UPSC Present Affairs Pointers brings you important present affairs of the previous week, each Monday, to help you in your Prelims and Mains preparation for UPSC, State PCS, and different aggressive examinations.
Occasion
— Good Governance Day is widely known on December twenty fifth yearly to boost consciousness amongst residents about authorities accountability and efficient administration whereas selling the follow of “good governance” amongst civil servants.
— In 2014, the Union authorities introduced that December 25 can be celebrated as “Good Governance Day” to honor the delivery anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
— India celebrates Nationwide Farmers’ Day, also called Kisan Diwas, to recognise the lifeblood of the nation—its farmers on December 23, yearly.
— At the present time additionally commemorates the delivery anniversary of India’s fifth Prime Minister, Chaudhary Charan Singh, who served from 1979 to 1980 and is well-known for his intensive understanding of rural issues and unwavering help for farmer welfare.
— Throughout his time period, he promoted measures that may enhance farmers’ livelihoods, together with land reforms and makes an attempt to extend agricultural output.
— This 12 months, the Authorities of India is celebrating Kisan Diwas underneath the concept of “Empowering ‘Annadatas’ for a Affluent Nation.”
Polity
— The PM launched the ‘Suposhit Gram Panchayat Abhiyan’, which goals at bettering dietary outcomes and well-being by strengthening the implementation of nutrition-related providers to get rid of malnutrition and type the idea of developed India.
— The programme will contain competitors amongst anganwadis, and a complete of 1,000-gram panchayats will get Rs 1 lakh whereas part of this quantity will likely be used for higher vitamin within the anganwadis.
— Prime Minister Narendra Modi has requested all Union ministers to attend the general public occasions to be held to distribute 57 lakh property playing cards amongst a dozen states and UTs on December 27, underneath SVAMITVA, a central sector scheme.
— The acronym SVAMITA stands for Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Know-how in Village Areas. It’s a Central Sector Scheme aimed toward “offering ‘file of rights’ to village family house owners possessing homes in inhabited rural areas in villages and issuance of property playing cards to the property house owners.”
— The scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on the event of Nationwide Panchayati Raj Day, April 24, 2020.
— The Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI) has constituted an eight-member committee of consultants to develop a framework for accountable and moral enablement of synthetic intelligence (FREE-AI) within the monetary sector.
— The committee, to be headed by Pushpak Bhattacharyya, professor (Division of Pc Science and Engineering), IIT Bombay, will suggest a strong, complete, and adaptable AI framework for the monetary sector.
— The committee will assess the present degree of adoption of AI in monetary providers, globally and in India, and evaluation regulatory and supervisory approaches on AI with a deal with the monetary sector globally.
— The Prime Minister’s Citizen Help and Aid in Emergency Conditions Fund (PM CARES Fund) acquired Rs 912 crore in contributions through the monetary 12 months 2022-23 as donations continued to pour in even after the Covid pandemic.
— The PM CARES Fund was registered as a Public Charitable Belief underneath the Registration Act, 1908 in New Delhi on March 27, 2020, three days after the lockdown within the nation within the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
— The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairman of the PM CARES Fund, whereas the Defence Minister, House Minister and Finance Minister are ex-officio trustees of the Fund. The Prime Minister, because the chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the PM CARES Fund, has nominated Justice Ok T Thomas (retd.) and Kariya Munda as trustees.
Surroundings
— The bald eagle, a logo of energy and the energy of the USA for greater than 240 years has formally turn out to be the US’s Nationwide hen. They’re put underneath the Least involved class of the IUCN Purple Record.
— In 2007, when the bald eagle was faraway from the endangered species record, there have been roughly 9,789 recognized breeding pairs within the US. The newest figures (from 2021) put the variety of nesting pairs at about 71,4000 with the general inhabitants standing at roughly 316,700.
— Based on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bald eagles are native to North America and may be present in virtually each state, however they’re most populous in Alaska.
— West Bengal marked Christmas by welcoming two purple pandas from the Netherlands, the primary such acquisition from a international nation in a decade.
— The purple panda (Ailurus fulgens), also called the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the jap Himalayas and southwestern China.
— It’s listed as endangered within the record of the Worldwide Union For Conservation of Nature. Based on the World Wildlife Fund, their inhabitants is lower than 10,000.
— Latest incidents in Telangana have renewed issues concerning the smuggling of pangolins, a scaly nocturnal mammal recognized for its large demand within the worldwide market.
— In India, each Indian pangolins and Chinese language pangolins are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Safety) Act, of 1972. Due to this fact looking, commerce, or some other type of utilisation of the species or their physique elements and derivatives is banned.
— Since 2017, all pangolin species have been listed in Appendix I of the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species (CITES), prohibiting their business commerce.
— Chinese language Pangolin is classed as ‘Critically Endangered’ on the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Purple Record whereas the Indian Pangolin is classed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Purple Record.
— They’re the one recognized mammals with massive keratin scales overlaying their pores and skin. They’re additionally toothless and nocturnal. They curl up into scaly spheres upon being alarmed.
— The primary ever Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) was tagged in Assam on December 18, the motion aimed in the direction of conserving India’s Nationwide Aquatic Animal.
— The household Platanistidae includes two extant species of Indian river dolphins — the Indus river dolphin and the Ganges river dolphin.
— Ganges river dolphins go by various native names throughout their vary together with susu, soons, soans, or soos in Hindi, shushuk in Bengali, hiho or hihu in Assamese, and bhagirath, shus or suongsu in Nepali.
— Each the Indus and Ganges dolphins have been listed as ‘Endangered’ within the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Purple Record for the reason that Nineties.
Science and Know-how
— Given the issues over delays within the completion of many Nationwide Freeway tasks throughout the nation, the Ministry of Highway Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has expedited using Automated & Clever Machine-aided Building (AIMC) system.
— NHAI is implementing AIMC on a pilot foundation within the 63-km lengthy under-construction Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway Mission, also called the Awadh Expressway, the place automated & clever machines reminiscent of GPS-aided motor grader, clever compactor, and stringless paver have been used.
— Officers mentioned that on the idea of this pilot tasks, there will likely be countrywide adoption of the AIMC in Nationwide Freeway building.
— On December 30, ISRO will launch the SPadex Mission from Sriharikota.
— The Spadex mission will see two satellites — SDX01 or Chaser and SDX02 or Goal — align in the identical orbit, scale back the gap between one another, be part of and switch electrical energy between them, after which separate.
— After they separate, payloads on board each the satellites will proceed to perform for 2 years.
— India’s workhorse Polar Satellite tv for pc Launch Automobile PSLV-C60 will launch the 2 220 kg satellites in a 470 km round orbit, with the launch automobile offering a small relative velocity between the 2.
Individuals in Information
— Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh handed away on twenty sixth December on the age of 92. The Union authorities has declared a seven-day mourning interval for Singh and has canceled all authorities applications scheduled for Friday.
— He was the chief architect of the financial reforms, notably the LPG (Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization) coverage within the Nineties, which remodeled India’s financial trajectory.
— Singh’s reforms in 1991 sought to liberalise and finish the ‘Licence Raj’ by means of industrial coverage reforms.
— Singh served as Prime Minister from Could 22, 2004, to Could 26, 2014, main the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) authorities for a historic 3,656 days. His tenure made him the third longest-serving Prime Minister in Indian historical past, following Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
— Former Supreme Courtroom choose V Ramasubramanian has been appointed because the ninth Chairperson of the Nationwide Human Rights Fee (NHRC) for a tenure of three years till December 2027.
— The earlier NHRC chairman, Justice Arun Mishra, accomplished his time period on June 1, 2024.
— The primary NHRC chairman was former Chief Justice of India Ranganath Mishra.
— Till 2019 solely former Chief Justices of India might be appointed as NHRC chairperson. Nevertheless, in July 2019, the Safety of Human Rights Act, 1993, was amended to additionally permit former SC judges for the publish.
— The committee to pick the NHRC chairperson is headed by the Prime Minister. It has the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Union House Minister, the Leaders of the Opposition within the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha as its members.
— Retired Supreme Courtroom choose Sanjay Kishan Kaul has been appointed a member of the Bahrain Worldwide Industrial Courtroom by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. He’s among the many 9 members appointed to the newly established BICC.
— Main arbitrator Jan Paulsson has been appointed as BICC president and former British choose Sir Christopher Greenwood as its vp.
— The BICC is part of the Bahrain authorities’s “Staff Bahrain” to boost non-public sector funding within the nation by offering a discussion board for dispute decision between events.
— Retired Supreme Courtroom choose Madan B Lokur has been appointed chairperson of the United Nations Inside Justice Council.
— The Inside Justice Council includes 5 members appointed by the Secretary-Normal. The opposite 4 members on the record are Carmen Artigas (Uruguay), Rosalie Balkin (Australia), Stefan Brezina (Austria) and Jay Pozenal (United States of America).
— Bapsi Sidhwa died in Houston, Texas. She was 86. She is survived by her novels recognized for his or her comedy, tragedy and seamless fusion of the political and private.
— Her first novel, The Crow Eaters (1978), printed to a lot backlash in Pakistan, was a few Parsi businessman, a stalwart of his neighborhood, who couldn’t tolerate his mother-in-law. The e-book tracked his fortunes and failures after he uprooted his household’s life in central India and moved them to Lahore.
— Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa awarded the Medal of Effectivity (First Class) to R P Group Chairman Ravi Pillai for his “excellent contributions” to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Within the discipline of refinery operations.
— Shyam Benegal breathed his final on twenty third December on the age of 90. Benegal has been affected by power kidney illness for a number of years.
— He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1991.
— His spectacular physique of labor features a host of landmark tv exhibits and documentaries, together with landmark sequence reminiscent of Yatra (1986) and Bharat Ek Khoj (1988).
— Famend Malayalam author-filmmaker MT Vasudevan Nair handed away on December 25, in Kozhikode on the age of 91.
— Essential works: Valarthumrigangal, Kalam, Gopuranadayil, Swargam Thurakkunna Samayam, Randamoozham, and extra.
— At 25, he received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for Naalukettu. In 1970, he received the Sahitya Akademi prize for his fifth novel, Kaalam. He received the Nationwide Award for screenplay 4 occasions and the Kerala State movie award 11 occasions.
| Newly Appointed Governors | |
| Ajay Kumar Bhalla | Manipur |
| Arif Mohammed Khan | Bihar |
| Hari Babu Kambhampati | Odisha |
| Normal (Dr.) Vijay Kumar | Mizoram |
| Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar | Kerala |
Locations in Information
(Simply FYI: The situation of the place is necessary, contemplating that UPSC has requested a number of questions on locations that had been within the information, reminiscent of Aleppo and Kirkuk, within the 2018 UPSC Prelims. One of the best ways to recollect them is to plot them on a world map.)
— Congress leaders deliberate to have a good time the 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi presiding over the Congress’s historic Belgaum session because the social gathering president in 1924.
— Precisely 100 years in the past, on December 26-27, 1924, the Congress held its thirty ninth session in Belgaum (now Belagavi) — the only session to be chaired by Mahatma Gandhi.
— Belgaum was then part of the Bombay Presidency. The session’s venue was named Vijayanagara, after the Vijayanagara Empire.
— Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the muse stone of the Ken- Betwa River Linking Nationwide Mission on December 25, on the a hundredth delivery anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
— The KBLP envisages transferring water from the Ken River to the Betwa River, each tributaries of the Yamuna. The Ken-Betwa Hyperlink Canal will likely be 221 km in size, together with a 2-km tunnel.
— It’s the first venture underneath the Nationwide Perspective Plan for the interlinking of rivers, which was ready in 1980. This plan has 16 tasks underneath its peninsular part, together with the KBLP. Aside from this, 14 hyperlinks are proposed underneath the Himalayan rivers growth plan.
— The Ken-Betwa Hyperlink Mission has two phases. Section-I’ll contain constructing the Daudhan Dam advanced and its subsidiary items such because the Low Stage Tunnel, Excessive Stage Tunnel, Ken-Betwa Hyperlink Canal and energy homes. Section-II will contain three parts — Decrease Orr Dam, Bina Complicated Mission and Kotha Barrage.
— On March 22, 2021, a memorandum of settlement was signed among the many Ministry of Jal Shakti and the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the Ken-Betwa Hyperlink Mission.
— Nepal’s tourism capital, Pokhara, has taken journey tourism to new heights with its inaugural Worldwide Balloon Pageant.
— The nine-day occasion, working from December 24, 2024, to January 2, 2025, is being held within the Pame area, recognized for its scenic magnificence and journey alternatives.
Phrases making buzz
— The Satanic Verses: Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses is again on bookshelves after a 36-year-old import ban was not too long ago lifted by the Delhi Excessive Courtroom.
Check Your Data
(Word: One of the best ways to recollect details for UPSC and different aggressive exams is to recall them by means of MCQs. Attempt to clear up the next questions by yourself.)
A. Nationwide Farmers’ Day is widely known to commemorate the delivery anniversary of which of the next former Prime Ministers?
(a) Atal Bihari Vajpayee
(b) P. V. Narasimha Rao
(c) Chaudhary Charan Singh
(d) H. D. Deve Gowda
B. Think about the next statements associated to the Nationwide Human Rights Fee (NHRC):
1. Not too long ago, former Supreme Courtroom choose V Ramasubramanian was appointed the ninth Chairperson of the Nationwide Human Rights Fee (NHRC).
2. Solely the previous Chief Justices of India might be appointed as NHRC chairperson.
Which of the next statements is/are right?
(a) 1 solely
(b) 2 solely
(c) Each 1 and a pair of
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
C. Think about the next statements concerning the SPadex Mission:
1. On December 25, the ISRO launched the SPadex Mission from Sriharikota.
2. It has launched SDX01 or Chaser and SDX02 or Goal satellite tv for pc from PSLV-C60 automobile.
Which of the next statements is/are right?
(a) 1 solely
(b) 2 solely
(c) Each 1 and a pair of
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
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