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• On December 19, 2018, 57th Goa Liberation Day was celebrated.


• Goa Liberation Day programme was held in Panaji in North Goa.


• Goa legislative assembly speaker Pramod Sawant also presented Goa Chief Minister’s Fire Service Medals for meritorious service as part of Liberation Day celebrations in Panaji.


• Goa was liberated on 19th December1961, from around 450 years of Portuguese rule.

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• Recently Vice President Venkaiah Naidu met Zambian Parliamentary delegation in New Delhi. He welcomed Zambia as a member of the International Solar Alliance and hoped for early ratification of the ISA Framework Agreement.


• He also told the delegation that India would be happy to associate with the Zambian Parliament in the training of its officials or any other specific areas.

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• United Arab Emirates (UAE) President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has declared 2019 to be the “Year of Tolerance.”


• To highlight UAE as the Global Capital of Tolerance, instilling the values of co-existence and peace in local, regional and international community’s The Year of Tolerance will focus on “Five Pillars”.

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• It could take 202 years for women to earn as much as men because the global pay gap is so vast and the pace of change so slow, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has said in a report.


• The annual report from WEF found that women on average make 63 per cent of what men earn. There was not a single country out of 149 assessed where women on an average made more or as much as men. Laos, in south-east Asia, is the closest to achieving parity with women earning 91% of what men are paid.


• The WEF, which organises the annual meeting of business and political leaders in Davos, said the global gender pay gap has narrowed slightly over the past year, but the number of women in the professional workplace has fallen. In 2017, the WEF estimated that it would take 217 years to close the pay gap.


• Iceland was the most equal country in terms of political roles, but there was still a 33 per cent gap that widened compared to last year.

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• Two days after being sworn in, the Congress government in Rajasthan waived short-term crop loans from cooperative banks and loans of up to Rs 2 lakh taken by farmers from other banks.


• This will put a burden of Rs. 18,000 crore on the exchequer.


• The decision was taken after a proper detailed discussion with officials from the concerned departments. A roadmap has been prepared so that the officers face no problem in following the decision.

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• A Manipur journalist was sentenced to a year's detention under the National Security Act today, nearly a month after he was taken into custody for allegedly targeting the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a social media post.


• According to the government, 39-year-old Kishore chandra Wangkhem was initially detained on November 27 to "prevent him from acting in any matter prejudicial to the security of the state and maintenance of public order".


• The reason for his detention was a Facebook video that showed him criticising Chief Minister N Biren Singh as well as PM Modi.

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• South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha arrived in New Delhi on a two-day visit to the country. She is in India at the invitation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to co-chair the ninth meeting of India-Republic of Korea (ROK) Joint Commission.


• The two foreign ministers will review the progress in multifaceted cooperation under the Special Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

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• The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) rolled out the mini version of Train 18 as it launched the new generation Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit (MEMU) with underslung equipment and some features from the Train 18.


• Train 18, a creation of the ICF is India’s first modern semi-high speed train set which is currently under speed trials. MEMUs cater to short distance intercity day travel. The coaches of the new MEMU underslung are longer at 23.1m against 21.3m in the older MEMU.


• These new MEMUs which are capable of running at around 130 kilometres an hour also equipped with a CCTV surveillance system both inside the coaches and outside the driver’s cab, a Talk Back system to enable passengers to talk to the driver in case of emergency and a GPS based passenger information and announcement system.

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• A fresh cadre review and restructuring of the Income Tax department has been ordered by the government with an aim to create a “caring but strict” direct taxes regime in the country.


• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the I-T department, ordered creation of a 12-member committee of senior officials to accomplish the task within the next three months.


• The committee, chaired by Delhi-based Principal Director General of Income Tax, S K Dash, will also suggest ways to “bring about rationalisation of the organisational structure for enhancing the effectiveness of the department through improved efficiency and morale of its workforce”.

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• President’s rule will be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir from 20 December with President Ram Nath Kovind signing a proclamation to give effect to the recommendation of the state Governor Satya Pal Malik. Kovind has signed the proclamation based on the proposal sent by the ministry following a report by the state governor.


• The term of Governor’s Rule, imposed in the state in June this year, comes to an end.


• Under the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, Governor’s rule can be imposed for six months, but with consent of the President. The Constitution grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

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• While there is no clearly defined level of wealth to determine who fits into the category, those with a net worth of $1 million or more are generally considered HNWIs.


• Business consulting firm Capgemini’s recent Asia-Pacific Wealth Report for 2018 revealed that wealth of Indian high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) rose to nearly 22% in 2017 compared to the previous year. This is the fastest growth in the region for the particular period.

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• Ahead of the strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on December 26, one of the bank officers' union has called a strike on December 21, demanding unconditional mandate for the XIth bipartite wage revision talks.


• In the wake of strikes and holidays, the banks will remain closed from next Friday to Wednesday, except Monday and the banking services could adversely be affected on these days.

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• Indians and even Indian policymakers have hardly ever witnessed food deflation. The recent collapse in food prices caught them off-guard and the surprise was visible in the minutes of the latest monetary policy committee meeting.


• All six members of the committee stated that the food deflation was a surprising development, which made headline retail inflation undershoot previous forecasts of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

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• Senior officials of debt-ridden Reliance Communications and new telecom operator Reliance Jio met Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan to resolve issues flagged by the Department of Telecom (DoT) around payment related to the spectrum sale deal between the two firms.


• According to sources, the DoT maintained its stance that the deal cannot be cleared unless it gets clarity on payment of dues and associated charges.

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• Bengaluru Bulls notched up a thumping 44-28 victory over Telugu Titans in a Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) clash in Panchkula.


• The victory ensured that Bengaluru Bulls have now qualified for the play-offs.


• Pawan Sehrawat continued his fine form and got another super 10 and top scored with 13 points. It was a solid defensive performance by the Bulls.

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• Sports Authority of India (SAI) released their latest 29-member list of athletes under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) last week, the decision to keep ace shooter Heena Sidhu on the watchlist till the World Cup in February came as a surprise to many, including her team management.


• According to SAI, the performance of the athletes have been reviewed before their inclusion. If that’s the case, the 29-year-old had a fair amount of success this year. She had won a gold and silver at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the Asian Games.

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• The top United Nations human rights prize, which was posthumously awarded to Pakistan’s iconic human rights activist and lawyer Asma Jahangir, was received by her daughter, Munizae, at an impressive ceremony in the General Assembly hall of United Nations.


• The award and a plaque were handed over to Munizae Jahangir, a journalist and human rights activist herself, by the President of the General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa.


• Jahangir was an outspoken critic of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment and she fought against religious extremism and for the rights of oppressed minorities in Pakistan.


• Asma Jahangir was one of the four winners of the award which was announced by the United Nations in October and is given once in every five years since 1968.


• The three others who received the awards were: Ms. Rebeca Gyumi (Tanzania), Ms. Joenia Wapichana (Brazil) and Front Line Defenders (Irish organization).


• The award was given at the event organised to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, marked annually on December 10.

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• ‘Period. End of Sentence’ made it to the Oscar shortlist in the Documentary Short Subject category.


• This is a film about women in India fighting against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation and delving upon the work of real-life ‘Pad Man’ Arunachalam Muruganantham. A total of 104 films had originally qualified in the category.

• Ashok Kumar was appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Djibouti.


• He is presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

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• Mohinder Pratap Singh was appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Mongolia.


• He is presently Director at Headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs.

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• Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel announced his resignation from the post. Calls for his resignation were made on December 16 when over 5,500 anti-migration protestors took to the streets in Brussels to demonstrate against Belgium being a signatory to the non-binding UN pact, the ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’.


• The far-right N-VA party had pulled out from the coalition government in protest of the Prime Minister’s decision to sign the UN pact on migration, leaving the Michel-led government in jeopardy.

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• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched 2250 kg military communication satellite GSAT-7A from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. GSAT-7A is the 35th Indian Communication satellite.


• GSAT-7A is the first satellite built primarily for Indian Air Force to qualitatively unify its assets and improve combined, common intelligence during operation.


• The Satellite will improve the way Indian Air Force (IAF) interlinks, operates and communicates with its aircrafts during flight with the help of command centres on ground.


• The satellite will use “Ku band” for superior real time aircraft to aircraft communications.


• Space Vehicle, GSLV-F11 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is used to release the satellite to an eventful geostationary orbit about 36000 km from the Earth.

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• Researchers at Nagpur-based Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology have developed a new technique to produce high value graphene from discarded dry cells batteries.


• They have achieved 88% yield of graphene from a single graphite rod.


• The research results have been published Journal of Hazardous Materials and Bulletin of Material Science.

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• The book ‘Changing India’ written by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was released.


• It is a set of 6 volumes having a compilation of speeches and writings detailing Mr Singh’s life as an economist as well as his 10-year period at the helm of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime.


• The first volume is titled ‘India’s Export Trends and the Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth’, The second volume ‘Thoughts on Trade and Development’.


• The third volume is dedicated to ‘The International Economic Order and the Quest for Equity in Development’.


• The fourth volume focuses on ‘Economic Reforms: 1991 and Beyond’, talking about India’s economic liberalisation, and the fifth volume, which is in two parts, deals with the prime ministerial years from 2004-2014.


• This final part of the book is titled ‘The Prime Minister Speaks’.