MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS FACTS COMPILATION (DECEMBER 2020)
Important Days of December
■ World AIDS Day - December 1 (observed every year since - 1988)
■ National Pollution Control Day - December 2
■ International Day of Persons with Disabilities - December 3
■ World Soil Day - December 5
■ International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development - December 5
■ Armed Forces Flag Day - December 7
■ International Civil Aviation Day - December 7
■ International Anti-Corruption Day - December 9
■ Human Rights Day - December 10
■ International Animal Rights Day - December 10
■ UNICEF Day - December 11
■ International Mountain Day - December 11
■ International Day of Neutrality - December 12
■ Universal Health Coverage Day - December 12
■ National Energy Conservation Day - December 14
■ Vijay Diwas (or Victory Day) - December 16
■ International Migrants Day - December 18
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Goa Liberation day - December 19
■ International Human Solidarity Day - December 20
■ Shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere (Winter Solstice) - December 21
■ National Mathematics Day - December 22
■ National Farmer’s Day - December 23
■ National Consumer Rights Day - December 24
■ National Good Governance Day - December 25
■ International Day of Epidemic Preparadness - December 27
National
■ Which organisation has launched the initiative named “Meri Saheli”?- Indian Railways
■ Ambassador of the BAFTA Breakthrough initiative in India - A R Rahman
■ Ambassador of Fit India movement - Kuldeep Handoo
■ Which police station topped the list of best police stations in India? - Nongpok Sekmai Police Station, Manipur
■ “Child-friendly” police station was recently established by NCPCR in - Pune
■ Which is the venue of the International Sand Art Festival 2020? - Chandrabhaga beach, Odisha
■ ‘Delhi Chalo’ is the name of the protest being held by which category of people in India? - Farmers
■ The newly built “Majerhat bridge” in Kolkata is named as ‘Jai Hind’ bridge to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of - Subash Chandra Bose facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Which cities have been included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Cities? - Orchha and Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)
■ The metro project recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which connect major tourist attractions like Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Sikandra with railway stations and bus stands. - Agra Metro Project
■ Union territory that has been declared as Organic Agricultural Area by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare? - Lakshadweep
■ Agency which approved a USD 2.5 million technical assistance to support advanced biofuel development in India? - Asian Development Bank (ADB)
■ The 1.5 km long Koilwar bridge over Sone river is inaugurated in - Bihar
■ The newly launched PM-WANI scheme stands for - Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Initiative
■ Association of Buddhist Tour Operator (ABTO) International Convention 2020 was inaugurated at - New Delhi
■ E-agricultural spot market platform ‘BEAM’ was launched by - BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange)
■ BEAM launched by BSE stands for - BSE E-Agricultural Markets Ltd
■ Which state recently launched a scheme for ethnic Tharu tribe? - Uttar Pradesh
■ ‘Jagananna Jeeva Kranthi’ scheme was launched in - Andhra Pradesh
■ The ninth edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) commenced in - Dehradun
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ “Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India” is released by - NITI Aayog
■ Amma Mini Covid-19 clinics are inaugurated in the state of - Tamil Nadu
■ Ola to set up world’s largest scooter factory in - Tamil Nadu
■ Indian Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) commissioned at the Goa Shipyard - Sujeet
■ Which institute signed an MoU with cGanga, a think-tank of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) for development of sludge management framework in Indi? - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO)
■ The foundation stone of the 30,000 megawatt (MW) capacity hybrid renewable energy park is laid in - Kutch district of Gujarat
■ Which practice has been formally recognized as a competitive sport by the Sports Ministry? - Yogasana
■ Kisan Kalyan Mission was launched in the state of - Uttar Pradesh
■ Indian Institute of Heritage is a proposed institute under - The Ministry of Culture
■ Which metro got the first driverless train in the country? - Delhi Metro
■ India’s 1st CoE for Skill Development in Power Sector inaugurated in - Gurugram
■ Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has launched a multilingual call centre for aqua farmers at - Vijayawada
■ Venue of International Gita Maholsav 2020 - Kurukshetra (Haryana)
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ ‘SEHAT’, Health Insurance Scheme was launched in the Union Territory of - Jammu and Kashmir
■ Cloud Storage Service launched by Niti Aayog - DigiBoxx
■ India’s first Lithium refinery to be set up in - Gujarat
■ An 18-feet tall statue of late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was unveiled at - Shimla
■ India's first hot air balloon safari in a tiger reserve launched in - Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh)
■ E-Sampada web portal and mobile app has been launched by the - Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
■ A Monpa handmade paper making is a vibrant culture of - Arunachal Pradesh
■ Tso Kar Basin, which is recently recognised as a Ramsar wetland site is in - Ladakh
■ The target group of ‘Main Bhi Digital (me too digital)’ drive programme - Street vendors
■ The scheme run by India Post for personalised sheets of postage stamps - My Stamp Scheme
■ The web-based application launched by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) for information sharing - “Digital Ocean” app
■ India's rank in the Climate Change Performance Index 2021 - 10th
■ India's rank in Human Development Index 2020 - 131
■ India's rank in Human Freedom Index 2020 - 111
■ In the 2020 Trace Bribery Risk Matrix listing, India is ranked - 77th position
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
Kerala
■ Keralite who got the patent for a machine that classifies postal items based on pincodes - P J Varghese
■ Mobile application launched by the Kerala Govt. to make local body election results available to public in real time - PRD Live
■ The youngest candidate who is on the local self govt. election in Kerala - Reshma Mariam Roy (Pathanamthitta)
■ Which university in Kerala is setting up a plant to generate electricity from waste? - Calicut University
■ Kasaragod district judge who will be appointed as the state commissioner for the differently abled - S. H. Panchapakesan
■ The person who has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Kerala - V P Joy
■ The winner of ONV Literary award - Dr. M Leelavathi
■ State which has been selected as the fully hearing friendly state in India - Kerala
■ Heritage site from Kerala which is selected for UNESCO Asia- PAcific Awards 2020 - Koothambalam at Guruvayoor Temple
■ Keralite honoured with 2020 Mother Teresa award by Harmony Foundation - K K Shailaja
■ Bacterial disease recently reported in Kozhikode district - Shigella
■ Which state govt. has collaborated with the UN Women to establish India’s first Gender Data Hub? - Kerala
■ Renowned Malayalam poet and activist who passed away on 23rd December, 2020 - Sugathakumari
■ Sugathakumari was honoured with Padma Shri in the year - 2006
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Port of Kerala to become International Crew Change and Bunkering hub - Vizhinjam
■ New Scheme implemented by Kerala State Health Dept. for the eradication of leprosy - ELSA (Eradication of Leprosy Through Self Reporting and Awareness)
■ Mollywood actor who won the best actor award at Ahmedabad International Children's Film Festival - Guinness Pakru (Ajayakumar)
■ The person who became the youngest Mayor in India - Arya Rajendran (Thiruvananthapuram)
■ Person honoured with Harivarasanam Award 2021 - M R Veeramani Raju
■ The book ‘Oh Mizoram’ is written by - P S Sreedharan Pillai ■ Self employment scheme launched by the Govt. of Kerala for senior citizens - Navajeevan ■ Venue of 33rd Kerala Science Congress 2021 - Thiruvananthapuram ■ The route of the first Tejas Express (private train) which the Railways decided to run through Kerala - Mangalore - Coimbatore ■ Airport in Kerala Internationally recognized for its efforts in reducing carbon emissions - Trivandrum International Airport ■ The first state to pass a resolution against the National Citizenship Amendment Bill - Kerala ■ Institution established in Kerala to make the operations in the real estate sector transparent - K-RERA (Kerala real Estate regulatory authority) ■ Venue of 2020 - Global Investors meet (ASCEND 2020) - Kochi (Lulu Bolgatty International Convention Centre) ■ Fastest growing urban area in the world according to Economist Magazine - Malappuram ■ Barrier free project of Kerala Tourism is awarded by UNWTO ■ The Malayalee who was the Vice President of the International Chess Federation has recently passed away - P.T.Ummer Koya facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ ‘The Cuckoo’s Nest’ is the novel of - A. SethuMadhavan (Sethu) ■ Emergency Response Support System launched jointly for Police, Fire, Medical emergency - 112 ■ Venue of International conference on Climate Change and Ocean Health - CLIMFISH-CON-2020 - Kochi ■ Mobile app to curb drug abuse launched by Kochi City Police - Yodhav ■ Campaign started as part of ‘Digital literacy Mission’ - I am also Digital ■ Program by few states, including Kerala, with the financial assistance of the World Bank, to improve the quality of school education - STARS( Strengthening Teaching - Learning and Results for States Program) ■ Online class program launched by Kerala Government for school students during Covid -19 - First Bell ■ 16th P. Kesavadev Award won by - Vijayakrishnan ■ First Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award won by - Vinod Kumar Shukla (Blue is like Blue) ■ The committee appointed for recommending conditions for reservation of Economically Weaker Sections - Justice . K. Sreedharan Committee ■ Venue of Indian International Seafood Show - Kochi ■ Kerala’s first marine ambulance - Pratheeksha
■ ‘AceMoney Micro ATM service’ in Kochi has been started by
Aceware in association with - ICICI Bank
■ India’s first Gender Data Hub - at the Gender Park ,Kozhikode
campus.
■ Gender Data Hub is established by Kerala Govt’s Gender Park along
with UN Women
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ 2nd edition of the International Conference on Gender Equality
will be organized by UN Women at Gender Parks Kozhikode campus
Theme - ‘Gender in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social
Business: The Mediating Role of Empowerment’.
International
■ The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance consisting of - Australia, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and the USA
■ The first coal-based power plant of Arab Gulf country is being developed in - Dubai
■ Mount Seemeru is an active volcano located in - Indonesia
■ The sixth India-CLMV Business Conclave 2020 was recently held. CLMV countries are - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
■ Second nation to plant flag on the Moon - China (First - USA)
■ World Economic Forum 2021 is to be held in - Singapore
■ The nine billion USD vaccine initiative launched by the Asian Development Bank - Asia-Pacific Vaccine Access facility (APVAX)
■ San Isidro Movement (MSI) is the ongoing protest against the authoritarian regime in - Cuba
■ Movie series launched by the Indian Embassy in Beijing exclusively for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries - CinemaSCOpe
■ The cyberattack recently discovered in the USA - SolarWinds hack
■ 20th Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Council of Ministers Meeting Held in - UAE
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
Science and Technology
■ ISRO will launch the communication satellite CMS-01 using - PSLV-C50
■ First indigenously produced mRNA vaccine of the country - HGC019 Vaccine
■ HGC019 Vaccine is developed by - Pune based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals
■ ISRO has set up a dedicated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre named “NETRA” at - Bengaluru
■ NETRA stands for - NEtwork for space object TRacking and Analysis
■ Indian-American selected by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to be the Commander of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station - Raja Chari
■ The conjuctiion of which two planets is known as 'Christmas Star’ conjunction? - Jupiter and Saturn
■ First Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine of India - Pneumosil
■ The highest meteorological centre established by the Indian Meteorological Department - Ladakh
■ Remote sensing satellite recently launched by China - Yaogan 33
Defence
■ Which country test-fired Zircon hypersonic cruise missile? - Russia
■ The land-attack version of which missile was test-fired in the Andaman and Nicobar? - BrahMos
■ Exercise named PASSEX is conducted by Indian Navy and - Russian Navy
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ The first indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) missile - Astra Mk-1 Missile System
Recent Appointments
■ New Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha - Utpal Kumar Singh
■ The new Chairperson of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) - Varsha Joshi
■ The first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the newly-created “The World Health Organization (WHO) Foundation”? - Anil Soni
■ Who is reappointed as the Prime Minister of Kuwait? - Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah
■ Newly elected Vice President of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) - Shashi Shekhar Vempati (Shashi Shekhar Vempati is the CEO of Prasar Bharati)
Awards and Recognitions
■ Which Hindi writer has been presented with the first ‘Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award’? - Vinod Kumar Shukla
■ 1st-ever TIME’s “Kid Of The Year” - Gitanjali Rao
■ 1st Indian to win 2020 Global Teacher Prize - Ranjitsinh Disale
■ Which Indian has been named among six “The Straits Times Asians of the Year” for 2020? - Adar Poonawalla (The Chief Executive of the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII))
■ Who won the 3rd Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize? - Raj Kamal Jha (Novel - The City and The Sea)
■ 2020 King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award is won by - Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
■ United Nations Investment Promotion Award 2020 given by UNCTAD is won by - Invest India facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Who topped the 2020 list of Forbes 100 most powerful women in the world? - Angela Merkel
■ What is the position of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2020 list of Forbes 100 most powerful women in the world? - 41
■ Time magazine’s 2020 “Person of the Year” - Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
■ 2020 Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians winner - Carolina Araujo
■ Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Award - India 2020 winner - Ashraf Patel
■ Bangabandhu award on creative economy is launched by - UNESCO (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the first President of Bangladesh)
■ IUCN Goldman Environmental Prize 2020 winner - Paul Sein Twa (Myanmar) (Paul Sein Twa is the co-founder of - Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN))
■ Champions of the Earth Award is given by - UNEP
■ Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2020 won by - Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)
■ Which Indian has been named as the 'Young Champions of the Earth’ by UNEP - Vidyut Mohan
■ Global Visionary of Sustainable Business and Peace Award was recently awarded to - Ratan Tata
■ ASSOCHAM Enterprise of the Century Award winner - Ratan Tata
■ Institute recognized with the ‘Award of Merit’ in the 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation - Amar Singh College, Srinagar
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2020 is won by - National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
■ The state which won the Digital India Award 2020 - Bihar
■ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conferred with the 'Legion of Merit' honour by - USA
■ DRDO’s “Scientist of the Year” award is won by - Hemant Kumar Pandey
■ Union Minister who has been recently nominated by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) as a member of GAVI board - Dr Harsh Vardhan
Books and Authors
■ A new book titled ‘Future of Regional Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific’ has been released by - Asian Development Bank (ADB)
■ “40 Years with Abdul Kalam- Untold Stories”, a book on the life of the former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, was authored by - Dr A.Sivathanu Pillai
■ “Dharma: Decoding the Epics for A Meaningful Life” is the book authored by - Amish Tripathi
■ Author of the book “Covid-19: Sabhyata Ka Sankat Aur Samadhan” - Kailash Satyarthi
■ “In Pursuit Of Justice” is the autobiography of - Justice Rajindar Sachar
■ ‘Justice for All, Prejudice to None’ is a book authored by - P S Sreedharan Pillai
Obituary
■ Zafarullah Jamali was the former PM of - Pakistan
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ The person known as father of Fibre Optics, recently passed away - Narinder Singh Kapany
■ The famous South Korean film director died on 11 December 2020 - Kim Ki-duk
■ Paolo Rossi, who recently passed away is related to - Football
■ Ambrose Dlamini who passed away recently is the Prime Minister of - Eswatini (Eswatini is a country in Southern Africa)
■ Sripati Khanchanale who passed away recently is famous in - Wrestling
■ Famous Indian dance historian and scholar who passed away recently - Sunil Kothari
Sports
■ Winner of 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix - Lewis Hamilton
■ New Zealand all-rounder who retired from all forms of Cricket - Corey Anderson
■ Who became the first Indian to win a Formula 2 race at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, Bahrain? - Jehan Daruvala
■ Country which host the Asia Cup in June 2021? - Sri Lanka
■ Winner of Formula One 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix - Sergio Perez
■ 2020 World Athletes of the Year Male - Mondo Duplantis (Swedish pole vaulter)
■ 2020 World Athletes of the Year Female - Yulimar Rojas (Venezuelan triple jumper)
■ Which Indian wicketkeeper-batsman announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on December 9, 2020? - Parthiv Patel
■ Host of the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games - Madagascar
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Newly elected president of International Golf Federation - Annika Sorenstam
■ Newly elected president of International Squash Federation - Zena Wooldridge
■ FICCI India Sports Awards 2020: Sportsperson of the Year (Female) - Elavenil Valarivan (Shooting)
■ FICCI India Sports Awards 2020: Sportsperson of the Year (Male) - Bajrang Punia (Freestyle-Wrestling)
■ 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner - Max Verstappen
■ 2023 International Hockey Federation (FIH) Men’s Hockey World Cup will be hosted in - Odisha
■ The 2030 Asian Games will be held at - Doha (Qatar)
■ The 2034 Asian Games will be held at - Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)
■ The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2020 - Lucy Bronze
■ The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2020 - Robert Lewandowski
■ Four indigenous Games approved by the Sports Ministry to be a part of Khelo India Youth Games 2021 - Gatka, Kalaripayattu, Thang- Ta and Mallakhamba
■ BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 - Lewis Hamilton
■ India’s largest hockey stadium to be set up in - Odisha
■ ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of Decade - Virat Kohli
■ ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade - MS Dhoni
■ ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade - Ellyse Perry (Australia)
■ The “Player of the century” award at the Globe Soccer Awards is won by - Cristiano Ronaldo facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Indian wrestler who won silver at Individual Wrestling World Cup in Serbia - Anshu Malik
■ First recipient of Mullagh Medal of Australia after being named as the player of the match in Boxing Day Test Match - Ajinkya Rahane
Banking
■ Which bank launched 'Rupi Business Credit Card’ for MSMEs? - Axis Bank
■ The Reserve Bank of India has announced that the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system will be made available round the clock on all days of the year with effect from - 14 December, 2020
■ Which bank launched a tech-based loan management solution ‘LenS- The Lending Solution’? - Punjab National Bank (PNB)
■ A new version of mobile payment app called “iMobile Pay” is launched by - ICICI Bank
■ Which bank recently launched the Atmanirbhar Women Scheme? - Bank of Baroda (BoB)
■ RBI has decided to set up an Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC) in - Jaipur
■ New digital payment app launched by India Post Payments Bank - DakPay
■ India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) was incorporated as Payments Banking Company under - Section 22 (1) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949
Miscellaneous
■ The theme for World AIDS Day 2020 is - Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Resilience and Impact
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Theme of Indian Mobile Congress 2020 - “Inclusive Innovation- Smart, Secure, Sustainable”
■ The theme of International Anti-Corruption Day 2020 - ‘RECOVER with INTEGRITY'.
■ King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award is presented annually by - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
■ The United Nations General Assembly recently approved the resolution that proclaimed to mark December 27 as - International Day of epidemic preparedness
■ 1st Ship of Project 17A launched in GRSE Kolkata - Himgiri
■ Highest-paid celebrity of 2020 by Forbes - Kylie Jenner
■ “Hawker” culture of which country has been recently included under the list of intangible cultural heritage by the UNESCO? - Singapore
■ National Mathematics Day is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of - Srinivasa Ramanujan
■ Species marked by the recent IUCN Red List update as critically endangered for the first time due to limited Geographic range and population decline - Indian Swell Shark
■ National Farmer’s Day is observed to mark the birth anniversary of - Chaudhary Charan Singh
■ Couscous, the staple food of which region, has been included in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List? - North Africa
■ Mallakhamba is a traditional sports practised in - Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra
■ Theme of National Consumer Rights Day 2020 - The Sustainable Consumer
■ West Bengal’s first oil and gas reserve - Bengal Basin
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com
■ Thoubal Multipurpose Project was inaugurated in the state of - Manipur
■ New species of Wild Sun Rose found in the Eastern Ghats - Portulaca laljii
■ The 38th district of the Tamil Nadu state - Mayiladuthurai
■ Country hosting the Global Media and Film Summit 2021 - India
■ The theme of the India International Science Festival 2020 - Science for Self-Reliant India and Global Welfare
■ Him Suraksha Abhiyan has been launched in the state of - Himachal Pradesh
■ Which state has passed ordinance to ban unlawful religious conversions for marriage? - Uttar Pradesh
■ State which approved the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations, (UDCPR) for Real Estates - Maharashtra
■ Which state unveiled “FRUITS” portal for farmers? - Karnataka
facebook.com/kasmentor 9061474766/9061484877 www.kasmentor.com