 India has emerged as the world’s third-largest publisher of science and engineering articles, according to a latest US report. In 2008, India published 48,998 science and engineering articles. This increased to 1,35,788 articles in 2018 and the country now accounts for 5.31 per cent of the total world publications in science and engineering. China, which accounts for 20.67 per cent of all global publications in scientific articles, is at the top position, followed by the US at 16.54 per cent, as per the statistics compiled by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). |
| Source: The NDTV |
 The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that for the 1st time it had approved a “biosimilar” medicine of Trastuzumab named “Ontruzant” to make cheaper breast cancer treatment at an affordable rate to women globally. The medicine is derived from living sources rather than chemicals. The biosimilar medicine of the Trastuzumab drug was supplied by Samsung Bioepis co Ltd. |
| Source: The WHO |
 In a unique initiative to battle rising air pollution in cities, an ‘Oxygen Parlour’ has been opened at Nashik railway station to provide an experience of breathing clean air to the commuters. The initiative comes with the efforts of Airo Guard in collaboration with the Indian Railways. The concept of Oxygen Parlour is based on the recommendation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). There are around 1500 plants here, so, these plants can directly and effectively bring down the pollution in the air at the railway station and allow the people to breathe cleaner air. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The Indian Air Force Chief RKS Bhaduria will embark a four-day visit to Egypt starting on December 24, 2019. The aim of the visit is to strengthen long-standing relations between India and Egypt. |
| Highlights During his visit, the chief has scheduled to visit operational and training establishments of the Egyptian Air Force. Also, he will interact with senior officials of the Egyptian armed forces. |
| India-Egypt India is the fourth largest trading partner of Egypt following US, Italy and Saudi Arabia. The trade between the countries have been tradition. India imported 1.29 billion USD worth goods (2017-18 and exported 2.39 billion USD worth goods. |
| Why is Defence ties with Egypt important? Egypt controls the Suez Canal. It has been insisting India to invest in the expansion programme of Suez Canal Economic Zone. China and US have already invested their share and India has positive plans towards the investment of the expansion. Also, the investments of India in the country has been growing in the recent years. In 2018, Indian investments in the country amounted to 3 billion USD and is increasing. Therefore, it becomes essential for India to establish good defence relations with the country for the security of the traded goods and their transport through the canal. |
| India-Egypt Exercises As of 2019, Egypt has not participated in individual military exercises with India. However, it has participated in joint military exercises along with other African nations. India hosted defence exercise for 17 African called AFINDEX-19 that was held at Pune. The African countries that participated in the exercise include Egypt, Niger, Ghana, Uganda, etc. Apart from this, India also hosted IAFTX (India Africa Field Training Exercise) in March 2019. Therefore, it is important for India to strengthen its defence ties with Egypt to increase its presence in the African Continent |
 On December 23, 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) organized an annual meeting of state nodal agencies implementing the Ecoclub programme for the first time. The event was organized in collaboration with GEER foundation, Gujarat. |
| Highlights Senior officers of the Ecoclub programme from 22 states and union territories participated in the programme. Around 200 students from the state of Gujarat also participated in the programme. Ecoclub awards were awarded to school students at national level. Two books were released at the event namely “Glimpses of Ecoclubs” and a handbook on International Environment Conventions and Programmes. |
| National Green Corps The programme was launched by the MoEFCC covering 1,20,000 schools in India. The programme mainly covered the School Eco clubs in different states. They are titled NGC students similar to NCC. These students participate in activities related to energy conservation, water conservation, biodiversity conservation, waste management, resource management and land use planning. |
| Significance The NGC is the largest programme in the world. The programme targets that the children participating in the programme will grow up and take care of the environment. The NGC cadets are given pride places at celebrations of national days when they participate in their NGC uniform. Also, when NGC cadets take up environmental activities they attract huge public attention. |
 India’s shuttler Maisnam Meiraba Luwang has won the Men’s singles Bangladesh Junior International Badminton Series 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Top-seeded Meiraba, who hails from Manipur, beat Ken Yong Ong 21, 14, 21-18 in the final. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The Govt. of India has constructed Girls’ Hostel for Nepal Armed Police Force School, Kirtipur, Nepal. Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Dr Ajay Kumar inaugurated hostel building. Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) School is an academic institution created under the APF Welfare Service Centre of Nepal Armed Police Force. The school was established in 2005 and it has over 21 per cent of girls students. The new infrastructure constructed with the Government of India’s grant assistance of 40.42 million Nepali Rupees is a two-storied girls’ hostel. It comprises 32 rooms including a dormitory, warden room, bathroom, sanitation facilities for girls on each floor and furniture. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Ecuador has activated the emergency protocols in the Galapagos Islands. The emergency protocol was activated to contain the environmental impact of a fuel spill in the Galapagos Islands. The step was taken after a barge carrying 600 gallons of diesel fuel sank. The accident occurred in a port on San Cristobal Island when a crane collapsed while loading a container onto the barge. The falling container destabilized the ship, causing it to sink. The Galapagos archipelago is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to one of the most fragile ecosystems on the planet. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Indian-American Dr Monisha Ghosh has been appointed as the first woman Chief Technology Officer at the US government’s powerful Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She will advise Indian-American Chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai and the agency on technology and engineering issues, and work closely with the Office of Engineering and Technology. Dr Ghosh will take charge on January 13. She replaces Dr Eric Burger. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Ashleigh Barty and Rafael Nadal were named International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) World Champions in singles for 2019. This awards will be given at the 2020 ITF world champions 2nd June, in Paris. |
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| Source: The News18 |
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