·       Afghanistan's Taliban authorities said on Dec 19 that they will resume issuing passports in Kabul, giving hope to citizens who feel threatened living under the Islamists' rule.

·       Thousands of Afghans have applied for new travel documents to escape a growing economic and humanitarian crisis described by the United Nations as an "avalanche of hunger".

·       The Taliban stopped issuing passports shortly after their August 15 return to power, as tens of thousands of people scrambled to Kabul's only airport in a bid to catch any international flight that could evacuate them.

·      In October authorities reopened the passport office in Kabul only to suspend work days later as a flood of applications caused the biometric equipment used there to break down.

·       Union Minister R K Singh has urged states to be financially viable in view of the mounting outstanding dues of power generation companies. This will help attract investments in the power sector and also benefit the consumers through reduced cost of electricity and improved consumer services, he said.

·       The suggestion came on during a review meeting chaired by Singh with Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries of Power/Energy Departments of states and UTs and CMDs/MDs of power sector CPSUs .

·       Minister of State for Power Krishan Pal Gurjar and Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Bhagwant Khuba were also present in the meeting with senior officials from both ministries.

·       The manifold benefits of PM-KUSUM scheme primarily in the form of additional income and cheaper electricity for farmers were emphasized.

·       In order to achieve this objective, the Centre has recently launched the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme having total outlay of Rs 3 lakh crore. The scheme aims at reducing the AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses to 12-15 per cent and eliminating ACS-ARR (actual cost of supply-average revenue realised) gap at pan India level by 2024-25.

·    Minister of State for Power Krishan Pal Gurjar appreciated the efforts and cooperation by states in achieving 100 per cent electrification under Saubhagaya scheme. 

·       Bharti Airtel  has informed that it has paid Rs 15,519 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) towards prepayment of the entire deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in auction of 2014.

·       The company had acquired 128.4 MHz spectrum (including Telenor spectrum) for a consideration of Rs 19,051 crore in the 2014 auction.

·    With this payment, the company estimates to save interest cost of at least Rs 3,400 crore over the residual life for fully substituted capital. 

·       Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was on Dec 19  appointed mentor of the new Lucknow franchise ahead of IPL 2022. The southpaw, who is also a member of parliament, had captained KKR to two IPL titles during his playing days.

·    The 40-year-old played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is for India.

·       BCCI's chief medical officer Abhijit Salvi has resigned due to personal reasons.

·       Salvi  said that his notice period ended on November 30 but he carried on till the end of the second Test between India and New Zealand on December 7.

·       His role had gained significance in COVID times with regular testing and bubble life becoming an integral part of international cricket.

·       Salvi was in charge of BCCI's age-verification, anti-doping and medical wing. His resignation comes ahead of the U-16 boys national championship, better known as the Vijay Merchant Trophy, next month. Salvi had to travel with the Indian team on some tours including Australia and Sri Lanka.

·       He had also overseen medical arrangements for two editions of IPL and the T20 World Cup in the UAE where India was the host.

·       Prime Minister Narendra Modi on  Dec 17  thanked Bhutan's king for according the country's highest civilian decoration on him, and said India will always cherish the country as one of its closest friends and neighbours and will continue to support its development journey in every possible way.

·      Modi also conveyed his greetings to the neighbouring country on the occasion of its National Day.

·       The prime minister tweeted that he admires Bhutan for its unique model of sustainable development and the deeply spiritual way of life.

·       Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said on social media that he was overjoyed to hear "His Majesty pronounce Your Excellency Modiji's (Narendra Modi) name for the highest civilian decoration, Order of the Druk Gyalpo".

·       The highest civilian honour from Bhutan joins a long list of awards Modi has received from foreign countries.

·       Last year, Prime Minister Modi received the 'Legion of Merit by the US Government' award of the US Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.

·       In 2019, Russia conferred on him its highest civilian honour 'Order of St. Andrew' award.

·       The UAE also conferred its highest civilian honour 'Order of Zayed Award' on Modi in 2019.

·       He had received the 'Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud', the highest honour of Saudi Arabia awarded to non-muslim dignitaries, in 2016 and 'State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan', the highest civilian honour of Afghanistan, in the same year.

·       He was conferred 'Grand Collar of the State of Palestine Award', the highest honour of Palestine awarded to foreign dignitaries, in 2018 and 'Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddin', the highest honour of the Maldives for foreign dignitaries, in 2019.

·       Modi received 'King Hamad Order of the Renaissance', the top honour from Bahrain, in 2019.

·       The BJP on Dec 17  formally announced that it will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress.

·       Singh on Dec 17 called on the BJP's Punjab incharge and Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat at his residence.

·       After the meeting, they officially announced the alliance between the two parties.

·       Singh formed his own party Punjab Lok Congress days after he resigned as the chief minister and quit the Congress.

·    Earlier, the BJP had also broken its alliance with longstanding partner Shiromani Akali Dal over the issue of farm sector laws.

·       Global data management solutions provider Veeam Software on Dec 17 said that it has appointed Anand Eswaran as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a member of the company's Board of Directors.

·       William H Largent (Bill Largent) will step down as CEO to focus on his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

·       Veeam crossed USD1 billion in ARR (annual recurring revenue) this year and has over 400,000 customers.

·       Eswaran joins Veeam from RingCentral where he was President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), overseeing exponential growth and customer expansion.

·       Prior to RingCentral, Eswaran was responsible for Microsoft's Enterprise Commercial and Public Sector business globally.

·       Before Microsoft, Eswaran was the Executive Vice President of the $5.4B Global Services business at SAP.