PM virtually Inaugurates 2 Railway projects - New Bhaupur to New Khurja section, OCC

• Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated 2 Railway projects for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) namely the 351-Kms long New Bhaupur-New Khurja section in Uttar Pradesh and Operational Control Centre at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It is expected to be one of the largest control centres in the world.

• The OCC will be the Command Centre of the entire route length of EDFC.

• It will be one of the largest structures of its type and will be equipped with modern interiors, ergonomic design & best-in-class acoustics.

Dedicated Freight Corridors:

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor:

• 1,856 km-long Eastern DFC is from Sahnewal near Ludhiana, Punjab to Dankuni, West Bengal

• The route has coal mines, Thermal power plants & industrial cities. Feeder routes are also under development for EDFC.

• 60% of EDFC falls in Uttar Pradesh.

Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC):

• 1,504 km-long western dedicated freight corridor runs from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai to Dadri in Uttar Pradesh.

• Ports like Mundra, Kandla, Pipavav, Dawi & Hazira would serve as feeder routes.

• Dedicated Freight Corridors is being constructed by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL).

• The Industrial Corridor of Delhi-Mumbai & Amritsar-Kolkata will be developed around both the EDFC & WDFC.

PM flags off 100th Route of Kisan Rail

• PM virtually flagged off the 100th 'Kisan Rail' from Sangola (Maharashtra) - Shalimar (West Bengal).

• The Government of India has extended a 50% subsidy on transportation of fruits & vegetables.

• The 1st Kisan Rail was introduced from Devlali (Maharashtra) - Danapur (Bihar) on August 7, 2020. It was extended up to Muzaffarpur in Uttar Pradesh.

About Ministry of Railways:

• Union Minister - Piyush Goyal
• Headquarters - New Delhi

President Ram Nath Kovind's Visit to Diu

• President of India Ram Nath Kovind visited Diu Town in the Union Territory (UT) of Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu.

• During the visit, President Inaugurated Jalandhar Circuit House in Diu.

• He inaugurated the INS (Indian Navy Ship) Khukri Memorial. INS Khukri is Indian Navy's only warship to be lost in a war to date.

• Diu city is the 1st City in India which has fulfilled 100% of its energy needs during the day with solar energy.

• All 3 districts of the Union Territory were declared Open Defecation Free' in 2017.

• Daman & Diu was ranked 1st in the 'Swachh Survekshan' of 2019.

About UT Administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu:

• Established on 26th January, 2020

• Administrator - Praful Khoda Patel
• Capital - Daman
• Districts - 3 (Daman, Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli)

Gender Park to Host 2nd International conference on Gender Equality at Kozhikode in February 2021

• The Gender Park, an initiative of Kerala Government in partnership with United Nations (UN) Women will organize the 2nd edition of the International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE-II) at Gender Parks Kozhikode campus in February 2021.

• The conference will be 3-days long and the theme of the event will be "Gender in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social Business: The Mediating Role of Empowerment. The event will take place in a partially-digital format due to the Pandemic.

• The 1st edition ICGE was hosted by the Gender Park in November, 2015.

India Hoists Blue Flags on its 8 Beaches

• India hoisted 'Blue Flags' on its 8 beaches. Blue Flag certification is an eco-label given by Foundation for Environment Education, Denmark for beaches that meets its stringent environmental, educational, safety-related and access-related criteria.

• The label signifies India's efforts to safeguard its coastal region. In October 2020 India became the First Country to be awarded the Coveted International Blue Flag certification for 8 beaches in one attempt.

Indian Railways launches HMIS & Mobile application for UMID

• Indian Railways launched the Integrated Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) & mobile application for downloading Unique Medical Identity Card (UMID) in 5 units of South Central Railways & 2 units of Northern Railways.

• HMIS has been developed by IR in collaboration with Rail Tel Corporation Limited.

• To provide single window clearance for hospital administration activities like clinical, diagnostics, pharmacy, examinations & industrial health.

• The Mobile app for UMID has been launched to integrate UMID with HMIS to help Railway employees to access their health care services in an easier way.

• HMIS has been launched after successful implementation of the Trial Project of HMIS over Central hospital, Lallaguda, South Central Railway (SCR).

• HMIS will help in improving the quality of health services being provided to the employees of IR.

About Indian Railways:

• Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indian Railway Board - Vinod Kumar Yadav
• Headquarters - New Delhi

ICICI Bank Becomes 1st Bank to Collaborate with Google Pay to Issue FASTag

• ICICI Bank collaborated with Google Pay to issue FASTag through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on the payments app. This allows Google Pay users to order, track and recharge ICICI Bank FASTag digitally on the payments platform. With this partnership, ICICI Bank FASTag is now available on Google Pay.

• ICICI Bank, with this collaboration becomes the 1st bank to partner with Google Pay to issue FASTag.

• ICICI Bank FASTag programme is part of National Electronic Toll Collection(NETC) initiative rolled out by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the guidelines of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)and Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (IHMCL).

About ICICI Bank:

• Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Sandeep Bakhshi

• Tagline- Hum Hai Na, Khayal Apka

IRDAI Issues Exposure Draft on Standard Travel Insurance Policies to be Offered from April 1, 2021

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India(IRDAI) issued an exposure draft on guidelines for standard travel insurance policies that is to be offered from April 1, 2021 by every general insurer and stand-alone health insurer.

• IRDAI has asked all the stakeholders to comment/suggest on this exposure draft by 6th January, 2021.

• As per the exposure draft, insurers can launch 5 standard travel insurance plan variants under domestic travel and 4 plan variants under overseas category.

About Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India(IRDAI):

• It is a statutory body formed under an Act of Parliament, i.e., Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (IRDAI Act 1999).
• Chairman - Subhash Chandra(C) Khuntia

• Headquarters - Hyderabad, Telangana

• Constituted -1999(incorporated- April 2000)

AU Small Finance Bank Partners with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

• AU Small Finance Bank Ltd has partnered with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Ltd to offer customised need and goal-based life insurance solutions of ICICI Prudential Life to its customers.

About AU Small Finance Bank:

• MD & CEO- Sanjay Agarwal
• Tagline 'Chalo Aage Badhein'
• Head Office-Jaipur, Rajasthan

• Founded, 1996 (converted into Small Finance Bank in 2017).

About ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Ltd:

• It is promoted by ICICI Bank Limited and Prudential Corporation Holdings Limited. Commenced Operations- 2001
• Head Office- Mumbai, Maharashtra
• MD & CEO-N. S. Kannan

World's 1st Crypto Bank, 'Unicas' in India

• 'Unicas', world's first crypto bank was launched in India as a Joint Venture(JV) by Cashaa of UK and United Multistate Credit co-operative society Ltd of India. This bank allows users to transact in cryptocurrency and fiat from one account to another. It will provide banking services for both fiat and crypto assets.

• It is to be noted that for the 1st time in the world a financial institution has enabled cryptocurrency trade through physical branches.

• World's first 'crypto-friendly' branch was initiated in Jaipur, India.

• Initially, Unicas will open its services online and through 14 branches across NCR, Rajasthan, and Gujarat by January 2021.

• It also intends to expand to 100 branches by the end of 2022.

• The users can deposit and withdraw by a savings account, like operating with traditional banks in India.

• The banking services provided include, savings accounts, crypto exchange, crypto loan and debit cards to spend crypto.

Cryptocurrency

• It is a digital or virtual asset that is designed as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transaction records, to control the creation of additional coins, and to verify the transfer of coin ownership

Fiat Money

• It is a government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it.

About Cashaa:

• CEO and Founder- Kumar Gaurav
• Headquarters- London, England

About United Multi State Credit Co-Operative Society Ltd.:

• It is a Multistate Credit Cooperative Society Registered with Central Registrar, New Delhi under Multistate Cooperative Society Act-2002 .
• Headquarters- Jaipur, Rajasthan
• Chairman-B.S Rajawat

About Unicas:

• CEO- Dinesh Kukreja Headquarters- Jaipur, Rajasthan

SEBI Gives Approval for Suryoday Small Finance Bank to Float its IPO

• Suryoday Small Finance Bank(SFB) received approval from Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) to float its Initial Public Offering (IPO).

• The shares of the SFB is expected to be listed on BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty.

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2020

• Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Sabha MP & Former Union Minister for his book 'A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon' and Associate Prof Amit Ahuja, for his book 'Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements' jointly won Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation(NIF) Book Prize 2020.

About the NIF Book Prize:

• The annual prize was established in 2018. It builds on the NIF's mission to support high-quality research and writing on all aspects of Independent India.

• It is given to the best non-fiction book on modern/contemporary India by emerging writers from all nationalities, published in the previous calendar year.

• It was named after Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian social reformer and freedom activist.

About New India Foundation:

• Headquarters, Bangalore(Bengaluru), Karnataka
• Managing Trustee- Manish Sabharwal

Harmony Foundation Felicitated the 16th Mother Teresa Memorial Awards for Social Justice 2020

• The Harmony Foundation hosted the 16th annual Mother Teresa Memorial Awards(MTMA) for Social Justice and felicitated the winners of the 2020 MTMA for Social Justice.

• The awards were presented to honour the acts of compassion of the unsung heroes for their contribution in the time of global pandemic.

• The theme of the MTMA for Social Justice 2020 is "Celebrating Compassion In Times Of Covid".

• About Mother Teresa Memorial Awards(MTMA) for Social Justice:

• The Mother Teresa Memorial Awards for Social Justice was instituted in 2005.

• The award is presented to celebrate and commemorate the memory and legacy of Mother Teresa.

• This is the only award endorsed by Sister Mary Prema Pierick, the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata West Bengal, the organisation which was started by Mother Teresa.

About Harmony Foundation:

• Harmony Foundation is an international NGO which focuses on the field of Social Justice.
• Founder- Dr. Abraham Mathai
• Founded in October 2005
• Headquarter - Mumbai, Maharashtra

Harsh Vardhan Launched India's 1st Indigenous Vaccine 'Pneumosil' Against Pneumonia

• Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually launched India's 1st Indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) – 'Pneumosil' to treat pneumonia. The vaccine has been developed by Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

• The Vaccine will make SIIPL the world's 3rd largest supplier of PCV under the pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment (AMC), and the first Developing country vaccine manufacturer to access the global PCV market.

About Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL):

• Chairman & Managing Director - Cyrus S. Poonawalla
• Chief Executive Officer - Adar C. Poonawalla .

• Headquarters - Pune, Maharashtra

"Elements of Quantitative Genetics: A Conceptual Approach"

• Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan released the book titled "Elements of Quantitative Genetics:A Conceptual Approach" authored by Prof. Dr. Stuti Sharma of Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur, MP. Manoranjan Biswal is the co-author of the book.

• The book presents complex subjects like Plant Breeding Genetics in a simple manner which will help the students in BSc, MSc, PhD students and other researchers.

• This will also assist the candidates preparing for competitive examinations.

Mir Sajjad Ali, Former Indian International Footballer Passed Away

• Mir Sajjad Ali, Former Indian international footballer, passed away

• He was a member of the Indian team at the Aga Khan Gold Cup in 1977 in Dhaka. He represented Bengal in the Santosh Trophy.
• He later played for East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting.