 The country’s foreign exchange reserves crossed the $450-billion mark for the first time ever on the back of strong inflows which enabled the central bank to buy dollars from the market, thus checking any sharp appreciation of the rupee. India’s foreign exchange reserves were at $451.7 billion on December 3, 2019, an increase of $38.8 billion over end-March 2019. The Reserve Bank has always maintained that it intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb volatility and does not target a particular level of the exchange rate. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 The Union Minister for food processing inaugurated Avantee mega Food Park in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. This first food park of central India is spread over 51 acres and has been constructed at a cost of about 150 crore rupees. About 5 thousand local people will get employment from this Mega Food Park. Processing of soybean, gram, wheat and other grains and vegetables will be done in the park. Warehouses will also be opened in Indore, Ujjain, Dhar and Agar in the next phases. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated the 14 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) in Sarai village near Haridwar in the presence of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The Sarai STP is “the first-ever project in the country on a hybrid annuity PPP model (HAM)”. 34 STPs are being built in Uttarakhand at a cost of Rs 1,144 crore, besides crematoria and ghats on the Ganga. Of these, 23 have been completed. Once all the STPs become operational, there will be “considerable improvement in the water quality of Ganga,”. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Tennis legend Roger Federer will become the first living person in Switzerland to have a coin minted in his honour. The Federal Mint, Swissmint, has created a 20-franc silver coin bearing Federer’s image. It’s the first time in its history that Swissmint has created a commemorative coin to honour a living person. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 The nation is paying homage to Bharat Ratna Dr BR Ambedkar on his 64th Mahaparinirvan Diwas (death anniversary) on 6 December. He was popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar and everyone knows that he was one of the architects of the Indian Constitution. He was a very well-known political leader, eminent jurist, Buddhist activist, philosopher, anthropologist, historian, orator, writer, economist, scholar and editor, too. He is a leader who dedicated his life to eradicating social inequality in India. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 ‘Joker’ fame Joaquin Rafael Phoenix, American actor from California, United States (US) has been bestowed with the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) ‘Person of the Year’ Award 2019. Joaquin Phoenix has been a vegan since the age of three and has been a supporter of PETA for a long time. He has recently appeared in an advertisement of PETA titled “We are all animals”, which was displayed in the Times Square and Sunset billboards to promote the prohibition of travelling wild-animal circuses. |
| Source: The Economic Times |
 Arun Jaitley former Finance Minister of India was bestowed with the Economic Times (ET) Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service 2019. The award was received by Arun Jaitley’s spouse Sangeeta Jaitley. Arun Jaitley was the former Finance Minister of India, he was also the Minister of Corporate Affairs from May 2014 to May 2019, Minister of Defence from March 2017 to September 2017, Minister of Information and Broadcasting from November 2014 to July 2016, Minister of Law and Justice from July 2003 to May 2004 and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting from October 1999 to September 2000. |
| Source: The Economic Times |
 The Mumbai Central station of Railways was conferred with the ‘Eat Right Station’ certification with four stars rating by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), as a part of ‘Eat Right India’ movement launched last year. The Mumbai Central Railway Station is the country’s first “Eat Right Station.” |
| Mumbai Central station has been judged on the basis of compliance of food safety and hygiene, availability of healthy diet, food handling at preparation, transhipment and retail/serving point, food waste management, promotion of local and seasonal food and creating awareness on food safety and healthy diet. |
| The focus of the movement is on improving the health and well-being of people by ensuring they eat healthily. ‘Eat Right India’ movement is built on two broad pillars of ‘Eat Healthy’ and ‘Eat Safe’. It aims to engage, excite and enable citizens to improve their health and well-being. |
 The 8th India-China joint training exercise ‘HAND-IN-HAND 2019’ with the theme counter-terrorism under United Nations mandate is scheduled to be conducted at Umroi, Meghalaya from 07 to 20 December 2019. The Chinese contingent from the Tibet Military command comprising of 130 personal and the Indian Contingent of similar strength will participate in the 14-day long training exercise. The aim of the exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct of counter-terrorist operations in semi-urban terrain. |
| Source: The Indian Express |
 World Soil Day is celebrated annually on the 5th of December at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy. This year, by addressing the increasing challenges of soil management, the FAO campaign “Stop soil erosion, Save our future” aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being. By encouraging people around the world to engage in proactively improving soil health, the campaign also aims to raise the profile of healthy soil. The International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), in 2002, adopted a resolution proposing the 5th of December as World Soil Day to celebrate the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a vital contributor to human well-being. |
| Source: The United Nations |
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