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- Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was successfully test-fired from a base in Odisha’s Chandipur on 17th December, 2019. It is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile capable of being launched from submarines, warships, fighter jets or land. BrahMos is a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM) of Russia.
- Anand Mahindra will step down as the Executive Chairman of the Mahindra Group and will be the non-executive chairman with effect from April 1, 2020. The company’s Managing Director Pawan Kumar Goenka will be re-designated as the MD and CEO with effect from April 1, 2020 and will continue in this new role for a year till his retirement on April 1, 2021.
- Virat Kohli replaced Salman Khan as the first person in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List 2019 with an earning of Rs 253 crore in the year 2019. Akshay Kumar secured 2nd place this year followed by Salman Khan at third. Forbes has selected the celebrities on the basis of their earnings and their fame on print-social media. Wrestler Bajrang Punia debuted at number 94 with earnings of ₹2.4 crore.
- Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced the Gandhi Citizenship Education Award at the second meeting of the National Committee for Commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at New Delhi on 19th December 2019. The aim of the award is to help perpetuate Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals and will be dedicated to social welfare.
- Author Amitabha Bagchi won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019 for his novel ‘Half The Night Is Gone’. The prize is worth US $25,000. The novel is based in the old-forgotten world of scheming zamindars, dubious morals and a man lamenting lost opportunities. Bagchi’s attention to detail ensures the readers are transported to that time, smelling the grime and listening to the creaking sound made by rusted doors. First awarded in 2011, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an international literary prize awarded annually to writers of any ethnicity or nationality writing about South Asian themes such as culture, politics, history or people
- Sridhar Patra has been appointed as the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) till 31st October, 2024. He is currently serving as the Director (Finance) in NALCO. He succeeded Tapan Kumar Chand. Established on 7th January, 1981 with headquarters at Bhubaneswar, NALCO is a Navratna Public Sector Enterprise under ministry of mines.
Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane - Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane has been appointed as the next Chief of Army Staff and will succeed Gen Bipin Rawat who will retire on 31st December 2019. Lt Gen Naravane is currently serving as the Vice Chief of the Army. Before taking charge as Vice Chief of the Army Staff in September, Lt Gen Naravane was heading the Eastern Command of the Army, which takes care of India’s 4,000-km border with China.
- Air Marshal D Choudhury replaced Vice Admiral Srikant as the Commandant of the National Defence College. Prior to this appointment, he was senior Air Staff Officer at the Headquarters of the Western Air Command in New Delhi. Air Marshal Choudhury is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy. National Defence College, established on 27th April, 1960, is a premier institution under the Ministry of Defence and is the highest seat of Strategic Education in the nation.
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