Today’s top news: 23 December, 2020 (GPN):

NATIONAL NEWS:

1. India observes Kisan Diwas or National Farmers’ Day on December 23 , in memory of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the great kisan leader and the country’s fifth prime minister. Farmers are protesting centre’s new agricultural laws for nearly a month amid the cold wave sweeping the national capital.
2. The Government of India has decided to constitute a high level committee to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The committee is to be headed by Union Home minister Amit Shah. The committee will decide on the activities to be conducted for one year starting 23rd January, 2021.
3. The Facebook has recently banned a page called Kisan Ekta morcha on its platform. The social media giant has cited community standards on spam as reasons for the ban. However, the page was later restored after widespread opposition on social media .
4. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi expressed his displeasure at PM Modi’s address to the Aligarh Muslim University on its centenary celebrations. For instance, he lamented that the PM had not acknowledged AMU as a “minority institution” as per Article 30 of the Constitution.
5. PDP youth president Waheed Para, who is in custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for alleged links with terrorists, on Tuesday won the District Development Council (DDC) elections from Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
   Waheed Para defeated BJP candidate Sajad Ahmad Raina. Mr Para was arrested by the NIA on November 25, a few days after he filed his nomination papers as a People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) candidate.
6. A total of 280 seats of the District Development Council were held in Jammu and Kashmir. So far, BJP has won 70 seats, NC in 56 seats, Independent in 43 seats, PDP in 26 seats, Congress in 21 seats, JKAP in 10 seats, JKPC in 6 seats and JKPM in 3 seats.
7. The Gupakar coalition has won 64 seats and is leading in 52 seats which means that this alliance is currently ahead in 116 seats. But it is to be noted that there are 7 parties in this alliance which means that these parties together are ahead in 116 seats and BJP alone is in a strong position in 73 seats. The counting of votes is still going on and there may be a slight change in these results.
8. The anti-terror probe agency NIA has conducted searches at seven locations in Thrissur and Kozhikode districts of Kerala in connection with a fugitive accused belonging to the proscribed terrorist organisation Jund Al Aqsa and is believed to be in Syria.
9. The newly-formed social media cell of the farmers’ collective announced on Tuesday that a web conference would be conducted to address all queries regarding the three new farm laws and the protest against it.
10. The webinar, to be hosted on video conference platform Zoom on Thursday noon, will be open for the first “10,000 people” registering on the link, which they would disclose.
11. Armed with hope and a revolutionary poem by noted Punjabi poet ‘Pash’, a farmer cycled nearly 400 km from Faridkot to the Tikri border to join the massive protest by peasants against the new farm laws. His cycle, a new model decked up with cardboards displaying the poem ‘Sab Ton Khatarnak’ in Punjabi by Avtar Singh Sandhu or ‘Pash’ as the revolutionary was famously known.
12. A CBI court has held Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy guilty in the Sister Abhaya murder case. The quantum of the sentence will be pronounced on December 23. The case goes back to March 1992 when Sister Abhaya, a Catholic nun, was found dead in a water well of her convent in Kottayam, Kerala.
13. Cricketer Suresh Raina and singer Guru Randhawa were among those caught in the Mumbai Police raid of the Dragonfly nightclub that was flouting the COVID-19 norms . Their management teams have released statements in regard to the events that took place on Monday night. The Mumbai police have registered a case against the 34 people present at the club under section 188 of the IPC.
14. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has invited applications for engineers to fill 61 vacancies at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). There are 19 vacancies for the post of Scientist of Engineer (SD) and 42 for Scientist or Engineer SC. The monthly salary for these positions goes up to Rs 2,08,700, depending on the candidates’ qualifications and experience.
15. Union Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on December 22 cleared the confusion regarding CBSE Board examinations for Class 10 and 12 and announced that no exams would be held in January and February 2021. However, he ensured that the Class 10 and 12 board exams are not cancelled a schedule will be decided after February 2021.
16. Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal was questioned on Monday by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for close to six hours . The interrogation was in connection with a raid conducted at his residence last month, where the agency had found tablets banned under the NDPS Act.
17. Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh who recently started shooting for her upcoming project MayDay has tested positive for COVID-19.
18. In a breather for women short service commission (SSC) officers in the Army who were denied permanent commission on medical grounds and merit, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre not to relieve them from service till their issue comes up before the court next on January 18.
19. Of 615 women SSC officers who applied for permanent commission, only 422 were selected on merit by a special 5 Selection Board (SB-5) that met in September this year. Further, on medical scrutiny, only 277 were declared fit causing more heartburn for the women officers who fought a long-drawn legal battle for 15 years till the Supreme Court on February 17, 2020 directed the Army to treat women SSC officers at par with their male counterparts for getting permanent commission (PC) and command roles in Army’s non-combat streams.
20. Bharat Biotech has announced successful recruitment of 13,000 volunteers, and continued progress towards achieving the goal of 26,000 participants for Phase-3 clinical trial of COVAXIN across multiple sites in India.
21. New coronavirus strain still not found in India: India has not witnessed any significant mutation of COVID-19 causing SARS-CoV2 virus so far, the central government said on Tuesday.
22. Coronavirus Cases:
    10,097,540
    Deaths: 146,438
    Recovered: 9,660,089

✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. US President Donald Trump presented the prestigious Legion of Merit to PM Modi for his leadership in elevating strategic partnership of the two countries and emergence of India as a global power.
2. India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, accepted the award on behalf of the prime minister from US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien at the White House.
3. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with the Minister of Defence of Japan, Kishi Nobuo. The two Ministers exchanged views on security situation in the region and the need for a free and open maritime order based on the rule of law.
4. India and Japan strongly oppose all attempts to “unilaterally change the status quo by coercion” and activities that escalate tension, against the backdrop of concerns about China’s assertive actions across the region.
5. Russian President Vladimir Putin , who was earlier scheduled to visit India in late 2020, may visit the country during the first six months of next year, Russia’s ambassador to India, Nikolay Kudashev said.
6. India has joined over 25 other countries in imposing a temporary ban on all flights to and from the UK; the ban begins midnight Wednesday and will be in place till December 31
7. Six passengers travelling on Air India’s London-Delhi flight tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival The flight landed around 11.30 pm on Monday.

🌎WORLD NEWS🌍

1. Madhav Kumar Nepal has replaced Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli as chairman of the Nepal Communist Party.
2. A total of 315 Central Committee Members have voted in favour of Madhav Nepal. This comes just two days after PM Oli had recommended the dissolution of the Parliament. Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari ratified the proposal of Prime Minister Oli for the dissolution of Parliament and announced dates for an election. The Himalayan nation nestled between India and China has seen 26 prime ministers in about three decades.
3. Protestors chanted slogans against KP Sharma Oli and President Bidhya Devi Bhandari for proposing and ratifying the proposal to dissolve parliament and call a fresh election for next year. They termed the move as “a Constitutional Coup” and demanded both the state and executive head of the nation not to go ahead.
4. Prominent Baloch activist Karima Baloch was found dead in unexplained circumstances in the Canadian city of Toronto on Tuesday , a day after she was reported missing by the local police.
5. Karima, a former chairperson of the Baloch Students Organisation Azad (BSO-Azad), is the second prominent Baloch campaigner to be found dead in a foreign country this year. In April, the body of Baloch journalist Sajid Hussain Baloch was found outside Uppsala in Sweden, weeks after he had gone missing.
6. The US Congress has passed a bill that reaffirms the right of Tibetans to choose a successor to their spiritual leader, the next Dalai Lama . The law has been described by Dharamshala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, as a historic move and a clear message to China. Any interference by Chinese government officials will be met with serious sanctions and deemed inadmissible into the United States.
7. Coronavirus Cases:
   78,035,847
   Deaths: 1,715,768
   Recovered: 54,851,976

🚣🚴🏇🏁🏊Sports:

1. AUSTRALIA VS INDIA 2nd Test, Border-Gavaskar Trophy, 2020/21,
   December 26, 2020
2. Choreographer and YouTuber Dhanashree Verma and cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal tied the knot in Gurugram on Tuesday. The two married in a Hindu ceremony at the Karma Lake resort.

USD 73.85 💷GBP 98.62
In Mumbai ,(MH)
🥇Gold ₹52,015@10 gm 24 (Krt)
🥈 Silver ₹67,700@ Kg
⛽ Petrol ₹ 90.34
⛽ Diesel ₹ 80.51

₹ 694.00 /14.2 Kg

🇮🇳Facts about India🇮🇳

National Mathematics Day celebrated on December 22; birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1916).

It is honouring the legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar on his birthday. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had inaugurated on this date in 2012, after which it is observed as Math Day every year.

😀Thought of the day

LIFE IS A GREAT TRAVEL TRIP

BUT D PROBLEM IS THAT IT DOESN’T COM WITH MAP

WE TO SEARCH OUR OWN WAYS TO REACH DESTINATIONS

Joke of the day

Teacher – Agar sachche dil se prarthnaa kee jaae to vo jaroor safal hote hai.

Pappu rahane do Sir, agar aisaa hota to aap mere Sir naheen Sasur hote.

😇GK Today💤

ISKCON – International Society for Krishna consciousness

😳Why..❓❓

Pearcing the ears has a great importance in Indian ethos. Indian physicians and philosophers believe that piercing the ears helps in the development of intellect, power of thinking and decision making faculties. Talkativeness fritters away life energy. Ear piercing helps in speech-restraint. It helps to reduce impertinent behavior and the ear-channels become free from disorders. This idea appeals to the Western world as well, and so they are getting their ears pierced to wear fancy earrings as a mark of fashion.

LEARN Sanskrit🙏🏻

Shumbha means ‘doubting oneself’ and Nishumbha means ‘doubting others’. Combined, this refers to the aspect of doubting everything, at every step

🤔 How it works ⁉

Earthworm Reproduction. Interestingly, earthworms are hermaphrodites, which means they have both male and female sex organs.

Hermaphrodites, most need a mate to reproduce. During mating, two worms line up inverted from each other so sperm can be exchanged. The earthworms each have two male openings and two sperm receptacles, which take in the sperm from another mate.

They lay eggs which hatch after about three weeks. Earthworms don’t have lungs, and instead breathe through their skin!

🛕 VEDIC GYAN

Raktabīja was an asura (loosely translated as demon) who fought with Shumbha and Nishumbha against Goddess Parvati and Goddess Kali or Goddess Chamunda. Raktabīja had a boon that whenever a drop of his blood fell on the ground, a duplicate Raktabīja would be born at that spot (rakta = blood, bīja = seed; “he for whom each drop of blood is a seed”). According to some sources, Raktabija was, in his previous birth, Rambhasura, king of demons and the father of Mahishasura.

🧬 HEALTH CARE: HOME REMEDIES🩺
( Note : These home tips followed in villages/ancient traditions, it is up to you to use it or not🙏🏻)

Weight Loss

Mint could also play its own sweet role in weight loss, and the reason is tied with its much famed digestive properties. Mint stimulates digestive enzymes, which help facilitate better absorption of nutrients from food. When the body is able to assimilate and absorb nutrients properly, there is better metabolism. A faster metabolism aids weight loss.

🙏PLZ FOLLOW GOVT. NORMS, MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE, KEEP YOURSELF & YOUR FAMILY SAFE🌼 ENDS