MADHYA PRADESH

Gwalior incentives to civic staff to prevent open defecation
The Gwalior Municipal Corporation is offering rewards and monetary benefits to corporation officials to catch people who defecate in the open. The Corporation has told its team that those who fine the maximum number of people defecating in the open will be rewarded with certificates and cash.

This step has been taken in view of the arrival of the inspection team formed by the Central Government. The team is expected to arrive in the city on December 29 to assess the ODF (Open Defecation Free) situation.

It is to be noted here that last year Gwalior was ranked first among the Open Defecation Free cities. The Municipal Corporation is under pressure to repeat this show and hence this extraordinary step. The staff of the Corporation is on the roads from early morning till late in the night to see that the city is kept spotlessly clean for the inspection team.

The Central team is supposed to arrive on December 29, and the inspection of all nooks and corners of the city will go on till the evening of the next day.

INTERNATIONAL

· Saudi Arabia Hosts World Chess Games

Saudi Arabiais hosting a world chess tournament for the first time, nearly two years after the country’s top cleric issued a religious edict against playing the board game.
The tournament has been named as the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships.
The world’s top three chess players from Norway, Armenia and Azerbaijan are participating in the tournament.

India to become fifth largest economy in 2018: Report
India is set to overtake the United Kingdom and France to become the world’s fifth largest economy next year, a report said.

Currently, ranked seventh, India will move up to fifth place in 2018 and vault to third spot by 2032, the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London-based consultancy, said in its annual rankings.

The United States, the world’s largest economy, will be overtaken by China in 2030, the report forecast.

· Three Hundred Eighteen Million Loan Agreement Signed with World Bank for Farmers in Tamil Nadu

The Government of India and the World Bank signed a $318 million loan agreementfor the Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernization Project to promote climate resilient agriculture technologies to improve water management practices and increase market opportunities for small and marginal farmers.
About 500,000 farmers, of which a majority are small and marginal, are expected to benefit from improved and modernized tank irrigation systems.
The $318 million loan from the IBRD has a 5-year grace period and a maturity of 19 years.

Gk bit – World Bank

The World Bank is an international organization dedicated to providing financing, advice and research to developing nations to aid their economic advancement. The World Bank was created out of the Bretton Woods agreementas a result of many European and Asian countries needing financingto fund reconstruction efforts.

It is a group of five unique and cooperative institutional organizations. The first organization is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) , an institution that provides debt financing to governments that are considered middle income. The second organization within The World Bank is the International Development Association (IDA), a group that gives interest-free loans to governments of poor countries.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the third organization, focuses on the private sector and provides developing countries with investment financing and financial advisory services. The fourth part of The World Bank is the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), an organization that promotes foreign direct investments in developing countries. The fifth and final organization is the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an entity that provides arbitration on international investment disputes.

Amazon bought an Andover, Massachusetts-based company ‘Blink’ that makes Internet-connected doorbells and security cameras.
The move could help Amazon compete in the fast-growing home security camera market and against similar devices made by Nest, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet.

NATIONAL

The Odisha government has decided to set up a unique ‘Heritage Cabinet’ and an Odia Language Commission as part of its move to preserve the relics and monuments in the state and enrich its rich culture and language.

Heritage Cabinet’ would be headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. It would aim to protect ancient monuments, temples and archaeological sites in Odisha, and take steps to preserve the state’s culture, language and literature.

The Home Ministry has released Rs 167 crore to nine states with international border for the development of infrastructure in forward areas.

The states which will benefit include Rajasthan and Punjab, both having international border with Pakistan, and West Bengal and Assam having boundary with Bangladesh.

TheDirectorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) allowed Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL)- manufactured Dornier 228 to be used for civilian flights.
The 19-seater aircraft has, till now, been used by defence forces and is the first plane to be made in the country for commercial flights.
HAL can sell this plane to airlines in India and it can be used by them for regional flights under the Indian government’s ambitious UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme.

Indian boxers have claimed three gold, a silver, and a bronze medal at the Galym Zharylgapov Boxing Tournament in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
In the event, the country’s Gold Medal winners were K Shyam Kumar in 49kg, Naman Tanwar in 91kg and Satish Kumar in the 91kg category claimed gold medals.
The19-year-old Naman Tanwar was also adjudged the best boxer of the tournament.