1) International Human Solidarity Day: 20 December
•International Human Solidarity Day is observed globally on 20 December every year to celebrate unity in diversity and raise awareness about the importance of solidarity. According to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, solidarity is among the fundamental values that are essential to international relations.
2) Rajnath Singh inaugurates advanced “HWT” test facility in Hyderabad
•Union Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the advanced Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (HWT) test facility of the DRDO in Hyderabad, Telangana. The state-of-the-art HWT Test facility has made India as the only third country in the world, after the US and Russia, to have such a huge facility in size and capability.
3) India’s 1st CoE for Skill Development in Power Sector inaugurated in Gurugram
•The Minister of State for Skill Development, Raj Kumar Singh has inaugurated the first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for ‘skill development in the power sector’ in Gurugram. The CoE has been established in the campus of National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram, Haryana.
4) “Varasat” campaign launched in Uttar Pradesh
•The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a special campaign ‘Varasat’ (natural succession) to curb property & land-related disputes in rural areas. This is a first of its kind campaign in the state which aims to put an end the land-related issues in the rural areas and eradicate the exploitation of the villagers over succession rights by land mafias, who generally target disputed properties. The two-month-long special drive will continue till 15th February 2020.
5) 20th IORA Council of Ministers Meeting Held in UAE
•The 20th edition of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Council of Ministers (COM) Meeting via video conferencing under the Chairmanship of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The theme of the meeting was “Promoting a Shared Destiny and Path to Prosperity in the Indian Ocean”. The Indian delegation was led by V. Muraleedharan, MoS, Ministry of External Affairs. Sri Lanka has assumed the charge of Vice-Chair of IORA for the period 2021-23.
6) Singapore’s ‘Hawker’ Culture gets UNESCO recognition
•The Hawker Culture of street food in Singapore has been inducted by UNESCO in its prestigious ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. The Hawker Culture is a popular Singaporean style of street dining and culinary practices in a multicultural urban environment.
7) World Bank approves several projects to support development in India
•The World Bank has approved 4 India projects worth over $800 million. The projects will support a range of development initiatives that supports the efforts of India to rebuild itself by creating a sustainable and resilient economy.
The projects that have been approved are:
1.$400 million Second Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program.
2.$100 million Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project (CHIRAAG).
3.$68 million Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources Project.
4.$250 million Second Dam Improvement and Rehabilitation Project (DRIP-2).
8) S. Jaishankar addresses 5th Annual Global Technology Summit
•The 5th edition of the annual Global Technology Summit (GTS) was organised virtually by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India in collaboration with Carnegie India (CI). GTS is one of the four flagship annual conferences organised by MEA. The other three conferences are the Raisina Dialogue, the Geo-economic dialogue, and the Indian Ocean Conference.
•The theme of the 2020 GTS was “The Geopolitics of Technology”. The speakers from included the External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar, and Dr K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.
The industry experts, policymakers, and scholars from all over the world participated in the five-day event to deliberate on five comprehensive sub-themes, which included:
•Geopolitics of Technology
•Data: Linking the World
•Digital Payments: The Future of Global Financial Highways
•Digital Inclusion: Taking the Local to the Global
•Transforming Healthcare for a Post-COVID World
9) Rajnath Singh hands over high-tech systems to chiefs of 3 armed forces
•The Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh recently handed over three indigenously developed high technology systems to chiefs of the three armed forces: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The three systems namely, Border Surveillance System (BOSS), Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) and ASTRA Mk-I Missile, have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
