1. SIT finds Para Commando troop guilty: On Dec 4, 2021, in a botched counter-insurgency operation, 13 Oting villagers got killed. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Nagaland Government has found that the Para Commando Troop involved in the operation did not follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)and had resorted to “indiscriminate and disproportionate firing.”
2. Mamata Banerjee attempts to raise a parallel opposition: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote letters to 22 non-BJP political outfits to field a joint candidate for the Presidential election. The move, which aims to forge an opposition front not led by Congress, was criticized by CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. He called the move unilateral and harmful to opposition unity.
3. WHO’s chief scientist, Dr. Sowmya Swaminathan, calls low-covid testing a ‘worldwide problem’: She said, although no new covid variants have been deducted so far, with the fall in covid testing across many countries, samples available for genomic sequencing are also falling. Further, she reiterated the need to sustain the momentum in testing to analyze potential new threats.
4. India to send four holy relics of Buddha to Mongolia: Indian Airforce will fly a 25-member delegation led by Union law and justice minister Kiren Rijiju along with Gautam Buddha’s relics in two special bulletproof caskets to Mongolia. The holy relics will be displayed at the Batasagaan temple in Gadan Monastery in Ulaanbataar for 11 days.
5. “Don’t spare the culprit. Don’t touch the innocent”: On Saturday, at Kulgam, J&K Lt Governor Manoj Singha said that terrorists are trying to provoke our armed forces through targeted killings. They want the security personnel to make some mistakes and use them as bait to bring people to the streets protesting. However, he said police and security forces would not fall for this nefarious design of the terrorists.
6. The IAS officer with assets 500 times his income: Ram Vilas Yadhav, presently the additional secretary in the Uttrakhand Government, is facing raids by the state vigilance department. Yadhav, who will retire by the end of this month, is said to be closer to the erstwhile SP government in UP.
7. UP Police files 16 FIRs mentioning 6000 suspects: Protestors who indulged in stone-pelting are being identified by the UP Police using CCTV footage. By Saturday afternoon, Police arrested some 245 people involved in stone-pelting. Further, local intelligence units are also working to zero in on troublemakers.
8. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan says, “Won’t be cowed down”: Speaking at the delegates meeting of the Kerala Gazetted Officers Association (KGOA) in Kottayam, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said, “We will not be cowed down. We will find out who is behind this.” Meanwhile, Police have registered a case against the lawyer of Swapna Suresh (who leveled charges against the CM) for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
9. Senior Indian diplomat Gill, now UN secretary general’s tech envoy: Amandeep Singh Gill, has previously served as the executive director of the United Nations secretary general’s high-level panel on digital cooperation from 2018 to 2019. A UN statement said, “Gill is a thought leader on digital technology…and brings deep knowledge of digital technologies.”
10. Iran and Venezuela sign a 20-year pact: Both oil-producing nations grappling with western sanctions have come together to sign a 20-year cooperation plan. The two countries would extend cooperation in defense, tourism, agriculture, and culture, in addition to the critical oil and petrochemicals sector.