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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
Good Governance Day 2020: Observed on December 25
- Good governance is celebrated annually on 25 December, the anniversary of the birth of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
- Good governance Day was founded in 2014 to honour Mr Vajpayee by raising awareness among the citizens of government accountability.
About Atal Bihari Vajpayee:
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an Indian statesman who served three terms as the Prime Minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, followed by a full term from 1999 to 2004.
- He was also noted as a poet and a writer.
- The administration of Narendra Modi declared in 2014 that Vajpayee’s birthday, 25 December, would be marked as Good Governance Day.
- In 2015, he was conferred India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by the President of India.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS
India’s largest hockey stadium to be set up at Rourkela, will host 2023 World Cup Games
- Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that India’s biggest hockey stadium will come up at Rourkela and the 20,000-capacity facility will host matches of FIH men’s World Cup in 2023.
- Spread over 15 acres of land, the stadium will be constructed in the Biju Patnaik University of Technology campus in Rourkela.
- The tournament will be organised both in the capital city Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in Sundargarh district.
- Once operational, the Rourkela city stadium would be the biggest hockey stadium in India.
About International Federation of Hockey (FIH):
- President : Narinder Batra
- Headquarters : Lausanne, Switzerland
- CEO : Thierry Weil
- Founder : Paul Leautey
- Founded: 7 Jan 1924.
About Odisha:
- Capital : Bhubaneswar
- Governor : Ganeshi Lal
- Chief Minister : Naveen Patnaik
US financial body to invest USD 54 mn in India to support critical infrastructure projects
- The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has announced to invest USD 54 million in India to support the development of critical infrastructure projects in the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The DFC will invest USD 54 million in equity for the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in India to support the development of critical infrastructure projects.
About NIIF:
- National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is India’s first infrastructure specific investment fund or a sovereign wealth fund that was set up by the Government of India in February 2015. The objective behind creating this fund was to maximize economic impact mainly through infrastructure investment in commercially viable projects, both Greenfield and Brownfield.
- Headquarters : Mumbai
- Founded : February 2015
- NIIF will work to mobilise capital to support economic growth and address critical development challenges in the country.
About US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) :
- Chief Executive Officer : Adam S. Boehler
- Headquarters : Washington D.C
- Founded : 20 December 2019
- DFC is the development finance institution of the United States federal government, primarily responsible for providing and facilitating the financing of private development projects in lower- and middle-income countries.
India successfully test-fires medium range surface-to air missile off Odisha coast
- India successfully test-fired a medium range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) from Odisha coast on December 23, 2020.
- An unmanned air vehicle (UAV), ‘Banshee’, was first flown into the air, which was hit by the MRSAM.
- The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has jointly developed the missile in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries.
- The MRSAM has been manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Ltd.
- The missile will significantly enhance the combat effectiveness of the defence forces.
About MRSAM:
- The Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) was developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
- The missile is designed to provide the armed forces with air defence capability against a variety of aerial threats at medium ranges.
About DRDO:
- Founded : 1958
- Headquarters : New Delhi
Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar launches DGNCC Digital Forum in New Delhi
- The Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar launched the DGNCC Digital Forum in New Delhi On December 24, 2020.
- This Digital Forum hosted on the DGNCC website, will provide a platform to National Cadet Corps cadets all over the country to share their experiences of various NCC activities.
- This forum will help NCC cadets to share their opinions and suggestions on NCC training, Social Service and Community Development and a host of other issues related to National Security, National Integration and National Building.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS
Himachal Pradesh government to frame integrated Drug Prevention Policy
- The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to frame an integrated Drug Prevention Policy including Drug Prevention, Treatment, Management and Rehabilitation Programme.
- This integrated Drug Prevention Policy mainly for better coordination between the Police, Media and the Nasha Nivaran Board is vital for curbing the menace of drug abuse in the State.
- The state government has decided to introduce a chapter on ill-effects of drug abuse in the syllabus of government schools to sensitize the students.
- And also the State Government has decided to open six drug de-addiction centers in the State
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SUMMITS & CONFERENCE
Global Indian Scientists & Technocrats (GIST) meet begins at IISF2020
- Union Minister for S&T, ES and MoHFW, Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the Global Indian Scientists & Technocrats (GIST) meet which is being organized as a part of the Indian International Science Festival (IISF) 2020.
- That Meet would enable developing long term linkages for creating and effectively applying S&T tools for sustainable development particularly in the rural sector.
- GIST Meet has participants from several countries including USA, UK, Qatar, Angola, Anguilla, Australia, Switzerland and India.
- Deliberations and presentations in the area of Agriculture, Water, AI applications, Healthcare, Education and Skilling for better employability etc…
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING
RBI cancels licence of Subhadra Local Area Bank, In Maharashtra
- On December 24 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled the banking licence issued to Subhadra Local Area Bank Ltd, Kolhapur, citing problems in the way the bank was run.
- The licence has been cancelled under Section 22 (4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and the order is made effective from close of business on December 24, 2020.
- The Reserve Bank cancelled the licence of the Subhadra Local Area Bank due to the bank having breached the minimum net worth requirement for two quarters in the financial year 2019-20.
- The cancellation is on account of the fact that the affairs of the Subhadra Bank were conducted in a manner detrimental to the interests of its present and future depositors.There are only two Local Area Banks operational in India, i,e.- Coastal Local Area Bank Ltd and Krishna Bhima Samruddhi LAB Ltd.
About RBI:
- Headquarters : Mumbai
- Founder : British Raj
- Governor : Shaktikanta Das
- Current Repo rate : 4%
- Reverse Repo rate : 3.35%
Ind-Ra revises India’s FY21 GDP contraction to 7.8% from 11.8% earlier
- India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised India’s GDP estimate for the current financial year to -7.8 percent from -11.8 percent earlier, primarily due to the easing of COVID-19 curbs and better-than-expected growth numbers in the second quarter.
- Ind-Ra also estimated the GDP to grow by 9.6% in 2021-22 (FY22).
CURRENT AFFAIRS: HONOURS & AWARDS
ATP awards 2020: Djokovic, Federer, Nadal among winners
- Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Frances Tiafoe were among the winners of the ATP’s top awards for 2020.
- Djokovic was the year end No.1 for a record equaling sixth time after winning four titles including a record eighth Australian Open.
Other ATP Winners:
- Player of the Year – Novak Djokovic
- Doubles Team of the Year – Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares
- Coach of the Year – Fernando Vicente (coached Andrey Rublev)
- Tim Gullikson Career Coach Award – Bob Brett (Australia)
- Most Improved Player – Andrey Rublev (Russia)
- Newcomer of the Year – Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
- Comeback Player of the Year – Vasek Pospisil (Canada)
- com Fans’ Favourite – Roger Federer (Switzerland)
- com Fans’ Favourite Team – Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski
- Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
- Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year – Frances Tiafoe (US)
- Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award – Kevin Mitchell (A sportswriter for The Guardian)
NTPC Wins Prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2020
- NTPC Limited, the country’s largest power producer, has been conferred Excellence in the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2020 in corporate social responsibility (CSR).
- The recognition has been received by NTPC Limited’s Director (HR) DK Patel in the august presence of Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur at the 15th CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2020 held through the virtual platform.
- This is the highest award conferred by CII-ITC in the CSR domain.
About NTPC :
- NTPC is the only PSU to receive the award in the corporate excellence category.
- NTPC wins the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Awards in Corporate Excellence category second time in a row i.e. in the years 2019 and 2020.
- Chairman of NTPC : Gurdeep Singh
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2020 announced
- The New India Foundation announces the shortlist for the third edition of the ‘Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize’, recognising and celebrating excellence in non-fiction writings on modern/ contemporary India.
- The Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize celebrates high-quality, non-fiction literature by emerging writers from all nationalities, published in the previous calendar year. Established in 2018, the Book Prize carries a cash award of INR 15 lacs and a citation.
- The 6 shortlisted books are a testimony to the quality and diversity of non-fiction writing about India.
The six books shortlisted for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2020 are:
1.Mobilizing the Marginalized
2.Midnight’s Machines
3.The Unquiet River
4.A Chequered Brilliance
5.Bottle of Lies
6.Wild Himalaya
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS
PayU ties up with Google Pay to introduce tokenised payments flow for merchants
- Online payments solutions provider PayU has collaborated with Google Pay to introduce tokenised payments flow for merchants in India.
- Google Pay users will now get an option to pay a PayU merchant with their debit cards, credit cards, or Google Pay UPI.AAnd also, Google Pay users do not need to share their card details if they are making repeated payments.
- In that Google Pay users can make repeat payments seamlessly and securely.
- Through the option of one click payment, one doesn’t need to re-enter the payment data, as the OTP is read automatically and the payment is processed instantaneously.
- Tokenised payments offer a highly convenient, safe, and friction-free payment experience, and we are excited to partner with Google Pay to make this available for our merchants. It will help them build lasting trust and loyalty with customers, reduce risks of cart abandonment and payment failures, and scale up their businesses.
About Google :
- CEO : Sundar Pichai
- Headquarters : California, United States
About PayU :
- Founded : 2006
- CEO: Laurent le Moal.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS & AUTHORS
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu releases book ‘Oh Mizoram’ by Mizoram Guv Sreedharan Pillai
- Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu released a book of English poems by Mizoram Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, titled ‘Oh Mizoram’.
- The book releasing function was held formally at the India International Centre, New Delhi.
- The book ‘Oh Mizoram’ has been written by the Governor of Mizoram, P S Sreedharan Pillai.
- Oh Mizora, is the 125th book written by Governor Pillai.
- The book is a collection of several English poems and has been published by the Indus Scrolls Press, Hyderabad.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING
HDFC Bank top among 100 BFSI firms
- HDFC Bank is the top ranked company among the 100 BFSI companies in the country, as per the BFSI Movers and Shakers 2020 report by Wizikey.
- HDFC Bank has topped because of its customer service, monetary management, and innovative offerings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- ICICI Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) are ranked second and third, respectively
- Yes Bank, PNB, HSBC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Deutsche Bank and IDBI are the top-10 banks of 2020.
Other categories winners
- While Google Pay and PhonePe were the top wallets among the customers.
- In Payments bank Category: Airtel Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank, and Jio Payments Bank ranks top.
- In the Neo Banks segment Category YONO, Niyo, Kotak 811 ranks top.
About Wizikey :
- Co-Founder & CEO : Anshul Sushil
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES
Two-Time Congress MP From J&K, Madan Lal Sharma Dies At 68
- Veteran Congress leader and former minister Madan Lal Sharma died in Katra. He was 68 years old.
- Madan Lal Sharma was twice elected to the Lok Sabha from Jammu- Poonch seat in 2004 and 2009.
- He became a minister in the NC-Congress coalition government in 1988. He was again elected from Akhnoor in 2002 and became a minister in the PDP-Congress government.
- He was first elected as MLA in 1983 and again in 1987 from Chamb constituency on Congress mandate.
Daily CA on Dec 24th
- National Consumer Rights Day is observed on December 24, every year in India, and The theme of the National Consumer Day is The Sustainable Consumer.
- NITI Aayog’s CEO Amitabh Kant has virtually launched India’s first digital asset management and storage platform DigiBoxx.
- The Cabinet approved the merger of Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archives of India, and Children’s Film Society, India with National Film Development Corporation.
- The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) along with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India has come up with a unique initiative of a firefly bird diverter for overhead power lines in areas where Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.
- Senior IAS officer Aditya Nath Das has been appointed Chief Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a special postal stamp to mark the centenary celebrations of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
- Prime Minister Modi will release Rs. 18,000 crore for the next instalment of financial benefit under the PM-Kisan scheme to more than 9 crore farmers through video conference.
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has also approved 59,048 Crore post matric scholarship scheme for more than 4 Crore Scheduled Castes students in 5 years.
- On December 21, The Unicef announced the launch of a Covid-19 vaccine market dashboard.
- On December 23, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Spanish counterpart Arancha Gonzalez Laya held a virtual meeting, during which they agreed to maintain the momentum of cooperation in a range of areas like defence and energy.
- On 22 December 202 , the FRUITS (Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System) Portal, a project of e-Governance, Government of Karnataka was inaugurated with BHOOMI Package of Karnataka state to fetch and validate land details.
- Indian Army and Bank of Baroda have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Baroda Military Salary Package.
- NGO HelpAge India has been awarded the UN Population Award for 2020 in the institutional category.
- Amar Singh College, in Srinagar has been awarded for cultural heritage protection by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific in 2020.
- On December 22, China’s new medium-lift carrier rocket Long March-8 made its maiden flight on, sending five satellites successfully into planned orbit.
- Managing Director of logistics major Transport Corporation of India Limited Vineet Agarwal has taken over as the new President of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).
- Senior IPS officer Satyendra Garg assumed Andaman and Nicobar DGP charge.
- The Indian men and women hockey teams will finish 2020 in fourth and ninth positions, respectively.
- Renowned Malayalam poet and activist Sugathakumari, who devoted her life to the green cause, rights of women and the deprived, passed away at Thiruvananthapuram. She was 86.
Daily CA on Dec 25th
- Good governance is celebrated annually on 25 December, the anniversary of the birth of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
- Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that India’s biggest hockey stadium will come up at Rourkela and the 20,000-capacity facility will host matches of FIH men’s World Cup in 2023.
- The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has announced to invest USD 54 million in India to support the development of critical infrastructure projects in the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
- India successfully test-fired a medium range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) from Odisha coast on December 23, 2020.
- The Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar launched the DGNCC Digital Forum in New Delhi On December 24, 2020.
- The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to frame an integrated Drug Prevention Policy including Drug Prevention, Treatment, Management and Rehabilitation Programme.
- Union Minister for S&T, ES and MoHFW, Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the Global Indian Scientists & Technocrats (GIST) meet which is being organized as a part of the Indian International Science Festival (IISF) 2020.
- On December 24 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled the banking licence issued to Subhadra Local Area Bank Ltd, Kolhapur, citing problems in the way the bank was run.
- India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised India’s GDP estimate for the current financial year to -7.8 percent from -11.8 percent earlier, primarily due to the easing of COVID-19 curbs and better-than-expected growth numbers in the second quarter.
- Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Frances Tiafoe were among the winners of the ATP’s top awards for 2020.
- NTPC Limited, the country’s largest power producer, has been conferred Excellence in the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2020 in corporate social responsibility (CSR).
- The New India Foundation announces the shortlist for the third edition of the ‘Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize’, recognising and celebrating excellence in non-fiction writings on modern/ contemporary India.
- Online payments solutions provider PayU has collaborated with Google Pay to introduce tokenised payments flow for merchants in India.
- Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu released a book of English poems by Mizoram Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, titled ‘Oh Mizoram’.
- HDFC Bank is the top ranked company among the 100 BFSI companies in the country, as per the BFSI Movers and Shakers 2020 report by Wizikey.
- Veteran Congress leader and former minister Madan Lal Sharma died in Katra. He was 68 years old.