Current Affairs, December 2019

31st December, Current Affairs:

• General Manoj Mukund Naravane took charge as the 28th Chief of Army Staff today as General Bipin Rawat retired after serving three years as the Army Chief.
• Magnus Carlsen retain the World blitz title, after winning a playoff against Hikaru Nakamura.

30th December, Current Affairs:

• Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat has been named India's first Chief of Defence Staff. General Bipin Rawat, currently the Chief of Army Staff, has been named as India's first Chief of Defence Staff a day before he was to retire from service.
• Nationalist Congress Party's senior leader Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
• India has improved its composite score from 57 in 2018 to 60 in the Sustainable Development Goals Index 2019-20. Kerala achieved the first rank in the composite SDG Index with a score of 70, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 69. This was revealed in the second edition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index which was released by Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr Rajiv Kumar in New Delhi today.
• Union Environment Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar has released State of Forests Report, 2019. As per report, the total forest cover of the country is 7,12,249 sq km which is 21.67% of the geographical area of the country.


29th December, Current Affairs:

• Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan conferred with Dadasaheb Phalke Award - India's highest film honour for his contribution to the Indian cinema by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, JMM leader Hemant Soren has taken oath as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand.
• Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy claimed the World Women's Rapid Chess Championship title after drawing the Armageddon game against Lei Tingjie of China in Moscow, Russia.

28th December, Current Affairs:

• The United Nations approved a new resolution in order to draft an international treaty to combat cyber-crime.
• NASA Astronaut Christina Koch creates a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, surpassing the earlier record of 288 days in space.

27th December, Current Affairs:

• 14 people killed while 35 others survived with injuries when a Kazakhstan plane crashed shortly after take-off early this morning.
• National Tribal Dance Festival has begun in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.
• People in Ladakh region are celebrating Ladakhi New Year, Losar with festive fervour today.

25th December, Current Affairs:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi named Rohtang passageway in Himachal Pradesh as Atal Tunnel to mark the 95th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• Christmas is being celebrated today.


24th December, Current Affairs:

• Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani added $16.5 billion to his wealth in 2019 taking his total net worth to $60.8 billion. He is now the 12th richest person in the world.
• The cabinet committee on security (CCS) has approved the creation of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) post that will function as a single point of contact for different branches of the armed forces and as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister on tri-service matters.
• Union Cabinet approves conduct of Census of India 2021 and updation of National Population Register. The exercise, which will be carried out between April and September next year.
• Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today unveiled India's first long distance CNG bus fitted with CNG cylinders at a function in New Delhi. It can travel around one thousand kilometre in a single fill.

23rd December, Current Affairs:

• Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu presented the 66th National Film Awards at a ceremony in New Delhi today.
• Counting of votes is underway for 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress alliance is set for a dicisive victory in Jharkhand, with lead well above the majority mark.

22nd December, Current Affairs:

• In Cuba, President Miguel Díaz-Canel has appointed Manuel Marrero Cruz as the country's first prime minister in more than 40 years.
• Rohit Sharma beat Sanath Jayasuriya's 22-year-old record of the most runs scored as an opener in a calendar year. When Rohit scored his 9th run during India's chase of 316 in Cuttack vs West Indies, he pushed his overall run-tally for the current year to 2388 runs, thereby surpassing Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya's 1997 record of most international runs as an opener in a calendar year.
• National Mathematics Day is being celebrated today to commemorate the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

21st December, Current Affairs:

• US President Donald Trump officially launched US military 'Space Force' at an army base near Washington.
• Pakistani opener Abid Ali becomes the first pakistani batsmen to hit hundreds in consecutive matches in his first two Tests on the third day of the second match against Sri Lanka in Karachi. He is also the first batsman ever to score hundreds on both Test and one-day debuts.

20th December, Current Affairs:

• The fifth and final phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections passed off peacefully in 16 constituencies.
• Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa has announced the Gandhi Citizenship Education Award each year inspired by his different thoughts and quotes.
• Former world champion, weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won the women's 49kg category gold medal at the 6th Qatar International Cup in Doha.
• Australian Pacer Pat Cummins became the most expensive overseas buy as he was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a 15.50 crore rupees.
• Virat Kohli has secured the first position in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List.

19th December:

• The Goods and Services Tax or GST Council has fixed a uniform tax rate of 28 per cent on both state-run and private lottery.
• Donald Trump became the third US president to be impeached, as the House of Representatives formally charged him with abuse of power in a historic vote.
• India's left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has created history by becoming the 1st Indian bowler to pick up more than 1 hat-trick in international cricket. Kuldeep Yadav achieved the feat during the 2nd ODI between India and West Indies at the YS Rajashekara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam.


18th December:

• Veteran actor Shriram Lagoo died at a private hospital in Pune at the age of 92. Lagoo played important role in the growth of theatre movement in Maharashtra in the post-Independence era.
• Sahitya Akademi today announced its annual Award- 2019 in 23 languages. In Hindi, Nand Kishore has been awarded for his Poetry ‘Chilte Hue Apne Ko’ and in English Dr Shashi Tharoor has been awarded for his Non-Fiction ‘An Era of Darkness’.
• Cyrus Mistry restored as the executive chairman of Tata Sons today by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

17th December:

• Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane will be the next Chief of Army Staff. He is currently serving as Vice Chief of the Army. Lt Gen Naravane will succeed Gen Bipin Rawat, who will retire on the 31st of this month.
• IAS officer Ravi Mittal took charge as the new Secretary, Information and Broadcasting Ministry today.
• In a first in Pakistan's history, a three-member bench of the special court, headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, today handed former military ruler Pervez Musharraf death sentence in the long-drawn high treason case.

16th December:

• The nation celebrates Vijay Diwas today to commemorate India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971 war.

14th December:

• National Energy Conservation Day 2019 is observed in India today.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel has topped the Forbes’ 2019 edition of 100 World’s Most Powerful Women for the ninth consecutive year. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is ranks 34th in the list.


13th December:

• British PM Boris Johnson’s Conservative party has won a large majority in the UK elections 2019. The Conservatives have won 364 seats out of the total 650 seats in the British House of Commons, while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party won 203 seats.
• Union Cabinet approved Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 11, 2019.

12th December:

• Former South African captain Graeme Smith has been appointed as the nation’s first acting director of cricket.
• The Lok Sabha passed the International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019.
• Climate change activist Greta Thunberg has been selected as 'Person of the Year' by Time Magazine for the Year 2019.
• International Universal Health Coverage Day is celebrated across the world.

11th December, Current Affairs:

• The South Pacific archipelago of Bougainville voted to become independent of Papua New Guinea, becoming the world's latest territory to seek secession.
• India's most advanced surveillance satellite placed into orbit with a rocket launched from the country's spaceport in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota. The radar imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR1 was launched by Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO on board the PSLV-C48 rocket with its 50th mission lifting off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
• Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo confered with the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences along with Michael Kremer in Sweden.
• 13th South Asian Games concluded in Nepal last evening. India finished on top with 312 medals comprising 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze.


10th December, Current Affairs:

• India, for the first time, ranks among the top 10 in this year's Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) released today at the COP25 climate summit in Spanish capital Madrid.
• Lok Sabha has passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019. 311 members voted in favour of the Bill and 80 members opposed it.
• The world observes Human Rights Day today. The Day is celebrated on the 10th December every year to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

9th December, Current Affairs:

• The World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after accusing Moscow of falsifying data from an anti-doping laboratory.
• The ruling BJP party wins 12 of 15 seats in the Karnataka assembly bypolls. The Congress could bag two seats and an Independent registered victory in one.
• The Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed by the Lok Sabha today.
• South Africa's Zozibini Tunzi has been crowned Miss Universe for the year 2019, beating more than 90 contestants.
• Veteran opener Wasim Jaffer became the first player in Indian cricket to feature in 150 Ranji matches.


8th December, Current Affairs:

• Forty-three people were killed when a fire broke out at a luggage manufacturing factory in north Delhi.


7th December, Current Affairs:

• Polling underway in second phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections for 20 constituencies.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a discussion on internal security-related issues at the All India Conference of Directors General and Inspectors General of Police in Pune.
• Armed Forces Flag Day is observed across the country today. It is observed on the 7th of December every year to honour the martyrs and Armed Forces personnel, who safeguard the motherland.

5th December, Current Affairs:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its fifth bi-monthly Monetary Policy has kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent.
• The National Capital Territory of Delhi Bill, 2019 passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Bill seeks to regularise 1731 unauthorised colonies in Delhi which house over 40 lakh people.
• A special court today declared absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi, prime accused in the Punjab National Bank scam, a fugitive economic offender (FEO).
• India's GS Lakshmi is all set to create history as she will become the first female match referee to officiate in a men's One-day International (ODI) match, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced today.


4th December, Current Affairs:

• Former union minister P Chidambaram walked out of Delhi's Tihar jail this evening after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the INX Media case.
• The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill or CAB, which seeks to make it easier for non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become citizens of India, has been cleared by the cabinet for tabling in parliament.
• The Cabinet approved a proposal to extend reservation for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies for another 10 years.
• Alphabet CEO Larry Page and President Sergey Brin announced that they are stepping down. Sundar Pichai will be the new CEO of Alphabet. He will also remain the CEO at Google.
• Indian shooters bagged nine medals, including four golds in the 13th South Asian Games in Kathmandu.


3rd December, Current Affairs:

• The Parliament has passed the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019 with the Rajya Sabha approving it today.
• The Parliament today passed a bill which seeks to merge two Union Territories -- Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli -- into one unit. The Rajya Sabha passed the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 through voice vote.
• Uttar Pradesh batsman Priyam Garg will lead defending champions India in next year's Under-19 ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in South Africa.
• International Day of Persons with Disabilities is being observed today.
• International medal-winning Indian woman boxer Neeraj (57kg), who was among the probables for 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has been provisionally suspended after failing a dope test.
• In South Asian Games, Indian men's volleyball team has clinched gold defeating Pakistan in the final at Kathmandu. In a thrilling final India crushed Pakistan by 3-1.
• Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi won the prestigious award Ballon D'Or for a record-breaking 6th time.


2nd December, Current Affairs:

• Today is observed as National Pollution Control Day.
• Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei defeats Sourabh Verma in straight sets by 21-15, 21-17 in the final of Syed Modi International Men's single.
• Defending champions Karnataka clinch a last-ball win as they beat Tamil Nadu by one run in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20.


1st December, Current Affairs:

• World AIDS Day is being observed today to raise public awareness about Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS. It is a pandemic disease caused due to the infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
• Goods and services tax or GST collection stood at Rs 1,03,492 crore in the month of November.