in an
Sustainable, Tangible, Responsible, Experiential, economy.
Ethnic, Tourism hubs. • The Kazhuveli wetland situated in Villupuram
• Nagaland is celebrating its 59th Statehood Day on district of Tamil Nadu has been declared as the
1 December 2021. Nagaland was granted statehood 16th Bird Sanctuary by Surpiya Sahu, Environment
on December 1, 1963, with Kohima being declared and Forest Secretary, at the Minister of
as its capital. Prior to this, Naga leaders and the Environment Forest and Climate Change. The
central government reached an agreement to create declaration was made under subsection (1) of
a separate region of the Naga Hills in 1957. The section 18 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The
State of Nagaland Act, 1962, was thus enacted by Kazhuveli wetlands is referred to as the 2nd largest
the Parliament to give Nagaland statehood. Brackish Water Lake in South India, only after
• The Arunachal Pradesh (AP) Government has Pulicat lake.
signed Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt as the brand • Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has approved the Atma
ambassador and award-winning filmmaker and Nirbhar Krishak development scheme for boosting
branding expert Rahul Mittra as brand advisor of the agriculture sector. Atma Nirbhar Krishak
the occasion of their golden jubilee celebrations, development scheme will be implemented from the
marking the 50th year of the naming of the state. current financial year. Under this scheme, 1,475
Sanjay Dutt launched a media campaign for the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) will be
month-long celebrations, from 20th January to 20th formed in the next three years in each development
February 2022 at the Mechuka valley of AP’s Shi- block.
Yomi district. • Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh
• The biggest cultural extravaganza of Nagaland, the Dhami has launched the ‘Milk Price Incentive
Hornbill Festival has kicked off with colorful Scheme‘ in Dehradun. The scheme is aimed to
renditions of traditional music, dances, and provide incentives benefiting around 53,000 people
contemporary in one roof at Naga Heritage village of Uttarakhand. The state government is targeting
Kisama. It is the 22nd edition of the Hornbill to spend INR 444.62 crore to open 500 milk sales
festival and will be celebrated in 6 districts of centres in Uttarakhand. It is a Direct Bank Transfer
Nagaland. This year’s edition of Nagaland’s iconic (DBT) scheme, the amount under the scheme
Hornbill Festival, widely hailed as the “festival of would go directly into the accounts of the
festivals”. beneficiaries through their linked bank accounts.

• The Haiderpur Wetland abutting the Madhya • Goa Liberation Day is observed on 19 December
Ganga barrage, about 10 km from Bijnor in western every year in India and it marks the day Indian
Uttar Pradesh, has been recognised under the 1971 armed forces freed Goa in 1961 following 450 years
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Uttar Pradesh is of Portuguese rule. The year 2021 marks the 60
now home to 9 Ramsar wetlands. The wetland has years of Goa’s independence. Goa Liberation Day
also been identified under Namami Gange, a central is marked by an abundance of events and festivities
flagship, as a model wetland along the Ganga. With in Goa though this time because of the pandemic
this, there are now a total of 47 such designated the celebrations are expected to be muted.
areas in the country. • Haryana’s Minister of State for Sports and Youth
• Himachal Pradesh govt announced setting up a Affairs, Sandeep Singh launched ‘Khel Nursery
Scheme 2022-23’ to promote sports in the state. The
Commission for upper castes, on the lines of
players of Haryana have given a new identity to the
Madhya Pradesh. The Commission, to be named as
state at the international level with their sports
‘Samanya Varg Aayog’, will be formalised through
talent. The state government is always striving to
a legislative enactment in three months’ time when
develop new sports talents in the state.
the state assembly meets next in February-March
• Tamil Nadu government has announced ‘Tamil
2021 for the budget session of the House.
Thaai Vaazhthu’ as the state anthem. It should be
• In Madhya Pradesh, the first drone fair in the
sung before the start of any functions in all
country was organised at Gwalior. Gwalior Drone educational institutions, universities, government
Mela was organised jointly by the Ministry of Civil offices, and public sector undertakings. The
Aviation, the Government of India, the Government decision comes in the wake of the Madras High
of Madhya Pradesh, and the Federation of Indian Court recently ruling that ‘Tamil Thai Vaazhthu’ is
Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). a prayer song and not an anthem.
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate • Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami
Change (MoEF&CC), an area of 454.65 square has announced that Indian wicket-keeper batsman
kilometres around the boundary of Askot Wildlife Rishabh Pant has been appointed as the brand
Sanctuary in the Pithoragarh district of ambassador of the state. The 24-year Pant, who was
Uttarakhand has been declared as the Askot rested for the New Zealand Tests, is currently in
Wildlife Sanctuary Eco-sensitive Zone (ESZ). The South Africa as the Indian Team is all set to face
notified area extends from 0 to 22 km around the Proteas in the three-match Test series, starting
Askot Wildlife Sanctuary. December 26.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has • Nagaland government has announced the creation
approved a $112 million loan to strengthen skills of three new districts, namely Tseminyu, Niuland
education and training through the establishment of and Chumoukedima. This comes less than a year
the Assam Skill University (ASU). The Loan will after the 12th district of the state—Noklak—was
create a path for skill development to enhance the inaugurated.
productivity and competitiveness of Assam’s • Haryana chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar has
economy and industries. opened the new Integrated Command and Control
• The Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren Center (ICCC) under the Karnal Smart City
project. The new Command and Control Center
has launched a Sports Action toward Harnessing
will enable the functioning of advanced systems
Aspiration of Youth (SAHAY) scheme aimed at
such as adaptive traffic control, automatic number
nurturing young sporting talents in Maoist-hit
plate recognition, detection of red-light violation
districts of the state. This scheme has been launched
and speed violation.
to curb the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) which
• The Chief Minister of Punjab, Charanjit Singh
affected 19 of the state’s 24 districts. Boys and girls
Channi has declared Lord Krishna Balram
in the 14-19 age group from villages to ward level Jagannath Rath Yatra as an annual state festival.
will be registered under the scheme and will be The announcement for the same was made during
given opportunities to display their skills in flagging off the 25th Shri Lord Krishna Balram
basketball, volleyball, hockey and athletics. Jagannath Rath Yatra.
• The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh • Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has laid the
is set to launch the ambitious ‘Free Smartphone foundation stone of the BrahMos Aerospace cruise
Yojana on December 25, which is the birth missile manufacturing unit in Lucknow. He also
anniversary of senior BJP leader and former Prime laid the foundation of DRDO Defence Technology
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Under the scheme, and Test Centre in Lucknow. BrahMos Project will
the state government will distribute smartphones help in creating 5,500 fresh job opportunities.
• Karnataka government has partnered with the
and tablets to final year students of graduation and
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) &
above.
State Bank of India (SBI) to enable and implement
• Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik has the ‘e-RUPI’ payment solution to students under its
inaugurated the state’s longest bridge, ‘T-Setu’, scholarship programme. For redeeming e-RUPI, the
built over the Mahanadi River in Cuttack District, identified institutes will scan the QR code or SMS
Odisha. The bridge in the shape of the English string displayed by the students using an
alphabet ‘T’ was constructed at a cost of Rs 111 application.
crore. The 4-km-long bridge connecting • The Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal
Gopinathpur in Badamba, Baideswar in Banki to Khattar has launched the ‘Haryana Kaushal Rozgar
Singhanath Pitha in Cuttack, will cut the distance Nigam portal’ and announced to set up the Atal
between Badamba and Banki Baideshwar by almost Park & Smriti Kendra in Gurugram, Haryana. The
45 km. CM also honoured 78 officers and employees for
• Jharkhand Assembly has passed the Prevention of delivering the best services in various fields. He
also launched a magazine ‘Vyavastha Parivartan Se
Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021, which
Susashan’ and the 2022 official calendar.
aims at providing “effective protection” of
constitutional rights and the prevention of mob
violence in the state. After including one
Schemes/Committees
amendment, the Bill was passed and sent to the • The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
Governor for his assent. Once notified, Jharkhand has set up an Advisory Committee for Leveraging
will become the fourth state to bring in such a law Regulatory and Technology Solutions (ALeRTS)
after West Bengal, Rajasthan and Manipur. to enhance technological capabilities and explore
• Maharashtra Tourism and Environment Minister, suitable technology solutions for the early detection
Aaditya Thackeray has launched the Chalo mobile of market anomalies. ALeRTS is a 7-member
committee headed by Madhabi Puri Buch, a former
application (app) and Chalo smart cards to
whole-time member of SEBI and has experts from
facilitate digital and advance purchase of
various technology domains as members.
Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport
• The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI)
(BEST) bus tickets. has formed a committee for the differently-abled
• In Madhya Pradesh, the 97th edition of the World cricketers of the country. Disability cricketers have
Sangeet Tansen festival started in Gwalior. A five- welcomed the decision of the BCCI to form a
day World Sangeet Tansen festival starts from Differently Abled Committee for the differently-
December 25 to December 30 in the city. The stage abled cricketers. On the basis of the
of the program has been constructed on the theme recommendation of the Justice Lodha committee, a
of the Siddhanath temple situated in Omkareshwar. board of three former disabled cricketers was being
Many artists not only from India but also from awaited for the last several years. The Proposal was
abroad will participate in the music festival. approved by BCCI headed by president Sourav
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has Ganguly & secretary Jay Shah.
• Tamil Nadu government has launched the Chief
launched the ‘Meendum Manjappai’ scheme to
Minister (CM) Dashboard monitoring system, “CM
promote the use of cloth bags by the public and
Dashboard Tamil Nadu 360” in Chennai. It will
discourage the use of plastic bags. This awareness
enable CM to track all welfare schemes, including
campaign on using ‘yellow’ cloth bag or ‘manjapai’ the status of their implementation, fund allocation,
as it is called in Tamil, is aimed at encouraging the and the number of beneficiaries along with updates
people to return to the use of this eco-friendly bag on the storage of water in dams and rainfall
and discard the plastic bags. patterns.
• The Government of India has decided to constitute • State Bank of India (SBI) has signed an MoU with
a ‘five-member’ committee to look into the demand Kendriya Sainik Board to support and educate the
for withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) children of war veterans, ex-servicemen, and war
Act “AFSPA” in Nagaland. The committee headed
widows. India’s largest bank said it will provide a
by Vivek Joshi, the Registrar General and Census
Commissioner of India, would submit its grant of ₹ 1,000 per month to 8,333 war veterans’.
recommendations within 45 days. Additional The bank has contributed ₹ 10 crores to the Armed
Secretary in the Home Ministry Piyush Goyal will Forces Flag Day Fund. The Armed Forces Flag Day
be its Member-Secretary. The Chief Secretary and is celebrated on December 7. According to the
DGP of Nagaland and the DGP of Assam Rifles will statement, the bank has contributed ₹10 crores to
be the other members of the committee.
the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund. The Armed
Forces Flag Day is celebrated on December 7.
Agreement/Memorandum of • NITI Aayog in partnership with Bharti
Understanding (MoU) Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti
• State Bank of India (SBI) has signed an agreement Enterprises, launched Convoke 2021-22. Convoke is
with Usha International Limited (UIL) for a National research Symposium that aims at
empowering women entrepreneurs by providing addressing challenges in imparting education and
financial assistance. The financial assistance will be
strengthening its quality with a special focus on all
provided under the Joint Liability Group model.
This is the first of its kind collaboration between teachers, educationists, heads of schools across
UIL and SBI in coming forward together for the India.
upliftment of the social and economic status of • Department of Youth Empowerment & Sports,
women entrepreneurs in rural areas of the country Government of Karnataka has signed a Letter of
by making them self-reliant and providing equal Understanding (LoU) with the United Nations
opportunity for achieving financial growth and
Development Programme (UNDP) as a part of the
inclusion.
• Walmart and its subsidiary Flipkart have signed an State-level initiative ‘Code-Unnati’ to improve the
MoU with the Department of Micro, Small, and access to entrepreneurship and employment
Medium Enterprises, Government of Madhya opportunities among the youths, including women.
Pradesh to create an ecosystem of capacity building • India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has tied up with
for MSMEs in Madhya Pradesh. Under this MoU, National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI)
Walmart, Flipkart, and MSME Department will
bill payments system Bharat BillPay to facilitate
assist MSMEs to digitize their business and enable
them to sell their products through online retail. cash-based bill payments service at customer’s
• State-owned Indian Renewable Energy doorstep. Payments for various utility bills can be
Development Agency (IREDA) has signed a pact done on the Bharat BillPay platform and the facility
with Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Ltd will be made available to non- IPPB customers as
(BVFCL) to provide its techno-financial expertise in well.
developing renewable energy projects and
• Odisha inked an agreement with United Nations
fundraising. Under the MoU, IREDA will undertake
Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to launch
techno-financial due diligence of renewable energy,
green hydrogen, green ammonia, etc. for BVFCL. “Mission Shakti Living Lab” for the financial
• India and European Union (EU) have agreed to empowerment of women. A Global Centre for
step up their Clean Energy and Climate Financial Health, to launch Mission Shakti Living
Partnership. They jointly agreed on a detailed work Lab empowering women economically and drive
program until 2023 to implement the 2016 India-EU gender equality. With the use of digital technologies
Clean Energy and Climate Partnership. The Panel
and e-commerce, it will increase the income and
agreed on increased technical cooperation in energy
efficiency, renewable energy, green hydrogen, grid financial well-being of women, self-help groups
integration, storage, power market design, (SHGs) and households by helping them in the
interconnection, cold chain, and sustainable factors of planning, saving, borrow or spending
financing. better.

• IIT-Delhi signed an MoU with Indian Air Force • Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) has signed a
(IAF) to support requirements towards indigenous purchase agreement with Solar Energy
solutions in various weapon systems. Under the Corporation of India (SECI) to supply 4,667 MW of
MoU, The IAF has identified key focus areas
green power. It is the world’s largest-ever green
involving the development of technology and
power purchase agreement (PPA). The agreement is
finding indigenous solutions towards the
sustenance of various weapon systems. The part of a manufacturing-linked solar tender of 8,000
partnership between IIT Delhi and IAF will also MW awarded to AGEL by SECI in June 2020.
boost the efforts by Base Repair Depots (BRDs) of • Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL)
Maintenance Command IAF. and GAIL (India) Limited has signed a
• The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of
memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting
the United Nations has signed an agreement with
up a bioethanol plant with a production capacity of
the Andhra Pradesh Government to train the
farmers in good farm management practices and 500-kilo litre per day (KLD) in Gujarat.
sustainable agricultural methods. The FAO apart, • National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is has signed a partnership agreement with Udemy
collaborating on the project. Business, to encourage innovative learning and
• India’s TVS Motor Company will develop electric skill development for employees of NPCI. The 3-
vehicles (EV) with BMW’s motorcycle brand in
year partnership with Udemy Business will offer
India, joining a host of Indian automakers that have
courses on in-demand skills such as tech, domain,
sought to expand their clean mobility offering. The
tie-up comes at a time when new-age start-ups like behavioural, and leadership skills to all NPCI
Ola Electric & Ather are ramping up investment in employees. Through the mission ‘Talent
electric scooters. Development for All’ of NPCI, it provides
• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has capacity-building programmes in Artificial
tied up with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML),
(BARC) to scale-up Alkaline Electrolyze technology
Blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT),
for Green Hydrogen production. This is a first of its
kind initiative to support India’s commitment to Robotic Process Automation (RPA), etc.
achieve renewable energy targets and reduce • NITI Aayog has signed a Statement of Intent with
greenhouse gas emissions. Electrolyser plants are the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
presently imported and the collaboration is to The partnership focuses on mainstreaming millets
“scale-up Alkaline Electrolyser technology for
and supporting India in taking lead globally in
Green Hydrogen production”.
knowledge exchange using the opportunity of 2023
as an International Year of Millets. The government
of India observed 2018 as a year of millets.
• Indipaisa has signed a partnership agreement with
NSDL Payments Bank to launch Financial
Technology (Fintech) solutions targeting India’s 63
million Small & Mid-sized Enterprise (SME)
sector. To empower SME owners & operators to
provide facilities and services that help them grow
businesses, comply with government tax laws and
build a sustainable future.

Appointments/Resignations (National & • IPO-bound hospitality unicorn Oyo Hotels and
Homes (Oyo) has appointed Rajnish Kumar, former
International) Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) as Strategic
Group Advisor. In his role, Kumar will advise
• Noted mountaineer from Uttarakhand, Harshwanti
Oyo’s management on short-term and long-term
Bisht has earned the distinction of being elected the
strategy, regulatory and stakeholder engagement,
first woman president of the Indian and enhancing the brand of the company globally.
Mountaineering Foundation (IMF). He is currently a part of the boards of HSBC Asia
• Two-wheeler major, Hero MotoCorp announced Pacific, L&T infotech, Hero Motocorp and BharatPe.
the appointment of former chairman of State Bank • Bangalore based innovative, fast-growing fintech,
of India (SBI) Rajnish Kumar as an independent Kinara Capital signed the Indian cricketer
non-executive director on the board of the Ravindra Jadeja, as its official brand ambassador
company. on the occasion of the company’s 10th anniversary.
Kinara Capital provide loan service to India’s
• Senior bureaucrat, Vivek Johri has been appointed
MSMEs.
as the new Chairman of the Central Board of • Unix, an Indian Mobile Accessories manufacturing
Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). He will brand, has signed Indian Cricket Fast Bowler,
succeed M Ajit Kumar who is completing his Jasprit Bumrah as its Brand Ambassador to
tenure. increase the visibility of their products. The
• Indian-origin technology executive, Parag Agrawal products include wearable mobile electronics such
has been appointed as the new CEO of Twitter after as Chargers, Earphones, Data Cables, Power Banks,
the social media giant’s co-founder Jack Dorsey Wireless Speakers, Smartphone Batteries, Bluetooth
neckbands and TWS are mostly manufactured and
stepped down. He is now the youngest CEO in the
marketed across India through distributors.
S&P 500 elbowing Meta Platform Inc. CEO Mark • The Board of Directors of Ujjivan Small Finance
Zuckerberg. However, Agrawal is 37 and the same Bank appointed Ittira Davis as the MD and CEO of
age as Mark Zuckerberg. the bank. Davis has been appointed as the MD and
• Lt Gen Manoj Kumar Mago has taken over as the CEO for a period of 3 years from the date of
Commandant of National Defence College (NDC), approval of the RBI or such other period as may be
New Delhi. approved by RBI. Davis was the MD and CEO of
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) Ujjivan Financial Services Limited from July 2018
from where he resigned in 2021.
incubated startup, GUVI has signed Indian
• The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
Women’s cricketer Smriti Mandhana as its brand and Industry (FICCI) announced that Sanjiv
ambassador. Mehta, the Chairman and Managing Director of
• Sambit Patra has been appointed as the chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), will be
India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) appointed as its President. Mehta, presently the
by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Senior Vice President of FICCI, will be succeeding
IAS officer, G. Kamala Vardhana Rao will hold the media industry veteran Uday Shankar. Mehta is
post of managing director of ITDC. also the President of Unilever South Asia (India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Nepal), and is a
• Pradip Shah, the founder of IndAsia Fund
member of the ‘Unilever Leadership Executive’
Advisors, has been appointed chairman of the
which is Unilever’s Global Executive Board.
National Asset Reconstruction Company • BYJU’S announced a 2-year partnership with
(NARCL). Shah, an MBA from Harvard and Olympic medalists Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu
chartered accountant, is credited for establishing as the brand ambassadors for Disney BYJU’S Early
India's first and largest housing finance company, Learn app.
HDFC, and rating firm Crisil. • The Government has appointed Madhya Pradesh
• Centre effects major bureaucratic reshuffle. The cadre IAS officer Neelam Shammi Rao as the
Central Provident Fund Commissioner in the
Centre has appointed Alka Upadhyaya as
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation
chairperson of the National Highways Authority of (EPFO).The ACC approved Ms. Rao’s transfer from
India (NHAI). A 1990-batch IAS officer of Madhya her current post, Director General (Training) in the
Pradesh cadre, Upadhyaya is currently Additional Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship,
Secretary, Department of Rural Development. to the top post of the retirement fund body.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has • Senior Indian diplomat Pradeep Kumar Rawat,
appointed Catherine Russell as the head of UN who is well-versed in negotiating with Chinese
children’s agency UNICEF, also known as the diplomats, has been appointed as India’s next
United Nations Children’s Fund. Catherine Russell Ambassador to China. Rawat’s appointment comes
is an assistant to US President Joe Biden. She also amid the lingering border stand-off in eastern
heads the White House Office of Presidential Ladakh. Rawat is currently the country’s envoy to
the Netherlands.
Personnel. Russell will succeed Henrietta Fore, who
• The Indian Olympic Association of India (IOA)
resigned in July 2021 because of a family health
has appointed the Ice Hockey Association of India’s
issue.
general secretary, Harjinder Singh, as the Chef de
• CEO of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC),
Mission of the country’s contingent for the
Ravinder Bhakar has assumed charge of National upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Singh
Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Films was the Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent
Division, and Children Films Society of India for the 23rd Winter Olympic Games too, which was
(CFSI). held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018.
• French fashion house Chanel named Leena Nair, an • IFFCO-TOKIO General Insurance has announced
executive from Unilever, as its new global CEO. the appointment of HO Suri as its new managing
Nair’s career at Unilever spanned 30 years, most director and chief executive officer. He was the
recently as the chief of human resources and a financial advisor, head, internal audit & legal, at the
member of the executive committee. company and the new position took effect from
• Arvind Kumar has joined as Director General of October 1.
Software Technology Parks of India. Software • Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC)
Technology Parks of India is an autonomous body has announced fresh appointments to its board of
directors. Kamlesh Gandhi, CMD of MAS Financial
under the Ministry of Electronics & Information
Services has been appointed as Co-Chairman, FIDC
Technology Government of India. STPI is fuelling
in addition to Umesh Revankar, CEO and MD of
the culture of tech entrepreneurship and innovation
Shriram Transport Finance Group. Sanjay Chamria
in the country by launching 25 + Centres of
has resigned as the Co-Chairman and Director,
Entrepreneurship in emerging technology domains. FIDC.
• Hyundai Motor Company has appointed Unsoo • Mohammed Ben Sulayem of the United Arab
Kim as the Managing Director (MD) of Hyundai Emirates has been elected successor to Jean Todt as
Motor India Limited (HMIL), starting from 1st the first non-European president of motorsport's
January 2022. He will replace Seon Seob Kim (SS world governing body, the International
Kim), who will lead the Global Operations Division Automobile Federation (FIA).
in Hyundai headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. • The RBL Bank board has appointed Rajeev Ahuja,
• Mohit Jain of The Economic Times has been elected who's currently working as the Executive Director
President of The Indian Newspaper Society for the at the bank, as interim Managing Director & Chief
year 2021-22. He succeeds L. Adimoolam of Health Executive Officer of the bank with immediate
& The Antiseptic. The 82nd Annual General effect, subject to the regulatory and other approvals.
• India Yamaha Motor (IYM) Pvt Ltd. has
Meeting of the Indian Newspaper Society – an apex
announced that Eishin Chihana has taken charge of
body of Publishers of Newspapers, Magazines &
the Group’s India operations as its new Chairman.
Periodicals in the country, was held through Video
He has replaced Motofumi Shitara. Chihana has
Conference.
been associated with Yamaha Motor Company and
• Atul Dinkar Rane has been appointed as the new its group companies across the globe since 1991.
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of • Indian origin, Narandran 'Jody' Kollapen has been
the BrahMos Aerospace Limited that manufactures appointed to South Africa's highest judicial bench,
the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. His the Constitutional Court. The appointment of 64-
pioneering contributions and techno-managerial year-old Kollapen & Rammaka Steven Mathopo as
leadership has been transformative for the the latest additions to the Constitutional Court after
successful development and induction of BrahMos a lengthy process of public interviews. Both will
Supersonic Cruise Missile into Armed Forces. take office from January 1, 2022.

• Aarati Krishnan, Editorial Consultant with • ITBP director general Sanjay Arora will hold the
BusinessLine, has been inducted as a member of the additional charge of another border guarding force
Securities & Exchange Board of India’s Advisory Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) as the latter’s chief
Committee on Mutual Funds. The committee, Kumar Rajesh Chandra is set to retire on December
chaired by Usha Thorat, former Deputy Governor 31.
of Reserve Bank of India, advises SEBI on matters
• Senior diplomat Anupam Ray has been appointed
related to mutual fund regulation to ensure investor
as India's next permanent representative to the UN
protection, development of the industry and
disclosure requirements. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC)
has approved the appointment of Atul Kumar Ranks and Reports
Goel, MD & CEO of UCO Bank, as MD & CEO of
Punjab National Bank (PNB) with effect from • Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) has announced
February 1 next year. Meanwhile, the ACC has the Worldwide Cost of Living Index 2021.
appointed Soma Sankara Prasad, currently Deputy According to the Index, Tel Aviv, Israel has become
Managing Director at State Bank of India, as the most expensive city in the world to live in in
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in 2021, pushing Paris, France and Singapore jointly
UCO Bank. to occupy the second spot with Zurich and Hong
• Govt of India has approved the appointment of Kong at the fourth and fifth spots respectively.
Praveen Kumar, IAS, Former Secretary, Ministry of • The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited
Skill Development & Entrepreneurship to the post (IFFCO) has been ranked 'number one Cooperative'
of Director General & Chief Executive Officer,
among the top 300 cooperatives in the world. The
Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA). The
ranking is based on the ratio of turnover over the
proposal for setting up IICA was approved by
Planning Commission in the year 2007. It was gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
established in 2008 at Manesar, Haryana. • Finance Minister(FM) of India, Nirmala Sitharaman
• Diplomat Vikram Misri has been appointed as has ranked 37th on the Forbes’ list of the World’s
deputy national security adviser in the national 100 Most Powerful Women 2021 or 18th Edition of
security council secretariat. The appointment of Forbes’ list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful
Misri, a 1989-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Women. She has been featured on the list for the
officer, came after he served as the Indian 3rd year in a row. She was ranked 41st on the list in
ambassador to China for nearly three years. 2020 and 34th in 2019. The 3rd richest woman in the
• Indian Forest Service officer, Chandra Prakash world, MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist, author and
Goyal has been appointed as the Director-General ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was topped
of Forests & Special Secretary (DGF&SS), Ministry
Forbes’ 2021 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women
of Environment, Forests & Climate Change. Goyal,
replacing the outgoing German chancellor Angela
a 1986 batch IFS officer was previously the Principal
Chief Conservator of Forest under Uttar Pradesh Merkel who topped the 15 out of 17 iterations of the
Department of Forest. list. Kamala Harris, the first woman and the first
• Bollywood actors Vijay Raaz & Varun Sharma person of colour(Black) to become the Vice
have been named as brand ambassadors for President of the United States of America was
EaseMyTrip.com (Easy Trip Planners Ltd), an ranked 2nd on the list. Janet Yellen, the first woman
online travel company based in India. EaseMyTrip to be named the U.S. Treasury Secretary has ranked
founded by Nishant Pitti and Rikant Pitti in 2008 39th on the list.
was started as the Business-to-Business (B2B) portal • According to Lowy Institute Asia Power Index
and entered into the business-to-consumer (B2C) 2021, India has ranked 4th most powerful country
segment in 2011. in the Asia-Pacific region for comprehensive power
• Vasudevan Pathangi Narasimhan has been
out of 26 countries, with an overall score of 37.7 out
reappointed as the Managing Director (MD) &
of 100. India’s overall score declined by 2 points
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Equitas Small
Finance Bank Limited (ESFBL) for three years compared to 2020. India again falls short of the
(from July 23, 2022, to July 22, 2025), by the Board of major power threshold in 2021. India is one of 18
Directors (BoD). He is currently serving as the MD countries in Asia to trend downward in its overall
and CEO of the bank. score in 2021.
• The 9th edition of India Skills Report (ISR) 2022, • Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s largest corporate
released by Wheebox, Maharashtra has retained the by revenues, profits and market value, topped the
top position in the list of states with the highest poll 2021 Wizikey News Score ranking as India’s most-
of employable talent followed by Uttar Pradesh and visible corporate in the media. On the global
Kerala. The theme of ISR 2022 – ‘Rebuilding and rankings chart for top Multinational
Reengineering the Future of Work’.
Corporations(MNC), Facebook tops the index,
• International Institute for Management
Development (IMD) World Competitive Centre followed by Google’s Alphabet Inc. Notably,
published its “World Talent Ranking Report”. In Reliance is ranked eighth on global rankings for top
the report, Europe has dominated the ranking in MNCs.
2021. Global top 10 countries are from this region. • India is among the world’s top three dope violators
Switzerland has retained its top spot. India has country in the world. Indian athletes were involved
been ranked at 56th position. In the Middle East & 152 times in dope-related activities in the year 2019.
North Africa, UAE maintained its second position, The report has revealed the latest report published
following Israel (first in this region). Israel has been by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), which
ranked 22nd.
has put India into the top-three of the world’s
• Winter Session of the Parliament, Nitin Gadkari,
biggest violators behind Russia (167) and Italy
Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways,
informed the Rajya Sabha on the state of Electric (157). Brazil (78) is at fourth and Iran (70) fifth
Vehicles (EV) in India. As per the data, India has a positions.
total of 870,141 registered EVs, with Uttar Pradesh • Adding 33 "unicorns" in a single year has helped
(UP) holding the top spot with 255,700 registered India displace the United Kingdom to be third in
EVs. UP is followed by Delhi (125,347), Karnataka the list of countries that are home to such
(72,544), Bihar (58,014) and Maharashtra (52,506) in enterprises valued at over $1 billion each. The US
successive positions. and China, who occupy the first two ranks, are way
• As per the Global Health Security (GHS) Index ahead, according to the data compiled by Hurun
2021, the world’s average overall GHS Index score
Research Institute.
was reduced to 38.9 (out of 100) in 2021, from a
• Telangana has secured 1st place among the 34
score of 40.2 in the GHS Index, 2019. India ranked
66 out of 195 countries with an overall Index score states and Union Territories that implement the
of 42.8 and along with a change of -0.8 from 2019. Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission
The United States of America (USA) ranked 1st on (SPMRM). Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have secured
the index with a score of 75.9 followed by Australia 2nd and 3rd place on the list respectively. In the
and Finland. Ranking of the Cluster, among the 295 clusters, the
• Maharashtra has topped the list of states with the Ryakal cluster of Sangareddy and the Jukkal
maximum number of beneficiaries under the cluster of Kamareddy in Telangana has secured the
Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), 1st and 2nd position respectively. The Aibawk
followed by Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. As many as
cluster of Aizawl in Mizoram has secured the 3rd
6,49,560 beneficiaries were recorded in
position.
Maharashtra, followed by Tamil Nadu (5,35,615),
Gujarat (4,44,741) and Karnataka (3,07,164). In
Maharashtra, the beneficiaries have been provided
with a total of Rs 409.72 crore under the scheme to
new employees of 17,524 establishments.
• Spam call rates in India have spiked again, with the
country moving up in global rankings from 9th
position to 4th position owing to a significant in
sales and telemarketing calls in 2021, according to
the latest insights by callerID, spam detection and
blocking company, Truecaller. The top three
countries in the world with maximum spam based
calls were Brazil, Peru and Ukraine. Interestingly,
the USA dropped from 2nd place in 2020 to 20th in
2021, owing to stringent government regulations.
Sports Current Affairs • Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen and China’s Taipei’s Tai
Tzu Ying were named Male and Female player of
• New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel became the third the year 2021 respectively by the Badminton World
cricketer to scalp all 10 wickets in an innings. The Federation (BWF).
left-arm spun a web around India’s batting order • India claimed 41 medals (12 Gold, 15 Silver, 14
and bowled 47.5 overs, conceding 119 runs. New Bronze) at the 4th Asian Youth Para Games
Zealand bundled out India for 325 on the second (AYPG), Asia’s biggest event held at Riffa city,
day of the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium, Bahrain. The event is organized by the National
Mumbai. Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Bahrain with the
• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (Britain) won the support of the local government. Over 700 athletes
inaugural edition of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from around 30 countries participated in the event
(GP), by surpassing Max Verstappen (Netherlands) from 2ndto 6th December 2021. The 5th edition of
in the event held at the 30-kilometre (18.6-mile) the Asian Youth Para Games 2025 will be hosted by
coastal resort area in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Reema Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Juffali, has been appointed as an ambassador for • Reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen of
the first edition of the Saudi Grand Prix, under the Norway defended his title and won the FIDE
World Championship in Dubai.
Formula 1 (F1) World Championship.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won his maiden F1
• The Davis Cup 2021 was won by the Russian
Drivers’ championship title by beating Lewis
Tennis Federation by a 2-0 lead over Croatia in the
Hamilton of Mercedes in the season-ending Abu
Davis Cup final in Madrid. Medvedev defeated Dhabi GP 2021.
Marin Cilic in the second singles match to give • India won a total of six medals, including two gold
Russia an insurmountable 2-0 lead over Croatia and and 4 silver medals in the Asian Rowing
its first Davis Cup title since 2006. Croatia also was Championship in Thailand. Senior rower Arvind
seeking its third title after triumphs in 2005 and Singh bagged a gold in the lightweight Men’s
2018. Andrey Rublev was named the Most single sculls event while his compatriots won three
Valuable Player. silver medals.
• Sanket Mahadev Sargar won the gold medal in • The International Boxing Association has changed
Men’s 55 kg snatch category at the ongoing its acronym from AIBA to IBA, promising to adopt
Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships a set of governance reforms so as to keep the sport’s
2021. He created the national record by lifting 113kg inclusion at the 2028 Olympics.
in the men’s 55kg snatch category. Sargar has also • A total of 148 athletes, including 20 new inductees,
qualified for the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth in seven Olympic disciplines and six Paralympic
Games in Birmingham. disciplines, have been identified for support under
• Manipur successfully defended their Senior the Target Olympic Podium Scheme at a meeting
Women’s National Football Championship crown of the Mission Olympic Cell of the Ministry of
after a dramatic penalty shootout win over Youth Affairs and Sports. The TOP scheme which is
Railways in the final at the EMS Stadium in an attempt to provide assistance to India’s top
Kozhikode, Kerala. After a dearth of goal-scoring athletes. This scheme was started in 2014.
chances in regulation and extra time, the match • Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur formally
inaugurated the first-ever national-level Khelo
went to penalties with the scores at 0-0. Manipur
India Women’s Hockey League at Major Dhyan
goalkeeper Okram Roshini Devi produced three
Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. The
saves to give her side their 21st title at this level.
winner of the Khelo India Women’s Hockey
• India claimed 41 medals (12 Gold, 15 Silver, 14
League will get a cash prize of 30 lakhs. In the first
Bronze) at the 4th Asian Youth Para Games
phase, total 14 teams will participate in the league
(AYPG), Asia’s biggest event held at Riffa city, and 42 matches will be played from 15 December to
Bahrain. The event is organized by the National 21 December.
Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Bahrain with the • India concluded the Commonwealth Weightlifting
support of the local government. Over 700 athletes Championships 2021 with 16 medals – 4 Gold, 7
from around 30 countries participated in the event Silver, and 5 Bronze, held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
from 2ndto 6th December 2021. The 5th edition of Bindyarani Devi was India’s only medallist at the
the Asian Youth Para Games 2025 will be hosted by World Weightlifting Championships 2021, that was
Tashkent, Uzbekistan. also held parallelly at Tashkent.
• Former world champion PV Sindhu has been • Pankaj Advani has defended his National Billiards
appointed as a member of the Badminton World Title by winning his 11th tournament, after
Federation’s (BWF) Athletes’ Commission, along defeating his PSPB teammate Dhruv Sitwala in a 5-
with five other people. The Chair and Deputy Chair 2 game final that was held in Bhopal, Madhya
will be decided among the six members. The Chair Pradesh.
of the BWF Athletes’ Commission, following a • Himachal Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu by 11 runs
vetting process as required for all Council members, (VJD Method) in the final to win their maiden Vijay
will become a member of the Council until the next
Hazare Trophy title, at the Sawai Mansingh
elections in 2025. Iris Wang (USA), Robin Tabeling
Stadium, Jaipur.
(NED), Greysia Polii (INA), Kim Soyeong (KOR),
• Uttar Pradesh has crowned the winners of the 11th
Pusarla V Sindhu (IND) and Zheng Si Wei (CHN)
Junior National Men’s Hockey Championship
are the ones appointed as members of the BWF
following a 3-1 victory over Chandigarh in the final
Athletes’ Commission.
• Indian teenager Anahat Singh has scripted history at Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu. Tournament top scorer
by winning the U-15 girls category of the Sharda Nand Tiwari opened the scoring for Uttar
prestigious Junior US Open Squash tournament in Pradesh.
Philadelphia. • Nitesh Kumar won doubled gold at the 4th Para-
• India defeated Pakistan 4-3 to secure the bronze Badminton National Championship, which
medal, while Korea defeated Japan 4-2 to emerge concluded in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Haryana's
Asian Champions Trophy men's hockey Nitesh along with his partner Tarun Dhillon
tournament held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The five- defeated World No. 1 Paralympic Games gold
nation tournament came to an end with two medallist Pramod Bhagat and Manoj Sarkar in
matches being played on the last day of the game. straight sets 21-19, 21-11 in the Men’s doubles finals
Kanta Tanaka of Japan was declared the best player to win the gold.
of the tournament while Suraj Karkera of India was
• World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has restored
adjudged the best goalkeeper. Jang Jonghyun of
the accreditation of the National Dope Testing
Korea was the top scorer with 10 goals in the
Laboratory (NDTL) in accordance with the
tournament.
International Standard for Laboratories (ISL),
• Bangladesh women team has won the SAFF U 19
which had been suspended since August 2019. With
Women’s Championship by defeating India in the
finals. Shaheda Akter Ripa of Bangladesh scored this, NDTL’s Anti-Doping testing and activities will
the maximum number of goals in the tournament. be resumed with immediate effect.
She received the ‘most valuable player’ award. The • Mohammed Shami became just the 11th Indian
2021 SAFF U-19 Women's Championship was the bowler to claim 200 wickets in Test cricket in just 55
2nd edition of the SAFF U-19 Women's test matches. During this process, he became the
Championship. only 5th Indian pacer to bag 200 wickets in the
• Indian skier Aanchal Thakur has bagged a bronze purest format of the game. Also, Shami is the third
medal at the International Ski Federation (FIS) fastest Indian pacer to reach this milestone as Kapil
Alpine Skiing Competition in Montenegro. She Dev and Javagal Srinath bagged 200 Test wickets in
finished 3rd with an overall timing of 1:54:30. 50 and 54 Tests respectively.
Croatia’s Dora Ljutic (1:50.61) won the gold medal • Jasprit Bumrah has achieved the milestone of
while Cyprus skier Georgia Epiphaniou (1:52.71) picking 100 wickets away from home in 22 Test
clinched silver.
matches. Van der Dussen became Bumrah's 100th
• Senior Indian off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh has
Test victim in overseas conditions. The 28-year-old
announced retirement from all forms of cricket. He
now has 105 wickets, out of which 101 have come
was the 1st Indian Cricketer to take Hat-trick
away from home. Bumrah, who made his Test
wickets in Test Cricket. He took 417 wickets in 103
Tests and is the 4th highest wicket-taker for India in debut in South Africa in 2018, has played 25 Tests,
Test cricket. 23 of which have come on the road.

Summits And Conferences • The Department for Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched the Unified
• India has joined ‘G20 Troika’ and will work closely
Logistics Interface Platform’s (ULIP) hackathon –
with Indonesia and Italy to ensure consistency and
continuity of G20’s agenda. Apart from India, ‘LogiXtics’ to crowdsource more ideas that will
Troika consists of Indonesia and Italy. India will benefit the logistics industry. The Unified Logistics
assume G20 Presidency in December 2022 from Interface Platform (ULIP) Hackathon – LogiXtics is
Indonesia and will convene the G20 Leaders’ being organised by NITI Aayog and Atal
Summit for the first time in 2023. Troika refers to Innovation Mission.
the top grouping within G20 that consists of the • The third Annual Defence Dialogue between India
current, previous, and incoming presidencies and France took place between Defence Minister
(Indonesia, Italy and India). Rajnath Singh and his French counterpart Florence
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually
Parly in New Delhi. A wide range of bilateral,
inaugurated a thought leadership forum on
FinTech, ‘InFinity Forum’. The event was hosted by regional, defence and defence industrial
International Financial Services Centres Authority cooperation issues were discussed in the annual
(IFSCA), under the aegis of the Government of meeting.
India in collaboration with GIFT City and • India will chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee
Bloomberg. Indonesia, South Africa and the of UNSC in January 2022 after 10 years. The
United Kingdom were the partner countries in the Counter-Terrorism Committee was established by
1st edition of the Forum. The Forum focused on the Security Council resolution 1373 adopted
theme of ‘Beyond’ with various sub-themes.
unanimously on 28 September 2001 in the wake of
• Union Minister of External Affairs (EAM)
the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has visited Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend the 5th
Indian Ocean Conference on December 4-5, 2021. Awards & Recognition
The theme of the conference was ‘Indian Ocean:
Ecology, Economy, Epidemic’. The Conference is • Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or for a seventh
chaired by Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya time after being named as the best player in 2021
Rajapaksa & Vice Chairs are S.Jaishankar, Vivian by France Football. Messi scored 41 goals and
Balakrishnan, Sayyid Badr Bin Hamad Bin Hamoud registered 17 assists in 56 appearances in all
Al Busaidi. competitions for club and country and led
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian Argentina to a long-awaited Copa America win in
President Vladimir Putin held the 21st India-Russia
the summer.
Annual Summit to discuss the entire gamut of
• Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Professor Jayashankar
relations, including regional and global issues.
During his visit, India and Russia signed 28 Telangana State Agricultural University, V Praveen
agreements. The leaders discussed on International Rao wins the 7th Dr M S Swaminathan Award for
North-South Transport Corridor and also about the the period 2017-19. It is a biennial national (every 2
Chennai – Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor years) award that was presented by the retired
(which is under the proposal). ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research)
• US President Joe Biden is hosting the first of two Employees Association (RICAREA) and Nuziveedu
Summits for Democracy, which takes place
Seeds Limited. It carries a cash prize of INR 2 lakh
virtually between December 9–10. India's Prime
and a citation.
Minister Narendra Modi virtually addressed the
summit saying that 'democratic spirit' and • A biography titled ‘Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian
'pluralistic ethos' are ingrained in Indians. A total Nationalism’, authored by Dinyar Patel and
of 100 nations participated in this 'Summit for published by Harvard University Press selected as
Democracy'. PM Modi highlighted India's the winner of the 4th Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
civilisational ethos as one of the original sources of NIF (New India Foundation) Book Prize 2021. The
democracy. He outlined sensitivity, accountability, bookmarked the life events and legacy of Dada
participation, and reform orientation as four pillars Bhai Naoroji. It also contains the historical
of Indian democratic governance, stressing that
background of India’s National Movement during
principles of democracy should also guide global
governance. the 19th century.

• Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush • Ropesh Goyal from IIT-Kanpur won the ‘Young
Goyal has inaugurated the 40th edition of the India Geospatial Scientist’ award in recognition of his
International Trade Fair (IITF) 2021 at Pragati unique contribution to developing the Indian
Maidan in Delhi. It was organized by the India Geoid Model and computation software. Member
Trade Promotion Organisation with ‘Aatmanirbhar of Space Commission, Government of India, and
Bharat’ as the theme and to further promote the former ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar presented
idea of ‘Vocal for Local’. Bihar is the partner state the award to Goyal during the inaugural event of
for the 40th IITF and the focus states are Uttar the DigiSmart India 2021 conference hosted by the
Pradesh and Jharkhand. The Bihar pavilion won Geospatial World.
the 6th gold medal by showcasing the state’s art • The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
and cultural richness through handicrafts like has announced that Indian architect Balkrishna
Madhubani, Manjusha arts, terracotta, handlooms, Doshi will be the recipient of the 2022 Royal Gold
and other indigenous products of the state at IITF
Medal. The distinction, approved by Her Majesty
2021.
The Queen and awarded each year since 1848, is
• On the occasion of Assam Divas, the state
given to architects or practices in recognition of a
government of Assam has decided to accolade
lifetime’s work and the impact on the evolution of
renowned industrialist Ratan Tata with the ‘Asom
the field and the built environment.
Bhaibav’ award, the highest civilian state award for
• Indian Mathematician Neena Gupta has received
his contribution to cancer care in the state. The
awards that precede it are Asom Saurav, followed the 2021 DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for
by Asom Gaurav. With healthcare as one of its top Young Mathematicians from Developing
priorities, the Assam government is showing its Countries for her outstanding work in affine
appreciation towards Tata’s push to cancer care in algebraic geometry and commutative algebra.
the region. • Karnataka Bank has been conferred with two
• Nizamuddin Revival Project, India’s project on the DigiDhan awards instituted by the Union Ministry
holistic urban revitalisation of the historic of Electronics and Information Technology
Nizamuddin Basti community, in New Delhi has (MeitY). The awards were given during Digital
won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural payment Utsav in New Delhi. The award
Heritage Conservation 2021. The project involves recognized banks for achieving the target with the
the meticulous restoration of over 20 historic highest percentage in BHIM-UPI transactions
monuments clustered around the 14th-century under the private sector bank category
mausoleum of the revered Sufi saint, Hazrat consecutively for two years 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Nizamuddin Auliya. • Azim Premji, founder chairman of Wipro Limited
• Indian-American mathematician, Nikhil and founder of Azim Premji Foundation is this
Srivastava, who teaches at the University of year’s recipient of the 10th annual Dr Ida S.
California, Berkeley along with Adam Marcus and Scudder Humanitarian Oration, jointly established
Daniel Spielman were awarded the First Ciprian by Christian Medical College Vellore (CMC) and
Foias Prize in Operator Theory by the American the U.S.-based Vellore CMC Foundation. The award
Mathematical Society (AMS). Adam Marcus holds is presented to Mr Premji in recognition of his
the Chair of Combinatorial Analysis at the Ecole contributions to society.
Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in • DBS Bank India’s persistent efforts to drive digital
Switzerland. Daniel Spielman is a Sterling Professor transformation for its customers have been awarded
of Computer Science, a professor of statistics and at the ET BFSI Excellence Awards 2021. An
data science, and a professor of mathematics. initiative of The Economic Times, ET BFSI
• Assamese poet Nilmani Phookan Jr won the 56th Excellence Awards honours the best innovations &
Jnanpith Award and Konkani novelist Damodar
practices implemented by the BFSI industry in a
Mauzo won the 57th Jnanpith Award. The
dynamic and competitive environment.
country’s highest literary award, the Jnanpith is
• The prestigious TIME magazine has named Elon
bestowed on writers for “their outstanding
Musk, the CEO of Tesla, as the “2021 Person of the
contribution to literature”. Jnanpith Award is a
Year. In 2021, US-based electric-vehicle startup
literary award presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith
organization to Indian writers every year. This was Tesla became $1 trillion company as Musk became
instituted in 1961 and is given only to Indian the world’s richest person with an estimated net
writers who write in Indian languages and English. worth of around US $255 billion.

• Bhutan has honoured PM Modi with its highest • Vayana Network, one of India’s largest trade
civilian award, Ngadag Pel gi Khorlo. Bhutan’s finance platforms, and Federal Bank, a leading
Prime Minister Lotay Tshering has announced PM Private Sector Bank have been awarded the ‘Most
Modi’s name for Bhutan’s highest honour. Effective Bank-Fintech Partnership: Agile and
• Simone Biles was named Time magazine’s 2021 Adaptable’ at the IBSi-Global Fintech Innovation
Athlete of the Year. The world’s most decorated Awards 2021. The award was conferred in
gymnast, a four-time Olympic medalist, was hailed recognition of Vayana Network’s partnership with
for putting her mental health first when she Federal Bank, for automating and simplifying
withdrew from four event finals at the Tokyo Supply Chain Finance.
Olympics. • Anukrti Upadhyay has won the Sushila Devi
• Lewis Hamilton has picked up a new title only Award 2021 for the Best Book of Fiction for her
days after losing one on the track. The seven-time novel, Kintsugi, which was published by the Fourth
Formula One champion received a knighthood at Estate imprint. The Ratanlal Foundation and the
Windsor Castle, London. organizing Committee of the Bhopal Literature and
• Aditya Birla Group’s chairman, Kumar Mangalam Art Festival announced the winner, for this notable
Birla has received the Global Entrepreneur of the award for fiction written by a woman author and
Year Award- Business Transformation from The published in 2020. This prize has been instituted by
Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) based out of Silicon the Shri Ratanlal Foundation.
Valley. Birla is the first Indian Industrialist to • HDFC Bank has been named under ‘Most
receive the award for global entrepreneurship along Innovative Best Practice’ at the coveted
with top global business leaders Satya Nadella, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Digital
Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. Transformation Award 2021 or CII DX Award
• Indian shooter Avani Lekhara, who has created 2021. It will be recognized for the HDFC’s efforts in
history by winning India’s first Gold medal in world-class financial inclusion in Village Level
Shooting at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, won the Executive (VLE) centres along with the Government
“Best Female Debut” honour at the 2021 of India’s Common Service Centres (CSC).
Paralympic Sport Awards. • Viral Sudhirbhai Desai, an industrialist from Surat,
• Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), under the who is popularly known as the Greenman or green
Ministry of Steel, has been awarded with the man of Gujarat has been honoured with the Global
prestigious Golden Peacock Environment Environment and Climate Action Citizen Award
Management Award 2021 for successive three 2021.
years. The Award is given to organizations for • The All India Co-ordinated Research Project
significant achievements in Environment (AICRP) on poultry breeding, Mannuthy, under the
Management by Environment Foundation (WEF) Kerala Veterinary and Animal Science University
since 1998. (KVASU), bagged the national breed conservation
• IIT Roorkee has been selected by the prestigious award for 2021.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the
Industrial Innovation Awards. IIT Roorkee bagged
the first position under the Most Innovative
Research Institutions category this year. Last year,
IIT Roorkee was adjudged as ‘The Most Innovative
Institute of the Year’ for its innovation quotient.
• Divya Hegde, an Indian Climate Action
Entrepreneur from Udupi, Karnataka, has won UN
Women’s Award for Leadership Commitment at
the 2021 Regional Asia-Pacific Women’s
Empowerment Principles Awards Ceremony.
• Environmentalist Dr Anil Prakash Joshi, who was
conferred upon the Padma Bhushan this year, has
been awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial Award
for Social Justice 2021. Vidyut Mohan, the winner
of the Earth shot Prize, and Ridhima Pandey, a
young environmental activist from Uttarakhand,
were also the recipients of the award.
Important Days • International Volunteer Day (IVD), also called
International Volunteer Day for Economic and
• World AIDS Day is observed across the globe on Social Development is observed on 5 December
1st December every year since 1988. The day every year. International Volunteer Day Theme
provides an opportunity for people worldwide to 2021: “Volunteer now for our common future”.
unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for • International Civil Aviation Day is celebrated
people living with HIV and to commemorate those every year on December 7 to recognize the
who have died from an AIDS-related illness. This importance of aviation to the social and economic
year the theme of World AIDS Day is End development of the world. The Council has decided
inequalities. End AIDS and End Pandemics. that from now until 2023, the theme will be:
• National Pollution Control Day is observed on 2nd “Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation
Development”.
December every year. The day is observed as a
• National armed forces day is also known as the
national pollution control day to commemorate the
National flag day of India. The day is every year
lives of the people who died in the Bhopal gas
celebrated and observed on 7th December.
tragedy in 1984. • The International Day of Commemoration and
• World Computer Literacy Day is observed on 2nd Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide
December every year all over the world. The day is and of the Prevention of this Crime is observed
celebrated as the world computer literacy day to annually on December 9.
create awareness and drive digital literacy in • International Anti-Corruption Day is observed
underserved communities worldwide. annually on 9 December to raise public awareness
• International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is for anti-corruption. The day is observed since the
observed annually on 2nd December since 1986 by passage of the United Nations Convention Against
the United Nations General Assembly. The focus of Corruption on 31 October 2003. The theme of
this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of International Anti-Corruption Day 2021: “Your
slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual right, your role: say no to corruption”.
exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced • The South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) Charter Day is observed
marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for
annually on 8th December to commemorate the
use in armed conflict.
adoption of the SAARC Charter. This year marks
• World Handicapped day also known as the
the 37th anniversary of the regional group. The
International Day of Persons with disabilities is
charter was signed by the Leaders of SAARC
observed every year on 3rd December globally. The Countries Heads of State or Government of
day is marked and observed to support critical Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
issues which are related to the inclusion of persons Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the First SAARC Summit
with disabilities. The IDPWD day was proclaimed held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly. • Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December
The theme of the World Day of the Handicapped annually across the world. This Day came into
2021 is the Leadership and participation of persons existence on December 10, 1948, when the Universal
with disabilities. Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the
• In India, December 4 is observed as the National United Nations. The theme for Human Rights Day
Navy Day every year, to celebrate the achievements 2021 is “EQUALITY – Reducing inequalities,
and role of the naval force to the country. The advancing human rights.”
theme of Indian Navy Day 2021 is ‘Swarnim Vijay • International Mountain Day is observed globally
on December 11 every year. The theme of this
Varsh’ signifying 50 years of India’s victory in the
year’s International Mountain Day (IMD) on 11
Indo-Pakistan war that took place in 1971.
December will be sustainable mountain tourism.
• World Soil Day is celebrated every year on
• International Universal Health Coverage Day is a
December 5 to raise awareness of the importance of
United Nations’ recognized international day
soil quality for human well-being, food security and celebrated every year on December 12. This year
ecosystems. World Soil Day 2021 (#WorldSoilDay) theme of International Universal Health Coverage
and its campaign “Halt soil salinization, boost soil Day is “Leave No One’s Health Behind: Invest in
productivity”. health systems for all.”
• International Day of Neutrality is a United Nations • International Human Solidarity Day is observed
recognized day held on December 12 each year to globally on 20 December every year to celebrate
raise public awareness of the value of neutrality in unity in diversity and raise awareness about the
international relations. It was officially declared by importance of solidarity. According to the United
Nations Millennium Declaration, solidarity is
a UN General Assembly resolution adopted in
among the fundamental values that are essential to
February 2017 and first observed on December 12, international relations.
2017. • Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh has inaugurated
• Every year, UNICEF Day is observed on December the Good Governance Week campaign themed
11 to raise awareness about saving children’s lives “Prashasan Gaon Ki Aur” aimed at showcasing
by defending and helping them to fulfil their and replicating the best governance practices to the
wishes. The theme for this year is to help children grassroots level. Good Governance Week is being
recover from interruptions and learning losses celebrated on 20-25 December as part of the Azadi
experienced through pandemics in the last two Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration.
• Kisan Diwas or National Farmers’ Day is
years.
celebrated across the nation on December 23 to
• Every year on the 14th of December, National
commemorate the birth anniversary of the fifth
Energy Conservation day is celebrated in India. Prime Minister of India, Chaudhary Charan Singh.
This occasion has been celebrated since 1991 when He brought farmer-friendly policies and worked
is led by the Ministry of power. This day is towards the welfare of the farmers. He was the fifth
celebrated to raise awareness regarding the Prime Minister of India and served the country as
conservation of energy as it is the best way to have Prime Minister from 28 July 1979 to 14 January
a greener and brighter future. 1980.
• In India, Vijay Diwas (also called Victory Day) is • National Consumer Rights Day is observed every
celebrated every year on December 16. The country year on December 24. On this day in 1986, the
Consumer Protection Act 1986 received Presidential
is celebrating the 50th Vijay Diwas in 2021. The
assent and thus came into force. The Act aims to
Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 which began on provide consumers with effective safeguards
December 3 lasted for 13 days and officially ended against different types of exploitation, such as
on December 16, after which Pakistan surrendered defective goods, deficiency in services and unfair
to India. trade practices.
• International Tea Day is observed every year on • India observes the National Mathematics Day
December 15 in countries like Bangladesh, Sri every year on 22 December since 2012. The day is
Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kenya, celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of
Malawi, Malaysia, Uganda, India, and Tanzania. Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. This year
nation celebrates his 134th birth anniversary of
• The International Migrants Day is observed
Ramanujan. The main objective behind the
globally on 18 December every year. The day is
celebration of National Mathematics Day is to make
marked by the United Nations, through the UN- people aware of the development of mathematics
related agency International Organization for and its importance in the growth of humanity.
Migration (IOM). The theme of International • In India, Good Governance Day (Sushasan Divas)
Migrants Day 2021 is Harnessing the potential of is observed annually on 25th December. In this day
human mobility. nation celebrates the birth anniversary of Bharat
• Every year, December 18 is observed as the Ratna and former-Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Minorities Rights Day to uphold the right to Vajpayee. Good Governance Day was established in
freedom and equal opportunities for the ethnic 2014 to honour Prime Minister Vajpayee by
fostering awareness among the Indian people of
minorities in India and create awareness about the
accountability in government.
respect and dignity of the minorities. • The United Nations and World Health Organization
• World Arabic Language Day is observed globally marked December 27 as the International day for
on 18th December every year. The Arabic language Epidemic Preparedness. Battered by the Covid-19
is one of the pillars of the cultural diversity of pandemic, humans have learned about epidemic
mankind. The theme of this year's World Arabic preparedness the hard way. In a bid to prepare for
Language Day is "The Arabic Language and future outbreaks and sensitise people about
Civilizational Communication". epidemics on all levels.

Defence Current Affairs • India has signed a contract with Indo-Russia Rifles
Pvt. Ltd., a Joint Venture between India and Russia
• The Border Security Force (BSF) is celebrating its
for the indigenous production of over 6 Lakh AK-
57th Raising Day on 01 December 2021. BSF was
203 Assault Rifles at Korwa, UP.
formed on December 1, 1965 as a unified central
• Defence Research and Development Organisation
agency after the Indo-Pak and India-China wars for
(DRDO) has successfully test-fired Pinaka
ensuring the security of the borders of India and for
matters connected therewith. Extended Range (Pinaka-ER), Area Denial
• Indian shipbuilder Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Munitions (ADM), and indigenously developed
Engineers (GRSE) has achieved a new milestone fuzes. The test was conducted at Integrated Test
with the launch of the first large survey vessel for Range (ITR), Chandipur off the Odisha coast. A
the Indian Navy. Called Sandhayak, the vessel is total of 25 enhanced Pinaka rockets were reportedly
the first in the series of four ships being built under fired from multi-barrel rocket launchers (MRLs) at
the Survey Vessel Large (SVL) project. It has been several ranges during the test.
built at GRSE. • Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated
• The 11th edition of Exercise EKUVERIN-21 Swarnim Vijay Parv commemorating 50 years of
between India and Maldives, held at Kadhdhoo India’s victory in the 1971 war. He inaugurates
Island, Maldives. Ekuverin means “Friends” in the ‘Wall of Fame -1971 Indo-Pak War’ at the inaugural
Dhivehi language. It is an Indo – Aryan language. It ceremony. Swarnim Vijay Parv is an event
is spoken in India, Lakshadweep and Maldives. The commemorating the valour & professionalism of
exercise enhances synergy and inter-operability the Armed Forces and their contribution to the
between the Armed Forces of both nations in terms liberation of Bangladesh in the Indo-Pak 1971 war,
of understanding transnational terrorism both on at India Gate Lawns in New Delhi on December 12,
land and at sea, conducting Counter-Terrorism and 2021.
Counter-Insurgency Operations and sharing best
• Defence Research and Development Organisation
military practices and experiences.
(DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully
• PANEX-21 is a Humanitarian Assistance and
flight-tested the indigenously designed and
Disaster Relief Exercise. It is to be held for the
developed Helicopter launched (air-launched)
BIMSTEC countries. The exercise is to be held
among the BIMSTEC countries: Bhutan, Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile from the
Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India Pokhran range in Rajasthan. For the first time that
and Thailand. The main aim of the exercise is to this was launched from a Russian origin Mi-35
build regional cooperation in responding to natural helicopter gunship.
disasters. It is to be conducted in Pune from • India has successfully test-fired a long-range
December 20 to December 22. Supersonic Missile Assisted Torpedo (SMART)
• President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has presented off the Balasore coast in Odisha. The weapon
the ‘President’s Standard’ to the 22nd Missile system is being developed by the Defence Research
Vessel Squadron of the Indian Navy, which is also and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the
known as the Killer Squadron at the ceremonial Indian Navy. The system has been designed to
parade held at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, enhance anti-submarine warfare capability far
Maharashtra. To mark this occasion, the postal beyond the conventional range of the torpedo.
department has released a special day cover and a • Army Chief General M.M. Naravane has assumed
commemorative stamp. The year 2021 also marks the charge as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff
the 50 years of inception of the Missile Vessel Committee that comprises the three service chiefs.
Squadron, also known as Killers. The post fell vacant following the death of Chief of
• India successfully test-fired the air version of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat in the Indian Air
BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Force helicopter crash on December 8. General
integrated test range of Chandipur, off the coast of
Naravane has been given the charge, as he is the
Odisha. The air version of the missile was test-fired
senior-most among the three service chiefs.
from supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I.
• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed
BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO (India)
and NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Russia) for the a Rs 2,400 crores contract with Bharat Electronics
development, production, and marketing of the Limited (BEL) for the development and supply of
supersonic cruise missile which has been inducted 20 types of systems for 83 LCA (Light Combat
into the Indian Armed Forces. The missile derives Aircraft) Tejas Mk1A fighter aircraft programme.
its name from the rivers of Brahmaputra in India The duration of the contract is 5 years i.e., from 2023
and Moskva in Russia. to 2028.
• The nuclear-capable ballistic missile ‘Agni Prime’ • The Defence Research and Development
was successfully tested off the coast of Odisha by Organization (DRDO) selected Paras Defence and
the Defence Research and Development Space Technologies for handing over the
Organisation (DRDO). Recently, DRDO has technology of border surveillance systems as
successful test-firing of the air version of the
developed by Instruments Research & Development
BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on December 7
was a “significant milestone” in BrahMos’ Establishment and DRDO. This technology has been
development. transferred by a licensing agreement for the transfer
• On Goa Liberation Day, Indian Navy’s indigenous of technology (ToT) for border surveillance systems
stealth guided-missile destroyer ‘Mormugao’ went entered between the company, Instruments
for her maiden sea trials. This second indigenous Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) and
stealth destroyer of the Project 15 B (P15B) class, is Defence Research and Development Organization
planning to be commissioned in mid-2022.
(DRDO).
Mormugao is being built at Mazagon Dock
• The Indian Army has established the Quantum Lab
Shipbuilders Ltd as part of Project 15B destroyers
and incorporates several indigenous technologies. at the Military College of Telecommunication
• India successfully conducted the maiden flight test Engineering (MCTE), in Military Headquarters Of
of the indigenously-developed, surface-to-surface War (Mhow), Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Indian
missile ‘Pralay’ off the Odisha coast. The solid-fuel, Army’s research in the field of Quantum
battlefield missile developed by the Defence Technology will help in leapfrogging into next-
Research Development Organisation is based on generation communication and transforming the
Prithvi Defence Vehicle from the Indian ballistic
current system of cryptography in Indian Armed
missile programme. The missile, launched from the
APJ Abdul Kalam Island. Forces to Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC).
• Indian Air Force (IAF) has deployed the first
squadron of the S-400 air defence missile system in Science and Technology
the western Punjab sector which will take care of
aerial threats from Pakistan and China. The S-400 • Genesys International has launched its pan India
air defence system was contracted for by India from program to make the Digital Twin of the entire
Russia in a deal worth around Rs 35,000 crores and Urban India. The launch programme was
five squadrons would be provided to India for inaugurated by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.
tackling air threats from up to 400 km. The creation of this very accurate 3D data will mean
• Indian Army has launched a contemporary
a host of applications would open up in high-
messaging application named ‘ASIGMA’ (Army
Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application). It is definition mapping, which was hitherto not
a new generation web-based application developed possible, for smart cars, e-commerce, logistics,
entirely in-house by a team of officers of the Corps gaming, utilities planning for next-generation
of Signals of the Army. It works as an alternative to networks in telecom, renewable energy and in
Army Wide Area Network (AWAN) messaging disaster management and emergency response.
application which has been in service for the past 15 • Nasa-turned-SpaceX flight surgeon, Anil Menon is
years.
among the 10 latest trainee astronauts who will join
• INS Khukri (Pennant number 49), the first
the 2021 class of the American space agency as it
indigenously built Missile Corvette, was
decommissioned after 32 years of service at plans for the first human missions to the moon in
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The warship was more than 50 years.
built by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MSD) and • Microsoft has launched a cybersecurity skilling
commissioned on 23rd August 1989 and had been program with the goal of training over 1 lakh
part of both the Western and Eastern Fleets. learners by 2022 to address the skills gap and
• Defence Research and Development Organisation prepare India’s workforce for a career in
(DRDO) has successfully conducted a flight test of
cybersecurity. The program is meant to give
Indigenously developed High-speed Expendable
Aerial Target (HEAT) ‘Abhyas’ from Integrated students hands-on experience with security,
Test Range at Chandipur off Odisha coast. compliance, and identity fundamentals.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation has • Japan has launched Inmarsat-6 F1, a
signed an agreement with Chinese smart devices communication satellite, through a Mitsubishi
maker Oppo’s Indian arm to strengthen the Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIA204 rocket from
research and development of the NavIC messaging Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center that will enter
service. The messaging service is mainly used for geostationary orbit, about 22,240 miles (35,790
broadcasting safety-of-life alerts in areas with poor kilometres) above the earth. It is developed by the
or no communication, particularly in the oceans. London-based company Inmarsat as a part of its
Oppo India has its manufacturing unit in Noida next-generation satellite broadband service. The
satellite is 12,060-pound (5,470 kilograms) and is the
and an R&D centre in Hyderabad.
first of two ‘I-6’ spacecraft.
• NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has entered the Sun’s
• Under the National Blockchain Project, Prime
upper atmosphere for, first time in history. In 2018,
Minister Narendra Modi has launched blockchain-
launched the Parker Solar Probe aims to unravel the based digital degrees at the 54th Convocation
mysteries of the Sun by travelling closer to it. After Ceremony of IIT Kanpur. Later Prime Minister also
three years of launching, Parker has finally arrived inaugurated the completed section of the Kanpur
in the solar atmosphere. Parker Solar Probe has Metro Rail Project and the Bina-Panki Multiproduct
flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere for the Pipeline Project. These digital degrees can be
first time in history – the corona. The probe verified globally and are unforgeable.
sampled particles and magnetic fields there. • The Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) and Baylor
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) College of Medicine (BCM) announced that
has signed six agreements with four countries for Corbevax, a protein subunit Covid vaccine, has
launching foreign satellites during 2021-2023. received approval from the Drugs Controller
About 132 million Euros would be earned through General of India (DCGI) to launch it in India. The
the launching of these foreign satellites on a initial construct and production process of the
commercial basis. The ISRO-Indian space agency, vaccine antigen was developed at TCH's Centre for
founded in 1969 to develop an independent Indian Vaccine Development.
space program.
• Scientists have resumed tagging of Olive Ridley Books & Authors
sea turtles at Rushikulya rookery along the Odisha • Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu on the
coast, which would help them identify the 72nd anniversary of the adoption of the
migration path and places visited by the marine ‘Constitution of India’ released a book titled
reptiles after congregation and nesting. The exercise “Democracy, Politics and Governance” in English
was undertaken in Odisha in January 2021 after a and ‘Loktantr, Rajniti and Dharm’ in Hindi at an
span of about 25 years and 1,556 turtles had been event in the Central Hall of Parliament, New Delhi.
tagged. The book was authored by Dr A. Surya Prakash.
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati • Former Vice Chairman/Founder/Promoter,
researchers have developed hybrid pervksite solar Ambuja Cements Ltd, Narotam Sekhsaria has
or photovoltaic devices in order to produce authored his autobiography titled ‘The Ambuja
Story: How a Group of Ordinary Men Created an
electricity from sunlight. These machines are highly
Extraordinary Company’ which is set to be released
efficient and easy to manufacture. According to
in December 2021. The book features the story of his
officials, hybrid pervksite are easily recyclable too.
rise from a small-time cotton trader to setting up
• NASA’s $10 billion telescopes James Webb Space
one of the largest cement companies in the country,
Telescope designed to capture the first glimpse of Ambuja cement, one of India’s finest companies.
the universe just shortly after the Big Bang is • A new book that unearths true stories of the 1971
targeted for blastoff from the European Space Indo-Pak war, ’1971: Charge of the Gorkhas and
Agency's Kourou, French Guiana. The Other Stories, written by Rachna Bisht Rawat, was
revolutionary world’s first-of-its-kind space-science released. The book includes, from the story of the
observatory of the next decade will capture the flight lieutenant who went missing after his plane
earliest galaxies believed to have formed during the crashed inside Pakistan to the ‘last khukri attack’ in
early universe’s formation. modern military history.
• The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu • Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has
launched ‘Public Service Ethics- A Quest for released the Telugu book titled ‘Gandhi Topi
Naitik Bharat’ authored by Prabhat Kumar, Governor’ by Padma Awardee Dr Yarlagadda
published by IC Centre for Governance, at Upa- Lakshmi Prasad, Chairman, Official Language
Rashtrapati Nivas, New Delhi. Commission, Andhra Pradesh. The book chronicles
the life of Barrister Idpuganti Raghavendra Rao. I R
• Vice President (VP) M. Venkaiah Naidu launched a
Rao was a prominent freedom fighter, Legislator
book titled ‘The Midway Battle: Modi’s Roller-
and the Governor of the Central Provinces in the
coaster Second Term’ authored by Gautam
British Administration.
Chintamani and published by Bloomsbury India at • The book titled “The Monk Who Transformed
Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas, New Delhi. The book Uttar Pradesh: How Yogi Aditynath Changed UP
mentioned the political scenario of India. It marks Waala Bhaiya’ abuse to a Badge of Honour”,
the second tenure of the current Prime Minister authored by Shantanu Gupta. A new book
Narendra Modi. chronicles how Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi
• An autobiography titled ‘At Home In The Adityanath transformed the state in various aspects
Universe’ by Bala Krishna Madhur was released like law and order, connectivity, education, health
by R.C. Sinha, IAS (Rtd), advisor to the Ministry of infrastructure, and overall growth.
Road Development in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The • A book titled “India’s Ancient Legacy of Wellness”
book is the autobiography of B K Madhur, a former authored by Dr Rekha Chaudhari was launched in
the presence of the Governor of Maharashtra,
Chief Executive Officer at DHFL Property Services
Bhagat Singh Koshyari. It was launched on the
Ltd, and one of the key personalities in establishing
occasion of the World Digital Day (WDD)
Dewan Housing. celebration. The book highlights how important it is
• Mriduala Ramesh, the founder of Sundaram for human beings to be close to nature which helps
Climate Institute, which works on water and waste to revive and recharge to do productive work.
solutions and the angel investor in cleantech start- • Tusshar Kapoor has written his first book titled
ups, has authored a new book titled “Watershed: ‘Bachelor Dad’. The actor became a single father to
How We Destroyed India’s Water And How We son Laksshya Kapoor via surrogacy in 2016. He has
Can Save It”. shared his journey of being a single father in the
• Former union minister and Lok Sabha Member of new book. The actor has shared his journey of the
Parliament Dr. Shashi Tharoor‘s 23rd book titled ‘slightly unconventional road to fatherhood’ in his
‘Pride, Prejudice and Punditry’ was launched in debut book, Bachelor Dad. On the cover of the
Hyderabad, Telangana. There are ten sections in book, he can be seen carrying his son.
• Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has
this book, each devoted to a particular topic such as
released the book titled “The Turnover Wizard –
modern Indian history, Indian Politics, etc. He has
Saviour Of Thousands”, an autobiography of Arup
won ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ for 2019, awarded
Roy Choudhury, the former Chairman and
to his book – ‘An Era of Darkness. Managing Director of NTPC Limited and NBCC
• Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu has (India) Limited.
released the book titled ‘Raj Kapoor: The Master At • A new book by former Indian Army Chief of Staff
Work’ authored by Rahul Rawail. The book launch Gen. Nirmal Chander Vij (ret) claims to offer a
event was held at India Habitat Centre in New “full picture” of the conflicts in Jammu and
Delhi, coinciding with Raj Kapoor’s 97th birth Kashmir and the way forward. The book published
anniversary. The vice president described the book by HarperCollins India, the book of General Vij,
as a “labour of love and dedication”. The riddle of "Kashmir: the quest for peace in a
• The book titled ‘Rewinding of First 25 years of troubled land".
• Sanju Verma, an economist and the BJP National
Ministry of Electronics and Information
Spokesperson, has authored a new book titled “The
Technology’ authored by S S Oberoi, the former
Modi Gambit: Decoding Modi 2.0”. The book
adviser at the Ministry of Electronics and
features the various achievement in the last 2 years
Information Technology (MeitY) was launched by of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2nd term as PM
Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary of MeitY. of India.
• Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has • India observes December 6 as Mahaparinirvan
launched the book titled ‘Dr V L Dutt: Glimpses of Divas every year to mark the death anniversary of
a Pioneer’s Life Journey’ authored by Dr V L Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who fought for the
Indira Dutt, Chairperson and Managing Director of economic and social empowerment of Dalits in the
KCP Group, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The book is country. He was popularly known as Babasaheb
based on the life of Late Velagapudi Lakshmana Ambedkar passed away on December 6, 1956. The
Dutt (V.L. Dutt), the former Chairman of KCP Union government has decided to celebrate
Group. Mahaparinirvan Divas as part of the major
commemoration of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Miscellaneous Current Affairs • Ken-Betwa inter-linking of rivers project has been
approved by the Union Cabinet, which is chaired by
• The Indian Railways is constructing the tallest pier Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. At 2020-21
railway bridge of the world in Manipur. The price levels, the overall cost of the Ken-Betwa link
ambitious project of the Railways in Manipur is part project has been estimated at Rs. 44,605 crore. The
of the Jiribam-Imphal railway line, which ultimately Union Cabinet has approved central support for the
is part of a new broad gauge line being constructed project in the amount of Rs. 39,317 crore, which
to connect the northeastern state with the rest of the includes a grant of Rs. 36,290 crore and a loan of Rs.
country. Currently, the tallest pier bridge record is 3,027 crore.
held by 139-metre high Mala-Rijeka viaduct built • National Commission for Women (NCW) has
at Montenegro in Europe. launched a pan-India capacity building programme,
• The American publishing company Merriam- ‘She is a Changemaker’ for women representatives
Webster has chosen the word “vaccine” as its 2021 at all levels, gram panchayats to parliament
Word of the Year. Merriam-Webster is America’s members and political workers including office
most trusted online dictionary for English word bearers of National/State political parties. The
definitions, meanings, and pronunciation. It has programme was launched by Ms Rekha Sharma,
been declaring the word of the year since 2008. Chairperson of the National Commission for
• Kulgam district administration and the Department Women. To improve leadership skills of grassroots
of Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir organized the 1st women political leaders.
• The Geographical Indications Registry (GIR)
ever Aharbal Festival at Kulgam, J & K to promote
under the Central Ministry of Commerce has
tourism in Kashmir, particularly at the Aharbal
accepted the petition to rename Bihar Makhana as
waterfall. Aharbal falls, also known as “Niagara
Mithila Makhana and has also suggested further
Falls” of Kashmir, is a hill station in the
changes to the brand logo to better reflect its
southwestern part of Kashmir Valley in the Jammu
origins. It also suggested amendments in the brand
and Kashmir.
logo to highlight its origins and protect the
• The low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal is
product’s Geographical Indications (GI) rights.
expected to intensify into Cyclone Jawad which is
• Police Commissioner of Delhi, Rakesh Asthana has
likely to reach the north Andhra Pradesh, south
launched an e-learning platform ‘Unnati’, under the
Odisha coasts and Some parts of West Bengal. The Delhi Police’s flagship scheme ‘YUVA’ at the All
storm, once developed, will be called Jawad India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
(pronounced Jowad), as named by Saudi Arabia. Auditorium, New Delhi. Every year, over 1.5 lakh
After Yaas in May and Gulab in September, this people are arrested by the Delhi Police for various
will be the third cyclone headed towards the east crimes. More than 85 per cent of them are first-
coast this year. timers and only 10-15 per cent are repeat offenders.
• Perseverance, a word that captures the undaunted • US-based world’s leading fashion brand, Patagonia,
will of people across the world to never give up, is now using handcrafted Khadi Denim fabric for
despite the many challenges of the last 12 months, is making Denim apparels. Patagonia, through textile
Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2021. major Arvind Mills, has purchased nearly 30,000
Perseverance has been looked up more than 243,000 meters of Khadi Denim Fabric worth Rs 1.08 crore
times on the website in 2021, the first time it has from Gujarat. The purchase of Khadi Denim by
made a noticeable appearance. NASA’s Patagonia has created additional 1.80 lakh man-
Perseverance Rover made its final descent to Mars hours, i.e. 27,720 man-days of work for Khadi
on 18 February. artisans.
• UNESCO has added Durga Puja in Kolkata to its Obituaries
2021 list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, giving
international recognition to the biggest religious • Veteran composer and lyricist, Stephen Joshua
festival of the 331-year-old city and the state of Sondheim has passed away at the age of 91 in
West Bengal. The UNESCO’s announcement was Connecticut, United States (US). He received 8 Tony
welcomed by Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress Awards, a Special Tony Award 2008 for lifetime
(TMC) as chief minister Mamata Banerjee is widely achievement in the theatre. He also received a
recognized as the biggest patron of the festival. Pulitzer Prize (‘Sunday in the Park’), and an
• Union Cabinet approved a Rs 76,000-crore Academy Award for the song ‘Sooner or Later’.
production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for Also won several awards like eight Grammy
boosting semiconductor and display manufacturing Awards, Presidential Medal of Freedom 2015, etc.
in India. With this, the total amount of production • The renowned National Award-winning
linked incentive (PLI) announced for the electronics choreographer and actor, Shiva Shankar Master
sector increase to Rs 2.30 lakh crore. passed away in Hyderabad, Telangana. He was
• Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice NV Ramana, and born on 7 December 1948 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao He was an Indian dance choreographer, worked in
has inaugurated India’s First International South Indian movies. He received the National
Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC) at Award for ‘Best Choreographer’ for the movie
Phoenix VK Tower at Nanakramguda, Hyderabad, ‘Magadheera’.
Telangana. Those who empanel the centre include • The renowned Telugu film lyricist and Padma Shri
internationally acclaimed arbitrators and mediators awardee, ‘Sirivennela’ Chembolu Seetharama
from countries such as Singapore and the UK. Sastry passed away at the age of 66 years. He was
• President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the born on May 20th, 1955 in Anakapalle village in
reconstructed Ramna Kali temple in Ramna, a part Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. He
of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka where the launched his first song in the film, ‘Janani
landmark Suhrawardy Udyan is located. The Janmabhoomi’ directed by K Viswanath.
temple was destroyed by Pakistani forces during • Renowned scholar and national professor of
their Operation Searchlight in March 1971, the Bangladesh Professor, Rafiqul Islam passed away.
brutal crackdown that led to the genocide & the Prof. Rafiqul Islam was one of the greatest scholars
Bangladesh War of Liberation. on the national poet of Bangladesh Kazi Nazrul
• Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar has Islam.
inaugurated the MedTech Centre of • Former Governor of Tamil Nadu and former Chief
Entrepreneurship established at Sanjay Gandhi Minister of the unified State of Andhra Pradesh,
Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences Konijeti Rosaiah (89-years) passed away. He had
(SGPGI) in Lucknow. The center will boost cross- served as MLA, MLC, Lok Sabha members. He held
disciplinary application development like medical several key portfolios including finance, transport,
plus technology in the state. Dr Saurabh Srivastava, energy in the cabinets headed by Kotla
former chairman of NASSCOM, the chief mentor of Vijayabhaskhara Reddy, Channa Reddy, and YS
MedTech CoE.. Rajasekhara Reddy.
• Zee Entertainment's board of directors approved
the merger between Sony Pictures Networks India
and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited
(ZEEL), according to a regulatory filing by the
media company to the stock. Sony Pictures
Networks India (SPNI) will hold a majority stake of
50.86 percent stake in the merged entity.
• Russia has launched its first in the series Project
22220 versatile nuclear-powered icebreaker known
as ‘Sibir’. This icebreaker will support the growing
fleet of icebreakers to keep the Northern Sea Route
open for year-round shipping through the Arctic
and enable a wider presence of India in the arctic
region.

• Veteran journalist Vinod Dua passed away • Group Captain Varun Singh, who was rescued
recently. He was one of the pioneers in Hindi after the helicopter crash that killed Chief of
broadcast journalism, worked with Doordarshan to Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others,
present the youth programme Yuva Manch in the has passed away. He was being treated for severe
mid-’70s and later with several other television burns at a Bengaluru military hospital after he was
news channels. He was an integral part of NDTV’s moved from Wellington in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor.
journey as well. His much-loved food show ‘Zaika His condition in the last few days continued to be
India Ka’ saw him crisscrossing the whole country “critical but stable”.
just for the best taste. • A veteran leader of the Indian National Congress
• Padma Bhushan Dr Mamballaikalathil Sarada (INC) and the former Union Minister of Textiles, RL
Menon, India’s 1st woman Psychiatrist and the Jalappa has passed away. RL Jalappa was founder
longest-serving head of the Institute of Mental and Chairman of Devaraj Urs Medical College in
Health has passed away. She was born in a Malayali Kolar and RL Jalappa Institute of Technology,
family in Mangaluru, Karnataka. She was honoured Doddaballapur. In 1979 he quit Congress to form
with Padma Bhushan in 1992 for social works. the Karnataka Kranti Ranga with former Chief
• World’s oldest Test Cricketer, former English Minister D Devaraj Urs and he again joined
legend, Eileen Ash passed away at the age of 110. congress in 1998.
The right-arm seamer made her debut to the • Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Girish
national side in 1937 against Australia and in a Thakorlal Nanavati who headed two inquiry
career spanning till 1949, she took 10 wickets in the commissions formed to probe into the 2002 Godhra
seven matches she played. Riots & 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, passed away. Justice
Girish Thakorlal Nanavati was 86. He was elevated
• Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat
as the Judge of the Supreme Court of India with
has passed away in a helicopter crash near Coonoor
effect in March 1995 and he retired as an SC Judge
in Tamil Nadu. He was among the 14 people who
in February 2000.
were on board, including his wife and staff
• Pritzker Prize-Winning British-Italian Architect,
members. Thirteen people have succumbed to the
Richard Rogers has passed away at his residence in
crash, including CDS Rawat, Madhulika Rawat and
London, United Kingdom. He received the Pritzker
11 others. An IAF Mi 17 V5 helicopter with a crew
Prize, known as the Nobel Prize of Architecture, in
of 4 members carrying the CDS and 9 other
2007.
passengers met with a tragic accident. Wing
• Legendary Malayalam filmmaker KS
Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan was the pilot
Sethumadhavan has passed away at the age of 90
of the Mi-17V5. years. He directed over 60 movies in five languages
• Padma Shri awardee who is a well-known teacher including Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi during his
from Odisha, Nanda Kishore Prusty (Nanda Sir), career.
passed away. On 9th November 2021, he was • Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize
conferred with the Padma Shri award for his laureate and veteran of South Africa`s struggle
contributions in the field of education. against white minority rule, has died aged 90. He
• Serum Institute of India’s Executive Director Dr was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his
Suresh Jadhav has passed away. He played an non-violent opposition to apartheid.
important role in the development of the • Former England captain, Ray Illingworth has
Covishield vaccine. passed away. He played 61 Tests for England
• American gothic-fiction writer Anne Rice, best between 1958 and 1973 and captained the country
known for The Vampire Chronicles novel series, 31 times, winning 12 matches and an Ashes series in
passed away. Anne Rice’s debut novel, published in Australia in 1970.
1976, Interview with the Vampire revolves around a • Mark Taylor, artist and toy designer for the He-
vampire named Louis de Pointe du Lac, who Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise as
narrates the story of his life to a reporter. Her other well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, passed
works: Pandora, Violin, Christ the Lord: Out of away. Taylor began his career with Mattel in 1976
Egypt, The Witching Hour etc. as a packaging designer.

• Veteran Greek politician Karolos Papoulias, who • State Bank of India Founded: 1 July 1955;
served as president at the height of the economic • State Bank of India Headquarters: Mumbai;
crisis of the 2010s, died. Papoulias, a longtime • Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Founded: 2001;
socialist lawmaker and minister, was close to • Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Headquarters:
Andreas Papandreou, the founder of the Socialist Pune, Maharashtra;
PASOK party. He served two terms between 2005 • HSBC India Founded: 1853;
and 2015. • HSBC India Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra;
• E.O. Wilson, the former Harvard University • India1 Payments Limited Founded: 2006;
biologist and Pulitzer Prize winner whose study of • India1 Payments Limited Headquarters location:
ants and human behaviour made him one of the Bengaluru.
world’s most influential scientists and prompted his • Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
calls for action to protect millions of species on the Headquarters: New Delhi, India;
planet, has passed away. He was 92. To protect • Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
Earth earned him the nickname “Darwin’s natural Formed: 26 January 1944.
heir”. • Twitter formed: 21 March 2006.
• Seven-time Rajya Sabha MP from the Janata Dal • Headquarters of Twitter: San Francisco, California,
(United) & industrialist, Mahendra Prasad passed United States.
away. He was a seven-term Rajya Sabha MP from • India Tourism Development Corporation Founded:
Bihar and was also elected to the Lok Sabha once. 1 October 1966;
He was first elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress • India Tourism Development Corporation
ticket in 1980. Headquarters: New Delhi.
• NITI Aayog Formed: 1 January 2015;
Static Takeaways • NITI Aayog Headquarters: New Delhi;
• All India Radio Founded: 1936; • NITI Aayog CEO: Amitabh Kant.
• All India Radio Headquarters: Sansad Marg, New • Economist Intelligence Unit Established: 1946;
Delhi; • Economist Intelligence Unit Headquarters: London,
• International Telecommunication Union United Kingdom;
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland; • BSF Headquarters: New Delhi.
• International Telecommunication Union Founded: • United Nations Headquarters: New York, United
17 May 1865; States;
• WHO Established: 7 April 1948; • United Nations Founded: 24 October 1945.
• WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland. • Skyroot Aerospace Founded: 12 June 2018;
• Czech Capital: Prague; Currency: Czech koruna. • Skyroot Aerospace Headquarters: Hyderabad,
• South Korea Capital: Seoul; Telangana;
• South Korea Currency: South Korean won; • Skyroot Aerospace Co-founder, COO: Naga
• South Korea President: Moon Jae-in. Bharath Daka.
• INTERPOL Formed: 1923; • Indian Navy Founded: 26 January 1950.
• INTERPOL Headquarters: Lyon, France; • IFFCO Founded: 1967;
• INTERPOL Member states: 195; • IFFCO Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi;
• INTERPOL Motto: connecting police for a safer • OECD Headquarters: Paris, France;
world. • OECD Founded: 30 September 1961.
• Barbados Capital: Bridgetown; • India INX Founded: 2017;
• Barbados Currency: Barbados Dollar. • India INX Headquarters: Gandhinagar, Gujarat;
• Sweden Capital: Stockholm; • Federal Bank Founded: 23 April 1931;
• Sweden Currency: Swedish krona. • Federal Bank Headquarters: Aluva, Kerala;
• International Monetary Fund Formed: 27 December • Federal Bank Tagline: Your Perfect Banking Partner.
1945; • Reliance Capital Ltd Headquarters: Santacruz,
• International Monetary Fund Headquarters: Mumbai;
Washington D.C., USA; • Reliance Capital Ltd Founded: 5 March 1986.
• International Monetary Fund Member countries: • International Institute for Democracy and Electoral
190; Assistance Founded: 27 February 1995;

The Most Important Current Affairs December 2021: India's Harnaaz Sandhu Crowned 70th Miss Universe 2021

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The Monthly Hindu Review|Current Affairs | December 2021

The Most Important Current Affairs December 2021

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