1. Exercise Indra between India, Russia to be conducted from Dec 10-19

• Exercise Indra 2019, a joint, tri-services exercise between India and Russia will be conducted in India from December 10 to 19 simultaneously at Babina, near Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, Pune, and Goa.
• The Indra series of exercise began in 2003 and the first joint tri-services exercise was conducted in 2017.
• Company-sized mechanized contingents, fighter and transport aircraft, as well as ships of respective Army, Air Force, and Navy, will participate in this exercise of ten days duration. The exercise will consist of a five-day training phase consisting of a comprehensive training curriculum.

Foot Notes:
Chief of Indian Army: General Bipin Rawat
Chief of Indian Navy: Karambir Singh
Chief of Indian Air Force: Rakesh Kumar Singh

2. Chief of the Air Staff participates in Pacific Air Chiefs’ Symposium 2019

• Chief of the Air Staff of India is participating in the Pacific Air Chiefs’ Symposium 2019 (PACS 2019) at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
• The theme for this year’s symposium is ‘A Collaborative Approach to Regional Security’.The conference will bring together Air Chiefs from across the Indo-Pacific region who will provide perspectives on common challenges faced and on shared mutual interests while focusing on relevant topics like ‘Regional Security’, ‘Domain Awareness’, ‘Multi-Domain Awareness’, Ínteroperability’ and ‘HADR’.
• The symposium will also entail discourse and discussions on the combined effort required to maintain peace and security within the region.

Foot Notes:
Chief of the Air Staff: Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria.

3. International Volunteer Day: 5 December

• The International Volunteer Day (IVD) is observed across the world on 5 December every year.
• This year theme is ” Volunteer for an inclusive future”.
• This year’s theme highlighting Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG 10) and the pursuit of equality including inclusion through volunteerism.

4. World Soil Day: 5 December

• World Soil Day is celebrated annually on the 5th of December at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) .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.

Foot Notes:
About Food and Agriculture Organization
Headquarters: Rome, Italy

5. Former England fast bowler Bob Willis (90 Tests, 325 wickets) dies at the age of 70

• Former England cricket captain and 1981 Ashes hero Bob Willis has died aged 70 after a short illness, his family said in a statement on Wednesday.
• The fast-bowler played in 90 Tests and 64 one-day internationals for England over more than a decade after his debut in 1971, retiring in 1984.
• Willis, who finished his test career with 325 wickets despite bowling with pain from 1975 after surgery on both knees, worked for the broadcaster as a cricket expert after his retirement.

6. Avantee mega Food Park inaugurated in MP’s Dewas

• In Madhya Pradesh, Union Minister for food processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated Avantee mega Food Park in Dewas. 
• 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.   Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Rameshwar Teli was also present on the inaugural ceremony.

Foot Notes:
About Madhya Pradesh
Governor: Lalji Tandon
Capital: Bhopal
Chief Minister: Kamal Nath

7. Cabinet approves Personal Data Protection Bill 2019

• The Cabinet approved Data Protection bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha. The bill lays down legal framework to preserve sanctity in data sharing. The Draft of the bill was released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in 2018.
• The bill provides rules for collection, storage and handling of personal data. It regulates the processing of personal data of individuals incorporated in India and abroad. 
• The bill makes it compulsory for the collecting authority to store the data within the territory of India. The bill divides data into three types namely critical, general and sensitive. The sensitive data are the data that are related to passwords, health, finances, religion, biometric and sexual orientation.

8. India 5th worst country in terms of invasive use of biometric data.

• According to a new report from Comparitech, a Britain-based tech research firm, India is fifth worst country after China, Malaysia, Pakistan and United States in terms of extensive and invasive use of biometric data.
• The study was conducted based on- 50 different countries were anlaysed to find out where biometrics are being taken, what they are being taken for, and how they are being stored. 
• Each country was scored out of 25, with high scores indicating extensive and invasive use of biometrics/ surveillance. India scored 19 and was ranked relatively lower in the list of worst countries for biometric data collection.

9. Priyanka Chopra honoured with UNICEF's Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award

• Priyanka Chopra has been awarded the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award from UNICEF. Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra is quite active not only in the entertainment and fashion world but also in social work. The award was announced in June 2019 and Priyanka was nominated for the award by the United Nations Children's Fund.
• Priyanka Chopra has been associated with UNICEF for the past 15 years as a Goodwill Ambassador. Now she has been awarded UNICEF's 'Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award' for her work. She was awarded this honor in the presence of many eminent personalities at the Snowflake Ball in New York.

Foot Notes:
About The United Nations Children's Fund 
Headquarters: New York, United States
Head: Henrietta H. Fore
Founded: 11 December 1946

10. Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley conferred with ET Lifetime Achievement Award

• Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was conferred posthumously the Lifetime Achievement award for Public Service at the Economic Times Award 2019. Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was conferred posthumously the Lifetime Achievement award for Public Service at the Economic Times Award 2019.
• The second thing that Jaitley held high was ethics, she said here while receiving the ET award.

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