Current Affairs in English – December 8 2022

National Events:

President Droupadi Murmu:

President Droupadi Murmu is on a two – day visit to Uttarakhand from 8 December 2022.
She will virtually inaugurate and lay foundation stones for various projects of Uttarakhand related to energy, education, roads, transport and urban development.
She will address the valedictory function of the 97th Common Foundation Course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.

3 day small arms firing competition:

3 day small arms firing competition among the Indian Army, Border Security Force, and Indo-Tibetan Border Police concluded in Udhampur district on 7 December 2022.
The competition at BSF’s small arms firing range at Juganoo, Udhampur was designed to meet contemporary operational requirements, including firing various small arms to test speedy engagement and precision shooting.

Indian Railways:

Indian Railways has loaded 1,002 Million Tons of freight in the current financial year (2022-23) till date.
The same was achieved on 24th December 2021.Railways freight revenues also showed a growth of 16.1 per cent and currently stands at 1,08,593 crore rupees as compared to 93,532 crore rupees last year till 6 December. The Coal contributed 485 Million Tons in this 1,000 Million Tons mark.

Surety Bond insurance product:

India’s first ever Surety Bond insurance product is going to be launched on December 19, 2022. This was informed by Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.
Surety bonds are different from corporate bonds and financial guarantees. Surety bonds refer to the performance or delivery obligation to complete the insured project.

Geo-Ladakh:

Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh has informed that Government of Ladakh has approached the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) for developing Spatial Data Infrastructure geoportal ‘Geo-Ladakh’.
The project encompasses spatial database generation using remote sensing and geospatial techniques. An MoU was also signed between IIRS (ISRO) and UT-Ladakh Administration in Jan 2022.

Bhupendra Patel:

Bhupendra Patel will take oath as the 17 Chief Minister of Gujarat on 12 December 2022. Patel is an MLA from the Ghatlodia seat, a post previously held by Anandiben Patel.
He had also served as the chairman of the Standing Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). He has been serving as the CM of Gujarat since September 2021.

FAI:

Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) Annual Seminar 2022 in New Delhi in December 2022.
He also released three FAI publications and FAI Data portal. This portal will create a uniform data base. FAI Annual Seminar 2022 is devoted to the theme ‘ Fertilizer Sector by 2030.

Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas:

India will be hosting the 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas in Indore from 8-10 January 2023. Dr.Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, will be the Chief Guest at the 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD).
Australian Member of Parliament (MP) Zaneta Mascarenhas will be the guest of honour at the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas which will be held on 8 January, 2023.

Kerala:

Kerala government has appointed Mallika Sarabhai, a well – known classical dancer as chancellor of Kerala Kalamandalam deemed-to- be-university of art and culture on 7 December 2022.
The Kerala Cabinet on Nov 9 decided to bring in an ordinance to remove governor Arif M. Khan from the post of chancellor. The Governor had also appointed Ciza Thomas as VC of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University.

N Chandrasekaran:

N Chandrasekaran was appointed the chair of B20 India and led the business agenda during India’s G20 presidency on 7 December 2022. Chandrasekaran is Chairman of the board of Tata Sons, the promoter of more than 100 Tata group companies.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is appointed as the B20 India Secretariat by the Union government to lead the B20 India process.

AB-ArK:

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai launched a drive for the distribution of Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) health insurance cards on December 8, 2022.
The scheme offers coverage for 1,650 procedures. Since its launch in 2018, 42 lakh beneficiaries have received coverage for procedures worth Rs 5,426 crore.

Tamil Nadu Events:

Karthigai Deepam Chariot festival:

The Karthigai Deepam Chariot festival was held at Tiruparangunram in Madurai on 28 Nov to 06 December 2022. This festival is mentioned in literature of Tamils known as Ahananuru, a collection poems.
It is one of the great books of Sangam literature that talks about the happenings between 200 BC and 300 AD. Avaiyyar, renowned woman of Sangam age also mentions about karthigai Deepam in her poems.

Sindhuja-l:

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Researchers have developed an ‘Ocean Wave Energy Converter’ that can generate electricity from sea waves. The trials of this device were successfully completed in December 2022.
The product has been named ‘Sindhuja – l’, which means ‘generated from the ocean’. It targets generating 1MW of power from ocean waves in the next 3 years.

International Events:

Dina Boluarte:

Dina Boluarte has created history by becoming Peru’s first female President. She was appointed after Congress ousted former president Pedro Castillo. She the sixth Peruvian president in less than five years.
Boluarte’s term will extend through July 2026. On July 29, 2021, she was sworn in as Minister for Development and Social Inclusion, a position she held until November 25, 2022.

Ircon International Limited:

Ircon International Limited has bagged an order in Sri Lanka worth 14.89 million dollars on competitive bidding basis.
The Miniratna Public sector enterprise was awarded the work for procurement of Design, Installation, Testing, Commissioning and Certifying of Signalling and Telecommunication system by Sri Lanka Railways. The project will be carried out under Indian Line of Credit.

Deepika Padukone:

Actor Deepika Padukone will unveil the FIFA World Cup 2022 trophy in Qatar during the final match of FIFA World Cup on 18 December 2022. She will be the first bollywood actor to unveil FIFA World Cup trophy.
The final match will be played at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar on 18 December. The tournament is being held from Nov 20 to Dec 18. She was also awarded the TIME100 Impact Award in 2022.

“Person of the Year”:

Time magazine named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 2022’s “Person of the Year” on 07 December 2022. He was named for his courage in resisting Russia’s devastating invasion.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. ‘Person of the Year’ is an annual issue of the United States news magazine ‘Time’, started in 1927.

‘Maitri Diwas’:

The 51st anniversary of ‘Maitri Diwas’ marking the recognition granted to Bangladesh by India in 1971 was celebrated in Dhaka on 6 December 2022. The event was organized by the Embassy of India in Dhaka.
Minister for Liberation of Bangladesh A.K.M Haque was the Chief Guest on the occasion. The decision to observe Dec 6 as ‘Maitri Diwas’ was taken by the PMs of respective countries in March 2021.

International religious freedom:

‘India is home to people of various faiths; Aid will continue to be provided to maintain religious freedom there,’ the United States said.
A few days after the United States announced that religious freedom has been badly affected in 12 countries including China, Pakistan and Myanmar, the opinion regarding India has come out.
The United States has released its annual report on international religious freedom.