MoJS Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat releases Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment Report 2023i.The Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) released the ‘National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources Of India, 2023’ whose assessment was carried out jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and States/UTs for taking suitable interventions by various stake-holders.
ii.CGWB works under the aegis of Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, MoJS.
iii.Total Annual Ground Water Recharge is 449.08 Billion Cubic Metres (BCM) which is an increase of 11.48 BCM from 2022 when it was 437.6 BCM.
iv.The major increase is noticed in the States of West Bengal (WB), Assam, Telangana, Chhatisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Bihar.
About Central Ground Water Board (CGWB):
Chairman– Dr. Sunil Kumar Ambast
Headquarters– Faridabad, Haryana
Formed in – 1970

iDEX signed 300th Contract For Design and Development of GaN SemiconductorsInnovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)-Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), the flagship initiative of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), signed its 300th contract with Bengaluru (Karnataka) based M/S Agnit Semiconductors Private Limited in New Delhi, Delhi.

• The agreement focuses on developing advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) Semiconductors which is essential for next-generation wireless transmitters in defence applications.

Signatories:
The contract was signed by Additional Secretary (Defence Industries Production) &  Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) T Natarajan in the presence of Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane.
About the contract:
i.The contract aims to utilise indigenous GaN technology to design, develop and manufacture GaN components for defence in India.
ii.With this India can reduce its reliance on imports of GAN components and potentially become an exporter of it.
Note: GaN’s applications range from radars to Electronics Warfare (EW) jammers.
Previous Contracts:
i.iDEX signed its 300th contract within seven months of signing its 250th contract and nine months of signing 200th Contact.
ii.iDEX signed it’s 250th contract in May 2023 with Thane (Maharashtra) based InspeCity Space Laboratories Private Limited.
iii.Its 200th contract was with a winner of the Indian Navy Prime challenge launched under the SPRINT initiative in February 2023.
iv.In December 2022, iDEX signed its 150th contract with Pune (Maharashtra) based Altair Infrasec Private Limited.
Note: 
SPRINT stands for Supporting Pole-Vaulting in R&D through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), NIIO and Technology Development Acceleration Cell (TDAC).
Additional info:
i.Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a Navratna Public Sector Unit (PSU) under Ministry of Defence, signed a procurement contract with the iDEX Winner M/s Blurgs Innovations Private Limited for their solution TRIDENT.
ii.This is the first procurement order placed by a Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) under the iDEX scheme.
About iDEX: 
i.It was launched in 2018 with an objective to provide the platform of co-creation & co-development in the defence sector.
ii.It promotes startups, innovators, and entrepreneurs to contribute to indigenous defense production.
iii.It is being implemented by DIO, established under the Department of Defence Production, MoD.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah led Committee Approves Rs 1,658 Crore Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for JoshimathThe high-level central committee, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has approved the Recovery and Reconstruction (R&R) plan of Rs 1,658 crore for Joshimath in Uttarakhand, which was affected by landslides and land subsidence.
About Joshimath’s Natural Disaster:
i.Joshimath, a hill town in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, suffered a land subsidence(sink) of about 5.4 cm in the 12 days from December 27, 2022, to January 8, 2023.

• After this incidence, Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone by the Uttarakhand government.
• Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface due to removal or displacement of subsurface earth materials.

ii.Joshimath is also located in a high-risk seismic zone known as ‘Zone V’, which is vulnerable to landslides and flash floods.
Note:
Joshimath is located en route to Badrinath and the Valley of Flowers National Park and Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib.
About the recovery plan for Joshimath:
i.The recovery plan for Joshimath will be implemented in three years, following best practices, Build Back Better (BBB) principles, and sustainability initiatives.
ii.Central Assistance:The union government will provide assistance of Rs 1,079.96 crore from recovery and reconstruction the window of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
iii.State Assistance:The Uttarkhand state government will provide assistance of Rs 126.41 crore from its State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and Rs 451.80 crore from its state budget, including land acquisition costs for resettlement of Rs 91.82 crore.

RBI, Bank of England sign MoU concerning Clearing Corporation; Fines Bank of America, N.A., HDFC Banki.On December 1, 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bank of England (BoE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation and information exchange regarding the Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).
ii.It was signed by RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar and BoE Deputy Governor for Financial Stability Sarah Breeden in London, United Kingdom (UK).
iii.RBI in exercise of powers under the provisions of Section 11(3) of FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act), 1999 has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 10,000 on Bank of America, N.A. for violation of RBI’s instructions on reporting requirements under Liberalised Remittance Scheme of FEMA, 1999.
iv.RBI approved the promoter of CSB Bank to keep a 26% stake in the lender. This is higher than the 15% stake that RBI had previously advised.
About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Governor – Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors –Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar, and
Swaminathan Janakiraman
Establishment – 1st April 1935
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra

SEBI Postpones Linking of SCORES with ODR Portal to April 2024The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has extended the timeline of linking of SEBI Complaint Redressal (SCORES) platform with the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Portal from 4th December 2023 to 1st April 2024. 

• The circular was issued under Section 11(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992.

Key Points:
i.As per the circular issued by SEBI on 20th September 2023,

• The market entities has to keep submitting the Action Taken Report (ATR) on SCORES within 21 calendar days from the date of receipt of the complaint.
• The market entities have to apply for SCORES authentication and for Application Programming Interface (API) integration so that entities can comply with the circular from December 4, 2023.

ii.SEBI has proposed to reduce the timelines and introduce auto-routing and auto-escalation of complaints to strengthen the investor grievance handling mechanism through SCORES.
iii.This will ultimately reduce the timelines and introduce automatic routing as well as automatic escalation of complaints.
About SCORES:
i.The SCORES acts as a platform for investors to file their grievances against listed companies or registered intermediaries which are unresolved.
ii.It is an initiative by SEBI.
iii.It was launched in 2011.
Additional Info:
Designated bodies include stock exchanges, the Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI), the Indian Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Association, Depositories and Association of Portfolio Managers in India (APMI) and the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).
About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):
Chairperson – Madhabi Puri Buch
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Established in – 1992
Established under – Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992

HDFC Securities Launches Mobile Trading App HDFC SKY On AWS Cloud
HDFC Securities Limited, the stock-broking arm of HDFC Bank, has launched its mobile trading app, HDFC SKY on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing unit of Amazon.com.
AWS is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud.

• HDFC Securities will provide secure and low-latency trading services to retail investors who prefer mobile trading.
• HDFC SKY, built on AWS, will enable investors to access the stock market at a scale of thousands of transactions per second.
• With AWS, HDFC Securities will reduce its annual Information technology (IT) infrastructure and management costs by up to 50%.

Note: 

• Recently, AWS has outlined its plans to invest USD 12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure in India by 2030.
• Since 2017, AWS has also trained more than 4 million individuals in India with cloud skills

Bose Krishnamachari among 5 Indians featured on Art Review’s 2023 Power100 Most Influential People in Art
5 Indians including Bose Krishnamachari, an Indian painter and artist-curator hailing from Kerala, are featured on 2023 Power 100, the annual ranking of the most influential people in art, published by Art Review, a London-based magazine.
i.Bose Krishnamachari is ranked 38th on the list. He has curated the murals on Manaveeyam street in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Traditional Historical and Colonial Architecture photography exhibition and ‘Contextual Cosmologies.
ii.The other Indians on the list were,

• Prateek Raja & Priyanka Raja, Gallerists and Cofounders of Experimenter, Kolkata(West Bengal) ranked 62nd.
• Dayanita Singh, Photographer (Delhi) ranked 78th.
• Natasha Ginwala, an independent curator, researcher, and writer, ranked 94th. 

‘Power 100’ list, first published in 2002, is a global list to recognize and honour the most relevant works across international art on numerous occasions. The List is annually compiled by an international panel of global art professionals.
Top 5 of 2023 list:

India re-elected to International Maritime Organisatio CouncilIndia has been re-elected to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council in Category B states for the 2024-2025 biennium. The decision was taken at the 33rd Assembly of IMO held in London, The United Kingdom (U.K.). Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami represented India at the IMO Assembly in London.
India wins with maximum votes to the IMO Council
India got 157 votes out of 167 which is the highest number of votes among candidates in category B which includes 10 member nations with largest interest in international seaborne trade.

• Category B states are: India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UAE (United Arab Emirates).
• Previously, India was re-elected to the IMO Council in year 2017 in which India secures 144 votes which were the second highest votes and then in 2021.

About International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Assembly:
The IMO Assembly is the highest governing body. It consists of 175 member states of IMO and meets once in every 2 years (biennial).
i.Its main function is to monitor and approve the work programme and budget of IMO.
ii.It determines financial arrangements and elections of members to the IMO Council.
IMO Council:

• It is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible for supervising the work of the organization under the IMO assembly. The council performs all functions of assembly in between the session of the assembly except, in making recommendations to government on maritime safety and pollution prevention.
• It consists of 40 members who are elected for period of 2 years. These members are further classified in 3 different categories:

i.CategoryA: It includes 10 member states with largest interest in providing international shipping services.
ii.CategoryB: It includes 10 member states with largest interest in international seaborne trade
iii.CategoryC: It includes20 member states which have special interest in maritime transport or navigation.
About International Maritime Organisation:
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is one of the specialized agency of U.N. (United Nation) it is international body responsible for regulating and formulating policies for international maritime.

• It was established under the United Nations Convention in Geneva in 1948 and operationalised formally for 1st time in 1959.
• IMO has its permanent secretariat in London, U.K. and currently has 175 member states and 3 associate members.
• Kitack Lim (South Korea) is currently serving as the Secretary General of IMO.
• India joined the IMO as its member state in the year 1959.

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh Re-appointed as MD & CEO of Bandhan Bank for 3 Years The board of Bandhan Bank Limited approved the re-appointment of Chandra Shekhar Ghosh as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bandhan Bank , for 3 years.

• The re-appointment is subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the shareholders of the bank.
• If approved by RBI, the re-appointment would be effective from July 10, 2024.

Note: His current tenure as the MD and CEO would expire on 9th July 2024. He has been serving as the MD & CEO of the bank since 2015.
About Chandra Shekhar Ghosh:
i.Chandra Shekhar Ghosh has more than 30 years of experience in the microfinance and development spaces.
ii.He founded Bandhan in 2001 as a not-for-profit enterprise.
iii.He played a pivotal role in transforming Bandhan into a Non-Banking Financial Company-Micro Finance Institution (NBFC-MFI) (2006) and as a universal bank in August 2015.

• It became the first microfinance company in India to get a universal banking licence.

iv.Previously, he has also served as the President of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCC&I), and Chairman of The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Eastern Region.
v.He is also a member of the Managing Committee of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and a member of the Corporate Governance Council, CII.
vi.He co-chairs the Financial Inclusion Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
vii.He is a Member of the Committee on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MEMEs) sector in the Government of West Bengal.
About Bandhan Bank Ltd:
MD & CEO– Chandra Shekhar Ghosh
Headquarters– Kolkata, West Bengal
Commenced Operations (as bank) on– August 23, 2015
Tagline– Aapka Bhala. Sabki Bhalai

Gajraj System: Indian Railways to Install AI-based Surveillance System to Prevent Elephant Deaths on TracksUnion Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry of Railways, announced that the Indian Railways will install ‘Gajraj System’, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based surveillance system, covering 700-kilometer (km) track across India to to reduce elephant deaths on railway tracks.

• 700 km of rail network across Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu will be covered under this system.
• The implementation of this system will costs around Rs 181 Crore.

Background:
i.The ‘Gajraj System’ was developed by the Railways in collaboration with several startups.
ii.This technology was tested on a 150-kilometer stretch of Assam in 2022. Based on the field experience, improvements were made in the system exhibiting a 99.5% accuracy in detecting elephants on tracks.
iii.The Northeast Frontier Railway(NFR) has commissioned this system a pilot project over a section of 60 to 70 km.
iv.In September 2023, the system was installed on 11 elephant routes in the Northeast: 5 in Alipurduar, West Bengal and 6 in Lumding, Assam.

• NFR reported zero elephant deaths from train accidents since the implementation of the system.

Note: The system was the brainchild of former General Manager of NFR Anshul Gupta, who retired in March 2023.
About Gajraj System:
i.The Intrusion Detection System (IDS) for railways is based on AI software, it can monitor unusual movements up to 60 kilometers.
ii.IDS (Elephant Detection) is based on the Distributed Acoustics Sensing (DAS) technique, which locates and detects the presence of elephants near the track so that the speed of trains in the sections will be reduced.
How does the system work?
i.Railways utilise Optical Fiber Cables (OFC) beneath tracks for communication and signaling purposes.
ii.The IDS, integrated into the OFC network, detects vibrations caused by elephants stepping onto the track.
iii.Instant alerts are sent to the division control room and a dedicated mobile application when elephant movement is detected.
iv.The system can accurately detect and locate moving elephants up to 5 meters from the fiber optic cable.

PCI Launched Revamped ‘DIGI-PHARMed’ Portal for PharmacistsPharmacy Council of India (PCI) launched the revamped version of the DIGI-PHARMed application, a cloud-based application to provide end-to-end services to Pharmacy institutions/Pharmacist/Pharmacy student/Pharmacist jobseeker.

• Dr. Montu Kumar M Patel, President of PCI inaugurated the revamped DIGI-PHARMed application.

About DIGI-PHARMed
Objective:

• To ensure that educational standards are implemented uniformly across India.

Key Points:
i.The application has been enhanced with 4 integrated services with an objective to regulate the Pharmacy education in the country by enrollment/registration of Pharmacy institutions/ Pharmacist/ Pharmacy student/ Pharmacist jobseeker across India.
ii.The revamped version will enable the stakeholders to avail the full benefits of PCI digital services.
iii.The revamped portal will ensures total digitization, saving man-hours and paper.
iv.This will also enhance user satisfaction, streamlines registration, and boosts productivity and transparency.
About Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) :
Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is a statutory body working under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
President– Dr. Montu Kumar M Patel
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi

Vaishali Rameshbabu becomes India’s 84th Chess GrandmasterIndian Chess player Vaishali Rameshbabu(22 years old), has become India’s 84th Grandmaster(GM) by crossing the 2500 Elo live ratings during the ongoing 4th edition of the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament (Llobregat Open 2023) from 30th November 2023 to 8th December 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.

• She is the third Indian female, after Koneru Humpy (2002) and Harika Dronavalli (2011), to get the GM title.
• Vaishali and her brother Praggnanandhaa became the world’s first sister-brother pair to be GrandMasters.

Vaishali’s GM Norms:
To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.
i.Vaishali had secured three GM norms at the Xtracon Open 2019 in Denmark, the Fischer Memorial 2022 in Greece, and the Qatar Open 2023.
ii.She crossed the 2500 rating when she defeated FIDE Master (FM) Tarik Selbes (Türkiye) in the second round of the 2023 IV Elllobregat Open.
About Vaishali Rameshbabu:
i.Vaishali Rameshbabu secured her Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title in 2018 (elo rating 2300) and International Master (IM) title in 2021(elo rating 2400).

• At present, she is ranked world no. 11 in the women’s ranking with a live rating of 2501.5.

ii.She was a part of the women’s chess team that won the silver medal in the 19th Asian Games (Hangzhou 2022).
Note:
Recently(November 2023), she won the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss 2023 title and qualified for the 2024 Women’s Candidates, which is set to be held in Canada.

• Along with her brother Praggnanandhaa, they became the first brother-sister duo to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

About Federation Internationale des Echecs/International Chess Federation (FIDE):
President – Arkady Dvorkovich
Headquarters – Lausanne, Switzerland
Established – 1924

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2023- December 02 The United Nations (UN) International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is annually observed across the globe on 2 December to combat and eradicate contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
Background:
i.The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery observed on 2 December, marks the date of the adoption of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (resolution A/RES/317(IV)) by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of 2 December 1949.
ii.The Convention for the Suppression of Trafficking Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others entered into force on 25 July 1951.

National Pollution Control Day 2023- December 2 National Pollution Control Day or National Pollution Prevention Day is annually observed across India on 2 December in the memory of those who lost their lives in the disastrous 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

• The Day also aims to raise awareness of the management and control of industrial hazards and avoid pollution caused by industrial processes or human negligence.

2 December 2023 marks the 39th Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
About Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB):
CPCB functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEF&CC).
Chairman– Tanmay Kumar
Headquarters– New Delhi, Deli

World Computer Literacy Day 2023 – December 02World Computer Literacy Day is annually observed across the globe on December 2 to raise public knowledge of computers and encourage the development of technological skills, particularly among children and women in India.

• 2nd December 2023 marks the observance of 23rd World Computer Literacy Day.

The first World Computer Literacy Day was observed on 2nd December 2001.
About National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT):
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Director (ED) – Sapnesh Lalla
Headquarters – Gurugram, Haryana
Established in – 1981

Assam govt and NDDB sign MoU for holistic dairy development in Assam 
The Government of Assam has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for the holistic development of the dairy sector in Assam.

• This partnership is in line with efforts to make Assam, sufficient in milk and egg production in the coming years.
• The government has targeted to increase Assam’s milk production to 39 lakh litres per day from 29 lakh litres.
• Assam has identified land at three places to set up mega milk processing plants with a capacity of 1 lakh litres per day.

Note: In January 2022, Assam and NDDB signed an MoU to create a Rs 2000 crore joint venture for the holistic development of the dairy sector in Assam.

• Under this MoU, the joint venture will be established with a target to process 10 lakh litres of milk through 6 new units in 7 years.
• Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam also laid the foundation stone of Purabi Dairy expansion project under World Bank-funded Assam Agribusiness & Rural Transportation Project (APART).

Bengaluru’s KIA set to become India’s 1st Airport to Introduce CTX System For Effortless Screening Experience
The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru, Karnataka, is set to become the first Airport in India to introduce the Computer Tomography X-ray (CTX) machine to eliminate the need for removing personal electronic devices from handbags during pre-boarding security checks.
KIA operator Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) has initiated a trial run for the CTX machine.

• The CTX system will allow the passengers to leave electronic devices, such as laptops, and items categorized as Liquids, Aerosols, and Gels (LAGs), in their bags, expediting the screening process.
• The CTX machine integrated with the Automatic Tray Retrieval System (ATRS) and full-body scanners, will enhance the security measures and operational efficiency.
• The system is expected to become fully operational by December 2023.