NATIONAL

MSP for Copra approved

• The Cabinet committee on Economic affairs has granted its approval for the Minimum Support Price for Copra during 2022 Season, This decision was made based on recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
• The MSP for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of milling copra has been increased from Rs.10,335/- per quintal in 2021 to Rs10,590/- per quintal for 2022 season.
• The MSP for ball copra has been increased from Rs.10,600/- per quintal in 2021 to Rs.11,000/- per quintal for 2022 season.
• This was made to ensure a return of 51.85% for milling copra and 57.73% for ball copra over the all India weighted average cost of production.
• It assures a minimum of 50% as margin of profit, as one of the important and progressive steps towards making possible doubling of farmers' incomes by 2022.
• The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited and National Cooperative Consumer Federation of India Limited will continue to act as Central Nodal Agencies to undertake price support operations at the MSP in the coconut growing States.

Copra-It is a dried form of Coconut, used to extract coconut oil.

DRDO conducts maiden flight of Pralay

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted maiden flight test of indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile ‘Pralay’
• The new missile followed the desired quasi ballistic trajectory and reached the designated target with high degree accuracy, validating the control, guidance and mission algorithms. All the sub-systems performed satisfactorily.
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• The missile performed its maiden flight from Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.
• The Missile is powered with solid propellant rocket motor and many new technologies            
• The missile has a range of 150-500 kilometre and can be launched from a mobile launcher.
• The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics.

Vernacular Innovation Programme conducted

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)and NITI Aayog has launched Vernacular Innovation Programme(VIP) aimed to empower innovators and entrepreneurs across the country.
• This will enable innovators and entrepreneurs in India to have access to the innovation ecosystem in 22 scheduled languages by the Government of India.
• To build the necessary capacity for the Vernacular Innovation Programme(VIP), Atal Innovation mission will be training a Vernacular Task Force (VTF) in each of the 22 scheduled languages.
• Each task force comprises of vernacular language teachers, subject experts, technical writers, and the leadership of regional Atal Incubation Centers
• In order to train the Vernacular Task Force (VTF), Niti Aayog and Atal Innovation Mission will launch train-the-trainer program where it will collaborate with the Design Department of IIT Delhi to coach the VTF in design thinking and entrepreneurship and the adaptation of these subjects in the 22 languages and cultures.

MoU Signed between CCI and CCM

• The Cabinet has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Competition Commission of Mauritius (CCM) for promotion and strengthening of co-operation in competition law and policy.
• The MoU aims to promote and strengthen cooperation in matters of competition law and policy through exchange of information, sharing of best practices and capacity building initiatives.
• It is aimed to promote mutual co-operation in the areas of technical co-operation, experience sharing and enforcement co-operation.
• The resultant outcomes would benefit consumers at large and promote equity and inclusiveness.

The MoU between CCI and CCM is expected to:

1. Address anticompetitive restraints that affect international trade
2. Improve enforcement of the Competition Act, 2002 by CCI
3. Promote understanding of competition policy
4. Capacity building
5. Bring diplomatic benefits.

Additional Fact- Competition Commission of India(CCI) is a Statutory body under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, It is the chief national competition regulator in India and is responsible for enforcing Competition Act, 2002.

The Commission was established on 14^th Oct 2003.

CCI Chairman-Ashok Kumar Gupta.

INTERNATIONAL

France starts to inoculate Children

• The France Government has decided and started vaccinating the Children from the age of five, aimed to contain the new surge of Omicron Variant.
• French health workers began administering Pfizer-BioNTech jabs to children aged between 5 and 11 in the government's latest step to combat a fresh wave of cases.
• The move came just two days after the national health regulator, the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), gave the green light to the vaccine elaborated by US-based Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech.

Covid Pill gets FDA approval

• The United States Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has approved and authorized the Pfizer’s COVID pill for high risk people aged 12 and above.
• The treatment includes a combination of two pills taken over 5 days.
• The trail conducted on 2,200 people showed result of 88% people evading risk of hospitalization and deaths.

Fourth jab of Covid-19 is set to be administered

• Israel has announced that, It set to administer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to medical personnel and people who are 60 or older.
• The announcement came after Israel's Pandemic Treatment Staff, a panel of medical experts, voted to recommend the fourth jab on the same day, according to The Times of Israel.
• Currently, Israel doesn't consider people fully vaccinated if they don't take a booster shot within six months of receiving their second jab.
  Israel has also banned travel to 10 countries, including the US and Canada, over concerns of the Omicron variant.

BANKING, FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

Pre-Budget meetings held

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman headed the pre-budget consultation meetings for Budget 2022-23 held in virtual mode.
• More than 120 invitees representing 7 stakeholder groups participated in 8 meetings scheduled during this period.
• The stakeholder groups include representatives and experts from Agriculture and Agro Processing Industry; Industry, Infrastructure and Climate Change; Financial Sector and Capital Markets; Services and Trade; Social Sector; Trade Union & Labour Organization and Economists.
• The stakeholder groups made several suggestions on various issues that included increased R&D spending, infrastructure status for digital services, incentives to hydrogen storage and fuel cell development, rationalisation of income tax slabs, investments in online safety measures etc., among others.

33 Unicorns in One year

• India has added 33 unicorn companies in a single year, moving to the third place, pushing United Kingdom to the fourth Position.
• Unicorn Companies- Unicorn Companies are privately owned start ups which has a value more than $1 billion.
• The Top two position was occupied by United States and China
• United states has added 254 unicorn companies and now has totaled 487 companies in coveted list.
• China has added 74 unicorn in single year, taking its count to 301 companies.
• India has added 33 unicorns pushing its tally to 54 startups worth more than $1 billion
• United Kingdom has added 15 unicorns in single year pusing its count to 39.

SPORTS

India wins bronze

• India has bagged Bronze in the Asian Championship Trophy men’s hockey, by defeating Pakistan in the match to secure third position.
• India has defeated Pakistan by scoring 4-3, at the tournament held at Dhaka.
• Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Varun Kumar and Akashdeep Singh has scored the goals for India.
• South Korea won the Gold medal in the tournament and Japan scored the silver medal.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Dec 23^rd is observed as the National Farmers day, celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh, who has served as the 5^th Prime Minister of India and has worked towards the farmers welfare