NATIONAL

Joint Military Exercise between India and Maldives held

• The 11th edition of Exercise EKUVERIN between India and Maldives has set to be conducted at Kadhdhoo Island from Dec6-Dec19th.
• The exercise will enhance the allaince and inter-operability between Armed Forces of both the nations in terms of understanding transnational terrorism both on land and at sea, conducting Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency Operations and sharing best military practices and experiences.
• The joint military excercise will also include cultural and sports activities to enhance defence cooperation and bilateral relations along with the hard training.

Additional Fact-Ekuverin is word in Dhivehi language of Maldives which means friends.

Indian Ocean Conference held

• Fifth Indian Ocean Conference was held on Dec5 at Abu Dhabi, which is jointly organized by India Foundation, RSIS Singapore, Emirates Centre for stratergic studies and Research from UAE, Institute of National Security Studies from Sri Lanka.
• There conference was held between countries having its shore in Indian Ocean, where 200 delegates participated from 30 different countries.
• The theme of the conference for this year was given as ‘Ecology, Economy and Epidemic’, and the conference was inaugurated by Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
• The conference was focused on Global power axis and importance of Indo-Pacific in international System.

Indigenous Survey Vessel launched

• The First Large Survey Vessel out of four vessels named Sandhayak built for the Indian Navy was launched in Hooghly River, Kolkatta.
• It was designed and developed by Garden Based Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), which is a Defence Public Sector Undertaking.
• The contract for building four survey ships was signed between Ministry of Defence and Garden Based Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd at a total cost of Rs2,435 Crore.
• The Survey ship will have 80%  indigenous content by cost and this will also ensure that large scale defence production is executed by Indian manufacturing units, thereby generating employment and expertise within the country.

Additional Fact-

1. Sandhyak is propelled by two Marine Diesel Engines fitted with Fixed Pitch Propellers and equipped with Bow and Stern Thrusters.
2. The Vessel is equipped with a helicopter, Bofors 40mm gun,four survey motor boats and two small boats
3. The survey vessel is also capable of performing search and Rescue, Disaster Relief and can also be used as Hospital shp during emergencies.

Database on Art and Artist of villages

• The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts(IGNCA) has selected 80 villages to conduct culture mapping, Villages have been selected on the basis of Freedom Movements associated with the village and Art practices in the village.
• It is a project under the Culture Ministry which aims to create a database related to villages and their culture, customs and traditions.
• The data is set to be collected by  Ground Work, Field Surveys, Mobile applications =, Interactive Web Portals and OTT portals , Documentaries and melas of villages.
• The Project will be completed by the end oif this year.

INTERNATIONAL

Mt. Semuru Erupted

• Mount Semuru, which is an active volcano situated in East Java islands of Indonesia has erupted.
• The Volcano had created a smoke fountain as high as 12,000 metres and the lava oozed out till a distance of 500metres from the carter.
• It is the second highest mountain in the Java Islands.
• This will be the second eruption of Mount Semuru in a single year, previously it erupted on Jan 2021.

French right nominates first women candidate

• The France conservative party has picked Valerie Pecresse, to contest in the election challenging current President Emanuel Macron for the elections to be held by next year.
• She will be the first women from the party to be nominated as the presidential candidate.

New President for Gambia

• Adama Barrow of Gambia has won the election for the second time and becomes the president of Gambia.
• He has Secured 53% of the vote against his challenger Ousainou Darboe, who secured 27.7% votes.
• Adama Barrow was the first elected president of Gambia, he has ended the dictatorship Yahya Jammeh.

BANKING, FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

Agriculture and Processed food products export saw a rise

• Agricultural and Processed Food products exports of India saw a rise by more than 13% in terms of US Dollars in the first eight months of the 2021 compared to the same period of the previous year.
• The export of products under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) ambit increased from $11,671 million in April-November 2020-21 to $13,261 million in April-November 2021-22.
• The export of rice was the top forex earner at $5,937 million during April-November 2021-22.
• Meat, dairy and poultry products exports grew 12%. Fruits and vegetables exports were up by 12% to touch $1,720 million during April-November 2021-22 against $1,536 million in April-November 2022.

Loans approved to improve educational quality in India

• The Asian Development Bank has approved a loan of $500Million to the Government of India to Support the Integrated Scheme for School Education (Samagra Shiksha) and Exemplar School Initiative , aimed to improve the quality of Education in schools.
• The loan amount would be disbursed to transform 1800 government schools in Assam, Gujarat, Jaharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand into exemplar schools.

SPORTS and AWARDS

Silver in Squash

• Indian Men Squash team, comprising of Saurav Ghoshal , Mahesh Manganoakar and Ramit Tandon have won Silver in the Asian team Squash Championship.
• The team had lost against the Malaysian team in the finals.

Russia win Davis Cup

• Russian tennis players Danlil Medvedev defeated Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the Davis cup Finals making Russia win the cup after 15 years.
• Russia’s Andrey Rublev defeated Borna Gojo earlier.

Davis Cup- It is a premier International team event in men’s conducted by International tennis federation, described as the world cup of tennis.

Argentina wins Junior hockey world cup

• Argentina has defeated four time world champion Germany in the finals of junior hockey world cup.
• Argentina scored 4 while Germany scored 2

Sindhu wins Silver

• Indian Badminton star P.V Sindhu won silver in the BWF world tour, after losing to Korean An se- Young.

Indian American Mathematician wins U.S maths prize

• Indian American mathematician Nikhil Srivastava has been jointly selected by S5000 Cirpian Foias prize by American Mathematical Society for his works in Operator Theory

MISCELLANEOUS

• Dec 5^th was observed as World Soil Day.

• Dec 6^th is observed as the death anniversary of the father of Indian constitution Dr B.R Ambedhkar.

• Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaih has passed away, He has also served as the Governor of Tamil Nadu.