- National:
- India was unanimously elected as a member representing the Asian region in the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) on December 2, 2023.
- The Lok Sabha discussed and passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023. This bill aims to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, of 2004. The amendment changes the nomenclature of “weak and underprivileged classes (social castes)” to “other backward classes” and makes consequential amendments in clause (q), of section 2 of the said Act.
- Parliament passed the Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 with Lok Sabha giving assent to it . The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill already in August this year during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The Bill amends the Advocates Act, of 1961.
- On December 4, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot Fort in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district. The unveiling ceremony took place around 4:15 p.m. This event coincided with the celebration of Navy Day 2023.
- On 5th December 2023, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj had launched the Geographic Information System (GIS) application “Gram Manchitra” (https://grammanchitra.gov.in). This application facilitates and supports Gram Panchayats to perform planning at the Gram Panchayat level using geospatial technology.
- International:
- Pakistan has been elected as the Vice Chair of the UNESCO Executive Board for the term 2023-2025 from the Asia Pacific Group. The elections were held during the 218th Session of the UNESCO Executive Board at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Pakistan was elected with overwhelming support, getting 38 votes against India with 18 votes.
- Banking:
- According to a report by Visa, there has been a 12.5% growth in contactless cross-border transactions during the World Cup as compared to July 2023. This surge in transactions indicates the increasing adoption and convenience of contactless payments globally.
- The Bombay High Court has ordered the department to refund the tax deposited by HSBC under protest. The bench of Justice G. S. Kulkarni and Justice Jitendra Jain observed that once the amounts were deposited by the petitioner and retained by the department without the authority of law, the claim of the petitioner for refund could not have been denied.
- Economy:
- According to a report by S&P Global Ratings, India is on track to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030. This projection is based on the expectation that India’s annual nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth will average 6.3% through 2030. The economy is expected to more than double to $7.3 trillion over this period, from $3.5 trillion in 2022.
- Defence:
- The Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd delivered the INS Sandhayak (Yard 3025), the largest survey vessel ever built in India, to the Indian Navy on Monday, 04 December 2023. This is the first in the series of four Survey Vessels (Large) being built by GRSE.
- Science & Technology:
- China has indeed launched the MisrSat-2 satellite, which was jointly developed with Egypt. The MisrSat-2 is a remote-sensing satellite and was launched by a Long March-2C carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The launch took place at 12:10 pm (Beijing Time) on December 4, 2023.
- Reports:
- The India Infrastructure Report 2023 on Urban Planning and Development was released on 4 December 2023 by Shri Venkaiah Naidu, former Vice-President of India, who served as the Chief Guest (virtually) along with Mr. Amitabh Pant, G20 Sherpa of India and former CEO, NITI Aayog.
- The report titled “Equitable Phaseout of Fossil Fuel Extraction” has indeed been released by the Civil Society Equity Review on 5th December 2023. The report applies a long-standing “equity analysis” to countries’ climate pledges (Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs) to assess how each country is delivering on the Paris Agreement’s goal of pursuing best efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
- Appointments:
- Vivek Kumar Gupta was appointed as a part-time government director on the board of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) on December 4, 2023. His appointment is with immediate effect. Before this, Gupta was the Principal Executive Director (Gati Shakti) at the Railway Board.
- Rajiv Anand has been appointed as the Chairman of Max Life Insurance with effect from December 5, 2023. He succeeds Analjit Singh, who was the previous Chairman of the Company. Rajiv Anand is also the Deputy Managing Director of Axis Bank and has been associated with Max Life Insurance as a Non-Executive Director since April 6, 2021.
- Awards & Honors:
- Olympian M. Sreeshankar, the long jump silver medallist in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, has won the 35th Jimmy George Foundation Award for the best sportsperson of Kerala. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a plaque. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Jimmy George Sports Academy in Peravoor, Kannur, on December 22.
Questions:
Q.1 What is the projected average annual nominal GDP growth for India through 2030 according to S&P?a. 4.3%
b. 5.3%
c. 6.3%
d. 7.3%
Q.2 What is the name of the satellite that China launched jointly with Egypt?
a. MisrSat-1
b. MisrSat-2
c. MisrSat-3
d. MisrSat-4
