08th December, 2022

1. 5th edition of the European Union-India Competition Week was inaugurated at the Competition Commission of India (CCI) headquarters in New Delhi.
2. Supreme Court has exempted Maharashtra’s Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) from its June 3 order mandating the creation of a one-kilometre eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around all Protected Areas in India.
3. The 12th World Hindi Conference is being organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, in collaboration with the Government of Fiji from 15 to 17 February 2023 in Fiji.
4. Central Govt has launched ₹2.44 lakh crore plan to generate 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030.
5. University Grants Commission has constituted an apex committee to prepare the roadmap to introduce undergraduate and postgraduate courses in regional languages in disciplines including commerce, humanities, and science across the country.
6. Central government has named 21 uninhabited islands in the union territory of Andaman & Nicobar after recipients of Param Vir Chakra, the country’s highest wartime gallantry award.
7. Public Health Foundation of India and University of Leicester, England have received a grant of nearly £10 million from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK.
8. SHE STEM, the annual event to honor women in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and sustainability, was successfully organized for the 3rd consecutive year as part of the Sweden-India Nobel Memorial Week.
9. NITI Aayog organized a national conclave on soil health management for sustainable farming on the occasion of the World Soil Day (December 5, 2022).
10. Ladakh has approached the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), a unit of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for developing “Spatial Data Infrastructure geoportal ‘Geo-Ladakh’ for UT-Ladakh”.
11. The Telangana government has signed an MoU with Coinbase Inc to collaborate in building a strong Web 3.0 community in the state.
12. Invasive Group A Strep (iGAS)-caused bacterial infection has claimed the lives of at least 6 children in the United Kingdom.
13. US Air Force has unveiled its newest nuclear stealth bomber named as B-21 Raider (world’s first sixth-generation aircraft).
14. 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat.
15. 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion was held in Adelaide, Australia.
16. The 2nd edition of the “State of Finance for Nature” report has been released by the UN Environment Program.
17. Passport Index 2022 has been published by Arton Capital.
18. Global Aviation Safety Ranking has been released by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
19. Tribal Development Report 2022 was launched by the Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF).
20. Central Government will allow a consortium of foreign funds and investment firms to own more than 51% in IDBI Bank.
21. Google’s Jigsaw subsidiary is launching a new anti-misinformation project in India for preventing misleading information that has been blamed for inciting violence.
22. RBI’s bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting –
23. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ABIS Exports India Private Limited (ABIS) entered into an agreement to subscribe to non-convertible debentures for $16 million.
24. Federal Bank has unveiled a new campaign named ‘Football Fiesta’, to promote the football game.
25. Fintech player Spice Money has partnered with private sector lender Axis Bank to facilitate opening of instant, zero balance savings or current accounts for rural citizens through its Adhikari network.
26. ICICI Lombard and AU Small Finance Bank have signed a bancassurance agreement to sell the insurance products to the bank’s customers.
27. Razorpay merchants can now begin accepting credit card payments on UPI, in partnership with Axis Bank.
28. Fitch has forecasted a 7% GDP growth rate for India for 2022-23, 6.2% in 2023-24 and 6.9% in 2024-25.
29. World Bank has forecasted a 9% GDP growth rate for India for 2022-23 in its India Development Update.
30. S&P has forecasted a 7% GDP growth rate for India in 2022 and 6% in 2023.
31. Centre has appointed N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, as the chair of B20 India to lead the business agenda during India’s G20 Presidency.
32. Arun Kumar Singh, former chairman of oil refining and marketing company BPCL, was appointed chairman and managing director of ONGC (Maharatna PSU).
33. Shri K.V. Suresh Kumar, Distinguished Scientist of Department of Atomic Energy, has assumed charge as Chairman and Managing Director of Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) for a period of 3 years.
34. Meghna Ahlawat was elected president of the Table Tennis Federation of India.
35. December 4 – International Day of Banks
36. December 5 – World Soil Day; Theme – “Soils, where food begins”
37. December 5 – International Volunteer Day; Theme – Solidarity through volunteering
38. 16th edition of Forbes Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy list –
39. Badminton World Federation has announced the Player of the Year 2022 awards.
40. Volodymyr Zelensky has been named as Times’ Person of the Year 2022.
41. Forbes’ annual list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women has been released.
42. Central India’s first agritech startup, Farmkart’s founder and CEO Atul Patidar has won the prestigious ‘Pride of Central India 2022’ award for transforming the lives of lakhs of rural farmers in the region.
43. Canara Bank has won the “Banker’s Bank of the Year Award 2022” for the Indian segment of the Global Banking Summit.
44. Earthshot Prizes 2022 has been announced. The Earthshot Prize was launched in 2020 by Prince William and David Attenborough.
45. Swayam Shikshan Prayog, Maharashtra-based organisation has been awarded the Local Adaptation Champions Awards.
46. Melbourne-based Veena Nair has won the 2022 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in secondary schools.
47. Three female umpires — Vrinda Rathi, Janani Narayan, and Gayathri Venugopalan — are set to break the record by officiating in the Ranji Trophy.
48. Aditya Mittal (aged 16) has become India’s 77th chess Grandmaster during an ongoing Ellobregat Open tournament in Spain.
49. Former world champion Mirabai Chanu has won a silver medal in the women’s 49kg division at the World Weightlifting Championships 2022 in Bogota, Colombia.
50. Reigning world champion Rudrankksh Patil defeated world No. 1 Danilo Sollazzo of Italy in the men’s 10m air rifle final to win the gold medal at the ISSF President’s Cup 2022 in Cairo, Egypt.
51. Arjun Erigaisi has won the Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Blitz by defeating American GM Hikaru Nakamura.
52. A new tropical cyclone is likely to form over the Bay of Bengal and is going to impact Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh.
53. ‘Goblin Mode’ is the word of the year of Oxford Dictionaries.

National News

1. 5th edition of the European Union-India Competition Week was inaugurated at the Competition Commission of India (CCI) headquarters in New Delhi.
   • In 2013, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and European Commission had signed an MoU for cooperation in the field of competition laws in 2013.
2. Supreme Court has exempted Maharashtra’s Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) from its June 3 order mandating the creation of a one-kilometre eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around all Protected Areas in India.
   • Earlier, the Supreme Court had exempted the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary from the ESZ requirement.
3. The 12th World Hindi Conference is being organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, in collaboration with the Government of Fiji from 15 to 17 February 2023 in Fiji.
   • Theme of the Conference – “Hindi: From Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence”
   • According to the United Nations report of 2020, Fiji had a population of more than 896,000 and out of which over 30% is of Indian-origin.
4. Central Govt has launched ₹2.44 lakh crore plan to generate 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030.
   • India plans to have 500 GW of non-fossil-based power capacity by 2030 so that cleaner fuels comprise 50% of the power mix.
   • India currently has 409 GW installed capacity comprising 173 GW from non-fossil fuel sources, which is about 42% of total installed electricity generating capacity.
5. University Grants Commission has constituted an apex committee to prepare the roadmap to introduce undergraduate and postgraduate courses in regional languages in disciplines including commerce, humanities, and science across the country.
   • The UGC has sought the translation of textbooks for undergraduate programmes in languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu.
6. Central government has named 21 uninhabited islands in the union territory of Andaman & Nicobar after recipients of Param Vir Chakra, the country’s highest wartime gallantry award.
   • The first uninhabited island numbered ‘INAN370’ in North and Middle Andaman was named after Major Somnath Sharma.
   • Now ‘INAN370’ will be known as ‘Somnath Dweep’. He was the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra.
7. Public Health Foundation of India and University of Leicester, England have received a grant of nearly £10 million from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK.
   • Purpose – to help improve the health outcomes and re-orient health systems to effectively address multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) or multimorbidity in India and Nepal
   • The Public Health Foundation of India and University of Leicester will collaborate with the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Jodhpur, Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth (HRIDAY), Delhi, and Kathmandu Medical College (KMC), Kathmandu.
8. SHE STEM, the annual event to honor women in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and sustainability, was successfully organized for the 3rd consecutive year as part of the Sweden-India Nobel Memorial Week.
   • Organizers – Swedish Embassy in India, in collaboration with the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, the Indian Government, and the German Centre of Innovation and Research, New Delhi
9. NITI Aayog organized a national conclave on soil health management for sustainable farming on the occasion of the World Soil Day (December 5, 2022).
   • The conclave was co-hosted by NITI Aayog and GIZ, GmbH India on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Cooperation and Economic Development (BMZ).
   • Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development intends to provide up to 300 million euros by 2025 for financial and technical cooperation for projects under this initiative.
   • NITI Aayog and the BMZ have also signed a Statement of Intent for collaborations, with agro ecology being one of the priority areas.
   • In May 2022, India and Germany signed a joint declaration for the establishment of the first-ever bilateral lighthouse initiative on agro ecology and sustainable management of natural resources.

State News

1. Ladakh has approached the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), a unit of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for developing “Spatial Data Infrastructure geoportal ‘Geo-Ladakh’ for UT-Ladakh”.
   • This portal will be used to find, access, distribute & contribute geospatial information and its associated geographic services such as navigation, buffer, measurements analysis, metadata catalogue, map catalogue and more.
2. The Telangana government has signed an MoU with Coinbase Inc to collaborate in building a strong Web 3.0 community in the state.
   • Amara Raja Batteries Limited (ARBL) has also signed an MOU with the Government of Telangana for setting up of Lithium-ion Battery Gigafactory in Mahabubnagar district.

International News

1. Invasive Group A Strep (iGAS)-caused bacterial infection has claimed the lives of at least 6 children in the United Kingdom.
   • Some of the symptoms of GAS infections are sore throat, fever, chills and muscle aches.
2. US Air Force has unveiled its newest nuclear stealth bomber named as B-21 Raider (world’s first sixth-generation aircraft).
   • B-21 Raider has been developed by Northrop Grumman.
3. 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat.
4. Botswana to host the 18th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Reports and Indices

1. 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion was held in Adelaide, Australia.
   • “Preventing injuries and violence: an overview” report was released by WHO during the conference.
   • Injuries and violence take the lives of some 12,000 people around the world each day.
   • 3 of the top 5 causes of death among people aged 5–29 years are injury related, namely road traffic injuries, homicide and suicide.
2. The 2nd edition of the “State of Finance for Nature” report has been released by the UN Environment Program.
   • The report has been released in collaboration with Economics of Land Degradation initiative of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the European Commission.
   • As per the report, the current global investment in Nature-based Solutions is $154 billion per annum, which needs to be increased to $384 billion by 2025.
3. Passport Index 2022 has been published by Arton Capital.
   • Top – UAE
   • India – 87th rank
4. Global Aviation Safety Ranking has been released by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
   • Total – 187 countries
   • India is ranked at the 48th position. Four years ago, India was ranked at 102nd
   • Singapore is at the top, followed by the UAE and South Korea at the second and third positions, respectively.
5. Tribal Development Report 2022 was launched by the Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF).
   • The BRLF, which claims to be the first of its kind since 1947, was set up by the Union Cabinet in 2013 as an independent society under the Union Ministry of Rural Development to work for the society in partnership with central and state governments.
   • As per the 2011 Census, India’s tribal communities form 8.6% of the country’s population.
   • Central India is home to 80% of the tribal communities in the country.

Banking and Economy

1. Central Government will allow a consortium of foreign funds and investment firms to own more than 51% in IDBI Bank.
   • The current guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restrict foreign ownership in new private banks.
2. Google’s Jigsaw subsidiary is launching a new anti-misinformation project in India for preventing misleading information that has been blamed for inciting violence.
3. RBI’s bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting –
   • India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – 6.8%
   • Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation – 6.7% (same as its previous estimate)
     • CPI moderated to 6.8 % (y-o-y) in October 2022 but it is still above the upper tolerance band of the target.
   • India’s foreign exchange reserves (FER) stands at $561.2 billion as on December 2, 2022.

4. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ABIS Exports India Private Limited (ABIS) entered into an agreement to subscribe to non-convertible debentures for $16 million.
   • Purpose – to enhance food security in India by supporting the construction of a micro fish feed plant and by training up to 6,000 farmers in climate-resilient fish farming practices as well as financial literacy
5. Federal Bank has unveiled a new campaign named ‘Football Fiesta’, to promote the football game.
6. Fintech player Spice Money has partnered with private sector lender Axis Bank to facilitate opening of instant, zero balance savings or current accounts for rural citizens through its Adhikari network.
   • Spice Money aims to bridge the rural-urban divide and bring financial inclusivity by providing access to banking products to the last mile at their doorstep, thereby financially empowering thousands of rural citizens living in the rural India.
7. ICICI Lombard and AU Small Finance Bank have signed a bancassurance agreement to sell the insurance products to the bank’s customers.
8. Razorpay merchants can now begin accepting credit card payments on UPI, in partnership with Axis Bank.
   • At present, UPI enables customers to make transactions through their bank accounts.
   • However, linking credit cards with UPI will ensure that customers will no longer have to carry their credit cards with them at all times for payments.

GDP Forecasts

1. Fitch has forecasted a 7% GDP growth rate for India for 2022-23, 6.2% in 2023-24 and 6.9% in 2024-25.
2. World Bank has forecasted a 6.9% GDP growth rate for India for 2022-23 in its India Development Update.

3. S&P has forecasted a 7% GDP growth rate for India in 2022 and 6% in 2023.

Appointments

1. Centre has appointed N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, as the chair of B20 India to lead the business agenda during India’s G20 Presidency.
   • The B20 is the business platform of G20 countries.
2. Arun Kumar Singh, former chairman of oil refining and marketing company BPCL, was appointed chairman and managing director of ONGC (Maharatna PSU).
3. Shri K.V. Suresh Kumar, Distinguished Scientist of Department of Atomic Energy, has assumed charge as Chairman and Managing Director of Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) for a period of 3 years.

4. Meghna Ahlawat was elected president of the Table Tennis Federation of India.

Important Days

1. December 4 – International Day of Banks
2. December 5 – World Soil Day; Theme – “Soils, where food begins”
   • Food and Agriculture Organization has released the “Global Status of Black Soils” report.
   • Status of Black Soil – Black soils are quickly losing their Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) sequestration capacity. They have lost 20 to 50% of their original SOC stock, with the carbon being released into the atmosphere mostly as carbon dioxide.
   • Importance of Black Soil –
     • Black soil has the capability to remove carbon from the atmosphere and lock it up in the soil organic matter (called carbon sequestration).
     • Black soils have the potential to provide 10% of the total Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) sequestration globally if they receive proper attention.
     • Black soils were home to 2.86% of the global population and had 17.36% of cropland, 8.05% of global SOC stock and 30.06% SOC stock of global cropland.
   • On this day, the King Bhumibol World Soil Award 2022 has been won by the Institute of Geology, National Autonomous University of Mexico.
   • Dr Ashok Kumar Patra has been awarded the Glinka World Soil Prize 2022.
3. December 5 – International Volunteer Day; Theme – Solidarity through volunteering

Awards

1. 16th edition of Forbes Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy list –
   • Top – Gautam Adani (donation of $7.7 billion)
   • HCL Technologies’ Shiv Nadar and Happiest Minds Technologies’ Ashok Soota are other Indians on the list.
2. Badminton World Federation has announced the Player of the Year 2022 awards.

3. Volodymyr Zelensky has been named as Times’ Person of the Year 2022.
4. Forbes’ annual list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women has been released.
   • Rank 1 – Ursula von der Leyen (Germany)
   • India –
     • Nirmala Sitharaman (rank 36)
     • Roshni Nadar Malhotra (rank 53)
     • Madhabi Puri Buch (rank 54)
     • Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (rank 77)
     • Falguni Nadar (rank 89)
5. Central India’s first agritech startup, Farmkart’s founder and CEO Atul Patidar has won the prestigious ‘Pride of Central India 2022’ award for transforming the lives of lakhs of rural farmers in the region.
   • Union Minister of Civil Aviation of India Jyotiraditya Scindia handed over the award.
6. Canara Bank has won the “Banker’s Bank of the Year Award 2022” for the Indian segment of the Global Banking Summit.
   • The bank has been adjudged as the ‘Best Bank in India for 2022’.
7. Earthshot Prizes 2022 has been announced. The Earthshot Prize was launched in 2020 by Prince William and David Attenborough.

8. Swayam Shikshan Prayog, Maharashtra-based organisation has been awarded the Local Adaptation Champions Awards.
   • The awards are organised by the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) at the ongoing COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
   • SSP worked for developing the Women-led Climate Resilient Farming (WCRF) model.
9. Melbourne-based Veena Nair has won the 2022 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in secondary schools.

Sports

1. Three female umpires — Vrinda Rathi, Janani Narayan, and Gayathri Venugopalan — are set to break the record by officiating in the Ranji Trophy.
   • This is the first time women are officiating men’s cricket.
2. Aditya Mittal (aged 16) has become India’s 77th chess Grandmaster during an ongoing Ellobregat Open tournament in Spain.
3. Former world champion Mirabai Chanu has won a silver medal in the women’s 49kg division at the World Weightlifting Championships 2022 in Bogota, Colombia.
4. Reigning world champion Rudrankksh Patil defeated world No. 1 Danilo Sollazzo of Italy in the men’s 10m air rifle final to win the gold medal at the ISSF President’s Cup 2022 in Cairo, Egypt.
   • Anjum Moudgil has won the silver award in Women’s 50m rifle in 3 positions.
5. Arjun Erigaisi has won the Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Blitz by defeating American GM Hikaru Nakamura.
   • Vaishali Rameshbabu has won the women’s blitz title.

Miscellaneous

1. A new tropical cyclone is likely to form over the Bay of Bengal and is going to impact Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh.
   • The cyclonic storm will be named ‘Cyclone Mandous’, the name which is given by the United Arab Emirates which means a treasure box in the Arabic language.
2. ‘Goblin Mode’ is the word of the year of Oxford Dictionaries.

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