16th December 2020 Current Affairs

1. Odisha’s Rourkela has been selected as the second venue for the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 besides the capital city Bhubaneswar.
2. Indian Navy’s second Project 17A Frigate ‘Himgiri’ was launched on December 14, 2020 at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) in Kolkata. The frigate is the second of the total seven Nilgiri-class Project 17A stealth guided missile frigates that are being constructed for the Indian Navy.
3. The Gujarat state government brought into force the Gujarat Land Grabbing Prohibition Act on December 16, 2020. The Act has been enforced to take strict legal action against land mafias who have illegally occupied land that belongs to the government, common farmers or public trusts and religious organisations.
4. Ola on December 14, 2020 signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu state government to set up its first electric scooter factory worth Rs. 2,400 crores.
5. India has decided to collaborate with the United Kingdom through a new virtual hub for distributing vaccines for Covid as well as for other deadly viruses.
6. Vijay Diwas is observed annually on December 16, 2020 to commemorate India’s historic victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, which led to the liberation of East Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh.
7. The Bihar Cabinet on December 15, 2020 approved a proposal to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to the people in the state. This was one of the poll promises of the ruling Nitish Kumar-led JDU government in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly polls.
8. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved assistance of about Rs 3,500 crore for sugarcane farmers (Ganna Kisan) on December 16, 2020.
9. The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s proposal for entering into a Memorandum of Understanding between Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), India and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), United States of America (USA) for exchange of information and experiences in areas of mutual interest to both in the electricity sectors.