Daily Current Affairs

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Japan: PM Fumio Kishida pledges app_20201213
to strengthen military

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said his country urgently needs to strengthen its naval and
military capabilities, warning that nations must prepare to face aggressors. Mr. Kishida condemned
the worsening security environment in the East and South China seas, threats from North Korea’s
nuclear and missile advancement, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Mr. Kishida said Japan will further
strengthen the deterrence and response capability of the Japan-US alliance.

UN Climate Change summit kicks off in Egypt to discuss climate compensation

In a big positive, the UN Climate Change summit kicked off in Egypt with an agreement to discuss
compensating poor nations for mounting damage linked to global warming, placing the controversial
topic on the agenda for the first time since climate talks began decades ago. Negotiators agreed to
discuss the creation of an international mechanism for compensating poor countries that suffer large-
scale damage due to climate disasters.
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Last eight years had been hotter app_20201213
than any year prior to 2015, says WMO report

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report that each of the last eight years had been
hotter than any year prior to 2015, as the COP27 UN Climate Summit opened in Sharm el-Sheikh,
Egypt. Describing the report as a chronicle of climate chaos, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said that
as COP27 gets underway, our planet is sending a distress signal. The report said that Earth has warmed
more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, with about half of that increase occurring
in the past 30 years. According to the WMO report, since the decade began, seas are rising at
5 millimeters a year compared to 2.1 millimeters in the 1990s. According to WMO Secretary-General
Petteri Taalas, the 1.5-degree warming target of the Paris climate agreement is unlikely to be reached
given the current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Supreme Court upholds 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in public
education and employment

A majority of a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India has upheld the validity of the 103rd
Amendment of the Constitution which provides 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections
(EWS) in admissions and government jobs. Three judges (Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela Trivedi,
and JB Pardiwala) upheld the Act and two judges dissented. The petitioners had questioned several
aspects of the EWS quota, including how it could cross the 50 percent national cap on reservation set
by the Supreme Court in 1992 and whether it changed the "basic structure" of the constitution.

The 103rd constitutional amendment was cleared by parliament in January 2019 and was instantly
challenged in the Supreme Court.
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President Droupadi Murmu presents National Florence Nightingale Awards 2021 to nursing
professionals

President Droupadi Murmu presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards for the year 2021 to
the nursing professionals at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The awards are given to recognize the meritorious
services rendered by nurses and nursing professionals to the society. It was instituted in 1973 by the
Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry. This year, the awards have been given to 51 health
professionals from across the states for their contributions.

Ex-CJ Awasthi is Law Commission chief

The Centre constituted the Law Commission of India with Justice (retd) Rituraj Awasthi, former Chief
Justice of Karnataka High Court, at its head. Justice Awasthi took over as CJ of the Karnataka High
Court in October 2021 and retired in July this year. He headed the Bench that in March this year upheld
the state government’s restriction on women and girls wearing the hijab in educational institutions.

The Law Ministry describes the Law Commission of India as a non-statutory body that is constituted
by a notification of the Government of India, with definite terms of reference to carry out research in
the field of law. The Commission makes recommendations to the Government (in the form of Reports)
as per its terms of reference. The Law Commission was first constituted in 1955 and has so far
submitted 277 reports.
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ISRO to move operational workfor
to NSIL:app_20201213
Chairman

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would move its operational activities to its marketing
arm NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL) and focus on research and development in the area of advanced space
technologies in the coming years, its Chairman S. Somanath said at Raman Research Institute. The
connection between the ISRO and scientific organisations in the country need to be scaled up to create
greater research and development activities in space technology,Mr. Somanath said.

Finance Ministry releases revenue deficit grant of over 7000 Crore Rupees to 14 states

Ministry of Finance has released the 8th monthly instalment of Post Devolution Revenue Deficit
(PDRD) Grant of over 7 thousand 183 crore rupees to 14 States. They include Andhra Pradesh, Assam,
Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal. Of the total
amount, around one thousand 98 crore rupees has been released to Kerala, 879 crore rupees to
Andhra Pradesh, and 689 crore rupees to Punjab.

The grant has been released as per the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission to
meet the gap in Revenue Accounts of the States post-devolution.
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Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying parody will be suspended:
Elon Musk

Twitter will permanently suspend any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly
specifying parody. This was stated by Elon Musk in a series of tweets, just days after he took over one
of the world's most influential social media platforms. He also said any name change at all will cause
a temporary loss of verified checkmarks and there will be no warning before a suspension. This will be
clearly identified as a condition for signing up for Twitter Blue. He further added that widespread
verification will democratize journalism and empower the voice of the people.

Reliance Industries India's best employer, in top 20 worldwide: Forbes

Reliance Industries, the country's largest company by revenues, profits and market value, is India's
best employer and the world's 20th best firm to work with, according to Forbes' World's Best
Employers rankings 2022. The global ranking was topped by South Korean giant Samsung Electronics,
followed by US giants Microsoft, IBM, Alphabet and Apple.

There is no Indian company other than Reliance in the top 100. HDFC Bank is ranked 137th. Bajaj
(173rd), Aditya Birla Group (240th), Hero Motocorp (333rd), Larsen & Toubro (354th), ICICI Bank
(365th), HCL Technologies (455th), State Bank of India (499th), Adani Enterprises (547th) and Infosys
(668th) are the other companies on the list.
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Netherlands has emerged as the app_20201213
top destination for India’s petroleum product exports

The Netherlands has emerged as the top destination for India’s petroleum product exports such as
petrol and diesel in the first half of the current fiscal year. This bump in exports has also resulted in
the Netherlands becoming the third biggest market for India’s overall exports, thereby replacing
China. This change comes in the wake of the Ukraine war, with India continuing to buy discounted
crude oil from sanctions-hit Russia. India is a key Asian refining hub, with an installed capacity of nearly
250 million tonnes per annum across 23 refineries.

The Netherlands accounted for nearly 9% of India’s total petroleum product exports in the April to
September period at ₹4.5 trillion, a growth of 180% over the corresponding period last year.

India’s fuel demand rose 3.4% y-o-y in October: data

India’s fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, rose 3.4% year-on-year in October to 18.37 million
tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Oil Ministry showed. Sales
of gasoline, or petrol, were 8.8% at 2.99 million tonnes. Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
sales decreased 3.3% to 2.40 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell 24% to 0.96 million tonnes. Sales
of bitumen, used for making roads, were 11.5% lower, while fuel oil use edged up 0.9% in October.
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China’s trade dips as COVID curbs, app_20201213
global slowdown hit

China's trade picture darkened in October with both exports and imports contracting for the first time
in more than two years as the global economic slowdown and strict COVID curbs took a toll. Outbound
shipments unexpectedly shrunk by 0.3%, well off a 5.7% expansion in September, while imports
declined by 0.7%, reversing a 0.3% rise a month earlier. Last week, China's economic growth beat
expectations with a 3.9% expansion for the third quarter after narrowly avoiding a contraction for the
previous three months.

Life insurers post 15% rise in new premium at Rs. 24,916 cr.

New business premium income of life insurance companies rose by 15.3% to Rs. 24,916.58 crore in
October 2022, Life Insurance Council data showed. All the 24 life insurers had a collective new business
premium income of Rs. 21,606.25 crore in the same month a year earlier. LIC recorded an 18% rise in
new business premium at Rs. 15,920.13 crore during the month, as against Rs. 13,500.78 crore a year
earlier. The remaining 23 private sector players saw combined new business premium increasing 11%
to Rs. 8,996.45 crore from Rs. 8,105.46 crore in October 2021.
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India win gold, bronze in Para Shooting World Championship

In the Para Shooting World Championship, India won two medals including a gold on the second day
at Al Ain, UAE. India's Rahul Jakhar, Singhraj and Nihal Singh claimed the gold in P3 team event 25-
meter pistol mixed SH1. In the individual event, Rahul Jakhar bagged a bronze medal, finishing behind
Kim Jungnam of South Korea and Olseken Denysiuk of Ukraine.

WTA Final championship: Aryna Sabalenka stuns world number one Iga Swiatek to reach finals

Aryna Sabalenka stunned world number one Iga Swiatek 6-2 2-6 6-1 to set up a WTA Final
championship showdown with Caroline Garcia after the Frenchwoman cruised past Maria Sakkari in
Fort Worth of Texas in the US.
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Kohli and Nida win ICC ‘player of app_20201213
the month’ award for October

Virat Kohli was named ICC men’s ‘player of the month’ for October following a series of stellar
performances in the T20 World Cup in Australia. Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Nida Dar won the
honour in the women’s category, thanks to her sensational form in the Asia Cup.