VISION

📰 Supreme Court’s views on ‘Indianisation’ of the legal system have varied

Vision IAS Prelims 2021 Test 1 With Solution in Hindi PDF

1)  Japan launches Inmarsat-6 F1 Communications Satellite

•Japan has launched Inmarsat-6 F1, a communication satellite, through a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIA204 rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center that will enter geostationary orbit, about 22,240 miles (35,790 kilometres) above the earth. It is developed by the London-based company Inmarsat as a part of its next-generation satellite broadband service. The satellite is 12,060-pound (5,470 kilograms) and is the first of two ‘I-6’ spacecraft.

2)  Tamil Nadu CM launched ‘Meendum Manjappai’ scheme

•Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has launched the ‘Meendum Manjappai’ scheme to promote the use of cloth bags by the public and discourage the use of plastic bags. This awareness campaign on using ‘yellow’ cloth bag or ‘manjapai’ as it is called in Tamil, is aimed at encouraging the people to return to the use of this eco-friendly bag and discard the plastic bags. The state government had enforced a ban on the production, use, storage, distribution, transportation or sale of 14 types of plastics with effect from January 1, 2019.

A government committee has identified the single-use plastic (SUP) items to be banned based on an index of their utility and environmental impact. It has proposed a three-stage ban:

•The first category of SUP items proposed to be phased out are plastic sticks used in balloons, flags, candy, ice cream and earbuds, and thermocol that is used in decorations.

•The second category proposed to be banned from July 1, 2022, includes items such as plates, cups, glasses and cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straws, trays; wrapping and packing films used in sweet boxes; invitation cards; cigarette packets; stirrers and plastic banners that are less than 100 microns in thickness.

•The third category of prohibition is for non-woven bags below 240 microns in thickness. This is proposed to start from September next year.

3)  Rajnath Singh inaugurates Brahmos missile manufacturing unit in Lucknow

•Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has laid the foundation stone of the BrahMos Aerospace cruise missile manufacturing unit in Lucknow. He also laid the foundation of DRDO Defence Technology and Test Centre in Lucknow. BrahMos Project will help in creating 5,500 fresh job opportunities.

4)  Good Governance Index 2021: Gujarat topped the ranking

•Good Governance Index 2021 was launched by Union Minister Amit Shah on the occasion of the Good Governance Day on 25 December 2021. GGI 2021 was prepared by the Department of Administration Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The GGI 2021 framework covered 10 sectors and 58 indicators. The aim of the Good Governance Index is to create a tool that can be used uniformly across the states for assessing the impact of various interventions that are taken up by Central and State Governments.

5)  A new book titled “The Modi Gambit: Decoding Modi 2.0” by Sanju Verma

•Sanju Verma, an economist and the BJP National Spokesperson, has authored a new book titled “The Modi Gambit: Decoding Modi 2.0”. The book features the various achievement in the last 2 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2nd term as PM of India. The foreword of the book is written by Padma Shri Mohandas Pai and the Afterword is written by ace journalist, Anand Narasimhan, Managing Editor at CNN News 18.

6)  Eishin Chihana named as new chairman of Yamaha Motor India Group

•India Yamaha Motor (IYM) Pvt Ltd. has announced that Eishin Chihana has taken charge of the Group’s India operations as its new Chairman. He has replaced Motofumi Shitara. Chihana has been associated with Yamaha Motor Company and its group companies across the globe since 1991.

•Eishin Chihana holds strong expertise across different verticals like Sales, Marketing and Business Management, with a major focus on Motorcycle Business Operations in European, North American, African, Middle Eastern and ASEAN markets. His experience also includes managing overseas sales of a wide variety of Yamaha Motor’s product ranges, not only Motorcycles but also ATVs, Marine Engines, Personal Watercrafts and Generators.

7)  Indian-origin judge appointed to South Africa’s highest judicial bench

•Indian origin, Narandran ‘Jody’ Kollapen has been appointed to South Africa’s highest judicial bench, the Constitutional Court. The appointment of 64-year-old Kollapen & Rammaka Steven Mathopo as the latest additions to the Constitutional Court after a lengthy process of public interviews. Both will take office from January 1, 2022. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the appointment of Rammaka Steven Mathopo and Kollapen to the Constitutional Court after lengthy public interviews.

8)  SEBI named Aarati Krishnan as a member of MF advisory panel

•Aarati Krishnan, Editorial Consultant with BusinessLine, has been inducted as a member of the Securities & Exchange Board of India’s Advisory Committee on Mutual Funds. The committee, chaired by Usha Thorat, former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, advises SEBI on matters related to mutual fund regulation to ensure investor protection, development of the industry and disclosure requirements. It suggests measures required to be taken to render the legal framework for mutual funds transparent and simple for investors and constituents.

•The committee has 24 members comprising CEOs of leading mutual fund houses as well as representatives from academia, exchanges, consumer interest groups, fund trustees, rating agencies, distribution firms and media.

9)  CEBR: India to become 3rd largest economy in 2031

•The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) from the United Kingdom has predicted that the Indian economy will become the world’s third-largest by the year 2031. In the year 2022, India is set to regain its sixth position in World Economic League Table (WELT) from France, as per CEBR.

•In the year 2020, India’s GDP had witnessed a contraction of 7.3% due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown leading to constraints on economic activity. India has witnessed a large scale spread of infections and has the third-highest death toll worldwide, behind US and Brazil. However, with the help of emergency aid and prompt measures taken by the Indian government, the country has recovered from the second wave of COVID-19.

10)  Viral Desai bagged “Global Environment And Climate Action Citizen Award 2021”

•Viral Sudhirbhai Desai, an industrialist from Surat, who is popularly known as the Greenman or green man of Gujarat has been honoured with the Global Environment and Climate Action Citizen Award 2021. Among the 28 personalities from 11 countries (which includes the United Kingdom(UK), the United States(US), New Zealand, France, and Malaysia,) who were honoured with this award, Viral Desai was the only Indian to win the honour for climate change.

11)  Pankaj Advani won National Billiards Title 2021

•Pankaj Advani has defended his National Billiards Title by winning his 11th tournament, after defeating his PSPB teammate Dhruv Sitwala in a 5-2 game final that was held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He represented the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) team in the National Billiards Championship. The 88th National Billiards and Snooker Championships 2021, organised by Cue Sports India at Bhopal, MP.

📰 Kerala tops NITI Aayog Health Index again; U.P. at bottom

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1)  International Day of Epidemic Preparedness : 27 December

•The United Nations and World Health Organization marked December 27 as the International day for Epidemic Preparedness. Battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, humans have learned about epidemic preparedness the hard way. In a bid to prepare for future outbreaks and sensitise people about epidemics on all levels. The day was first observed last December when the United Nations General Assembly had emphasised on the need to advocate the importance of the preparedness for, prevention of and partnership against epidemics.

2)  World Sangeet Tansen festival organized in Madhya Pradesh

•In Madhya Pradesh, the 97th edition of the World Sangeet Tansen festival started in Gwalior. A five-day World Sangeet Tansen festival starts from December 25 to December 30 in the city. The stage of the program has been constructed on the theme of the Siddhanath temple situated in Omkareshwar. Many artists not only from India but also from abroad will participate in the music festival.

•The first seven concerts were held at the stage prepared at the mausoleum of Tansen and the tomb of Mohammad Ghaus. The eighth concert will be held on the banks of the Jhilmil river, in Behat (Birthplace of Tansen) on December 30. The last brief concert will be held at Gwalior Fort on the same day.

3)  ASIGMA: Indian Army launched in-house messaging app

•Indian Army has launched a contemporary messaging application named ‘ASIGMA’ (Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application). It is a new generation web-based application developed entirely in-house by a team of officers of the Corps of Signals of the Army. It works as an alternative to Army Wide Area Network (AWAN) messaging application which has been in service for the past 15 years. The application has been sent out on Army-owned hardware and will cater to the army from this time forward, lending itself to lifetime support with future upgrades.

4)  M Venkaiah Naidu released a book titled “The Turnover Wizard – Saviour Of Thousands”

•Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has released the book titled “The Turnover Wizard – Saviour Of Thousands”, an autobiography of Arup Roy Choudhury, the former Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC Limited and NBCC (India) Limited. The book consolidates Arup Roy Choudhury’s learnings from life and brings out the management lesson from his life. The book is also endorsed by E Sreedharan, The Metro Man of India.

5)  Docprime tech launched India’s first ABDM integrated Health Locker

•Docprime tech has launched India’s first health locker integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). ABDM was launched in August 2020 for developing an integrated digital health infrastructure in the country. ABDM integrated Health Locker will provide users a digital and self-consented health data management system without any charges. It will store and manage health records electronically.

6)  Indian Navy decommissioned INS Khukri after 32 years

•INS Khukri (Pennant number 49), the first indigenously built Missile Corvette, was decommissioned after 32 years of service at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The warship was built by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MSD) and commissioned on 23rd August 1989 and had been part of both the Western and Eastern Fleets. The ship was commissioned in Mumbai by Shri Krishna Chandra Pant, the then Raksha Mantri and Mrs Sudha Mulla, wife of late Capt Mahendra Nath Mulla. Commander (now Retired Vice Admiral) Sanjeev Bhasin was the first Commanding Officer.

7)  NASA’s launched world’s largest telescope named James Webb Space

•NASA’s $10 billion telescopes James Webb Space Telescope designed to capture the first glimpse of the universe just shortly after the Big Bang is targeted for blastoff from the European Space Agency’s Kourou, French Guiana. The revolutionary world’s first-of-its-kind space-science observatory of the next decade will capture the earliest galaxies believed to have formed during the early universe’s formation. The new telescope will help scientists to probe the structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

8)  DRDO successfully conducted flight test of HEAT ‘Abhyas’

•Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully conducted a flight test of Indigenously developed High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) ‘Abhyas’ from Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off Odisha coast. During its trial, a high subsonic speed trajectory at a very low altitude with high endurance was demonstrated. It is Developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), DRDO laboratory along with other laboratories.

9)  Tamil Nadu Govt launched monitoring system “CM Dashboard Tamil Nadu 360”

•Tamil Nadu government has launched the Chief Minister (CM) Dashboard monitoring system, “CM Dashboard Tamil Nadu 360” in Chennai. It will enable CM to track all welfare schemes, including the status of their implementation, fund allocation, and the number of beneficiaries along with updates on the storage of water in dams and rainfall patterns.

10)  Kamlesh Gandhi named new Co-Chairman of FIDC

•Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC) has announced fresh appointments to its board of directors. Kamlesh Gandhi, CMD of MAS Financial Services has been appointed as Co-Chairman, FIDC in addition to Umesh Revankar, CEO and MD of Shriram Transport Finance Group. Sanjay Chamria has resigned as the Co-Chairman and Director, FIDC.

•Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC), which is a representative body of asset and loan financing NBFCs, has announced fresh appointments to its board of directors. Dinanath Dubhashi, MD and CEO, L&T Finance Holdings has been appointed as an additional Director of FIDC. The appointments were approved at a board meeting of FIDC on December 21.

11)  Former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Nirmal Chander Vij releases his new book

•A new book by former Indian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Nirmal Chander Vij (ret) claims to offer a “full picture” of the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and the way forward. The book published by HarperCollins India, the book of General Vij, The riddle of “Kashmir: the quest for peace in a troubled land”.

•In the book, General Vij argues that the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir are “symptomatic of Indo-Pakistani rivalry” after the partition, and contextualizes the issue by beginning the book with a summary of the history of the region. General Vij had been Director General of Military Operations during the Kargil War. After his retirement in 2005, he was founding vice president of the National Disaster Management Authority and director of the think tank Vivekananda India Foundation.

12)  RBL Bank: Rajeev Ahuja appointed new MD

•The RBL Bank board has appointed Rajeev Ahuja, who’s currently working as the Executive Director at the bank, as interim Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the bank with immediate effect, subject to the regulatory and other approvals. The board of directors at its meeting has accepted the request of Vishwavir Ahuja, Managing Director and CEO of the bank, to proceed on leave with immediate effect.

📰 India gives food aid, defence equipment to Mozambique