National News
Global Migration Film Festival (GMFF)
- The festival was organised by the International Organisation of Migrants (IOM) and Dhaka University Film Society with the support of the European Union.
- IOM was established in 1951, is the UN migration agency that works to ensure orderly and humane management of the migration issue.
Government amended IEPFA Rules, 2016
- The government has amended the Investor Education & Protection Fund (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules 2016.
- The amended rules inter-alia provide for digitisation with transparent and faceless processing of claims by the Authority.
Arms (Amendment) Bill 2019
- Increase the quantum of penalties for violations of the law to prison time between 10 years to life imprisonment. Illegal manufacturing, sale, conversion, repair, import/export would attract 7 years to life imprisonment.
- Increases the duration of the validity of arms license from 3 years to 5 years.
Govt authorised NHAI to set up Infrastructure Investment Trust
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has given the proposal to set up the Infrastructure Investment Trust.
- The setting up of the Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) is approved as per Guidelines issued by Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI.
Social Security Code Bill
- This bill was approved by Union Cabinet last week to pave the way for Universalisation of social security for 50 crore workers in the country.
- After this bill came in effect, organised sector employees will be relieved as their Provident fund contribution will be decreased and return would increase.
AP govt to bring New Laws to Protect Women & Children
- The draft DISHA ACT contains the provision for harsher punishments, including death sentence, to those guilty of heinous crimes against women.
- Once the bill is passed, Andhra Pradesh will become the first state in India to have capital punishment for rape cases.
7th Economic Census
- The economic census is being carried out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) that has a tie-up with Common Service Centre.
- For the first time, the entire census is being conducted on an IT-based digital platform to ensure high accuracy and data security.
Banking
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019
- The amendment aims to boost investment in financially distressed sectors by removing bottlenecks and streamlining the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).
- In order to prevent frivolous triggering of CIRP, additional thresholds for Financial Creditors represented by an authorized representative has been introduced.
Cabinet approves "Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme"
- The window for one-time partial credit guarantee will remain open till 30th June 2020 or till such date by which Rs. 1 lakh crore assets get purchased by the Banks, whichever is earlier.
- The Finance Minister announced in the Budget 2019-20 that the Government will provide one time six months' partial credit guarantee to Public Sector Banks for the first loss up to 10%, for purchase of high-rated pooled assets of financially sound NBFCs, amounting to a total of Rs 1 lakh crore during the current financial year.
Index and Ranking
Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)
- India ranked 9th in the current levels of per capita emissions and energy use, showing that emissions are still comparatively low.
- The index is jointly presented by German watch, New Climate Institute and Climate Action Network.
Appointments
| Name of the Person | Designation |
| Girish Chandra Chaturvedi | National Stock Exchange Chairman |
| Sanna Marin | Prime Minister of Finland |
Awards and Honours
| Award | Awardee |
| Miss Universe for the year 2019 | Zozibini Tunzi |
| Nobel Peace Prize 2019 | Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed |
| FICCI India Sports Awards 2019 | Railway Sports Promotion Board |
| British PM Boris Johnson | General Election in UK |
Important Days
| Date | Day | Theme |
| 10th December 2019 | World Human Rights Day | Theme: “Youth Standing up for Human Rights” |
| 14th December 2019 | National Energy Conservation Day | -- |
Government Schemes
Mission Indradhanush 2.0
- Its target is to immunize children under the age of 2 years and pregnant women.
- The immunization drive under the Mission consists of four rounds of immunization, which would be completed by March 2020.
Defence
Exercise Hand-In-Hand-2019
- This is a 14 days long joint training exercise and the People's Liberations Army (PLA) contingent from the Tibet Military Command and Indian Army contingent will participate in the exercise.
- The theme of the exercise is “counter-terrorism” under United Nations mandate.
NAVARMS-19
- NAVARMS is the only international seminar and exhibition on Naval Weapon Systems conducted in the country to share the views and concerns of stakeholders at a common platform.
- The past three editions of NAVARMS were organised in 2007, 2010 and 2013 with active participation of Ministry of Defence, DRDO, Industry and the users.
Science and Technology
RISAT-2BR1
- The PSLV (PSLV-C48), launched its fiftieth flight RISAT-2BR1 along with nine commercial satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
- The RISAT-2BR1 was successfully injected into the orbit of 576km after 16 minutes and 23 seconds of its launch from the First LaunchPad.
Sports
India won the 3-Nation Hockey Tournament
- India lost to Australia 1-2 in the final game but still won due to highest points (7 points from 4 matches).
- India was ahead of the hosts, Australia on goal difference.
- New Zealand with 3 points scored third position in the tournament.
WADA bans Russia from International Sporting Events
- The ruling means that if Russian athletes can demonstrate that they were not part of state-sponsored system of doping, they can still be allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics as neutrals.
- Russia's anti-doping agency can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days.
Summits and Conferences
4th India Water Impact Summit
- The Summit was organised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga) led by IIT Kanpur from 5th-7th Dec 19.
- The Summit was focused on: a) Integrated Water Resource Management in rural and urban areas b) Restoring Ground Water levels and other water related issues.
UNFCCC COP25
- The 25th session of Conference of Parties under the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC COP25) began in Madrid, Spain.
- Chile was the original host of UNFCCC COP25 and it cancelled the original hosting agreement for COP 25 on 30th October 2019.
