NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Gujarat To Unveil India’s First Submarine Tourism In
Dwarka: The Gujarat
government is set to introduce a submarine service for tourists in the state, to help them explore
the marine life in Dwarka, an
ancient city believed to be lost under the sea. The state government has signed a memorandum with Mazgaon Dock
shipbuilders for the project in the city, which holds cultural
significance as the ‘city of the Hindu God Lord Krishna’. This will be the
first underwater tourism facility in India through a submarine. As per the
current plan, the government aims to operationalise the project before Diwali
in October 2024.
2. Hardeep Puri inaugurates India’s first ‘Zero Waste
Street Food Festival’ in Delhi: Hardeep Singh Puri,
Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas,
has inaugurated the National
Street Food Festival 2023 in New Delhi. This street food festival
was organized by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) at
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. This festival is the first ‘Zero Waste Street Food
Festival’ in India. The Minister appreciated NASVI for providing training to
1,50,000 street vendors in food safety and hygiene. He also noted the
establishment of two Regional Street Food Vendors Training Institutes (SVTI)
which will be launched by NASVI in 2024 in Delhi and Patna.
3. Arvind Panagariya appointed as 16th Finance Commission
Chairman: The government has
appointed former NITI Aayog vice
chairman Arvind Panagariya as the Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission.
Joint Secretary in the finance ministry Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey will be the secretary to the commission. The
commission will submit its report for the five-year period (2026-27 to 2030-31)
to the President by October 31, 2025. The Finance Commission is a
constitutional body that gives suggestions on center-state financial relations.
4. Maharashtra govt to observe 15 January as state sports
day: The Maharashtra government will
observe January 15 every year as
the state sports day to celebrate the birth anniversary of wrestler Khashaba Jadhav, the first Indian to
win an independent medal in the Olympics in 1952.
Chief
Minister Eknath Shinde had announced in Pune about having a day devoted to
sports on the birthday of Jadhav, who was born in Maharashtra. Jadhav had won a
bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics held at Helsinki in Finland. A
government resolution was issued directing schools and colleges to organize
sporting events on this day. Students can interact with sports personalities on
online platforms. International and national sportspersons will be felicitated
by the government on the state sports day.
1. UAE initiates process of investing $2 billion in food
parks in India: The UAE has initiated the process of channelising its long-promised $2-billion investments into food parks in
India, starting with
Gujarat, after the two countries sorted out concerns on curbs
imposed by the Essential Commodities Act. The investments are being made as
part of the four-nation I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA) initiative to develop a
series of integrated food parks across India to enhance food security in the
Middle East and South Asia. The first food park is likely to be set up on land
near Kandla where the investors would get into contract farming arrangements
with locals. The UAE had first promised in 2018 to invest in food parks in
India which later got dovetailed into the I2U2 initiative announced at the
Leaders’ Summit in July 2022.
2. Andrew Saberton appointed as the Deputy Executive
Director of UNFPA: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Andrew Paul Saberton of the United Kingdom as Assistant Secretary-General
to serve as Deputy Executive Director (Management) of the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA). Saberton succeeds Ib Petersen of Denmark, to
whom the Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UNFPA are grateful for
his dedicated service.
Saberton
has served as the Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director
(Management) ad interim since November 2023 and as UNFPA Comptroller and
Director for the Division of Management Services since September 2016. Previously,
he was the Chief of the Finance Branch (2011-2016) and Chief of the Accounts
Section (2009-2011) at UNFPA, and a Senior Finance Officer at the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (2001-2009).
3. 1 January – Global Family Day: Global Family Day is celebrated every year on January
1. The day aims at commencing the new year with peace, unity and
brotherhood among people and across nations and cultures. The idea to mark the
day was first initiated in November 1997 after people were inspired by a book named,
One Day In Peace – January 1, 2000. The book was released by the United
Nations. Around the same time, the United Nations General Assembly launched the
International Decade for the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children
of the World.
Later,
in 1999, UN members received a formal invitation to officially mark January 1
as – Global Family Day.
OTHER UPDATES:
DEFENCE
1. Defence Secretary Opens HAL’s Aero Engine R&D
Facility In Bengaluru: Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane has
inaugurated a new design and test facility at Aero Engine Research and
Development Centre (AERDC) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru,
Karnataka. The newly inaugurated facility, spanning over 10,000 sq. meters, is
poised to be a hub of innovation in the field of aerospace engineering. Equipped
with special machines, advanced setups, and computational tools, it signifies
HAL’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements. Additionally,
the newly developed facility has set-ups for testing air producers of Jaguar,
Gas Turbine Starter Unit (GTSU) – 110 M2 and 127E of Light Combat Aircraft,
Auxiliary Power Units of IMRH and Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, Gas Turbine
Electrical Generator (GTEG)-60 for An-32 aircraft.
2. India, UAE to conduct joint military exercise ‘Desert
Cyclone’ in Rajasthan: The Inaugural edition of Joint Military Exercise Desert Cyclone,
between India & UAE, will be conducted from 02 Jan to 15 Jan
2024 in Rajasthan. The joint manoeuvres during ‘Desert Cyclone 2024’ aim
to boost interoperability through the exchange of knowledge and best practices
in urban operations. The exercise aims to enhance interoperability by learning
& sharing best practices in Urban Operations.
SPORTS
1. Australian batter David Warner announces his
retirement from ODI: Australian batter
David Warner has announced his retirement
from One Day Internationals (ODIs). The 2-time ODI World Cup Winner had
previously announced that he would be ending his Test career after Australia’s
upcoming Test against Pakistan in Sydney. However, the opener has said that he
will keep himself available for selection in the Champions Trophy in 2025. Warner
is Australia’s sixth-highest run scorer in the ODI format and is only second to
former captain Ricky Ponting’s tally for most Centuries for Australia in ODIs.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. ISRO launched XPoSat aboard PSLV-C58: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has launched
the PSLV-C58 X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat). The PSLV, in its 60th
mission, lifted off at 9.10 a.m. on 1 Jan, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre
in Sriharikota, and 22 minutes later launched the XPoSat into an eastward low
inclination orbit. The PSLV-C58 has placed the primary satellite at the XPoSat
in the desired orbit of 650 km with six-degree inclination. XPoSat is the first
dedicated scientific satellite from the ISRO to carry out research in
space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emission from celestial sources.
It carries two payloads, namely POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) and
XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing).
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. Sukanya Samriddhi Schemes’ interest rates hiked up to 20 bps for Q4FY24: The Centre hiked the interest rates of some of the small savings schemes, such as Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, and 3-year Time Deposit, for the January-March 2024 quarter. As per the latest revised list, the interest rate of Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme will be 8.2%, while for 3-year TD it would be 7.1% for the last quarter of the current fiscal. Earlier, the interest rates for the Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme and 3-year TD were 8.0%, and 7.1%, respectively. The PPF rates were kept unchanged for more than 3 years. It was last tweaked in April-June 2020, when it was slashed to 7.1 percent from 7.9 percent. Before the revision, the interest rates on small savings schemes ranged between 4 percent (post office savings deposits) and 8.2 percent (Senior Citizens Savings Scheme). Interest rates for Jan-March 2024
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