Awards

The Indian poet and critic who has been awarded the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for her book Salt and Pepper: Selected Poems – Sukrita Paul Kumar

The well-known Palestine activist and music conductor who have been awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2023 – Ali Abu Awwad and Daniel Barenboim

The noted Hindi writer who has been chosen to be awarded the 33rd Vyas Samman 2023 by KK Birla Foundation for her memoir Yadein, Yadein aur Yadein – Ms Pushpa Bharti

The scientist from Indian Space Research Organisation who has been conferred with the Legion d'Honneur of France for promoting Indo-French space cooperation – Ms. V R Lalithambika

Defence

The Project 15B stealth guided missile destroyer which was commissioned into the Indian Navy by the Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai is named – INS Imphal

The 4th edition of joint military exercise conducted by India and Vietnam at Hanoi from 11 December to 21 December 2023 is named – VINBAX-2023

Persons

The former Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog who has been appointed the Chairman of the newly constituted 16th Finance Commission – Dr Arvind Panagariya

The Indian politician and actor, recipient of highest award of Tamil Nadu, Kalaimani and founder of political party DMDK who passed away on 28 December 2023 – Vijayakanth (Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami)

The American singer and song-writer who has been chosen as the Time Person of the Year 2023 – Taylor Swift

New Chief Ministers

The leader of Bhartiya Janata Party who has been chosen to the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh – Shri Mohan Yadav

The leader of Bhartiya Janata Party who has been chosen to the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan – Shri Bhajan Lal Sharma

The leader of Bhartiya Janata Party who has been chosen to be the 4th Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh – Shri Vishnu Deo Sai

The leader of Zoram's Peoples Movement who has been sworn as the new Chief Minister of Mizoram – Shri Lalduhoma

The leader of Indian National Congress who has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Telangana – Shri Revanth Reddy

Sports

The team which has won the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 defeating Rajasthan in the finals played in Rajkot – Haryana

The Indian tennis players who have been inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame – Vijay Amritraj and Leander Paes

The Argentinian footballer who has been chosen as the Athlete of the Year 2023 by Time magazine – Lionel Messi

Places

The African nation which has announced its decision to quit the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries – Angola

The country with which India has signed the Migration and Mobility Agreement under which seasonal and non-seasonal workers from India would get a reserved quota – Italy

The venue of International Gita Mahotsav held from 07 Dec to 24 December 2023 – Kurukshetra, Haryana

The airport in Gujarat which has been declared by the Union Cabinet to be an international airport – Surat

The state in which Samakka Saralakka Central Tribal University has been approved to be set up by the Parliament – Telangana

The place in Jharkhand where the 10,000th Jan Ausadhi kendra was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi – Deoghar

The venue of the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC held from 30 November to 12 December 2023 (COP-28) – Dubai, UAE

Miscellaneous

The United Nations Organisation has declared 2024 as the International Year of – Camelids

The severe gangrenous disease of the mouth and face which has been added by the World Health Organization (WHO) to its official list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) – noma (cancrum oris)

The new subvariant of COVID-19 which has been detected in the state of Kerala – JN.1

The multimodal large language AI model developed by Google DeepMind, a subsidiary of Google is named – Gemini

The Bay of Bengal cyclone which hit the eastern coast of India causing heavy rainfall and destruction in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh was named – Cyclone Michaung

The folk-dance form from Gujarat which has been included in the UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage – Garba

Sahitya Akademi Awards 2023

Important Days of December

World AIDS Day: 01 December 2023

Designated by: World Health Organisation

Theme: Let Communities Lead

First Observed in: 1988

International Day of Persons with Disabilities: 03 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

First Observed in: 1992

International Volunteer Day: 05 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

Theme: The power of collective action: if everyone did

First Observed in: 1986

World Soil Day: 05 December 2023

First launched by: International Union of Soil Sciences (2002)

Endorsed by: Food and Agricultural Organisation (Jun 2013)

Accepted by: United Nations General Assembly (Dec 2013)

Theme: Soil and Water: A Source of Life

International Civil Aviation Day: 07 December 2023

Established by: International Civil Aviation Organisation (1994)

Adopted by: United Nations General Assembly (1996)

Theme (upto 2023): Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development

International Anti-Corruption Day: 09 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

First Observed in: 2003

Theme: Uniting the World against Corruption

United Nations Human Rights Day: 10 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

Theme: Freedom, Equality and Justice for All

First Observed in: 1948

International Mountains Day: 11 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

First Observed in: 2003

International Universal Health Coverage Day: 12 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

Theme: Health for All: Time for Action

First Observed in: 2017

International Migrants Day: 18 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

First Observed in: 2000

International Human Solidarity Day: 20 December 2023

Designated by: United Nations General Assembly

First Observed in: 2006

International Hockey Federation (FIH) Awards 2023

The following players have been awarded by the International Hockey Federation for the year 2023.

• Player of the Year (Female): Xan de Waard (Netherlands)
• Player of the Year (Male): Hardik Singh (India)
• Goalkeeper of the Year (Female): Savita (India)
• Goalkeeper of the Year (Male): Pirmin Blaak (Netherlands)

Khelo India Para Games 2023

Venue: Delhi

Held from 10 December to 17 December 2023

Medals Tally