HIMACHAL PRADESH
- Jai Ram Thakur takes oath as new Himachal CM
- Jai Ram Thakur was onday sworn in as the 14th chief minister of Himachal Pradesh along with 11 other ministers at a ceremony at the historic Ridge Ground here.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 52-year-old Thakur, a five-time MLA from Seraj, and other ministers which included six new faces. - The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, BJP veteran L K Advani and a host of union ministers.
- The cabinet is complete as all 12 berths have been filled while two MLAs would be accommodated as speaker and deputy speaker.
- Rajiv Bindal will be the speaker of the legislative assembly.
INTERNATIONAL
- India to set up IT centre in Egypt’s Al Azhar University
- India will be establishing a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT) at Al Azhar University, Egypt’s highest religious authority and one of the world’s most eminent seats of Sunni Muslim learning.
- All the equipment and course material has reached Egypt and premises are being prepared for CIET, which will provide high-tech education and skills to the country’s youth, India’s Ambassador to Egypt, Sanjay Bhattacharyya, said.
- Shooting excluded from 2022 Commonwealth Games
- Birmingham Games officials did not pick shooting, which features in the list of optional sports, for the final programme.
- Instead the organisers chose judo, table tennis, wrestling, gymnastics, diving, cycling and 3v3 basketball as the seven optional sports apart from the 10 mandatory ones.
- The final list of sports for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games is set to be finalised by end of the year.
- Meanwhile, there are chances that cricket could feature at the 2022 edition, albeit in a mixed-gender Twenty20 (T20) format.
- India declares $25 million assistance for Rakhine State
- India has announced a development assistance of $25 million for Myanmar’s Rakhine State, from where thousands of Rohingya Muslims recently fled following incidents of violence against the community.
- This came a day after Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar visited Myanmar and met Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
- An estimated 6,00,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State since late August after large-scale violence there.
· India and Russia hold talks to firm up economic & cultural relations
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is holding a meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation with visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
- Mr Rogozin arrived in New Delhi. He is accompanied by senior Russian Government officials and representatives of trade and industry.
- The meeting will enable the two sides to review the progress achieved by various Working groups and Sub-groups under the IRIGC-TEC and also discuss new areas of cooperation that could strengthen bilateral trade and investment.
NATIONAL
- Good Governance Day: 25 December
- Good Governance Day is observed in India annually on 25 December, the birth anniversary of former-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
- Good Governance Day was established in 2014 to honor Prime Minister Vajpayee by fostering awareness among the Indian people of accountability in government.
- In keeping with this principle, the Government of India has decreed Good Governance Day to be a working day for the government.
· Bengaluru to Host 7th International Coffee Festival
- The seventh edition of the India International Coffee Festival (IICF)will be held in Bengaluru from January 16-19.
- The four-day IICF 2018, being organized by the India Coffee Trust and State-run Coffee Board to promote the Indian coffees globally.
- As per the officials, IICF 2018 would be a precursor to the International Coffee Organisation’s World Coffee Conference being hosted by India in Bengaluru in 2020.
· Mission Clean Energy: Maharashtra set to generate 25,000 MW electricity through solar power
- Maharashtra set to generate 25,000 MW electricity through solar power.
- Rather Maharashtra as a state tops in generating power through renewable energy around 7,500 MW.
- The one state in producing power through renewable energy, with 7,500 MW generation capacity.
- The government wants to take to this capacity to 10,000 81.2-142.7 81.2z"/> Subscribe on YouTube