• India-born New Zealand cricketer Ajaz Patel has won the ICC Player of the Month award for December following his stupendous 10-wicket haul against Virat Kohli and Co. in the second Test in Mumbai.

• The left-arm spinner was nominated for the award alongside India opener Mayank Agarwal and Australian pacer Mitchell Starc but beat them to it on the back of his incredibly rare feat.

• Ajaz picked up 14 wickets in the Mumbai Test match in early December against India, including all 10 in the first innings, to become only the third player in Test history, after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble, to achieve the remarkable milestone.

• The Mumbai-born Ajaz made a fairy tale comeback to his city of birth in his first-ever tour of India with the Test team.

• Badminton ace Saina Nehwal has said that  it was "not nice" to see actor Siddharth's unsavoury remark after she expressed concerns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent security breach and he could have used "better words" to comment on the matter.

• Siddharth's reply to the Olympic bronze medallist's tweet on PM Modi's security breach has attracted much flak, with the National Commission for Women (NCW) asking Twitter India to "immediately" block the actor's account.

• Saina is also a BJP member.

·      François Carrard, the former longtime IOC director-general who helped oversee its reforms after the Salt Lake City bidding scandal, has died. He was 83.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent 100 pairs of jute footwear for those working at Kashi Vishwanath Dham after coming to know that most of them perform their duties bare-footed as it is forbidden to wear leather or rubber footwear in temple premises.

• These include priests, people performing seva, security guards, sanitation workers and others.

• Total employment generated by nine select sectors stood at 3.10 crore in the July-September 2021 quarter, which is 2 lakh more than that of the April-June period, according to a quarterly employment survey by the labour ministry released on Jan 10 .

• The quarterly employment survey (QES) report released by Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav said that total employment numbers in the nine select sectors were 3.08 crore in April-June 2021.

• The rise shows improvement in economic activities after lifting of lockdown restrictions by states to curb the spread of deadly virus after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country in April 2021.

• These nine sectors are Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Education, Health, Accommodation and Restaurant, IT/ BPO and Financial Services, accounting for a majority of the total employment in the non-farm establishments.

• This is the second report in the series.

• First report was for April-June 2021.

• The study covers establishment with 10 or more employees.

• The Supreme Court on Jan 10 stayed the ongoing inquiries by two separate panels of the Centre and the Punjab government into the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Punjab, and said that it will set up a committee headed by a former apex court judge to probe it.

• A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said that a formal order to this effect will be passed shortly on setting up of the panel to which the DGP Chandigarh, IG of NIA and the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana HC may be part.

• The top court was hearing the plea of an organisation, Lawyers Voice, seeking a thorough investigation into the breach in Prime Minister Modi's security in Punjab to ensure there is no such event in the future.

• On January 5, the prime minister's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur after which he returned from poll-bound Punjab without attending any event, including a rally.

• Goa minister and BJP MLA Michael Lobo on Jan 10  resigned from the Pramod Sawant-led ministry and also as member of the Legislative Assembly, ahead of the state polls scheduled next month.

• Lobo, who represented the Calangute Assembly constituency, submitted his resignations to the chief minister's office and the Goa Assembly's Speaker.

• In a blow to the Congress, its vice president for Manipur and MLA, Chaltonlien Amo switched over to the ruling BJP.

• Amo joined the BJP at a small ceremony at its office in Imphal in the presence of Union Minister of Labour and Employment Bhupedra Yadav, who is also the party in-charge of Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh and BJP Manipur president A Sharda Devi.