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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- He also announced that the services of three new medical colleges would soon be available in the state.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Uttarakhand Capitals: Dehradun (Winter), Gairsain (Summer);
- Uttarakhand Governor: Lt Gen Gurmit Singh;
- Uttarakhand Chief minister: Pushkar Singh Dhami.
RBI: Gujarat became India’s Largest Manufacturing Hub
Gujarat has left behind Maharashtra to become the country’s leading manufacturing hub, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Gujarat saw its Gross Value Addition (GVA) in manufacturing grow by 15.9 per cent annually between FY12 to FY20 to stand at Rs 5.11 lakh crore, data shows. GVA is an economic metric that measures the supply of goods and services in an economy.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s annual growth rate stood at nearly half of Gujarat’s at 7.5 per cent for the same time period and its GVA for manufacturing stood at Rs 4.34 lakh crore in FY20. Maharashtra is still the leading provider of services in India, with the state’s services GVA growing by 12.6 per cent annually, standing at Rs 15.1 lakh crore in FY20.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Gujarat Capital: Gandhinagar;
- Gujarat Governor: Acharya Devvrat;
- Gujarat Chief minister: Bhupendrabhai Patel.
Ravindra Jadeja ropes as Brand Ambassador of Kinara Capital
Bangalore based innovative, fast-growing fintech, Kinara Capital signed the Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, as its official brand ambassador on the occasion of the company’s 10th anniversary. Kinara Capital provide loan service to India’s MSMEs. Till date, Kinara Capital has disbursed 70,000 collateral-free loans. With this partnership, Kinara aims to boost its outreach in financing the MSME sector in the country. With a current AUM of INR 1000 crores, Kinara Capital plans to grow 500 per cent by the year 2025.
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.
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.
National Armed Forces Flag Day celebrated on 7th December
National armed forces day is also known as the National flag day of India. The day is every year celebrated and observed on 7th December. The aim to observe this day as the national armed forces day is to collect funds from the people for the betterment of armed forces. To know more about the national armed forces day, candidates are advised to read the article below.
History of the day:
A committee was set up on August 28, 1949, under the then Defense Minister of India. The committee decided to observe a Flag Day annually on December 7. The aim to celebrate this day as the national flag day Or national armed forces day is to distribute flags amongst the people and collect the funds from them for the betterment of the armed forces. The Defence Ministry of India in 1993 consolidated all the related welfare funds into a single Armed Forces Flag Day Fund.
Significance of the day:
All three branches of the Indian armed forces, The Indian Army, The Indian Air Forces, and The Navy, showcase a variety of shows, carnivals, dramas, etc to highlight to the general public the efforts of their personnel to ensure national security. The Armed Forces Flag Day commemoration and the collection of funds through the distribution of flags. People express their gratitude and appreciation to the current and veteran military personnel of India and acknowledge those who died in service to the country.
BWF : Viktor Axelsen, Tai Tzu Ying named 2021 BWF Player of the Year
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen and China’s Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying were named Male and Female player of the year 2021 respectively by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was the first season-ending award in this category for both Vicktor Axelsen and Tai Tzu Ying — the All England champions of 2020. Viktor Axelsen is the Olympic champion and Tai Tzu Ying is the Tokyo Games, silver medallist. Viktor Axelsen was rewarded for his extraordinary run starting from the Barcelona Spain Masters in February 2020.
Other awards:
| Category | Name |
| Most improved player of the Year | Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin |
| Pair of the Year | Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu |
| Para Badminton Pair of the Year | Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel |
| Female Para Badminton Player of the Year | Leani Ratri Oktila |
| Male Para Badminton Player of the Year | Qu Zimo |
| Eddy Choong Most Promising Player | Kunlavut Vitidsarn |
| Special mention | Kevin Cordon |
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Badminton World Federation Founded:1934;
- Badminton World Federation Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
- Badminton World Federation President: Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen.
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:
PM Modi inaugurated thought Leadership Forum on FinTech ‘InFinity Forum’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated a thought leadership forum on FinTech, ‘InFinity Forum’. The event was hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), under the aegis of the Government of India in collaboration with GIFT City and Bloomberg. Indonesia, South Africa and the United Kingdom were the partner countries in the 1st edition of the Forum.
The Forum focused on the theme of ‘Beyond’ with various sub-themes. The sub-themes include FinTech beyond boundaries, FinTech beyond Finance, and FinTech Beyond Next, with a focus on how Quantum Computing could impact the nature of the Fintech industry in the future and promote new opportunities.
Partners of the Forum:
NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, Invest India, FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) and NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) are some of the key partners of 2021’s Forum.
A book on ‘Public Service Ethics’ authored by Prabhat Kumar
The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu launched ‘Public Service Ethics- A Quest for Naitik Bharat’ authored by Prabhat Kumar, published by IC Centre for Governance, at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas, New Delhi. The book highlights the multiple dimensions element of human character, the practice of ethical principles as a way of life. It marked the importance of accountability, integrity, transparency and trustworthiness of the public governance system.
About Prabhat Kumar:
Prabhat Kumar was an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1963 batch, Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre. Prabhat Kumar is an Indian politician and retired civil servant. He served as the Cabinet Secretary between 1998 and 2000. On the creation of Jharkhand in November 2000, he was made the first Governor.
Adama Barrow wins second term as Gambia’s President
The President of Gambia, Adama Barrow, won the second term as President during Gambia’s presidential election by achieving over 53% votes from 50 of 53 constituencies. He defeated his main challenger Ousainou Darboe who won 27.7% of vote. The results of the election were declared by Electoral commission Chairman Alieu Momarr Njai. Adama Barrow’s assumption as President 5 years ago ended more than 20 years of the dictatorship of former dictator Yahya Jammeh.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Gambia Capital: Banjul;
- Gambia Currency: Gambian dalasi.
Unix signs Jasprit Bumrah as Brand Ambassador
Unix, an Indian Mobile Accessories manufacturing brand, has signed Indian Cricket Fast Bowler, Jasprit Bumrah as its Brand Ambassador to increase the visibility of their products. The products include wearable mobile electronics such as Chargers, Earphones, Data Cables, Power Banks, Wireless Speakers, Smartphone Batteries, Bluetooth neckbands and TWS are mostly manufactured and marketed across India through distributors.
GRSE launches first large survey vessel Sandhayak for Indian Navy
Indian shipbuilder Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) has achieved a new milestone with the launch of the first large survey vessel for the Indian Navy. Called Sandhayak, the vessel is the first in the series of four ships being built under the Survey Vessel Large (SVL) project. It has been built at GRSE.
Indian State Defence Minister Ajay Bhatt, who was present at the launch ceremony, said that the ship’s launch is a new milestone for the country’s vision of ‘New India’ by 2030. In October 2018, the Indian Ministry of Defence and GRSE signed the contract to build the four survey ships. Featuring over 80% indigenous content by cost, the ships are fully designed by GRSE and are being built using ‘Integrated Construction’ concepts.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- GRSE Chairman & Managing Director: Rear Admiral V K Saxena.
- GRSE Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal.
Lewis Hamilton wins inaugural edition of Saudi Arabian GP
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (Britain) won the inaugural edition of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (GP), by surpassing Max Verstappen (Netherlands) in the event held at the 30-kilometre (18.6-mile) coastal resort area in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Reema Juffali, has been appointed as an ambassador for the first edition of the Saudi Grand Prix, under the Formula 1 (F1) World Championship.
About the Reema Juffali:
Reema Juffali is the 1st Female F1 driver of Saudi Arabia. She is a 29-year-old driver, who has competed in the British Formula 3 championship 2021. She is the first racer to take a lap on the street circuit in Jeddah and also participate in the Williams team car display, dating back to 1979 that is sponsored by Saudi Airlines.
India’s 1st Woman Psychiatrist Sarada Menon passes away
Padma Bhushan Dr Mamballaikalathil Sarada Menon, India’s 1st woman Psychiatrist and the longest-serving head of the Institute of Mental Health has passed away. She was born in a Malayali family in Mangaluru, Karnataka. She was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1992 for social works.
Some facts about Dr Sarada Menon:
- Dr M Sarada Menon started her career as a Psychiatrist in the Institute of Mental Health (then known as Government Mental Hospital) in Kilpauk, Chennai in 1959.
- She became the 1st woman Superintendent of the Institute of Mental Health in 1961.
- She established the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF India) in 1984 along with psychiatrist R Thara.
- She also founded ASHA, a community-based platform supporting the families of those affected by mental illnesses.
VP launched book ‘The Midway Battle: Modi’s Roller-coaster Second Term’
Vice President (VP) M. Venkaiah Naidu launched a book titled ‘The Midway Battle: Modi’s Roller-coaster Second Term’ authored by Gautam Chintamani and published by Bloomsbury India at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas, New Delhi. The book mentioned the political scenario of India. It marks the second tenure of the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Midway Battle shed light on the various legislations like the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, triple talaq, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as well as farming laws.
