National Affairs

2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine

• Date & Venue: 17–19 December 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
• Organizers: World Health Organization (WHO) & Ministry of Ayush.
• Theme: "Restoring Balance: The Science and Practice of Health and Well-Being".
• Inauguration: Union Minister Jagat Prakash (J.P) Nadda (MoHFW) and MoS Prataprao Jadhav.
• Bilateral Engagement: 16 bilateral meetings held (including Brazil, Nepal, Sri Lanka, UAE, Cuba, Ghana, Thailand, Fiji).
• India-Cuba MoU Extension: Focuses on Ayurvedic cooperation. Includes establishing an AYUSH Chair at a Cuban Medical University and a Panchakarma Centre in Havana, Cuba.
• Key Launches by PM Modi (Dec 19):
  • MAISP: My Ayush Integrated Services Portal, a centralized digital platform.
  • Ayush Mark: A quality certification benchmark for safety and authenticity.
  • WHO Technical Report: Guidelines on standardizing global training in Yoga.

UEF Trade Summit 2025

• Date & Venue: 12–14 December 2025 at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• Theme: "Unnatha Thamizhagam-4Tn for TN by 2047".
• Core Pact: United Economic Forum (UEF) signed 10 MoUs with the United Nations Sustainable Development Council (UNSDC).
• Signatories: Ahmad Buhari (President, UEF) and Dr. Ajmal Dastagir (Chairman India, SDC).
• Objective: Implement the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across 45 educational institutions associated with UEF.

International Affairs

1st Quad Field Training Exercise (FTX)

• Date & Venue: 08–12 December 2025 at Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB), Guam, USA.
• Framework: Conducted under the Indo-Pacific Logistics Network (IPLN) on the sidelines of 'Operation Christmas Drop'.
• Objective: Interoperability and coordination during Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.
• Context: Follows the Tabletop Exercise (TTX) held in April 2025 at the APCSS, USA.
• Host Country for 5th Quad Leaders' Summit: India (2025).

About Operation Christmas Drop: Launched in 1952 by the United States Air Force (USAF), it is the world’s longest-running humanitarian airlift mission, supplying remote Pacific island nations every December.

BRICS Presidency Handover

• Event: Brazil formally handed over the rotating BRICS presidency to India during the 4th BRICS Sherpas Meeting (11–12 Dec 2025) in Brasília, Brazil.
• Effective Date: India officially assumes the chairmanship on January 1, 2026.
• Symbolic Handover: An Amazonian sustainably crafted wooden gavel was passed from Brazil’s Sherpa (Mauricio Lyrio) to India’s Sherpa (Sudhakar Dalela).
• India’s 4 Pillars for 2026: Proposed by PM Modi under a "humanity-first approach":
  1. Resilience (withstanding global economic shocks)
  2. Innovation (promoting Digital Public Infrastructure & AI equity)
  3. Cooperation (intra-bloc trade & global governance reform)
  4. Sustainability (climate action, disaster risk reduction, and SDGs)
• BRICS Membership Milestones: Formed in 2006 (formalized 2009). South Africa joined in 2010. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and UAE joined in 2024. Indonesia joined in 2025.

Banking & Finance

RBI Approves Risk-Based Deposit Insurance Framework

• Event: Approved during the 620th meeting of the Central Board of Directors of RBI in Hyderabad, Telangana, chaired by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra.
• The Shift: Moves from a flat-rate premium model (in place since 1962 under the DICGC Act, 1961) to a risk-based framework.
• Impact: Banks with stronger capital adequacy and better asset quality will now pay lower premium rates.
• The Baseline: The current flat-rate premium stands at 12 paise for every Rs 100 of assessable deposits.

'DigiProtect Term Insurance' Launch

• Partnership: PNB MetLife India Insurance Company + PolicyBazaar.
• Target Audience: Salaried individuals in India via a pure digital platform.
• Key Product Innovations:
  • Fully refundable premiums if exiting before maturity at no extra cost.
  • Pause Option: Allows a 12-month premium holiday after completing 3 policy years (available once every 5 years).
  • Accelerated terminal illness payout of Rs 3 lakh within 1 working day (subject to a 3-year waiting period).
  • Up to a 21% discount on the first-year premium.

Corporate IT Pacts

• Entities: HCLTech and ASN Bank (the Netherlands’ 4th largest retail bank).
• Mandate: Multi-year strategic partnership to modernize digital architecture under ASN Bank's 'Simplify and Grow' strategy.

Awards & Recognitions

NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025

• Winner: Chennai-based Indian team 'Photonics Odyssey' (Manish D., Deeraj K., Prasanth G., Rajalingam N., Rashi M., and Sakthi R.).
• Award: Most Inspirational Award.
• Project: A sovereign, national satellite broadband network utilizing phased-array antennas to bridge the digital divide in remote areas.

Acquisitions & Mergers

Protean eGov Technologies / NSDL Payments Bank

• Deal: Protean eGov Technologies to acquire a 4.95% stake (~93.74 lakh shares) in NSDL Payments Bank.
• Value: Rs 30.2 crore (valued at Rs 32.2 per share) via a cash-based equity subscription.
• Timeline: Expected completion within 60 days.

Shriram Finance & MUFG Bank Mega Deal

• Deal: Shriram Finance Limited (SFL) signed a definitive pact with Japan's MUFG Bank Limited (subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group).
• Investment Value: Rs 39,618 crore (USD 4.4 billion).
• Significance: Marked as the largest-ever Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India's financial services sector.
• Equity Shift: MUFG Bank will acquire a 20% stake in SFL (gaining 2 board seats). Consequently, key promoters' (Shriram Ownership Trust and Sanlam of South Africa) shares will dilute from 25.39% to 20.05%.

Sports: India vs. South Africa Bilateral Series

T20I Series

• Result: India won the 5-match series 3–1 (clenched with a 30-run victory in the final match at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad).
• Stat Milestone: Hardik Pandya hit the second-fastest T20I fifty by an Indian (63 off 25 balls).
• Player of the Series: Varun Chakravarthy.

ODI Series

• Result: India won the 3-match series 2–1 (sealed with a 9-wicket victory at Visakhapatnam, AP).
• Player of the Series: Virat Kohli (scored centuries in the first two matches).

Appointments

• IIFL Finance: Appointed Bibhu Prasad (BP) Kanungo (former Deputy Governor of RBI, 2017–2021) as the Non-Executive Chairman of the board.

Obituaries

Sreenivasan (69)

• Profile: Veteran Malayalam actor, screenwriter, director, and producer whose career spanned 5 decades (225+ films).
• Key Accolades: National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues (1998) for Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala. Won the Tapasya Madampu Smriti Award in 2024.

Books & Authors

• Book Title: 'Salman Khan: The Sultan of Bollywood'
• Author: Mohar Basu (Chief Correspondent at Midday).
• Publisher: HarperCollins India.

Important Days

International Human Solidarity Day – December 20

• 2025 Milestone: 20th annual observance.
• Theme: "Solidarity for Sustainable Development: Uniting Communities for a Shared Future".
• History: Proclaimed by UNGA Resolution A/RES/60/209 in December 2005; first observed in 2006.

62nd Raising Day of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) – December 20

• History: Raised in 1963 following the 1962 Sino-Indian War to secure sensitive borders.
• Mandate: Protects India's 2,450 km border with Nepal and Bhutan. Functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• 2025 Event Location: Central Training Centre (CTC) in Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh. Chief Guest: Union Minister Amit Shah.

State News: Bihar

Approval of 'Saat Nishchay-3' (2025–2030)

• Context: The Bihar Cabinet approved the third phase of the Seven Resolves program aimed at comprehensive state development.
• The 7 Pillars:
  1. Double Employment, Double Income
  2. Prosperous Industry, Empowered Bihar
  3. Progress in Agriculture, Prosperity of the State
  4. Advanced Education, Bright Future
  5. Accessible Health, Secure Life
  6. Strong Foundation, Modern Expansion
  7. Respect for All, Easy Life
• Core Targets:
  • Generate 1 crore job opportunities over 5 years (supported by the newly formed Department of Youth, Employment, and Skill Development).
  • Attract Rs 50 lakh crore in private investment.
  • Target welfare schemes toward 94 lakh poor families identified in the 2023 caste-based survey.
  • Provide continuous support via the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana (MMRY) with self-employment assistance up to Rs 2 lakh.
  • Accelerate the 4th Agriculture Roadmap (2024-29) alongside a dedicated Makhana Roadmap.