Current Affairs, December 2020

31st December, Current Affairs:

• Assam Assembly has passed 'The Assam Repealing Bill, 2020' to abolish all state-run Madrasas by converting them to general schools.
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MoRTH) has extended the deadline for the collection of toll charges on the National Highways using FASTag to February 15, 2021.
• All states will begin the dry run for Covid-19 vaccination from January 2. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the Union Health Ministry.

29th December, Current Affairs:

• French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, hailed for his visionary creations but also for bringing stylish clothes to the masses, died Tuesday aged 98.
• The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently announced awards for the decade.
• Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the ICC men's ODI Player of the Decade award. He also grabbed the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men's Cricketer of the Decade. Australia's Steve Smith won the ICC men's Test Player of the Decade award, while Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan returned with the ICC men's T20I Player of the Decade award.

28th December, Current Affairs:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi flag off India’s first ever driverless train operations on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line which will connect Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden metro station. The Prime Minister also inaugurated the fully operational National Common Mobility Card service on the Airport Express Line.
• The dry run for COVID-19 vaccination has begun in India. In the first phase, four states - Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Assam began the two day exercise from today.
• Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni won the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Decade and the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade respectively.

27th December, Current Affairs:

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni named captain of ICC’s ODI and T20 International teams of the decade while Virat Kohli being voted the skipper of the Test team. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were also included in T20I and ODI rosters, with Jasprit Bumrah finding a place in the shortest format team. Also, in the Test team, Kohli is joined by Ravichandran Ashwin.
• The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced the Women's T20I and ODI Teams of the Decade. India's two senior-most cricketers Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami made it to the 50-over side, while Harmanpreet Kaur and Poonam Yadav found a place in the T20I team.

26th December, Current Affairs:

• As per the annual report published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, China will overtake the United States to become the world's biggest economy in 2028.
• After Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh cabinet passes Anti-Conversion bill with 10 years in jail and up to ₹ 1 lakh in fine.
• India’s first Lithium refinery which will process Lithium ore to produce battery-grade material will be set up in Gujarat.

25th December, Current Affairs:

• Christmas is being celebrated across the globe today.
• The Nation pays homage to former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 96th birth anniversary today.
• The World football's governing body, FIFA has cancelled Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups that were scheduled to be played next year due to a coronavirus pandemic. These World Cups will now be played in 2023, with Indonesia still hosting the Under-20s and Peru the Under-17s.

24th December, Current Affairs:

• India added the Tso Kar Wetland Complex of Ladakh as its forty-second Ramsar site. This is the second Ramsar site in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
• National Consumer Rights Day is celebrated today.
• India successfully test-fired a medium range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) from Odisha coast. The medium range surface-to-air missile or MRSAM has been manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Ltd.

23rd December, Current Affairs:

• The Rashtriya Kisan Diwas is observed today. The Rashtriya Kisan Diwas or National Farmers Day in India is celebrated to honour the fifth Prime Minister of India, Choudhary Charan Singh.
• Karnataka imposes night curfew from 10pm to 6am till January 2. With this, Karnataka is the second state after Maharashtra to announce a new set of restrictions amid global fears over the new strain of coronavirus discovered in the UK.

22nd December, Current Affairs:

• India and several other countries have suspended their flights from United Kingdom due to the concerns about the new variant of COVID-19 that is spreading rapidly in England.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded with the ‘Legion of Merit’ by U.S. President Donald Trump for his role in advancing the India-U.S. relationship. The award was also presented to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The award was presented by Mr. O’Brien to India’s U.S. Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who accepted it on Mr. Modi’s behalf.

20th December, Current Affairs:

• India on Saturday crossed 1 crore COVID-19 cases, 323 days after the first case of the disease was reported in the country.
• Argentine star footballer Lionel Messi has equalled Brazilian legend Pele's record of 643 goals for a single club by scoring for Barcelona against Valencia. Football legend Pele scored 643 goals in 665 competitive games for Brazilian club Santos between 1956 and 1974 while Messi needed 748 matches from 2005 to 2020 to reach the tally.

18th December, Current Affairs:

• World Minorities Rights Day celebrated today.
• US President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Congresswoman Deb Haaland to serve as the first Native American interior secretary.

17th December, Current Affairs:

• The Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, has successfully launched the country’s new communication satellite CMS-01 in the intended orbit in space. It is India's 42nd communications satellite.
• The Ministry of AYUSH and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the formal recognition of Yogasana as a competitive sport in Khelo India, National and University Games.

16th December, Current Affairs:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute at National War Memorial on 50th anniversary of Vijay Diwas. Vijay Diwas is observed every year on December 16 as a mark of victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war that also led to the creation of Bangladesh.
• Qatar's capital city Doha won the hosting rights of 2030 Asian Games by beating Riyadh in a general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia.
• Kylie Jenner was crowned the highest-paid celebrity by Forbes in its Highest-Paid Celebrity list of 2020.
• Four sessions of JEE Main will be held in 2021, in February, March, April and May.

15th December, Current Affairs:

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be the chief guest in the Republic Day ceremony in January, 2021.
• Ashraf Patel was awarded the social entrepreneur of the year award. Ashraf Patel is the co-founder of two organizations -Pravah and ComMutiny Youth Collective, which train the youth for leadership roles.
• Carolina Araujo from Brazil becomes first non-Indian to win Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians. Araujo is a Mathematician at the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
• The Reserve Bank of India will be setting up its first Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC) in Jaipur for storage, receipt and dispatch of currency notes.

14th December, Current Affairs:

• The Ramanujan Prize for Mathematicians for the year 2020 was presented to Dr Carolina Arajuo. She is a mathematician from the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, Rio de Janerio.
• Retail inflation declined to 6.93% in November on softer food prices.
• Singapore becomes the first Asian country to clear Pfizer-BioNTech's novel coronavirus vaccine and expects delivery of the first shots by the end of December.

13th December, Current Affairs:

• International Universal Health Coverage Day is celebrated on 12th November, 2020.
• Centre has exempted Handicraft and Geographical Indications toys from Quality Control Order.

11th December, Current Affairs:

• An anti-Coronavirus vaccine being developed by the Pune-based company, Gennova, has become the first indigenous mRNA candidate to have received approval to initiate human clinical trial.
• Indian-American US Air Force colonel, Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari is among 18 astronauts who have been selected by NASA for its ambitious manned mission to the Moon and beyond.
• Morocco has become the latest Arab country to agree to normalise relations with Israel in a deal brokered with US help.
• U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were jointly named Time magazine’s 2020 Person of the Year.
• UNICEF Day is observed today.
• International Mountain Day is celebrated today by United Nations.

9th December, Current Affairs:

• The foreign ministers of China and Nepal certified the elevation of Mt Everest at 8,848.86 metres above sea level. The new height is 86 centimetres higher than the height of the Mountain recognised since 1954.
• A total of nine states have completed the implementation process of One Nation One Ration Card System. Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh have successfully completed the reforms in PDS.
• Today is International Anti-Corruption day. On 31st October 2003, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against corruption and designated December 9 as International Anti-Corruption Day
• Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel announce his retirement from all forms of cricket. Patel played 25 Test matches, 38 ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals for India.

8th December, Current Affairs:

• US President-elect Joe Biden has selected retired Army general Lloyd Austin to run the Pentagon as Secretary of Defence. He will be the first African-American to lead the Department of Defence.
• Indian-origin global health expert Anil Soni has been appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer of the newly launched The WHO Foundation.
• India clinched the 3 match T20 series against Australia by 2-1.
• The oldest and the largest administrative service of the Army, the Army Service Corps (ASC) is celebrating its raising day today. The ASC is mainly responsible for provisioning, procurement and distribution of supplies and petroleum products to the Army, Air Force, Navy and other Paramilitary forces.
• A 90-year-old woman named Margaret Keenan from Northern Ireland became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine — marking the start of the UK’s mass vaccination programme against the deadly disease.

7th December, Current Affairs:

• Armed Forces Flag Day is being celebrated across country today.
• Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain and the second overall after South Africa's Faf du Plessis to register series wins in all three formats of cricket in Australia.
• England's 3-match ODI series against hosts South Africa has been called off after players from both the side contracted coronavirus in the last few days.

6th December, Current Affairs:

• Nation pays homage to Bharat Ratna Dr BR Ambedkar on his 64th Mahaparinirvan Diwas or death anniversary today.
• Yuzvendra Chahal has equalled Jasprit Bumrah's record of most wickets for India in men's T20Is. Both have now 59 wickets each.
• Bangladesh signed its first Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bhutan allowing duty free access to a range of goods between the two countries. This is the first PTA Bangladesh has signed with any country in the world.
• China today successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite which can take high-resolution pictures of ground objects across the globe. The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China’s Sichuan province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

5th December, Current Affairs:

• The China National Space Administration (CSNA) released pictures of Chinese flag placed on the lunar surface. Now China became the second nation to plant its flag on the Moon after United States. Earlier, the US planted the first flag on the Moon during the Apollo mission in 1969.
• US President-elect Joe Biden has tapped his key Covid-19 adviser Dr Vivek Murthy as the next Surgeon General.

4th December, Current Affairs:

• Reserve Bank keeps repo rate unchanged at 4 %.
• Navy day is observed today every year to commemorate the launch of Operation Trident against Pakistan during the 71' Indo-Pak War.
• Indian-American Gitanjali Rao, has been named by TIME magazine as the first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’ for her “astonishing work using technology to tackle issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyberbullying.”

3rd December, Current Affairs:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally invited United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson to be the chief guest of India’s Republic Day parade in January 2021 during their telephonic conversation.
• Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and five-time former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal returned the Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the farmer’s bill by the government of India.
• Nongpok Sekmai police station in Manipur's Thoubal district has been chosen as best performing Police Station in the country.
• Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The theme this year is building back better towards a disability inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-Covid 19 world.

2nd December, Current Affairs:

• Britain today became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use. The vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week.
• Virat Kohli became the fastest to reach 12,000 runs in One-day International cricket. Kohli got to the milestone in his 242nd inning thus bettering the previous record set by Sachin Tendulkar, who got his 12000th run in his 300th inning.
• China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft lands on Moon to bring rocks back to Earth for the first time since 1970s. Chang’e 5 will spend about two days drilling into the lunar surface and collecting two kilograms of rocks and debris.
• Singapore becomes first country to approve sales of lab-created meat. The product, created from animal cells without the slaughter of any chickens, will debut in Singapore under the GOOD Meat brand.
• Australia won the three-match ODI series against India by 2-1.

1st December, Current Affairs:

• World AIDS Day is being observed today. The theme this year is ‘Ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic: resilience and impact.’
• Nagaland is celebrating its 58th Statehood day today. It became the 16th State of the Union of India on 1st December 1,963.
• France's Stephanie Frappart will become the first woman to referee a men's Champions League match on Wednesday when Juventus host Dynamo Kiev in Turin.
• Internationally acclaimed annual 10-day Hornbill Festival of Nagaland will be celebrated in a completely virtual mode from today.

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