• Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat passes away in the air crash, along with his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on board an Indian Airforce helicopter Mi 17 V-5.
• The aircraft crashed in the forest area near Coonoor in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu
• Bipin Rawat was an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College
• He was commissioned on 16th December in 1978 into Fifth Battalion of the Eleventh Gorkha Rifles of the Infantry

• Paris-based World Inequality Lab has released World Inequality Report 2022, that captured certain interesting insights about global income & wealth inequality
• As per the report 2022, India is now among the most unequal countries in the world with an affluent elite
• While the bottom half of Indian population earns Rs 53,610, the top 10% earns twenty times more (around Rs 11,66,520). Top 10% and top 1% hold respectively 57% and 22% of total national income.

• Education Ministry has launched mobile app titled Bhasha Sangam to help people acquire basic conversation ability in languages other than one's mother tongue to at least 75 lakh people.
• This initiative has been taken under Ek Bharat -Shrestha Bharat Programme.
• It has more than 100 sentences of common usage, both in text and audio format, in 22 Indian languages.
• Apart from this, another mobile app for Ek Bharat -Shreshta Bharat quiz has also been launched

• NITI Aayog in partnership with Convergence Energy Service Limited (CESL), World Resources Institute, India (WRI India) has launched e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition
• It is being supported by Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI)
• Through this, central, state, and city-level government agencies, transit service providers, OEMs, financing institutions, and ancillary service providers will be able to share knowledge and their learnings on e-bus adoption.

• Air version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has been successfully test fired from the supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha
• It is a major milestone in the BrahMos development.
• It clears the system for the serial production of BrahMos missiles within the country.
• BrahMos: Joint Venture between India (DRDO) and Russia (NPOM) for development, production and marketing of supersonic cruise missile.

• India has been ranked as the fourth most powerful country in Asia Power Index with its overall score went down by two points from 2020, standing at 37.7 out of 100.
• The index has been released by Lowy Institute
• India fell short of the major power threshold in 2021 and is among 18 countries in the region to trend downward in its overall score in 2021
• It fell short of the major power threshold.
• Top performers: USA, China and Japan

• World number one Ashleigh Barty has been named WTA Player of the Year for the second time.
• She has won the title in 2019, won tour-leading five tournaments this year including second Grand Slam trophy of her career at Wimbledon where she beat Czech Karolina Pliskova in the final.
• U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu took the Newcomer of the Year title.
• Czech Barbora Krejcikova took the WTA prize for the Most Improved Player of the Year.

• Assamese poet Nilmani Phookan Jr has won 56th Jnanpith Award and Konkani novelist Damodar Mauzo has won 57th Jnanpith (Gyanpith) Award.
• Nilmani Phookan is known for his work: Surya Heno Nami Ahe Ei Nadiyedi, Manas-Pratima, Phuli Thaka Suryamukhi Phultor Phale, Gulapi Jamur Lagna
• Damodar Mauzo is known for his novels Karmelin, and Tsunami Simon, and short stories Teresa’s Man and Other Stories from Goa.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been ranked at the 37th position among the Forbes’ rankings of 100 most powerful women of the world.
• She was ranked 41st in 2020 and 34th in 2019
• Top performer: Jeff Bezos’ former wife Mackenzie Scott, followed by Kamla Harris is ranked second, and Christine Lagarde.
• Roshni Nadar Malhotra (52); Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (72), and Falguni Nayar made her debut and was featured at number 88 in the Forbes List.

• Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sunil Arora joined the Board of Advisors for International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).
• IDEA is assisted by 15-member Board of Advisers who are eminent personalities or experts from different backgrounds.

IDEA:

• It is an intergovernmental organization to support sustainable democracy worldwide.
• HQs: Stockholm, Sweden
• It has 34 member countries.
• India is one of the founding members of IDEA.

Download Daily GK PDF of 09 December 2021