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Government – to start Montessori education based kindergarten (KG) classes in 2,381 Anganwadi centres - at government middle schools in the state

Funds worth Rs 7,73,032 crore have been sanctioned for this pilot project of three years period

Break-up of the proposed Schools and Students

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All 2,381 anganwadis will be equipped with educational tools, teaching and learning materials and printed curriculum

Four sets of free uniform, one set of chappals and completion certificates will be distributed to all the 52,000 LKG and UKG students

Greater Chennai Corporation - to build four new parks in the city — two in

Ambattur zone, one each in Valasaravakkam and Adyar zones They will be constructed using Amrut Reform Incentive Fund of Rs 3 crore,

received from the Union ministry of urban development They will be developed in Udhaya Nagar Main Road in Valsaravakkam, Railway

Quarters in Ambattur, and TNHB Colony in Adyar and Ambattur The Amrut funds were handed over by the union ministry of Urban Development

as an incentive to achieve reforms such as online printing of birth certificates, computerized sanctioning for building plan approvals, property tax assessment and payment

A new App called ‘Cardiomyopathy India’ – launched in Chennai at a

conference It will provide medical guidance regarding genetic cardiac diseases, on the

uploading of the Echo/ECG scan reports in the App It was developed by Frontier lifeline hospitals in association with Immy Life limited The new app will come into operation from January 2019

Pondicherry Central University – has bagged the first place in the entire

country – in the implementation of Right to Information Act The university had replied 97% of the queries raised as part of the RTI Act and

maintained greater level of managerial transparency in the year 2018 It was ranked first among 19 public sector enterprises, which were prompt in their

replies to the queries

Haryana Government – launches ‘Shiksha Setu’ mobile App – to bring transparency in the higher education department and college administration

The new mobile App will provide all related information on attendance, fee, admission and scholarships of all government colleges in the state – to ensure better connectivity between the students, colleges and the administration

The app will provide instant messages of important notices, circulars and other programmes to students and teachers

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It will also enable the students to pay their fee „online‟

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) – approves the setting up of revamped (EMRS)

They will be set up in every block - where atleast 20,000 tribal people or

Scheduled Tribes constituting more than 50% of the total population - live in the country

A budget of Rs. 2,242 crore has been allocated for the scheme in 2018-19 and 2019-20

They will be run by an autonomous society, which will come under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs

A total of 462 such schools will be newly opened to run along with the existing 102 schools

Ekalavya Model Residential School - is a government scheme for setting up of Model residential schools for Scheduled Tribes in the country

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Department of Posts – has issued a commemorative stamp on Pandit Rajkumar Shukla – as a tribute to his contribution for launching Champaran Satyagraha in 1917

Rajkumar Shukla was famous for his association with Gandhiji during the Champaran Satyagraha

He is an Indigo cultivator and money lender from Satwaria Village of Champaran in Bihar

Ealier, a special postal stamp was released by the Department of Posts to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Shukla in the year 2000

With this postage stamp, a total of 43 stamps have been issued this year by the Department of Posts

Union Government – notifies States - to accept Driving license and other

vehicle documents in ‘Electronic format’ by the enforcement agencies The Road Transport and Highways Ministry had issued a Standard Operating

Procedure (SOP) to states on December 18 As per the SOP, the vehicle owners are no longer required to carry the documents

in hard copies They can produce the documents including driving licence, RCs and insurance

certificates or any other information either through the Digilocker app or the mParivahan app

The enforcement agencies like traffic and transport departments can simultaneously access these details from eChallan app, which has data for online verification of vehicles

The off-line verification of mParivahan QR Code is also available on the platform The notification to amend the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to this effect

was issued during November 2018

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NITI Aayog – releases ‘Strategy for New India @75’, a comprehensive national Strategy for New India

The Strategy was released by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley The 41 chapters in the document are merged under 4 sections - Drivers,

Infrastructure, Inclusion and Governance The strategy has spelt out clear objectives for New India 2022 and to propel India

towards a $5 trillion economy by 2030 Key Recommendations under „Drivers‟ Steadily accelerate the economy to achieve a GDP growth rate of about 8% on

average during 2018-23. This will raise the economy‟s size in real terms from $2.7 trillion in 2017-18 to nearly $4 trillion by 2022-23

In agriculture, shift the emphasis to converting farmers to „agripreneurs‟ by further expanding e-National Agriculture Markets and replacing the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act with the Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act

Give a strong push to „Zero Budget Natural Farming‟ techniques that reduce costs, improve land quality and increase farmers‟ incomes

To ensure maximum employment creation, complete codification of labor laws; and upscale and expand apprenticeships.

Launch a mission “Explore in India” by revamping minerals exploration and licensing policy

Key Recommendations under „Infrastructure‟ Expedite the establishment of the Rail Development Authority (RDA), which is

already approved. Double the share of freight transported by coastal shipping and inland waterways Develop an IT-enabled platform for integrating different modes of transport and

promoting multi-modal and digitised mobility. Deliver all government services at the state, district, and gram panchayat level

digitally by 2022-23. With the completion of the Bharat Net programme in 2019, all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats will be digitally connected.

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Key Recommendations under „Inclusion‟ Successfully implementing the Ayushman Bharat programme including the

establishment of 150000 health and wellness centres across the country, and rolling out the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan (PM-JAY)

Upgrade the quality of the school education system and skills, including the creation of a new innovation ecosystem at the ground level by establishing at least 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs by 2020.

Conceptualise an electronic national educational registry for tracking each child‟s learning outcomes.

As already done in rural areas, give a huge push to affordable housing in urban areas to improve workers‟ living conditions

Key Recommendations under „Governance‟ Implement the recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms

Commission Set up a new autonomous body „Arbitration Council of India‟ to grade and accredit

arbitrators Address the backlog of pending cases. Expand the scope of Swachh Bharat Mission to cover initiatives for landfills,

plastic waste and municipal waste and generating wealth from waste

Sharjah in UAE – issues its first ‘Desert driving license’

Individuals or tourist companies can no longer drive in the desert without a permit The new licensing law came into effect on October 24, 2018, in cooperation with

Sharjah Tourism Development Authority (TRA) It is aimed to enhance the security and safety of families travelling through the

desert dunes Applicants also have to pass the driving program of the Sharjah Driving Institute

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France – to implement ‘Digital tax’ on large internet and technology companies from January 1, 2019

The new „Gafa tax‟ - named after Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon – was proposed to ensure the global giants pay a fair share of taxes on their massive business operations in Europe

France projects an income of 500 million euros from the newly proposed tax In addition to taxing direct sales, France will also require the companies to pay a

levy on “advertising revenues, websites and the resale of private data” Usually global IT majors pay only 9% levy as against 23% for other business and

hence they choose low tax nations such as Ireland, the Netherlands or Luxembourg for their operations

The IDFC Bank – merges with Capital First – to create a new entity, IDFC First Bank

The merger between IDFC Bank and Capital First, a non-banking financial company - was earlier announced on 13th January 13, 2018

V Vaidyanathan, Founder and Chairman of Capital First Ltd - has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the newly created IDFC First Bank

M Nageswara Rao – appointed as the new Additional Director of CBI He is the current interim CBI director, appointed after Alok verma, CBI Director,

was sent on a forced leave - on October 23, 2018 Rao had joined the CBI as a joint director in 2016 Rao is a 1986-batch IPS officer from the Odisha cadre

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He was the first officer in Odisha to use DNA fingerprinting in crime investigation He had also served as the head of the Odisha Fire Service He is the recipient of the President's Police Medal for Meritorious Service,

President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service, Special Duty Medal and Odisha Governor's Medal.

Asma Jahangir, Pakistani Human rights Activist – awarded ‘posthumously’ the UN Human Rights Prize for the year 2018 – in New York on December 18

Her daughter Munizae Jahangir received the prestigious honour on behalf of her

mother Asma Jahangir was announced as one of the four winners of the prize in October Other prize winners included - Women's rights activist in Tanzania - Rebeca Gyumi Activist for the rights of indigenous Brazilian communities - Joenia Wapichana Ireland's human rights organization - Front Line Defenders This year, the award coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 1948) The award was instituted by the UN General Assembly in 1966

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Asma Jahangir – Fact file Asma Jahangir became the fourth Pakistani woman to be awarded the UN Human

Rights Prize after Begum Ra'Ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1978), Benazir Bhutto (2008) and Malala Yousufzai (2013)

She was the first woman to serve as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association in Pakistan

She co-founded and served as Chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

She was also a long-standing prominent member of the UN Human Rights Council

She was honoured as an Officier dans l‟Ordre national de la Légion d‟honneur by France

Asma Jahangir passed away on February 11, 2018 due to cardiac arrest

Aravindh Chithambaram – won his first-ever senior National Chess title in Jammu with 10 points

Krishna was the runner-up with 9.5 points in his kitty The 19-year old Aravindh became a Grand master in 2015

Padmini Rout - won gold in 17th Asian continental women’s tournament - at Makati in Philippines

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Vidit Santosh Gujrathi won bronze in the men's section In the Open segment, GM Surya Ganguly finished fourth and qualified for 2019

FIDE World cup Lionel Messi – bagged a record 5th Golden Shoe award – for finishing as the

topmost goal scorer in Europe

The striker scored 34 goals in 68 games for Barcelona in the last season, putting him ahead of Liverpool‟s Mohamed Salah and Tottenham‟s Harry Kane

Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the award four times, hit 26 goals in 52 matches for Real Madrid

Gender Cap Index – Released by World Economic Forum India retained the same position of 108th rank for the year 2018 as well, same like

2017 – having closed 66% of the gender gap in the year 2018

Iceland has been ranked at first place in the WEF‟s Gender Gap Index for the

10th consecutive year – out of 149 countries in the year 2018

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It had closed more than 85.8% of its overall gender gap, as per the report Norway (2nd, 83.5%), Sweden (3rd, 82.2%), and Finland (4th, 82.1%) occupied

the other top rankings Other countries in the top-10 include Nicaragua (5th, 80.9%), Rwanda (6th,

80.4%), New Zealand (7th, 80.1%), the Philippines (8th, 79.9%), Ireland (9th, 79.6%) and Namibia (10th, 78.9%)

South Asian Countries - Rankings

As per the report, the world has closed 68% of its gender gap and at the current rate of change, it will take 108 years to close the overall gender gap

The report is annually published by WEF since 2006

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International Minorities Rights Day - December 18

The day intends to create awareness about the rights of minority communities in the country

The Government has set up a separate Minority Affairs ministry in the year 2006 to carry out welfare schemes for the development of minorities

Minorities constitute about 19% of the total population in the country A National Commission for Minorities - has also been set up under the National

Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 by the Union Government