• 22nd December was celebrated as National Mathematics Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.

• Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced a10,000 crore scheme for the overall development of farmers. Named Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA), the scheme will provide farmers with Rs.10,000 a year at the rate of Rs.5,000 each for Kharif and Rabi season. Additionally, crop loans of up to Rs.50,000 will be interest-free under the scheme.

• The 20-year old Indian woman Vedangi Kulkarni (Pune)becomes the fastest Asian to cycle the globe. Vedangi spent 159 days peddling up to 300 kilometers a day in 14 countries. British adventurer Jenny Graham (38) had become the fastest woman to have cycled the globe in 124 days in 2018.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a 100 rupees commemorative coin in honour of former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary, which falls on 25th December, is celebrated as ‘Good Governance Day’. He was conferred with the Bharat Ratna in 2014.

• The Manipur Assembly has passed a bill, ‘The Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Bill, 2018’, which recommends life imprisonment for those involved in mob violence if it results in the death of a person.

• The National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB),India’s national accreditation body, has secured equivalence for its accreditation programme for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) Certification Bodies in Asia- Pacific region. NABCB is the third accreditation body in the Asia Pacific Region to become internationally equivalent in the region, the other two being the accreditation bodies of Hong Kong and Mexico.

• Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were the top three performing states under the maternity benefit programme Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY).

• Burundi declared the small central city of Gitega the country’s new political capital. The previous capital Bujumbura would in future function solely as the country’s economic centre.

• PM Narendra Modi announced the institution of ‘Sardar Patel Award for National Integration’, which would be given for “outstanding efforts to further national integration”.

• National Farmers’ Day (Kisan Diwas)2018 was celebrated on 23rd of December. It is celebrated in the honour of the former Prime Minister of India Chaudhary Charan Singh with the focus on the upliftment of the status of farmers.

• Every Year 24th December is observed as National Consumer Day. This year the National Consumer Day was celebrated with the theme “Timely Disposal of Consumer Complaints”.

• The Reserve Bank of India has shortlisted six major IT companies, including TCS, Wipro and IBM India, to set up a wide-based digital Public Credit Registry (PCR) for capturing details of all borrowers and wilful defaulters. The other three shortlisted vendors are: Capgemini Technology Services India, Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India, and Mindtree Ltd. Note: RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikanta Das, Headquarters: Mumbai, Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

• Legendary Assamese singer Dipali Borthakur popularly referred to as the “Nightingale of Assam” passed away. 

• PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bogibeel bridge in Assam.The 4.94-kilometer long Bogibeel bridge on Brahmaputra River will connect the two northeast states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh released the list of best-performing police stations across the nation. On the top of the rank-list stands Kalu police station of Rajasthan. 

• ‘Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana’ has been launched in Uttarakhand. Under the scheme, each household in the state will be able to avail medical treatment of up to 5 lakh rupees annually. 

• The first meeting of the Follow-up Committee for implementation of the Trilateral Chabahar Agreement between India, Afghanistan and Iran was held in the port city of Chabahar in Iran. Indian firm India Ports Global Limited formally took over the operations of Chabahar’s Shaheed Behesti port in Iran, which opens a trade route between India and central Asia bypassing Pakistan.

• The Mohammed Rafi Award has been bestowed upon late music composer Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and playback singer Usha Timothy.

• P V Bharathi has been appointed as managing director and chief executive officer of the Corporation Bank.

• Madhya Pradesh State government has declared Kuno wildlife sanctuary as a national park in compliance with the last condition imposed by a Supreme Court-appointed committee for the much awaited ‘translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir in Gujarat.’

• Noted sitar player Manju Mehta has been conferred with the ‘Tansen Samman’ for 2018 by the Madhya Pradesh government for her contribution in the field of music. The ‘Raja Mansingh Tomar Honour’ was given to the Sankat Mochan Pratishthan in Varanasi for 2017 and the Natrang Pratishthan of New Delhi for 2018. The award is given to institutions for nurturing good music.

• Aadi Sai Vijaykaran won the Junior Debate Championship at the World Scholar’s Cup held at Yale University, the USA. It is the first time an individual from India has won the coveted title.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)appointed former governor Bimal Jalan as the chairman of the Economic Capital Framework (ECF) committee formed to address the issue of excess reserves with the central bank. Former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan has been appointed the vice-chairman of the committee.  The committee will decide whether RBI is holding provisions, reserves, and buffers in the surplus or deficit of the required levels.

• Former Australia captain Ricky Pontingwas named in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame along with former India captain Rahul Dravid and England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor during the ICC Annual Conference in Dublin.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs.4,500 crore financial assistance to Bhutan for its 12th five-year plan after holding wide-ranging talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering.

• Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has launched the ‘Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Schools’ for students in rural areas.

• Nepal imposed a monthly limit on the amount of Indian currency its citizen can spend in India. A Nepali citizen would be unable to spend more than INR 1 lakh per month while paying for goods and services in India.

• The  India My Identity Beauty Pageant 2018 finale was held in Delhi and Divya Patidar Joshi, hailing from Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam, was crowned with the prestigious honor.

• The Union government declared the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF)a banned organization.

• A33-year-old man Colin O’Brady from the United States has become the first person to complete a solo trek across Antarctica without any assistance. He finished the 1,500 km journey across the frozen continent in 54 days, lugging his supplies on a sledge as he skied in bone-chilling temperatures from north to south.

• India’s institutional framework to support microfinance would get a boost with Reserve Bank of India clearing a proposal to dig in an existing Rs.1000-crore corpus for funding microlenders. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) had kept this money for some other purposes and had recently sought RBI’s approval for using it for the microfinance sector.

• According to data furnished by the Reserve Bank of India,between 2015 and 2017, private lender ICICI Bank penalized the highest number of employees for defrauding bank assets in the last three year out of 60 scheduled commercial banks operating in India.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will capture the payment habits of individuals in six cities Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and For the purpose, the central bank has launched a ‘Survey on Retail Payment Habits of Individuals (SRPHi)’.

• PM Modi renamed three islands of Andaman & Nicobar. The three renamed islands of Andaman and Nicobar are: 1)Ross renamed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep; 2)Neil renamed as Shaheed Dweep; 3)Havelock renamed as Swaraj Dweep.

• The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was awarded Best Capital City in the Solid Waste Management in the Swachh Survekshan 2018 rankings.

• Sheikh Hasina won third consecutive term as Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

• The government has appointed Sudhir Bhargava as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), along with four information commissioners.

• Banks have seen a significant improvement in recovery of stressed assets helped by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)and amendments in the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interests (SARFAESI) Act, during FY18, according to the RBI data. In the fiscal ended March 2018, banks recovered Rs.40,400 crore worth of bad loans as against Rs.38,500 crore recovered in FY17.

• ESAF small finance bank has got RBI approval to operate as a scheduled bank. This makes ESAF small finance bank (SFB) the fifth scheduled bank from Kerala. Note: MD and CEO of the ESAF SFB: K Paul Thomas, Headquarters: Thrissur.

• India’s stylish opener Smriti Mandhana has been named as the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Cricketer of the Year. The 22-year-old, who has also been named as the ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year, becomes only the second India woman player to win an ICC award after fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, who was named the ICC Women’s Player of the Year in 2007. Note: Australia’s wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy was voted ICC T20I Player of the Year. England’s Sophie Ecclestone was named ICC Emerging Player of the Year.