CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Consumer Affairs Minister Goyal unveils ‘right to repair’ portal

• Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal introduced a host of new initiatives, including a right-to-repair portal and an NTH mobile app, and opened new premises of the National Consumer Helpline centre in the national capital.
• On the 'right to repair' portal, manufacturers would share the manual of product details with customers so that they could either repair by themselves, or by third parties, rather than depend on the original manufacturers.
• Initially, mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, automobiles, and farming equipment would be covered.
• In a short span of six months, we have doubled the disposal of pending cases.
• About 90,000 pending cases were disposed of (between July and November this year).
• About 38,000 pending cases were disposed of by consumer courts in the year-earlier period.
• Under the Consumer Protection law, a complaint is required to be disposed of within 90 days of its filing and within 150 days wherever expert evidence is required to be taken.

Government organizes “Dance to Decarbonize” event to generate power by dance floor:

• The ‘Dance to Decarbonize’ event for the upcoming India Energy Week in Bangalore in February 2022 will take place at the National Stadium near India Gate, New Delhi.
• As part of a new initiative, the Ministry of Oil and Gas is planning a one-day event to harness renewable energy generated by dancing to charge electric vehicles.
• Through the use of dance and music, the event hopes to increase participation in the topic of sustainability.
• A state-of-the-art stage will be built where dancing people will generate renewable energy, which will be used to power electric auto-rickshaws and sport utility vehicles.
• India’s goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2070 is weighed against the country’s growing energy needs, economic expansion, and the priority placed on implementing responsible energy sources over long-term innovative energy systems.
• Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, representatives of the Ministry of Oil and Gas, diplomats, executives of electric vehicle manufacturers, CEOs and senior executives of specific industries, airline representatives, oil public sector officials in defence, and the Border Road Organization will attend the event billed as a step towards demonstrating India’s goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2070.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

Ladakh celebrates Losar Festival to mark Ladakhi New Year

• Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) celebrated the Losar Festival to mark the Ladakhi New Year. 
• The Festival is a major socio-religious festival of Ladakh celebrated during winter.

About the Losar Festival :

• Losar Festival is a 15-day long festival.
• The term Losar means New Year in the Tibetan Language, Lo means year & Sar means new.
• For the next 9 days from January 1, 2023 people dance and sing in honour of Ibex and travel to Mount Kailash.

Other Famous Festivals in Ladakh :

• Hemis Tsechu - Late June and early July
• Sindhu Darshan Festival -  June
• Saka Dawa Festival - June

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma launches projects worth Rs 973 cr in Dibrugarh

• Assam Chief Minister Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma laid the foundation stones and inaugurated projects worth Rs 973.38 crore for Dibrugarh district, Assam.
• For the development of Dibrugarh, the CM announced that strengthening and improvement of the river bank of Buridihing at an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore will be taken up.
• The CM attended the last program of the first phase of 'Bikakhor Babe Eta Pokhek' (a fortnight for development initiatives) at Tingkhong in Dibrugarh, Assam.

Key Highlights :

• The government plans to set up a zoo at Tingkhong in the district and the Ahom ritual of offering obeisance to Me-Dam-Me-Phi will be celebrated at historic Tipam
• He laid the foundation stones for setting up mini stadia at four places, a rural sports complex at Abhoipur at Moran, the upgradation of government ITIs at Dibrugarh and Lahowal as well as Dibrugarh Government Polytechnic located at Lahowal among several other projects in the district.
• The projects inaugurated by the chief minister include Government Dental College in Dibrugarh, a PWD bungalow at Tingkhong, 24 piped water supply schemes under the Jal Jeevan Mission, and a project facilitation centre of the Water Resources department.
• He also informed us that the road from Moran to Digboi passing through Naharkatia will be upgraded to a double-lane road to give a major boost to road connectivity in the area.

About Assam :

• Governor : Jagdish Mukhi
• Chief Minister : Himanta Biswa Sarma
• Capital: Dispur
• National Park : Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park, Dibru - Saikhowa National Park
• Wildlife Sanctuary: Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary

GI Tag For Joynagar Moa - Extended For 10 years

• The geographical indication (GI) tag for Joynagar Moa (the popular West Bengal sweet) has been extended for 10 years.
• This variety of Moa originated in Jaynagar of the South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

About Joynagar Moa :

• The moa is a popped rice (Khoi) ball held together with fresh date-palm jaggery, extracted only in the
• The popped rice is mixed with jaggery, sugar, cashew nuts, and raisins.
• It has a short shelf life, lasting not more than five days without refrigeration.
• The sweet’s history dates back to 1904 & its manufacture is synonymous with Joynagar, a settlement on the outskirts of Kolkata.
• The high perishability has prevented it from being shipped abroad all these decades, and its export began, on a very small scale, only in 2020.
• Jaynagarer Moa was given a Geographical Indication tag in 2015 which will enable the product to be protected from unauthorized uses and piracy.

About GI :

• A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.

The tag is issued by the Geographical Indication Registry under the Department of Industry Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

• The GI tag stands valid for 10 years.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING & FINANCE

IRDAI to introduce 'Bima Vahaks' to expand insurance force

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) will soon introduce "Bima Vahaks" in each gram panchayat

Aim :

• To enhance the insurance force in India.
• The announcement was made by Rakesh Joshi, a member of the IRDAI at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2022 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

About Bima Vahaks :

• Each Gram Panchayat will have a 'Bima Vahak' who would be tasked to sell and service simple parametric bundled insurance products, Bima Vistar, covering health, property, life, and personal accident.'
• The insurance companies have adopted a state each and with the help of state governments are looking to develop state-level insurance plans. 
• This would improve penetration in the areas that do not seem to have much attention from the larger players.
• It intends to form a women-centric insurance distribution channel, which is likely to foster greater trust and build awareness about insurance products in the rural parts of India.
• Through Bima Vistaar, the committee will aim to bring to the forefront schemes like parametric insurance among others, to provide wide coverage for rural India in the event of natural disasters, such as floods, and earthquakes.

About IRDAI :

• Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana
• Chairperson: Debasish Panda
• The IRDAI is a regulatory body under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and is tasked with regulating and licensing the insurance and reinsurance industries in

HDFC Bank Signs MoU with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM)

• HDFC Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the nodal agency of the Government of Kerala to engage more deeply with the start-up community and to promote entrepreneurship in
• The MoU was signed by Rajesh Krishnamoorthy, Circle Head – Ernakulam Circle, Kerala, and Anoop Ambika CEO, of Kerala Startup Mission.

Key Highlights :

• The Bank will extend its full suite of specialized services and facilities tailored for start-ups, known as Smart-Up, to all the firms associated with KSUM.
• With this MoU, HDFC Bank and KSUM will work together in mutually beneficial areas.
• HDFC Bank and KSUM have been collaborating since 2019 when an MoU was signed for a year.

About KSUM :

• Founded: 2006
• Headquarters: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
• CEO: Anoop Ambika
• KSUM is the central agency of the Government of Kerala for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in Kerala, India. 

About HDFC Bank :

• Founded: August 1994
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• MD & CEO : Sashidhar Jagdishan
• Tagline: We Understand Your World

Infibeam Avenues receives RBI nod for Bharat Bill Payment license

• India’s first listed payments infrastructure firm, Infibeam Avenues Ltd has received a Perpetual Licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its bill payments business, BillAvenue.
• The license will allow BillAvenue to function as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
• As a BBPOU, BillAvenue operates as both a biller and customer operating unit onboarding billers and agent institutions to service customers.

About BillAvenue :

• BillAvenue is a unified, interoperable online bill payment platform, built on the National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI) Bharat BillPay infrastructure to provide 'anytime, anywhere' bill payment facilities to customers across India through a network of small & medium agents to large Agent Institutions (AI).
• BillAvenue services telecom, broadband companies, cable TV, DTH players, electricity distribution companies, LPG & Gas distribution companies, FASTAG, health insurance, life insurance, NBFCs, and municipalities.
• The license will help the company offer safe, secure, and uninterrupted services to our 18,000 plus billers, agent institutions, and our network of one million agents spread across 2,000 cities and towns in India.

About Infibeam Avenues Ltd :

• Headquarters: Gandhinagar, Gujarat
• Managing Director: Vishal Mehta

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

Reliance Jio launches 5G in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of Rs. 6,500 crores:

• Reliance Jio declared that it had started offering True 5G services in Andhra Pradesh.
• In the districts of Tirumala, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Guntur, 5G services have begun to be offered.
• Jio has made additional investments of more than Rs 6,500 crore for the deployment of a 5G network in Andhra Pradesh on top of their previous Through the groundbreaking AR-VR Jio Glass and the Jio Community Clinic medical kit, Jio demonstrated the advantages of 5G in the field of healthcare.
• The lives of those in Andhra Pradesh will alter dramatically as a result of these advantages.
• The rollout of Jio's True 5G services would create new avenues for expansion in the fields of e-governance, education, healthcare, IT, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
• All 33 of Gujarat's district headquarters, as well as Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Varanasi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Nathdwara, already have Jio True 5G service.
• Jio True 5G services would be accessible in every Andhra Pradesh town, taluka, mandalam, and hamlet by December 2023.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOUR

Swasti Singh, an Indian cyclist, receives the 30th Ekalabya Puraskar:

• Swasti Singh, an Indian cyclist, has received the esteemed 30th Ekalabya Puraskar for 2022.
• The charitable arm of IMFA, IMPaCT, established the prize.
• At the Ekalabya Puraskar ceremony in Bhubaneswar, Swasti was given a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakhs and a citation.
• At the national level, she has won two gold and the same number of silver medals.
• This year's winner was unquestionably Swasti, who has represented the State in several national competitions and was recognized for their exceptional brilliance from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022.
• Along with Swasti, two more athletes received recognition for their outstanding efforts in competitions at the national and international levels in their respective sports.
• Pyari Xaxa, a promising international football player, and Shilanand Lakra, a rising international hockey player, were also honoured during the event.
• Each recipient also received citations and a monetary prize of Rs 50,000.
• Notably, the jury members and Trustee Baijayant Panda, Chairman of the Ekalabya Purskar Committee, attended the award event.

RBL Bank in partnership with BUSINESS NEXT wins IBSi Global FinTech Innovation Award:

• One of India’s biggest private sector banks, RBL Bank, won the Best CRM System Implementation and Most Impactful Project IBSi Global FinTech Innovation Awards 2022.
• The same prize also went to BUSINESS NEXT for its noteworthy project and finest CRM system implementation.
• BUSINESSNEXT is a composable suite of deep tech platforms – CRMNEXT, CUSTOMERNEXT & DATANEXT and pre-assembled products for the BFSI industry.
• RBL bank implemented the platform across Retail banking and Risk control units, deploying 140+ two-way Integration touchpoints covering 3000+ users, 400+ branches, and 10 million+ customers.

The high-impact outcome accomplished:

• 100% Auto assignments of leads across products
• 100% Auto assignments of service requests based on multiple criteria
• 90% Reduction in average service turnaround time
• 60% increase in first-touch resolution rates
• 30% of service request types enabled to STPs
• 23% reduction in avg. call handling time
• CRMNEXT enables the creation of a robust customer 360-view, a Centralized Lead Management system, a mobile application for our RMs to deliver faster service, and multiple processes to meet any regulatory changes which needed to be delivered with a go-live time of less than 3-4 weeks.
• The platform can be easily integrated with multiple systems and is super flexible to maintain.
• This transformation wouldn't have been possible without the expertise and support of BUSINESS NEXT

About BUSINESSNEXT

• BUSINESSNEXT today powers 1 million+ users across 65,000 branches and call centres, managing 1 billion end customers worldwide.
• BUSINESSNEXT has its USA headquarter in Raleigh, North Carolina, and its international headquarters in Noida, India. It has a footprint across 5 continents and direct offices in 14 countries across the U.S.A, MEA, and APAC.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND REPORTS

India's cuisine is ranked fifth among the world's top cuisines:

• According to Taste Atlas, India is ranked fifth on the world’s top cuisines list for 2022.
• Votes from the audience for ingredients, dishes, and beverages are used to determine the ranking.
• The food of Italy came in first, followed by that of Greece and Spain.
• According to the assessment, the greatest meals in India are "garam masala, malai, ghee, butter garlic naan, keema," which obtained a score of 4.54.
• The list contains 460 things in total.
• The list also includes 450 additional restaurants, such as Shree Thaker Bhojanalay (Mumbai), Karavalli (Bengaluru), Bukhara (New Delhi), Dum Pukht (New Delhi), and Comorin (Gurugram) as the top places to try Indian food.
• Among the top 10 nations with the best cuisines were Japan, the United States of America, Turkey, France, and Peru.
• However, the most popular cuisine in the world is Chinese, which came in at number eleven.

Top 10 global cuisines

1. Italy
2. Greece
3. Spain
4. Japan
5. India
6. Mexico
7. Turkiye
8. United States France
9. Peru

Top 5 "Best Traditional Dishes" in the world

• Kare (Japan), Picanha (Brazil), Ameijoas a Bulhao Pato (Portugal), Tangbao (China), and Guotie (China).

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ to be sworn in as new PM of Nepal

• President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ as the new Prime Minister (PM) of
• He was sworn in for the 3rd time as the PM of Nepal.
• He succeeded Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress Party.
• A total of 165 lawmakers in the 275-member House of Representatives, which includes the CPN-UML with 78, the CPN-MC with 32, the RSP with 20, the RPP with 14, the JSP with 12, Janamat with 6, and the Nagarik Unmukti Party with 3, have staked their claim in support of Prachanda’s leadership.

About Pushpa Kamal Dahal :

• Pushpa Kamal Dahal was born on 11 December 1954 in Pokhara, Nepal.
• He is also widely known by his nom de guerre Prachanda meaning terrible or fierce.
• Previously, he held the prime ministerial post from 2008 to 2009, and again from 2016 to 2017.

About Nepal :

• President : Bidya Devi Bhandari
• Capital: Kathmandu
• Currency: Nepalese rupee

Centre appoints former SC Judge Hemant Gupta as chief of New Delhi International Arbitration Centre

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Justice Hemant Gupta as the chairperson of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC).
• Along with Justice Gupta, Ganesh Chandru and Anant Vijay Palli have been appointed as part-time members of the NDIAC.

About Justice Hemant Gupta :

• He was enrolled as an advocate in July 1980.
• He worked as an additional advocate general of Punjab from 1997 to 1999.
• He was appointed a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 2, 2002.
• He took over as a judge of the Patna High Court on February 8, 2016, and was appointed as the acting Chief Justice of that high court on October 29, 2016.
• He was appointed as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on March 18, 2017.
• He was a member of the Computer Committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for more than 10 years.
• He was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2018 and retired on October 16, 2022, after serving for nearly 4 years.

About NDIAC :

• Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi
• The NDIAC has been established to create an independent and autonomous regime for institutionalized arbitration.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ISRO’s Long Duration CE-20 Engine Hot Test Successful 

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully operated the CE-20 engine, which is a cryogenic rocket engine, with a thrust level of 22t for a long duration of 650 seconds at the Cryogenic main engine & stage test facility at the ISRO propulsion complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu (TN).
• The CE20 engine has been designed and developed by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) in Valiamala, Kerala. 

About the CE-20 engine : 

• It was operated with a 20.2t thrust level for the first 40 s, followed by an operation at 20t off-nominal zones before operating it at 22.2 t for a duration of 435 s, by moving the thrust control valve.
• During the test, the engine and the facility performed normally, and the required engine performance parameters were achieved as predicted.
• The engine used for the hot test had undergone 11 hot tests with a cumulative duration of 2720 s earlier.
• The engine has undergone 3370 s cumulative burn duration at different thrust and mixture ratio levels.

About ISRO :

• Founded: 15 August 1969
• Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• Chairman: Sreedhara Somanath

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

Anurag Thakur inaugurates Sports Science Centre in Karnataka's Udupi:

• Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur inaugurated Sports Science Centre in Udupi.
• He also assured the establishment of an FM Station at Brahmavara.
• Every help will be provided to Karnataka Government to promote games Anurag Thakur assured.
• It is not only the effort of the government even parents have equal responsibility to encourage their children to become sports persons.
• Responding to the demand to start an FM station honourable minister said that he will assure that the demand for FM Station will be fulfilled as soon as possible that too in the next four months, in the same financial year.
• Also regarding the establishment of a Science Research Center across the State, Honorable Minister assured that the Central Govt. will support it in all respects.
• Karnataka minister for youth empowerment said these types of Sports and science centres should be started in Northern Karnataka.
• Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat Udupi DC Koorma Rao and others were present.

Daily CA on December 28:

• Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal introduced a host of new initiatives, including a right-to-repair portal and an NTH mobile app, and opened new premises of the National Consumer Helpline centre in the national capital.
• The ‘Dance to Decarbonize’ event for the upcoming India Energy Week in Bangalore in February 2022 will take place at the National Stadium near India Gate, New Delhi.
• Reliance Jio declared that it had started offering True 5G services in Andhra Pradesh.
• Swasti Singh, an Indian cyclist, has received the esteemed 30th Ekalabya Puraskar for 2022.
• One of India’s biggest private sector banks, RBL Bank, won the Best CRM System Implementation and Most Impactful Project IBSi Global FinTech Innovation Awards 2022.
• According to Taste Atlas, India is ranked fifth on the world’s top cuisines list for 2022.
• Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur inaugurated Sports Science Centre in Udupi.
• Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) celebrated the Losar Festival to mark the Ladakhi New Year. 
• Assam Chief Minister Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma laid the foundation stones and inaugurated projects worth Rs 973.38 crore for Dibrugarh district, Assam.
• The geographical indication (GI) tag for Joynagar Moa (the popular West Bengal sweet) has been extended for 10 years.
• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) will soon introduce "Bima Vahaks" in each gram panchayat to enhance the insurance force in India.
• HDFC Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the nodal agency of the Government of Kerala to engage more deeply with the start-up community and to promote entrepreneurship in
• India’s first listed payments infrastructure firm, Infibeam Avenues Ltd has received a Perpetual Licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its bill payments business, BillAvenue.
• President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ as the new Prime Minister (PM) of
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Justice Hemant Gupta as the chairperson of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC).
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully operated the CE-20 engine, which is a cryogenic rocket engine, with a thrust level of 22t for a long duration of 650 seconds at the Cryogenic main engine & stage test facility at the ISRO propulsion complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu (TN).