• 10^th December : World Human Rights Day.

Theme 2023  – ‘ Freedom Equality and Justice for All’

• 11^th December: International Mountain Day.
  • Theme:- “Restoring Mountain Eco Systems”.
• Indian origin Singaporean Novelist Meira Chand has been awarded the Highest art award “Cultural Medallion”. Her novel ‘The Painted Cage’ (1986) was listed for The Booker Prize award.
• Mohan Yadav, MLA from Ujjain South has been named the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Earlier he had the state Higher Education ministry in the previous term.
•  Vishnu Deo Sai has been named the next Chief Minister of Chattisgarh.
• Forbes’ Magazine publishes its prestigious ‘World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ list. Four Indian women have been named in the list.
  • Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance Minister) – 32^nd
  • Roshni Nadar Malhotra (HCL) – 60^th
  • Soma Mandal (SAIL) – 70^th
  • Kiran Mazumdar Shaw ( Biocon) – 76^th
    • Overall:    1^st– Usurla Von der Leyen (President of European commission), 2^nd – Christine Lagarde (European Central Bank President), 3^rd – US VP Kamala Harris, 4^th – Italy PM Giorgia Meloni
• BCCI Secretary Jay Shah was awarded the Sports Business of the Year 2023 award by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
  • Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) has been awarded the ‘Best Sports Facility’ award for creating top class sports facility in its campus.
  • KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta and Reliance chairperson Nita Ambani  were recognized as the sports business leaders.
  • Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was awarded the Best Sports Francise.
  • Tamil Nadu won the award for top sports promoting state.
• After its recent meeting, the MPC of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the limit of UPI Payment from Rs.1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh for the payments related to education and health care.
• Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern region, headed by G. Kishan Reddy has announced a new scheme ‘Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar’ with an aim to map and document all the villages of India. This scheme is being run in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), under the Ministry of Culture. The villages will be classified into seven broad categories based on their cultural nuances.
• The Government of India has decided to implement the component of ‘Nari Adalat’ in a phased manner starting from Assam and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir under Mission Shakti.
  • ‘Mission Shakti’ is an umbrella scheme having to sub-schemes – ‘Sambal’(For the safety and security of Women) and ‘Samarthya’(for the empowerment of women)
• Japan unveils world largest and most advanced Nuclear Fission Reactor JT-60SA
• Indian Oil Corp. has unveiled its stationary, rechargeable and kitchen connected indoor cooking solution named ‘Surya Nutan’, an innovative solar cookig system.
• The Indian Navy is going to deploy INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya jointly during the upcoming exercise Milan-2024. It is the biggest Naval exercise held biennially in India. It will be organized at the Coast of Visakhapattanam. Among the participating nations there will be US, Japan, France, Bangladesh, Australia, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
• As a step towards customizing and bolstering Financial Risk Management, China adopts ‘One Province, One Policy’.
• Hanukkah or Chanukkah, the Jewish Chistmas – fondly recognized as ‘The Festival of Lights’ is being celebrated from December 7 to December 15.
• The centre and ADB (Asian Development Bank) has inked a US$ 175 million deal to improve and enhance the resilience of the road connectivity in Madhya Pradesh.
• The World Weightlifting Championship upcoming venues- Manama, Bahrain (2024); Forde, Norway (2025) and Ningbo,China (2026).
• Recently, IBM has unveiled its new super quantum computer- Condor with an impressive 1121 qubits.
• “Rizz” meaning ‘attractiveness or charm, style’ has been selected as the Oxford Word of the Year.

12^th to 13^th December

• 12^th December: Universal Health Coverage Day (Designated by UN).
  •  Theme of 2023: “Health for All: Time for action”.
• A five judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the CJI DY Chandrachud, upholds the constitutional validity of the Abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 by a Presidential Order.
  • The bench said that Article 370 was a temporary provision.
  • The SC directed the ECI to hold Assembly Election in J&K before 30 September, 2024.
• Bhajan Lal Sharma has been named as the new and 14^th Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
• Nikhil Dey was awarded the ‘Global Anti-corruption Champion’ by the USA for his stellar work against the social movements and corruption in government welfare schemes in India.
• Renowned Hindi writer Pushpa Bharati has been awarded the 33^rd Vyas Samman for her 2016 memoir ‘Yadein, Yadein aur Yadein’ by the KK Birla Foundation.
  • This award consisting a Rs.4 Lakh cash prize, is given annually since 1991 to an astounding work of Hindi literature in the last 10 years by the KK Birla Foundation.
  • Apart from Vyas Samman, the KK Birla Foundation gives two other literary awards-
    • Saraswati Samman- Cash prize of Rs.15 lakh – to an Indian Citizen for a splendid work in any of the languages included in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution in last 10 years.
    • Bihari Puraskar– Cash prize of Rs.2.5 lakh – to Hindi/ Rajasthani writer of Rajasthan.
• Famous veteran lyricist-screen writer Javed Akhtar is to be felicitated with the Padmapani Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ajanta Ellora Film Festival by Marathwada Art Culture and Film Foundation in Mumbai in Jan 2024.
• In the United States, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon got felicitated with a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Power of One Award 2023 – often considered as ‘Oscars for Diplomacy’ – by the Diwali Foundation USA for his selfless service to form a peaceful and secure world for all.
• Mr. Donald Tusk has been elected as the new Prime Minister of Poland.
• Veteran Bollywood actor Kabir Bedi gets ‘Order of Merit of the Italian Republic’ – Italy’s highest civilian honour.
• Indian Scientist Dr. Hemachandran Ravikumar receives ‘Karmaveer Chakra Medal – 2023’ for his exceptional contributions to Research and Development in Physical &Bio-Science and Microbiological Studies.
• Bhutanese author Tshering Tashi – the writer of books like ‘Bodhisattva King’ and ‘Symbols of Bhutan’ — was awarded the Sahitya Academy’s ‘Premchand Fellowship’.
  • The ‘Premchand Fellowship’ named after famous Hindi writer Munshi Premchand was first granted to Pakistani Urdu Writer Intizar Hussain.
• Ashad Shafiq of Pakistan announces his retirement from the International Cricket.
• Javier Milei has sworn in as the President of Argentina.
• Climate Change Performance Index: INDIA – 7^th. First three positions remain empty because no country showcased that much commendable effort in combating Climate Change. 4^th– Denmark, 5^th – Estonia, 6^th – Philippines.
  • The CCPI is published annually during the CoP meetings by ‘Germanwatch’, the new Climate Institute and Climate Action Network since 2005.
• The Finance ministry has announced an additional grant of Rs.10,000 Cr to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) – one of the world’s  largest work guarantee programmes, guaranteeing 100 days of employment in every financial year to the adult members of the rural household – from the Contingency Fund of India.
• PM Narendra Modi inaugurates the first Indian Art & Design Biennale at Red Fort in New Delhi.
• The US based consultancy firm ‘Morning Consult’ releases the List of World’s Most Populous Leader:
  • 1^st– PM Narendra Modi of India (76% approval rate) , 2^nd– Mexico president Andrez Manuel Lopez Obrador , 3^rd– Alain Berset of Switzerland. US Prez Joe Biden – 8^th
• The Telangana Government has launched an all new scheme named ‘ Maha Lakshmi Scheme’ under which the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) will provide free travel for all girls, women, and transgender persons within the borders of the Telangana state.
• PM Modi Launches ‘Viksit Bharat@2047- Voice of Youth’. ‘Viksit Bharat@2047: Voice of Youth’ is the vision to make India a developed country by 2047, the 100^th Year of Independence. It is an initiative to provide a platform to the youth of the Nation to contribute ideas to the vision. This vision spreads over myriad aspects of development spanning from economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability and good governance.
• Defence Ministry has signed an collaboration pact with the prestigious Indian School of Business (ISB) in order to provide 50% scholarship on the tuition fees and academic expanses of the military personnel transitioning to civilian life who will pursue post graduate and advance management programmes.
• The Central government has decided to set up Cheetah breeding center at the Banni Grassland – one of the largest grassland in the Indian Subcontinent situated in northern Kachh dist of Gujarat. It is also the breeding ground for the Banni buffalo and the Kangrej Cow.
• S&P Global’s 2022 Insurance Report:     LIC – 4^th .
  • 1^st– Allianz SE of Germany, 2^nd – China Life Insurance Co. Ltd , 3^rd – Nippon Life Insurance  of Japan.
• YUVAi Initiative: The Ministry of Electronics and IT is set to feature the programme ‘YUVAi’ in the upcoming Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence in New Delhi.
  • The vision of this initiative is to equip students from Class 8 to 12 with essential AI skills, cultivating greater understanding of AI and inspiring them to become reasonable designers and users of AI.
• The fourth Exercise VINBAX is going to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam between the armed forces of India and Vietnam.
• The Indian Army conducted a Table-Top Exercise (TTX) for women officers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the Manekshaw centre, New Delhi as part of the  efforts of  the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping (CUNPK),
  • This Table Top Exercise is a particular type of exercise that bolsters the participants’ disaster preparedness in a simulated environment.
• PM Narendra Modi has announced the first urban flood mitigation project for the ‘Integrated Urban Flood Management (IUFM) Activities for Chennai Basin Project’ under the NDMF (National Disaster Mitigation Fund) to make Chennai flood-resistant.
• The 27^th edition of the WAIPA (World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies) World Investment Conference is being held at the India International Convention and Expo Center – Yashobhoomi, New Delhi.
• Myanmar becomes the world’s largest producer of Opium, overtaking Afganistan according to the Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2023 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
• Bank of India launches Nari Shakti Savings Account for extending special service to the women of 18 and above with an independent source of income.
• Federal Bank has been awarded the prestigious ‘Bank of the Year’ by  The Banker.
• Top seed Tennis Player Iga Swiatek was named the WTA Player of the Year award for a second successive season.

14^th to 15^th December

• 14^th December: National Energy Conservation Day. It is organized and celebrated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.
• At the ongoing CoP28 meeting in Dubai, plastic surgeon Dr. Atul Shah was awarded the REACH (Recognizing Excellence Around Champions of Health) Game Changing Innovator Award 2023 that recognizes unsung heroes of Global Health.
• During a recent animal exchange program between the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) and Kakatiya Zoological Park of Warangal, the IGZP received two new species – the Mouse Deer and Chousingha.
• National Mission for Clean Ganga under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, GoI, has launched theGlobal River Cities Alliance (GRCA) at the CoP28 Meeting in Dubai.
  • Under this alliance, 275+ global river cities spanning over 11 countries came together along with various international funding agencies and knowledge management partners came together with an objective of sustainable development of the river cities.
    • NMCG was launched on 12^th August 2011.
• The Indian Navy recently conducted the Exercise ‘Prasthan’ on the offshore R12A (Ratna) Platform of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation around 83km away from the Mumbai Coast.
  • Ex-Prasthan is conducted every six months to ensure alertness and mitigation measures that may arise in these oil platforms.
• The Rajya Sabha passes bill advocating the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners.
  • The bill says that the CEC and the ECs will be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of a selection committee which will consist of the Prime Minister, a Union Minister and the leader of the opposition or the leader of the largest opposition party. The bill seeks to extend immunity against court cases related to the actions taken by them during their discharge of duties for the CEC and the ECs.
  • The sitting Election Commissioner shall be immune from any Civil or Criminal proceedings.
  • Article 324 -329 of Part XV of our Constitution deals with the Election Commission of India.
  • The election commissioner is of the same status as the Chief Justice of India and their term of office is 6 years or until the age of 65.
• Krasnoyarsk and Emperor Alexander III are the all new Nuclear Powered Submarines of Russia that were launched at the Sevamsh Shipyard.
• Kavshree Gautam becomes the most valuable uncapped women cricketer in the Women’s Premier League auction bagging a deal of Rs. 2 Cr by the Gujarat Giants.
• China and Egypt has successfully launched their collaborative satellite MisrSat-2.
• Tata Power and the Indian Oil signs an MoU to set up 500 EV-charging points across the nation in the petrol pumps of IOCL.
• In the CoP28 Dubai, nearly 200 countries clinched a deal that called for “a transition from fossil fuels”.
• The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the on-going Israel-Hamas War, and India, unlike its usual stance, voted in favor of the resolution.
• TATA Steel’s corporate social responsibility arm Tata Steel Foundation inked a pact with Central Tasar Research and Training Institute, Ranchi, for fostering sustainable livelihoods through sericulture based activities in Jharkhand.
  • CTRTI is a unit of the Central Silk Board (a statutory arm under the Union Textile Ministry).
  • It is the only institute in the world dedicated to research and development activities in the Tasar sector.
• The Odisa government and Tata Steel has signed an MoU to establish High Performance centers for archery and sport climbing in the state. According to the MoU, Odisha Tata Steel Archery Academy and Odisha Tata Steel Adventure Foundation Sport Climbing Academy will be established in Bhubaneshwar.
• The Sikkimese New Year of Bhutias – Losoong and Namsoong, the start of the New Year for the Lepcha community started on 13^th December.
• A seven judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court, negating an earlier judgment,  unanimously ruled that an unstamped or insufficiently stamped arbitration agreement will continue to be legally valid and is enforceable.
• Finance Minister Nirmala SitharamanintroducedThe Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023 in the LokSabha that seeks to give immediate effect to the changes in customs and excise duties announced in this year’s Budget.
  • The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill,2023 will replace The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 1931.
• Olympic Medallist Leander Paes and Vijay Amritraj became the first men from Asia to be introduced to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
  • Paes is a former World No.1 in doubles with 18 Grand Slam titles. He was selected in the Player Category and Amritraj and UK’s Richard Evans are inductees in the contributor category.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised India’s growth forecast to 6.7% for the current financial year from its earlier projections of 6.3%.
• The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has sent legal notices to Amazon for allegedly using ‘dark patterns’ in its service interface.
  • Dark patterns are complex design interfaces that influence Netizen decisions. For instance it’s very difficult to exit Amazon Prime, one has to go through multiple clicks and websites before reaching the desired page.
• Captain Fatima Wasim becomes the first Indian women medical officer to be posted at the ‘operational post’ of Siachen Glacier.
  • She is the second women medical officer after Geetika Koul who got posted at the Siachen glacier.
  • Siachen, located in the North of Nubra valley, is the highest battle field of the world, holding a very vital strategic location for India in the tri-junction of India, Pakistan and China for its high elevation.
• Afganistan’s NGO, Afgan Women Skills Development Center has been awarded the ‘International Gender Equality Award 2023’ by Finland for doing exceptional and inspiring work for the protection of women in Post-Taliban Afganistan.
  • Finalnd is the first country in the world to give voting rights (both of electing and being elected) to women as early as 1906. Also Finalnd is the first country to include women in its Parliament.
• FIFA has announced the shortlist of the names for its annual Best Player of the Year 2023. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are the three men among whom the award will be given. Lionel Messi had won the 2023 Ballon d’Or for record extending eighth time
  • The Women Best Player Shortlist: Aitana Bonmati and Jenni Hermoso of Spain and Linda Caisedo of Colombia. Bonmati won the Women’s Ballon d’Or 2023.

• Google Publishes its ‘Top 10 Trending list’:
  • Top 10 Trending Athletes: 1^st– Damar Hamlin (NFL), 2^nd – Kylian Mbappe (Football), 3^rd– Travis Kelce (NFL).       Subhman Gill (Cricket) – 9^th and only Indian in the List.
  • Top 10 searched news of India: 1^st– Chandrayaan-3, 2^nd– Karnataka Election Results, 3^rd– Israel News.
• Cricketer Mohammed Shami has been nominated for Arjuna Award 2023.
• Trailblazing Badminton Duo, Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty – more fondly famous as ‘Duo of Destruction’ – who together won Asiaan Games, Asian Champinships, Swiss Open, Indonesia Open and Korea Open, has been selected as the nominees for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (the highest sports honor of the country).
• Shreyas Iyer has been appointed as the Captain of the IPL Franchise Kolkata Knight Riders along with Nitish Rana as the Vice Captain.
• Hardik Pandya has been appointed as the Captain of the IPL Franchise Mumbai Indians, marking an end to Rohit Sharma’s 11 years long captaincy stint.
• British-Indian composer Nitin Swahney, best known for the screen adoption of Salman Rushdie’s most famous novel ‘Midnight’s Children’, has been appointed as the member of the 2024 Booker Prize Judges Panel.
• MP Government’s first cabinet meeting headed by new CM Mohan Yadav:
  • The MP government has decided to set up a ‘PM College of Excellence’ in every district of the state out of the existing 570 government colleges.
  • The Government decided to implement a cyber-tehsil system in all the districts of the state and put a ban on the illegal use of loudspeakers at religious and other palces.
  • The cabinet decided to increase the tendu leaf collection rate from Rs.3000 per bag to Rs.4000 per bag.
  • The cabinet has also decided to ban on the buying and selling of meat and fish without license in the urban areas of the state.
• The LokSabha which is currently on its Winter Session, has passed two bills that extends the provisions of the Women’s Reservation Bill (106^th Constitutional Amendment Act) of 33% reservation for Women in Parliament and the state legislatures to the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Puducherry.
  • As of now (the 17^th Lok Sabha 2019-2024) only 15% of the MPs are Women and on an average 9% of the MLAs of the state legislatures are women.
• The Parliament has passed the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023 that seeks to replace the earlier Central Universities Act, 2009 and it will establish a central university in Telangana by the name of “Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University” – that will open a new vista for pursuing top class higher education in Tribal studies.
• IIT Madrashas developed the new AMRIT (Arsenic and Metal Removal by Indian Technology) Technology that elimitates arsenic from contaminated water and makes it eligible for drinking and use. It is a nano-scale iron-oxyhydroxide based solution that is suitable for both domestic and community level use.
  • The permissible limit of Arsenic as prescribed by WHO is – 0.01mg/l
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has introduced the all new “Indian Forest & Wood Certification Scheme” that seeks to boost healthy participation in sustainable forest management, agroforestry and environmental practices, by providing voluntary third party certification. These certificates can ensure various market incentives to the bodies that adhere to these certified conditions.
  • The Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal is the nodal agency for the implementation of the scheme.
  • The National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies under the Quality Control Council is the accredit certification body of the scheme.
• Recently a statue of ancient Tamil Writer ‘Thiruvalluvar’ was unveiled in France.
• The Punjab Government has recently launched a scheme named “Bhagwant Mann Sarkar, Tuhade Dwar”.