·       In the first tranche of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after its takeover by the Taliban, India on Dec 11  sent medical supplies to that country in sync with its commitment of extending help to the Afghan people in their times of difficulty.

·       The medical supplies were sent on a return flight that had brought 10 Indians and 94 Afghans to Delhi from Kabul on Dec 10 .

·       The people were brought under India's "Operation Devi Shakti" which was launched to evacuate Indians as well as Afghans from Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul on August 15.

·       The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the consignments will be handed over to WHO representatives in Kabul.

·       India has been pitching for providing unimpeded humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country.

·       At the same time, India has been calling for the formation of a truly inclusive government in Kabul while insisting that Afghan soil must not be used for any terrorist activities against any country.

·       India has already announced that it will send 50,000 tonnes of wheat and medicines to Afghanistan by road transport through Pakistan.

·       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.

·       The Pinaka-ER is the upgraded version of the earlier Pinaka version which has been in service with the Indian Army for over a decade. The system has been designed in the light of emerging requirements with advanced technologies enhancing the range.

·       The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) flight tested helicopter-launched Stand-off Anti-Tank (SANT) missile from Pokhran ranges on Dec 11

·       The indigenously designed and developed air-to-surface missile was test fired against a static target hitting it successfully and meeting all its mission objectives.

·       Equipped with a state-of-the-art millimetre wave (MMW) seeker, which provides high precision strike capability from a safe distance, the weapon can neutralise targets in a range upto 10 km.

·       The missile has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad in coordination with other DRDO labs. This is the third in the series of indigenous stand off weapons to be tested in recent times after long range bomb and smart anti airfield weapon for strengthening the arsenal of IAF.

·    SANT is one of the best airborne anti-armour guided missiles in the world. The missile has both lock-on before launch and lock-on after launch capability. The missile will be inducted after a couple of similar tests from on-board light combat helicopters and advanced light helicopters.

·       The nation on Dec 10  bid farewell to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat who, along with his wife and 11 armed forces personnel, died in an IAF chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.

·       General Rawat was cremated with full military honours with a 17-gun salute as per laid down protocols. Post the playing of the 'Last Post' and 'Rouse' by the tri-services buglers, the funeral pyre was lit by his two daughters.

·       Group Captain Varun Singh is the lone survivor and his condition remains critical but stable.

·       A gun salute is a formal way to honour a dignitary and it varies as per the individual’s position, rank and hierarchy. It is performed by firing cannons or artillery. A 21-gun salute, the highest, is fired for heads of state and government. The number decreases with the rank of the recipient of the honour.

·    Among the dignitaries who paid tribute to General Rawat are General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Admiral Ravindra Chandrasiri Wijegunaratne (Retd), Former Chief of Defence Staff (his course mate at National Defence College and a dear friend), Brig Dorji Rinchen, Deputy Chief Operations Officer, Royal Bhutan Army, Suprobal Janasewashree Lt Gen Bal Krishna Karki, Chief of General Staff (equivalent to Vice Chief of Army Staff), Nepali Army and Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman, Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division, Bangladesh.

·       A total of 108 countries recognise the Indian COVID-19 vaccination certificate for travel purpose, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar informed Lok Sabha on Dec 10, sharing data available as on December 6.

·       Persons inoculated with such vaccines, which are listed under the WHO- EUL, are deemed to be protected by authorities of many countries and allowed to travel internationally

·       In the aftermath of the killing of 14 civilians by security forces in Mon district, the Nagaland government has  decided to hold a special session of the Assembly to discuss and pass a resolution for repealing the AFSPA.

·       The special session is tentatively scheduled for December 20 and the Governor of Assam and Nagaland Jagdish Mukhi will formally summon it.

·       The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, gives the Army powers of arrest and detention in ‘disturbed areas'.

·       Rescue workers rushing to a highway accident found a horrific scene of death and injury after a freight truck jammed with as many as 200 migrants tipped over and crashed into the base of a steel pedestrian bridge in southern Mexico.

·       The migrants inside the cargo trailer were flipped, tossed and crushed into a pile that mingled the living and the dead.

·    By Dec 10, the death toll stood at 53, and authorities said at least 54 people had been injured. It was one of the worst single-day death tolls for migrants in Mexico since the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants by the Zetas drug cartel in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

·       The  80-year-old Pakistani politician and Baloch nationalist Mir Yousuf Masti Khan has been arrested for allegedly making a ‘provocative and anti-state' speech at a protest sit-in staged by the people of Gwadar demanding civil, political and economic rights in the restive Balochistan province.

·       Mir Yousuf Masti Khan, President of the Baloch Muttahida Mahaz (BMM), was picked up by police after he reached Gwadar to express solidarity with the protesters, who are demanding rights under the banner of ‘Give rights to Gwadar' launched by Balochistan general secretary of Jamaat-i-Islami Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman.

·       The Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea has long been portrayed as the jewel in the USD 60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) crown, but in the process, the city has become the very embodiment of a security state in the restive province.