Renowned Sand Artist Sudarshan Pattnaik’s Merry Christmas Special Santa Claus featured in Limca Book of Records
- Pattnaik claimed of createing a 45 ft high sand Santa Claus at Puri beach on 24 December 2015.
- It was recognised as the largest sand Santa Claus as of today by the Limca Book of World Records.
- Sand Sculptures of Jesus and Mother Mary also created near Santa Claus.
Online Virtual Science lab for school students ; Thanks to the educational technology initiative – “Online Labs”
- Online Lab is developed by Amrita CREATE in association with CDAC.
- CREATE Stands for : Centre of Research in Advanced Technologies for Education. CDAC stands for : Centre for Development of Advanced Computing.
- Online Labs allow students to experiment as many time as they wish; experiments include simulators, videos, animation, theory and quiz.
- It is based on the premise that lab experiments can be taught over the Net in a cost effective and efficient manner.
Cabinet gave its nod to joint venture between Companies and States.
- Objective : To mobilise resources for undertaking rail infrastructure projects.
- The initial paid-up capital of the Ministry of Railways will be limited to Rs. 50 crore for each state.
- The joint venture companies would be formed with equity participation from the Ministry of Railways and the state governments concerned.
- Each joint venture will have an initial paid-up capital of Rs. 100 crore and based on the projects to be undertaken, further fund infusion would be done on approval of the project.
Guinea officially declared Ebola free : WHO
- WHO declared the end of Ebola virus transmission in the Republic of Guinea.
- The decision was taken after observance of passing of 42 days since last person confirmed to have Ebola virus disease and tested negative.
51st Jnanpith award winner : Gujarati Writer Raghuveer Chaudhary.
- He has been selected for Jnanpith award for his contribution to the Indian literature.
- Jnanpith Selection Board chaired by noted scholar Namwar Singh taen the decision.
- Other members of selection baord includes : Shamim Hanfi, Harish Trivedi, Suranjan Das, Ramakant Rath, Chandrakant Patil, Alok Rao, Dinesh Misra and Leeladhar Mandloi.
- He is the fourth Gujarati litterateur to bag this prestigious award after Uma Shankar Joshi (1967), Pannalal Patel (1985) and Rajendra Shah (2001).
Ian Fraser Lemmy Kilmister , One of the fouding members of metal band Motorhead passes away.
- He was 70 and battling with cancer.
- He was popularly known as Lemmy, he played furiously on platinum-selling Motorhead albums like Ace of Spades , Overkill and Iron Fist.
- Motorhead has released 22 studio albums with Lemmy as its only constant member.
- His last album was Bad Magic in 2015.
Renowned and veteran singer Subir Sen passes away.
- He was suffering from lung cancer in Kolkata. He was 81.
- The melodious singer had sung a number of hit songs from the 1950s till the 1980s. .
- A hit film Aas ka Panchhi marked the peak of Sen’s popularity.
- He was also known for his Bengali songs like Dhoronir pathey pathey, Monalisa tumi ki bolona and Saradin tomay cheye.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) ties up with Rostech to manufacture 200 Kamov helicopters
- Under “Make in India” initiative, Russian firm Rostech State Corporation has tied up with India’s HAL to manufacture 200 Kamov 226T light helicopters.
- The new fleet of Kamovs will replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak helicopters.
- The deal is estimated to be worth $1 billion, according to Press Trust of India report.
Gaofen-4 Earth observation satellite launched by China towards a geostationary orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the south-western province of Sichuan.
- Gaofen-4 is located at the orbit 36000 kilometres away from the earth and moves synchronously with the earth.
- It is designed to operate for eight years at an altitude of almost 36000 km above the Earth.
- The satellite was launched as a part of Gaofen project that aims to launch seven high-definition observation satellites before 2020.
- Gaofen-1, the first satellite of the project, was launched in April 2013.
General OP Malhotra, Indian Army’s exchief passes away.
- He was 93. He is survived by his wife and two children.
- General Om Prakash Malhotra was the 13th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1978 – 1981.
- He was also the President of the Equestrian Federation of India for nearly nine years.
Barak-8 long range missile succesfully test fired from INS Kolkata.
- Indian Navy test fired 70 KM range Surface to Air Missile Barack 8 from INS Kolkata.
- Navy described the maiden firing of its newly developed Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR SAM) as a significant milestone in enhancing its anti-air warfare capability.
Rakhi Haldar and Kavita Devi bags Gold at National Weightlifting Championship.
- Senior National Weightlifting Championships was held in Patiala, Punjab.
- Rakhi Haldar and Kavita Devi on 29 December 2015 bagged gold in their respective weight categories in the Senior National Weightlifting Championships held in Patiala, Punjab.
Gujarat clinched maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy for first time.
- Gujarat defeated Delhi by 139 runs at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
- It was 14th session of Vijay Hazare trophy.
- The Vijay Hazare Trophy is also known as the Ranji One Day Trophy.
