🔆 CURRENT AFFAIRS — 22 DEC 2025

🔆 REGULATORY / RBI

📍 620th Meeting of RBI Central Board
✅ RBI approves Risk-Based Deposit Insurance Framework
✅ Venue: Hyderabad
✅ Chair: Sanjay Malhotra (RBI Governor)

📍 Key Decisions
✅ Review of global & domestic economic situation
✅ Examination of select RBI departments
✅ Draft reviewed: Trend & Progress of Banking in India 2024–25

📍 Risk-Based Deposit Insurance
✅ Banks assessed on:
• Financial health
• Asset quality
• Risk management
• Overall stability
✅ Insurance contribution linked to risk profile
✅ Deposit protection for customers unchanged

📍 Significance
✅ Discourages reckless lending
✅ Improves systemic stability
✅ Aligns with global best practices

🔆 INTERNATIONAL

📍 Space & Inclusion
✅ Michaela Benthaus to become first wheelchair user in space
✅ Mission: Blue Origin – New Shepard NS-37

📍 Multilateral Diplomacy
✅ India participates in 11th UNAOC Forum, Riyadh
✅ Reiterates Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam & religious harmony

🔆 NATIONAL

📍 Health
✅ PM Modi & WHO Chief inaugurate WHO SEARO Office in Delhi
✅ Cost: USD 35 million
✅ Replaces old WHO House (1960s)

📍 Exports
✅ GI-tagged Indi Lime (Karnataka) exported to Oman
✅ First international shipment (3 MT)

📍 Maritime Security
✅ Centre to establish Statutory Bureau of Port Security (BoPS)
✅ Under Merchant Shipping Act, 2025
✅ CISF designated security organisation for ports

🔆 INFRASTRUCTURE
📍 Iconic Bridges of India
✅ Atal Setu (MTHL) – India’s longest sea bridge
✅ Chenab Bridge – world’s highest railway arch bridge
✅ New Pamban Bridge – India’s first vertical lift rail bridge
✅ Dhola–Sadiya Bridge – strategic border connectivity
✅ Anji Khad Bridge – India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge

🔆 URBAN GOVERNANCE
📍 Swachh Survekshan 2025 (10th Edition)
✅ Toolkit launched in Bhopal
✅ Theme: Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel
✅ Focus: Garbage Free Cities

🔆 DEFENCE
📍 QUAD Cooperation
✅ QUAD conducts 1st Field Training Exercise (FTX)
✅ Venue: Andersen AFB, Guam
✅ Framework: Indo-Pacific Logistics Network
✅ Linked to Operation Christmas Drop

🔆 POLICY / SECURITY
📍 Agniveer Reservation
✅ Govt raises CAPF reservation to 50% for ex-Agniveers
✅ Begins with BSF
✅ PST & PET exempted; written exam mandatory

🔆 MoUs
📍 Infrastructure Safety
✅ MoRTH + IIT Patna MoU
✅ Focus: tunnel safety & hill-slope protection

🔆 STATES
📍 Madhya Pradesh
✅ MP to develop India’s first State-level Multi-National Park Tiger Corridor
✅ Integrates wildlife conservation with road infrastructure

🔆 SCHEMES

📍 BHASHINI @ Maha Kumbh 2025
✅ Multilingual digital access in 11 Indian languages
✅ AI chatbot Kumbh Sah’AI’yak launched

📍 PM SVANidhi (Restructured)
✅ Extended till 31 March 2030
✅ Outlay: ₹7,332 cr
✅ Enhanced loan limits + digital cashback
✅ Target: 1.15 crore street vendors

🔆 IMPORTANT DAYS
📍 20 December
✅ SSB Raising Day (62nd)
✅ International Human Solidarity Day
• Theme: Solidarity for Sustainable Development

🔆 APPOINTMENTS
✅ Barham Salih elected UNHCR High Commissioner

🔆 AWARDS
📍 Global Innovation
✅ Indian team Photonics Odyssey wins top honour at NASA Space Apps Challenge

#CurrentAffairs

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EPFO result out

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APFC result out

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🔆 Regional Architecture in India (Medieval Period)

📍 Bengal
✅ Period: 1352–1576
✅ Blend of Turkish + local styles
✅ Extensive use of brick & mortar (abundant clay)
✅ Sloping, curvilinear roofs & single domes
✅ Terracotta ornamentation as hallmark
✅ Example: Adina Mosque

📍 Gujarat
✅ Fusion of Indo-Islamic & Maru-Gurjara styles
✅ Intricate stone carvings, decorative pillars
✅ Extensive use of jalis for light & ventilation
✅ Integration of stepwells & Jain temple aesthetics
✅ Examples: Jama Masjid, Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

📍 Malwa
✅ Massive structures on high plinths
✅ Use of sandstone
✅ Influence of Timurid architecture
✅ Glazed & coloured tiles
✅ Examples: Hoshang Shah’s Tomb, Jahaz Mahal, Hindola Mahal

📍 Deccan States
✅ Known for monumentality & innovative domes
✅ Strong Persian influence
✅ Flourishing military architecture
✅ Rich ornate carvings
✅ Examples: Gol Gumbaz, Mahmud Gawan Madrasa, Golconda Fort, Bijapur Fort, Ibrahim Rauza

#prelims
#art_and_culture

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🔆 Major Calendars Used in India & World

📍 Vikram Samvat
✅ Started in 57 BC (zero year: 57 BC)
✅ Attributed to King Vikramaditya of Ujjain (victory over Sakas)
✅ Lunar calendar – 354 days, 12 months
✅ Used across most of India (except Bengal)
✅ Two phases each month: Shuklapaksha & Krishnapaksha

📍 Saka Samvat
✅ Initiated by King Shalivahan
✅ Zero year: 78 AD
✅ Lunisolar calendar (solar year + lunar months)
✅ Official National Calendar of India (since 1957)
✅ Begins on 22 March (21 March in leap years)
✅ 365 days per year

📍 Hijri (Islamic) Calendar
✅ Zero year: 622 AD (Hijrat)
✅ Purely lunar calendar – 354 days
✅ Used in Islamic countries
✅ Months move across seasons (no solar adjustment)
✅ Sacred months: 1st, 7th, 11th & 12th
✅ Ramadan (9th month), Hajj in Dhu al-Hijjah

📍 Gregorian Calendar
✅ Solar calendar based on birth of Jesus Christ
✅ 365 days (+ leap year adjustment)
✅ Civil calendar used worldwide
✅ Leap year: 1 extra day in February every 4 years

📍 Zoroastrian (Parsi) Calendar
✅ Era begins 632 AD
✅ Parsis in India follow Shahenshahi Calendar
✅ Nowruz falls around 20–22 March (Vernal Equinox)

📍 National Calendar of India
✅ Based on Saka Samvat
✅ Adopted in 1957 by Calendar Reforms Committee
✅ Used in AIR news, Govt. documents & official calendars
✅ Introduced to harmonise multiple calendars in India

#prelims
#art_and_culture

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Timeline of Major reforms movements

🔆 CURRENT AFFAIRS — 23 DEC 2025

🔆 BANKING & FINANCE

📍 Digital Payments
✅ UPI transactions jump 33.5% YoY to 59.33 billion in Q3 2025 (Worldline Report)
➡ Scan-and-Pay becomes default mode across Bharat

📍 Cyber & Telecom Security
✅ 1000+ banks & financial entities onboarded on DoT’s Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP)
✅ Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) classifies numbers as medium/high/very high risk
✅ Sanchar Saathi emerges as India’s largest crowdsourced cyber-intelligence platform

🔆 ECONOMY

📍 Core Industries
✅ Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) grows 1.8% in Nov 2025
✅ Cumulative growth (Apr–Nov FY26): 2.4%
✅ Positive growth: Coal, Steel, Cement, Fertilisers
✅ Core sectors carry 40.27% weight in IIP

🔆 NATIONAL

📍 Tribal Governance
✅ Two-day PESA Mahotsav begins in Visakhapatnam (23–24 Dec)
✅ Organised by Ministry of Panchayati Raj
✅ Launches:
→ PESA Portal
→ PESA Indicators
→ Training modules in tribal languages

📍 Urban & Corporate Real Estate
✅ 62% of GCC bases operate from green-certified Grade-A flex centres
✅ India hosts 1,750+ GCC companies
✅ GCCs drive 40% of office demand

🔆 ENVIRONMENT

📍 Aravalli Hills Protection
✅ Supreme Court finalises uniform definition of Aravalli Hills & Ranges
✅ Mining banned in core areas except critical/strategic/atomic minerals
✅ Recognised as barrier against desertification, groundwater recharge zone

🔆 AYUSH / HEALTH

📍 Traditional Medicine
✅ PM releases commemorative postal stamp on Ashwagandha
✅ Issued during 2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine
✅ Highlights India’s AYUSH heritage globally

📍 Women & Research
✅ NCW launches ‘SHAKTI Scholars’ Fellowship
✅ Research grant: ₹1 lakh | Duration: 6 months
✅ Focus: women’s safety, health, cyber safety, economic empowerment

🔆 DEFENCE

📍 Indian Navy
✅ Navy receives INS Anjadip — 3rd ASW Shallow Water Craft
✅ Built by GRSE + L&T (PPP model)
✅ Equipped with indigenous torpedoes, sonar & rockets

🔆 MoUs

📍 Biotechnology
✅ LoI signed to establish Centre of Excellence for CRISPR Innovation & Translation (CoE-CIT)
✅ Partners: JNCASR (DST) & CRISPRBITS Pvt Ltd

📍 Maritime Heritage
✅ India–Netherlands MoU for National Maritime Heritage Complex, Lothal

📍 Defence Manufacturing
✅ India Optel Ltd + Safran sign ToP agreement
✅ Systems: SIGMA 30N INS, CM3-MR firing sight

🔆 STATES

📍 Assam
✅ PM lays foundation stone of ₹10,601-cr fertiliser plant in Dibrugarh
✅ Brownfield ammonia-urea project

📍 Ladakh
✅ Losar Festival celebrated on 20 December (Ladakhi New Year)

📍 Bihar
✅ Cabinet approves Saat Nishchay-3 (2025–30)
✅ Focus: employment, education, healthcare, industries

🔆 SCHEMES

📍 Maternal Health
✅ PMSMA completes 9 years
✅ Free quality ANC services on 9th of every month
✅ Focus: high-risk pregnancy detection

🔆 IMPORTANT DAYS

📍 22 December
✅ National Mathematics Day (Srinivasa Ramanujan)

📍 21 December
✅ World Meditation Day
✅ World Basketball Day
✅ Winter Solstice (shortest day of the year)

🔆 AWARDS

📍 Leadership
✅ Jay Shah receives Transformational Leader of the Year
✅ Awarded at NDTV Indian of the Year 2025

🔆 SPORTS

📍 Cricket
✅ Smriti Mandhana becomes 1st Indian woman to cross 4,000 T20I runs
✅ Fastest globally (3,227 balls)
✅ Achieved vs Sri Lanka at Visakhapatnam

📍 Golf
✅ Sukhman Singh wins IGU 124th Amateur Golf Championship
✅ Venue: Tollygunge Club, Kolkata (world’s oldest amateur matchplay event)

#CurrentAffairs

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