• As part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ – to celebrate 75 years of Independence, REC Limited, a public infrastructure finance company under the Ministry of Power organized a ‘Bijli Utsav’ in Sonapur village of Kamrup district and adjoining villages in Assam.
• Numerous dignitaries such as Sh. Bipul Deka, Presdent, Sonapur Gaon Panchayat, Kunjolata Deka, Ruhini Kr. Das, Ex-President Sonapur Gaon Panchayat, and Upen Bhatlya – Retired Principal graced the occasion.

• Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has launched the Mobile App ‘Prahari’ and Manual of Border Security Force (BSF) in New Delhi .
• Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, Union Home Secretary, Director General of BSF, Chief Secretaries of Union Territories and several senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Union Territories and BSF were also present on the occasion.

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• The Indian Air Force successfully test-fired the Extended Range Version of BrahMos Air Launched missile on December 29. The missile was test-fired against a Ship Target from a SU-30MKI aircraft in the Bay of Bengal region and it achieved the desired mission objectives. With this successful fire, the Indian Air Force has now developed the capability to carry out precision strikes from SU-30MKI aircraft.

• Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today launched the guidelines for City Finance Rankings and City Beauty Competition in New Delhi. The City Finance Ranking aims to evaluate, recognize and reward the cities on current financial health and improvement in financial performance over time. Guidelines for City Beauty Competition is aimed at encouraging and recognizing the transformational efforts of wards and cities to create beautiful, innovative, and inclusive public spaces. All cities and wards can participate in the City Beauty Competition.
• On this occasion, Mr. Puri said, these initiatives will take the country’s journey of urban rejuvenation to another level. He said, the government has started several schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission,  Atal Mission for Rejuvenation, and Urban Transformation Mission which transformed the country.

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• Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Israel for the sixth time on 29 December 2022. 73 years old Netanyahu was ousted from power 18 months ago. He replaced Yair Lapid whose party failed to win a majority in the Israeli Parliamentary election held on 1 November 2022. This was the 5th general election in Israel in the past four years.
• The longest serving Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu heads a coalition government which is considered to be one of the most right wing governments in the history of the country.The Israeli Parliament is called the Knesset. It is a unicameral house which has a term of four years. It has 120 members.

• Vice President Kamala Harris has named Indian American Rajeev Badyal to a key national space advisory group, which is tasked to maintain a robust and responsible US space enterprise and preserve space for current and future generations.
• Badyal, vice-president of Project Kuiper of Amazon, is among the 30 space experts named by Harris to the National Space Council’s Users Advisory Group (UAG) on December 16.

• Vigilance Commissioner Praveen Kumar Srivastava has been appointed as the acting Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).Srivastava's appointment comes after Suresh N Patel completed his term as the chief of the anti-corruption watchdog on December 24.
• The commission is headed by a CVC and can have a maximum of two Vigilance Commissioners.Besides Srivastava, former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Arvind Kumar is the other Vigilance Commissioner.Srivastava is a 1988-batch (retired) Indian Administrative Service officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. He superannuated as Secretary (Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat on January 31 this year.

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• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has named Water and Power Consultancy Services India Limited (WAPCOS) as the best Consulting Services Firm in the Water and Other Infrastructure Sectors in its annual Procurement Report 2022.
• WAPCOS was named one of the top three Indian consultants involved in Consulting Services Contracts under ADB Loan, Grant, and Technical Assistance Projects in the Energy, Transportation, Water, and other Urban Infrastructure Sectors in another report on its Members’ Fact Sheet – 2022 released by the ADB.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother Heeraben Modi, who died early this morning, has been cremated in Gandhinagar. PM Modi performed the last rites. Heeraben Modi was 99.
• The news of her passing was announced in a bulletin from the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre, where she was taken  when her condition began to deteriorate.

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• Brazil’s three-time World-cup winning football legend, Pele passed away at the age of 82 following a cancer battle.
• Considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time, Pele was in poor health in recent months and has had quite a few stints in the hospital. The three-time World Cup champion, whose actual name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, was reportedly dealing with kidney and heart issues and was hospitalised since November with multiple ailments.