NATIONAL

Education Ministry has launched ‘Basha Sangam’

• A new Mobile application ‘Basha Sangam’ was launched by the Union Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
• It is an Initiative under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, the app enables students to learn basic sentences of everday usage in languages other than their mother tongue, so that students can learn basic conversational skills in 22 other Indian languages.

Additional Fact-

1. The app was developed by a Bangalore based language learning startup MultiBashi, under the initiative of Department of Higher Education in collaboration with MyGov.
2. The app is available to both Android and Ios
3. The App initially has 100 sentences of every day usage in 22 Indian languages. These sentences are available in both Roman script and in the script of the given language, and also in audio format.
4. A learner will pass through stages on the basis of testing. There is also a detailed testing in the end with generation of digital certificate.

Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) report released

• Ministry of Rural development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh has released Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Panchayati Raj Institutions report.
• Despite the report, the Panchayati Raj ministry has also dedicated two Dashboards namely-Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) Monitoring Dashboard on monitoring the progress of GPDP and Training Management Portal on Capacity Building and Training of Elected Representatives and Functionaries of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• A new portal named Handbook on Training Management was also released by the ministry.

Approval for Ken-Betwa interlinking granted

• The Union Cabinet has approved the funding and implementation of Ken-Betwa inter-linking of rivers project.
• The Union Cabinet has approved central support of Rs.39,317 crore for the project, covering grant of Rs.36,290 crore and loan of Rs.3,027 crore out of the total estimated cost Rs.44,605 crore.
• This project involves transfer of water from the Ken to the Betwa River through the construction of Daudhan Dam and a canal linking the two rivers, the Lower Orr Project, Kotha Barrage -and Bina Complex Multipurpose Project.
• The Project will benefit to the water starved Bundelkhand region, spread across the states of MP and UP. This project will provide huge benefits to the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen of Madhya Pradesh and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi & Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh.
• The project will provide an annual irrigation of 10.62 lakh ha, drinking water supply to a population of about 62 lakhs and also generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW solar power.
• The Project is proposed to be implemented in 8 years with state of the art technology.
• The Cabinet has also approved the continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Gramin Yojana till March 2024, the scheme will provide assistance for construction of remaining 155 lakh houses.

BrahMos Air version tested

• An air version of Brahmos Supersonic cruise missile was test fired successfully from the supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 MK-1 at the Integrated test range, in the coast of Odisha.

Additional Fact-

1. The BrahMos super sonic cruise missile uses a ramjet engine which is manufactured in India.
2. Brahmos is a joint venture of Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya and India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation.
3. The name BrahMos is the combination of Indian River Brahmaputra and Russian River Moskva.
4. The Supersonic missile can be launched from Submarines, Aircrafts and Land.

National Commission for Women launches pan India Programme

• The National Commission for women has launched a three day pan Indian capacity building programme names ‘ She is a changemaker’.
• The programme was aimed to increase the women participation in Politics, It will be undertaken in association with region-wise training institutes with an objective to undertake capacity building of women political leaders and improve their decision making and communication skills including, oration, writing.

Additional Fact-

1. National Commission for Women is a statutory body of Government of India, established on Jan 31 1992, constituted to advice government on all policy matters affecting women.
2. First head of NCW- Jayanti Patnaik.
3. Current head of NCW- Rekha Sharma.

INTERNATIONAL

New German Chancellor Sworn in

• Olaf Scholz of the Social democrats has sworn in as the 9^th federal Chancellor of Germany.
• He has brought down the era of 16 year leader Angela Merkel, whos was the first women Chancellor for Germany.
• Olaf Scholes appointment was backed by 303 votes out of 395.

BANKING, FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

RBI set to launch UPI payments for feature phones

• The Reserve Bank of India is set to launch UPI based payment product for feature phones(normal keypad basic phones), which provides call and texting options alone.
• The RBI has also proposed to launch on device wallet in UPI app that will offer a single process flow by enabling small value transactions.
• The Reserve bank has also proposed to increase the tranasaction limit for payments through UPI for Retail direct scheme and IPO applications from 2lakh to 5 lakhs.

Additional Fact

RBI governor- Shakthikanta Das

RBI increases VRRR Auctions

• The Reserve Bank of India has proposed to increase 14 day Variable Rate Reverse Repo(VRRR) auction amounts, from Rs6.5 lakh crore on December 17, and Rs 7.5 lakh crore on Dec 31.

SPORTS AND AWARDS

Harith at Dakar rally

• Harith Noah from TVS racing team is set to represent India in the toughest cross country rally Dakar 2022.
• By this he will become the fourth Indian to contest in the rally.

57^th Gyanpeeth Award for Konkani writer

• Damodar Mauzo, a Konkani Writer has been awarded with the 57^th Gyanpeeth award for the year 2022.
• By this he has become the second Konkani writer after Ravindra Kelekar to receive the highest literary award, his Novel Karmelin has won the Sahitya Academy award in 1983.
• Assamese Poet Nilmani Phookan has won 56^th Gyanpeeth Award.

MISCELLANEOUS

• The First Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Laxman Singh Rawat has passed away in a Helicopter crash near Connor, Nilgiris.
• Dec 9^th is observed as International Anti Corruption day.