1. The Odisha state government has fixed the maximum cost for Rapid Antigen Test conducted by private laboratories at Rs 100 within the state. The cost is inclusive of GST tax.
2. US President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine publicly on December 21, 2020. He was administered the dose by a nurse practitioner at Christiana Care hospital in Delaware. He was given the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been honoured with the ‘Legion of Merit’ award by US President Donald Trump for his leadership in elevating the US-India strategic partnership and the emergence of India as a global power.
4. Singapore’s street food has been added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The nation’s hawker culture will now join the likes of Yoga and Tango from India and Argentina respectively.
5. PM Modi will launch the Social Endeavour for Health and Telemedicine- SEHAT scheme in UT of Jammu & Kashmir on December 26, 2020. The scheme will cover the remaining one crore population which has not been covered under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
6. The Uttar Pradesh government has launched Varasat Campaign in the state to curb property and land-related disputes in the rural areas. The first of its kind campaign will help in ending the property disputes. Varasat has been launched on the initiatives of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and will continue till February 15, 2021.
7. The National Mathematics Day is observed on December 22, 2020. The day commemorates the birth anniversary of India’s mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.
8. Indian Army and Bank of Baroda have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Baroda Military Salary Package. the agreement lays down the basis on which banking services would be provided by Bank of Baroda to serving and retired Army personnel.
9. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the Centenary Celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) today through video conference. He also released a postal stamp commemorating the event. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister recalled Sir Sayyad’s remark that ‘the first and foremost duty of one who is concerned about his country is to work for the welfare of all people irrespective of the caste, creed or religion.’