Why in news?

• DRDO successfully conducted the flight test of indigenously developed High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) Abhyas recently. The successful flight test of Abhyas was conducted from Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

About High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) Abhyas and its test

• Abhyas is a high-speed expendable aerial target (HEAT) that is being built by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO.
• HEAT Abhyas demonstrated a high subsonic speed trajectory at a very low altitude with high endurance during the flight test. The two boosters provided initial acceleration during launch and a small turbojet engine was used to sustain the high subsonic speed with long endurance.
• Abhyas’s radar cross-section (RCS) and its visual and infrared signatures can be boosted to simulate a variety of aircraft for air-defense weapon practices.
• Abhyas is also GPS-enabled and has an onboard flight control computer and a miss-distance indicator.
• The aircraft is designed for autonomous flight with the help of an autopilot.

Why in news?

• Protests are taking place across Kerala against SilverLine, a semi high-speed railway project that envisages trains running at 200 km/h between the state’s northern and southern ends. The project, estimated to cost Rs 63,940 crore, is billed as one of the biggest infrastructure plans being pushed by the Pinarayi Vijayan government.

About the SilverLine project

• The proposed 529.45-km line will link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod in the north, covering 11 districts through 11 stations.
• When the project is completed, one can travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in less than four hours at 200 km/hr.
• On the existing Indian Railways network, it now takes 12 hours.

The deadline for the project, being executed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), is 2025. KRDCL, or K-Rail, is a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways created to execute big railway projects.

Why in news?

• Emma Raducanu has won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, rounding off an incredible year where she became the first British women in 44 years to win a Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open.

About the awards

• The award is decided by a public vote from a list of shortlisted nominees, which this year included Raducanu, diver Tom Daley, swimmer Adam Peaty, heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, footballer Raheem Sterling and Paralympic cyclist Dame Sarah Storey.

Why in news?

• India recently successfully tested the locally developed surface-to-surface missile Pralay, the second test of the conventional missile in two days. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) tested the missile from the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.

About Pralay Missile

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently successfully conducted maiden flight test of indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile ‘Pralay’, from Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.
• The new missile followed the desired quasi ballistic trajectory and reached the designated target with high degree accuracy, validating the control, guidance and mission algorithms. All the sub-systems performed satisfactorily. All the sensors deployed near the impact point across the eastern coast, including the down range ships, tracked the missile trajectory and captured all the events.
• The missile is powered with solid propellant rocket motor and many new technologies.
• The missile has a range of 150-500 kilometre and can be launched from a mobile launcher.
• The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics.

Why in news?

• Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government is set to distribute free smartphones and tablets to about one crore final year students in the state, starting from December 25.

About ‘Free Smartphone Yojna’

• The launch of new scheme marks the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• Number of students, including girls, from every district of the state likely to get benefit from the scheme.
• The state government will offer cellphones and tablets to students in their last year of high school and higher as part of the program.
• The chief minister will hand away 60,000 smartphones and 40,000 tablets to the youths.
• The candidate must be a student and a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• Students in their last year of MA, BA, BSc, ITI, MBBS, MD, BTech, and MTech, among other programs, will be given priority.

Why in news?

• Gabriel Boric Font is the president-elect of Chile, having won the 2021 presidential election run-off vote on 19 December 2021.

About Gabriel Boric

• Gabriel Boric, a former student activist, is elected Chile’s youngest president
• At 35, Boric will be the nation’s youngest leader and by far its most liberal since President Salvador Allende, who died by suicide during the 1973 military coup that ushered in a brutal 17-year dictatorship.
• He will assume office at the final stage of a yearslong initiative to draft a new constitution, an effort that is likely to bring about profound legal and political changes on issues including gender equality, Indigenous rights and environmental protections.

Why in news?

• Kisan Diwas or National Farmers Day was observed on December 23 across the country to praise the farmers as they are the spine of India. The day was chosen to honour the birth anniversary of the fifth Prime Minister of India, Choudhary Charan Singh.

About National Farmer’s Day 2021

• National Farmers Day is celebrated every year, especially in those states which are actively engaged in farming, such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, among others.

National Farmers Day 2020: History

• Chaudhary Charan Singh, the Kisan Leader, served the country for a very short period, from July 28, 1979, to January 14, 1980. He introduced several welfare schemes for the farmers and wrote several books on farmers and their problems, depicting various solutions to improve the lives of the farmers of the nation. Therefore, the government, in 2001, decided to mark Charan Singh’s birth anniversary as Kisan Diwas.
• Chaudhary Charan Singh followed the famous slogan – “JAI JAWAN JAI KISAN”, which was given to the farmers by Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India.

Why in news?

• “The Governor of Nagaland is pleased to upgrade Tseminyu subdivision to a full-fledged district with immediate effect. The jurisdiction of the new district shall comprise of the existing Tseminyu subdivision under Kohima district, Nagaland,” read a notification issued by the Nagaland government.

About districts of Nagaland

• Nagaland government has created three new districts in the state, taking the total number of districts to 15.
• The three new districts are Tseminyu, Niuland and Chumukedima.

Why in news?

• With an ambition to empower innovators and entrepreneurs across the country, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog has come up with a first of its kind Vernacular Innovation Program (VIP), which will enable innovators and entrepreneurs in India to have access to the innovation ecosystem in 22 scheduled languages by the Government of India.

About Vernacular Innovation Program (VIP)

• To build the necessary capacity for the VIP, AIM has identified and will be training a Vernacular Task Force (VTF) in each of the 22 scheduled languages. Each task force comprises of vernacular language teachers, subject experts, technical writers, and the leadership of regional Atal Incubation Centers (AICs).
• To get the program rolling, AIM NITI Aayog is launching a train-the-trainer program where it will collaborate with the Design Department of IIT Delhi to coach the VTF in design thinking and entrepreneurship and the adaptation of these subjects in the 22 languages and cultures. Furthermore, industry mentors have joined hands to lend design thinking expertise, and CSR sponsors have agreed to generously support the program. Upon training the task force over the period of December 2021 to April 2022, the ecosystem will be opened to vernacular innovators.
• Vernacular Innovation Program strengthens the design and innovation capabilities of our communities, thereby assisting local entrepreneurs, artisans and innovators to seamlessly assimilate the knowledge cum technical materials that AIM will develop. This would assist India in building a strong local network of design experts and innovation practitioners.
• VIP is an initiative to lower the language barrier in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship such that will systematically decouple creative expressions and languages of transaction said Dr. Chintan Vaishnav Mission Director AIM, NITI Aayog at the launch event of the program.

Why in news?

• An inter-state dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra dating back to the period of Independence and the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines in 1956 has reared its head again in the Belagavi region of Karnataka.

About the dispute

• The latest flashpoint is following a series of minor incidents over the recent week that have inflamed pro-Kannada and pro-Marathi passions on the two sides of the border.