Current Affairs in English – December 20 2022

National Events:

G20:

The first meeting of the Joint Finance and Health Task Force under the Finance Track of G-20 was held in a virtual mode on 20 Dec 2022.
This was the third meeting of the Finance Track under India’s G-20 Presidency. The Joint Finance and Health Task Force was established during the G-20 Leaders ‘ Summit in Rome in 2021.

Vagir:

The fifth submarine of the Project – 75, Kalvari Class submarines, Yard 11879 was delivered to the Indian Navy on 20 December 2022. Project-75 includes indigenous construction of six submarines of Scorpene design.
These submarines are being constructed at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France. Vagir commenced the sea trials from 1 Feb.

SSB:

Sashastra Seema Bal commemorated its ’59th Raising Day’ on 20 December 2022. Sashastra Seema Bal, SSB is a border guarding force of India, which guards the nation’s border with Nepal and Bhutan.
It is one of the five Central Armed Police Forces and it works under the administration of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Ladakh and the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd:

Ladakh and the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd have signed an MoU to provide banking facilities to the UT employees.
Under the MoU, J & K Bank would give the most favoured client status to the UT Administration as well as the active permanent employees who have their salary accounts in J & K Bank.
Both the signing parties also agreed to work on all banking services with J & K Bank.

Escape Tunnel:

India’s longest escape tunnel was completed by the Indian Railways on 15 December 2022. The track is 12.89 km long, built on the 111 km under-construction Banihal-Katra railway line in Jammu and Kashmir.
This longest tunnel is part of the Udhampur – Srinagar – Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) project. The escape tunnel ‘ T-13 ‘ has been constructed to facilitate rescue work in case of an emergency.

Spectrum auction:

India will be the first country to auction spectrum for satellite communication. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will make recommendations to make permissions required for satellite communication from various ministries.
Trai has received a reference from Telecom Department for the spectrum required to be put to auction and associated aspects of satellite-based communication.

High-level task force:

Madhya Pradesh government has constituted a high-level task force, which will make recommendations about regulating online gambling and gaming on 16 December 2022. It will be headed by the state chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bains.
It has been constituted to examine various judicial precedents, legal situations and technical aspects related to prevention and controlling online gambling.

Urban-20:

Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel unveiled the logo, website, and social media handles of the Urban-20 conference in Gandhinagar on 19 December 2022.
Ahmedabad will host the Urban-20 cycles as part of G-20 meetings between February to July 2023. The ceremony was inaugurated virtually by the Union Minister for Urban Development and Urban Housing Hardeep Singh Puri.

International Events:

JEF:

Latvia hosted the 3rd summit meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) on 19 December 2022 in Riga, Latvia.
It is one of the Baltic states; and is bordered by Estonia to north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast.
President: Egils Levits, Prime Minister : Krišjānis Kariņš. The Republic of Latvia was established on 18 November 1918.

India & Netherlands:

India & Netherlands hold 11th foreign office consultations. The Netherlands is a country in northwestern Europe. It is the largest of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
It borders Germany to the east, and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. Capital: Amsterdam. Continent: Europe. Official language: Dutch.

Mars rover Perseverance:

NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance will begin dropping samples of rock onto the surface of the Red Planet in December 2022.
The materials have been packaged in titanium tubes.It is a major milestone in the quest to find out if there is life on Mars.
Perseverance will place 10 cylinders on the ground at its exploration site in Jezero Crater. There will also be examples of Martian soil and air.

GBF:

Over 190 countries have adopted a landmark biodiversity pact to restore natural ecosystems. At the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15 in Montreal, these countries agreed to protect 30 percent of the planet by 2030.
Under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), countries also agreed to reduce harmful government subsidies worth 500 billion dollars annually.

International Human Solidarity Day: 20 December:

International Human Solidarity Day is observed on 20 December every year to highlight the importance of unity in diversity. It was introduced by the UN General Assembly during the 2005 World Summit and was formally established on 22 December 2005.
The theme for the year 2022 is promote solidarity among all and encourage people to work together towards eliminating hunger on a global scale.

Harvard University:

Harvard University appointed Claudine Gay, a dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, as its new President on 16 December 2022. She is the first African American to the post at the university.
She is also the 2nd woman to be elected to head the school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She will take over as the university’s 30th president on July 1, 2023, and will succeed Lawrence S. Bacow.

GFSI:

The 2022 Global Food Security Index (GFSI) report was released by the British weekly The Economist in December 2022. The report shows a deterioration in the global food environment for the third year, threatening food security.
Finland topped the list while India is ranked at 68th position. South Africa overtook Tunisia to become the most food-secure country in Africa.

Sports Events:

Morocco:

FIFA has announced that Morocco will host the next football Club World Cup. The tournament will take place from 1-11 Feb 2023.
The most recent edition of the tournament was held in the UAE in February 2022 and was won by the English football club, Chelsea.
Morocco has hosted the Club World Cup in 2013 and 2014. The Real Madrid football club of Spain has won the cup a maximum of 4 times.