·       The senior IPS officers Makrand Deoskar and Harinarayan Chari Mishra were on Dec 10  appointed the first police commissioners of Bhopal and Indore respectively, a day after the Madhya Pradesh government said a notification on the implementation of the commissionerate system in the state's two largest cities had been issued.

·       On November 22, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said Bhopal and Indore cities will become police commissionerates with the aim of ensuring effective crime control.

·       Maharashtra BJP MLA Ashish Shelar was arrested in a case registered against him for his alleged objectionable remarks about Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar, and later released on bail.

·       Pednekar, a Shiv Sena leader, had filed a complaint against Shelar at the Marine Drive police station in south Mumbai over his alleged remarks following which a case under sections 354 A (4) (making sexually coloured remark) and 509 (words or gestures insulting woman's modesty) of the IPC was registered against the former minister.

·       The United States on  Nov 10  became the 101st member country of the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA), as US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry signed the ISA framework agreement to catalyse global energy transition through a solar-led approach.

·       Kerry described the US membership as a major step towards the rapid deployment of solar power, as he formally signed the framework agreement at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

·       Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav welcomed the US as the 101st member of the ISA.

·       The  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Dec 12  said that deposit insurance reforms undertaken by the government will instil confidence in account holders on the banking system.

·       Parliament in August passed the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, ensuring that account holders get up to Rs 5 lakh within 90 days of the RBI imposing a moratorium on the banks.

·       This was done keeping the 'Depositors First' spirit in mind, Modi said while announcing that over 1 lakh depositors have got about Rs 1,300 crore of their money with stressed banks in the past few days with the enactment of the legislation.

·       He assured that about three lakh more such account holders will get their deposits with the banks that are under the RBI moratorium, soon.

·       Deposit insurance covers all deposits such as savings, fixed, current and recurring deposits in all commercial banks.

·       Deposits in state, central and primary cooperative banks, functioning in states and Union Territories are also covered.

·      With a deposit insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per depositor per bank, the number of fully protected accounts at the end of the previous financial year constituted 98.1 per cent of the total number of accounts as against the international benchmark of 80 per cent.

·       About 7,16,662 workers came back from six Gulf countries under the Vande Bharat Mission, the Centre said on Dec 10 , asserting that the Indian missions are pursuing with these nations the return of Indian workers, the realisation of payments due to them and new recruitment in the light of economic recovery.

·       To a question in Lok Sabha on whether a large number of emigrants employed in Gulf countries were forced to return to India in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that while a large number of Indian workers in the Gulf returned to India as a result of the impact of COVID-19, the economic recovery in that region and their increasing openness to travel from India has now seen a return by many of them.

·       A total of 3,30,058 Indian workers returned from the UAE, 1,37,900 from Saudi Arabia, 97,802 from Kuwait, 72,259 from Oman, 51,190 from Qatar and 27,453 from Bahrain .

·        In another boost to the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, India successfully test-fired multiple rounds of Pinaka Extended Range (Pinaka-ER) rocket systems that can act as short-range missiles confirming that the weapon is ready for series production.

·       As many as 24 rounds of the Area Denial Munition (ADM) variant of the weapon system with new indigenously developed fuzes were tested for various strike ranges at Pokhran .

·       The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with the Army conducted the series of performance evaluation trials of the recently produced rockets with various warhead capabilities at field firing ranges in desert conditions.

·       The ADM variants of munition has been designed by the Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune, for Pinaka and manufactured by the industry partners under technology transfer. These trials were part of performance evaluation under technology absorption.

·       Anne Rice, the gothic novelist, widely known for her bestselling novel "Interview with the Vampire," died at the age of 80.

·       Anne Rice was the author of the 1976 novel "Interview with the Vampire," which was later adapted into a movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in 1994.

·       India has been re-elected to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council after elections were held at its Assembly in London for the 2022-23 biennium.

·       India's election falls under the Category of 10 states with "the largest interest in international seaborne trade", alongside Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

·       The newly elected Council will meet formally at the conclusion of the 32nd Assembly for the IMO's 126th session on Dec 15 , when it will elect its Chair and Vice-Chair for the next biennium.

·       The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the organisation.

·       China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, the UK and the US were elected to the Council under the Category of 10 States with the "largest interest in providing international shipping services".

·       Meanwhile, another 20 states not elected under the two categories were elected to the Council to ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world as having "special interests in maritime transport or navigation".

·       The 20 countries in the list are Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and Vanuatu.

·       The 32nd Assembly of IMO is currently meeting at the IMO headquarters in London between December 6 and 15.