National:
FRUITS Portal:
- The ‘FRUITS’ (Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System) portal, a project of e-governance, was launched at the NABARD office, on December 22, 2020, for validating land details of farmers.
The portal has been integrated to the Bhoomi portal of the Karnataka State for fetching and validating land details.
3rd Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture:
- The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu on 26 December 2020 delivered the third Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture organised by the India Foundation in Hyderabad.
This year, he was speaking on the theme of lecture- “Building democratic consensus – The Vajpayee way”.
Vice President praised the Shri Vajpayee as ‘Vikas Purush‘ and the ‘Father of Coalition Practices‘ in India.
100th Kisan Rail:
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi flagged off the 100th Kisan Rail from Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal on 28th December 2020 via video conferencing.
The first Kisan Rail was introduced from Devlali to Danapur on August 7, 2020.
Book:
- Union Minister of state (I/C) for AYUSH and Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik on December 26, 2020 released a Konkani book “Sutranivednachi sutra- ek anbav“, which is written by Dr Roopa Chari. The book has been published by Sanjana Publications.
7th National Summit on Good, Replicable Practices:
- Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare digitally inaugurated the 7th National Summit on Good, Replicable Practices, on December 28, 2020. He also launched New Health Management Information System (HMIS) along with the Operational Guidelines for TB services at AB-HWCs and the Operational Guidelines 2020 on Active Case Detection and Regular Surveillance for Leprosy.
Death:
- Malayalam poet and women’s rights activist Sugathakumari has died on December 23, 2020. She was 86.
Her first collection of poems, “Muthuchippi”, was published in 1961. She was bestowed the Padma Shri in 2006.
Others:
- According to Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda, the government plans to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) in the next three to four months with a view to mobilise Rs 111 lakh crore required for funding of the ambitious national infrastructure pipeline. (ET News)