NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. PM
Modi inaugurated multiple projects worth Rs 18,000 crore in Uttarakhand: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple
projects worth Rs 18,000 crore at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The 7 projects
inaugurated consist of initiatives focusing on making travel safer including
the 120 MW Vyasi Hydroelectric Project, along with Himalayan Culture Centre in
Dehradun.
About the projects:
(1) The 11 projects for which the
foundation has been laid include the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor which
will be built at a cost of Rs 8,300 crore. It will have Asia’s largest wildlife
elevated corridor (12 kilometres) for unrestricted wildlife movement. The
expressway will reduce the distance between the two cities from 248 km at
present to 180 km.
(2) PM Modi laid the foundation stone for
the Dehradun – Paonta Sahib (Himachal Pradesh) road project, being constructed
at a cost of around Rs 1700 crore.
(3) The 120 MW Vyasi hydro-electricity
project, a 38-km long stretch between Devprayag and Shrikot on NH-58 and a
widened 33 km stretch between Brahmapuri and Kaudiyala on Rishikesh-Badrinath
national highway were among the other crucial projects inaugurated by PM Modi
on Saturday.
(4) He also announced that the services of
three new medical colleges would soon be available in the state.
Note: Uttarakhand Capitals: Dehradun
(Winter), Gairsain (Summer); Uttarakhand Governor: Lt Gen Gurmit Singh; Uttarakhand Chief
minister: Pushkar Singh Dhami.
2.
India reaches 40 per cent target of power from non-fossil fuel: In line with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to achieve 500 GW of installed electricity
capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 at COP26 Climate Conference, the
government said it has already achieved 40% of the target. As per the
government, the country’s installed Renewable Energy (RE) capacity today stands
at 150.05 GW while its nuclear energy-based installed electricity capacity
stands at 6.78 GW. Prime Minister Modi at COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow,
pledged India will achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
3.
West Bengal secures $135 million World Bank loan to upgrade rural power
distribution network: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD) has approved a USD 135 million loan to West Bengal to improve the
operational efficiency and reliability of electricity supply in select pockets
in the state. The variable spread loan or floating interest loan will have a
maturity of 17 years, including a grace period of seven years and will aim to
strengthen distribution networks, invest in smart-grid technologies, and ensure
financial sustainability of the state discom.
4. A
new book titled “1971: Charge of the Gorkhas and Other Stories” released: A new book that
unearths true stories of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, ’1971: Charge of the Gorkhas
and Other Stories, written by Rachna Bisht Rawat, was released. The book
includes, from the story of the flight lieutenant who went missing after his
plane crashed inside Pakistan to the ‘last khukri attack’ in modern military
history.
About the author: Rachna Bisht
Rawat is the author of six books by Penguin Random House India, including the
bestsellers The Brave and Kargil. She lives in Gurugram with Hukum the
bright-eyed, bushy-tailed golden retriever; an eclectic collection of books and
music; and Manoj Rawat, the man in olive green, who met her when he was a gentleman
cadet at the Indian Military Academy and offered to be her comrade for life.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
China Launches Its First USD 6 Billion Cross-border BRI Train with Laos: China launched the
first USD 6 billion cross-border train of its multi-billion-dollar Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI) from Laos, which Beijing says will help the small and
only landlocked country in South East Asia turn into a land-linked hub, boost
regional connectivity and supply chain resilience. The 1,035-km electrified
passenger and cargo railway, connecting Kunming in southwest China’s Yunnan
Province with Laos’ capital Vientiane, fully adopts Chinese technical standards
and consists of two sections. This is the first cross-border project under the
BRI, China’s multibillion-dollar project in different countries with Chinese
investments enhancing Beijing’s global influence.
2.
With Development Agenda, Pakistan Elected Chair of Group of 77 in 2022: Pakistan has been
elected as the following Chair of the Group of 77 for the yr 2022 with
Islamabad promising a improvement agenda specializing in debt restructuring,
concessional financing, local weather finance and ending illicit monetary
flows. The 45th Ministerial meeting of ‘Group of 77 and China’ was held
virtually. The Group of 77, established in 1964, is the largest
intergovernmental grouping of developing countries in the United Nations. It
provides the means for the countries of the Global South to articulate and
promote their collective economic interests within the UN system.
3.
Human Rights Day: 10th December: Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10
December annually across the world. This Day came into existence on December
10, 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the
United Nations. This day is observed every year across the world, as it
empowers us all. The day also acknowledges the advocates and defenders of human
rights around the world. The theme for Human Rights Day 2021 is “EQUALITY –
Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights.” This year’s Human Rights Day
theme relates to ‘Equality’ and Article 1 of the UDHR – “All human beings are
born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
History of the day: United Nations
General Assembly also known as UNGA adopted the UDHR i.e Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
the year 1948 on this very day. This was adopted with an agenda to eradicate
the feeling of alienation from any person’s life due to the colour of his/her
skin, the background of their community or culture, etc. The movement gained
popularity instantly and almost 200,000 human rights stamps were ordered in
advance from the United Nations Postal Administration in the year 1952.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1.
Argentina beat six-time champions Germany to lift Junior hockey world cup: Argentina showcased
its organised game with great composure to beat six-time champion German side
4-2 and win the title after 16 years in the men’s Hockey Junior World Cup at
the Kalinga Stadium. Argentina has become the only third team after Germany
(six wins) and India (2001, 2016) to win multiple Junior Hockey WC titles.
Defending champions India finished fourth in the junior hockey world cup 2021
after losing 1-3 to France in the third-place match.
Other Awards:
Best Player of the Tournament: Timothée
Clément (FRANCE)
Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Anton
Brinckman (GERMANY)
Hero Top Scorer of the Tournament: Miles
Bukkens (NETHERLANDS) (18 goals)
Odisha Fair Play Award: Team Chile
Odisha Fans Choice Award for Best Goal of
the Tournament: Ignacio Nardolillo (ARGENTINA)
Hockey India Maximum Team Goals:
NETHERLANDS (45 goals)
Hockey India Best Goal Saved of the
Tournament: Mahmoud Seleem (EGYPT)
AM/NS India Best Coach of the Tournament:
Johannes Schmitz (GERMANY)
FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2021: The FIH Men’s
Hockey Junior World Cup 2021 was hosted by Bhubaneswar, Odisha between November
24- December 5, 2021. The top 16 teams had participated in the tournament
including India, Germany, Belgium, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Pakistan,
Korea, Malaysia, Poland, France, Chile, Spain, USA and the Netherlands.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
Paytm signs MoU with Skill Development Ministry to train youngsters in fintech:
Paytm,
the digital payment company, will train 6000 individuals over three years, to
make them ready for the fintech domain. The tech company has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect, with the Directorate of
General Training (DGT), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The
training programme, which will last six months, is designed by Paytm, in
consultation with the DGT. This partnership with DGT, which focuses on the
vocational and skill-based training of eligible youth in India, will help
increase the availability of trained talent to fulfil the needs of the fintech
industry.
2.
SBI partners with Adani Capital for co-lending to farmers: State Bank of India
(SBI) has recently inked an agreement with Adani Capital Private Ltd (Adani
Capital), the NBFC arm of Adani Group, for co-lending to farmers for purchase
of tractor and farm implements. With this partnership, SBI would be able to
target farmer customers in the interior hinterland of the country looking for
adoption of farm mechanization to enhance productivity of crops.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
GDP Growth: S&P projected India’s GDP growth forecast at 9.5% in FY22: S&P Global
Ratings has retained the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast of India
unchanged at 9.5 percent for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) and 7.8 per cent
for the year ending FY23. GDP growth projection of India was revised for FY 24
to 6 per cent from 5.7 percent estimated earlier. Rising inflation is a
pressure point, unlike elsewhere in emerging Asia, but external demand
continues to support growth, S&P noted.
Note: S&P Global Ratings Headquarters:
New York, New York, United States; S&P Global Ratings Founder: Henry Varnum
Poor; S&P Global Ratings Founded: 1860; S&P Global Ratings President:
John L. Berisford.
2.
Goldman Sachs: India’s GDP to grow 9.1% in 2022: Wall Street
brokerage, Goldman Sachs has estimated India’s GDP growth at 9.1 per cent in
2022. After India’s economy contracted by a sharp 7 per cent in 2020, Goldman
Sachs pegged the economy to grow at 8 per cent in 2021 and 9.1 per cent in
2022. It earlier estimated India’s economic growth to 11.1 per cent in the
fiscal year to March 31, 2022.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1.
Mathematician Nikhil Srivastava selected for inaugural AMS’s Ciprian Foias
Award: Indian-American
mathematician, Nikhil Srivastava, who teaches at the University of California,
Berkeley along with Adam Marcus and Daniel Spielman were awarded the First
Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory by the American Mathematical Society
(AMS). Adam Marcus holds the Chair of Combinatorial Analysis at the Ecole
Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Daniel Spielman is a
Sterling Professor of Computer Science, a professor of statistics and data
science, and a professor of mathematics.
The $5,000 award has been given to Nikhil
Srivastava for his work in developing and introducing techniques to understand
the characteristic polynomial of matrices, including iterative sparsification.
Nikhil Srivastava has earlier jointly won the George Polya Prize in 2014, and
the Held prize in 2021 making this his third major award. He is an associate
professor of mathematics at UC Berkeley.
About the award: The award
recognises their highly original work that introduced and developed methods for
understanding the characteristic polynomial of matrices, namely the iterative
sparsification method (also in collaboration with Batson) and the method of
interlacing polynomials.
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