December 27: On December 27, 1911, the National Anthem was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Congress. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is the first stanza of the Bengali hymn ‘Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata’, written by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. A slightly varied version of the song was adopted by Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army in 1941 as the national anthem, called ‘Shubh Sukh Chain’, which also became popular in India since.
MiG-27 retires: The Indian Air Force conducted its de-commissioned ceremony of the MiG-27 aircraft, one of the most prominent fighter jets that have several glorious records to its name. The ceremony took place at the Air Force Station, Jodhpur. The jet has earned the ‘Bahadur’ title from IAF pilots for its role during the 1999 Kargil War.
Military exercise: Iran, China and Russia Friday began a joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman, in what is being seen as a response to recent US manoeuvers in the region. The four-day exercise has been launched from the port city of Chabahar in southeastern Iran, AP reported.
Net in Kargil: Mobile internet facility was resumed in Ladakh’s Kargil district on Friday but there is no word on when internet services will be restored in Kashmir, where the blackout has completed 145 days after the Centre abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, officials said.
General Bipin Rawat: Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday stated that the armed forces have utmost respect for laws related to human rights and they not only ensure protection of human rights of people of the country, but also of its adversaries. He was addressing interns and senior officers of the National Human Rights Commission on “Preserving Human Rights in Times of War and Prisoners of War” at the Manav Adhikar Bhavan in New Delhi
Plane Crash: A passenger plane carrying nearly 100 people crashed soon after take-off near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday, slamming into a house in an accident that killed 12 people and injured dozens. The Fokker 100 aircraft, operated by Bek Air, got into trouble shortly after departing from Almaty, the Central Asian country’s commercial centre, on a pre-dawn flight to the capital Nur-Sultan.
Pakistan: Former India opener-turned-BJP MP Gautam Gambhir criticised the behaviour of players who discriminated against Kaneria. Gambhir opined that the Kaneria incident shows the actual face of the country. Gambhir’s comment came a day after former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar revealed the discrimination former teammate and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria faced in Pakistan dressing room for being a Hindu.
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NPA: The gross non-performing asset ratio of banks may increase to 9.9 per cent by September 2020 from 9.3 per cent in September 2019, according to an RBI report. The gross NPA ratio of banks stood at 9.3 per cent in March 2019. “The stress tests indicate that under the baseline scenario, the GNPA ratios of banks may increase to 9.9 per cent by September 2020, due to change in macroeconomic scenario, marginal increase in slippages and the denominator effect of declining credit growth,” RBI said in its Financial Stability Report (FSR).
Pension commutation: The labour ministry will enforce the retirement fund body EPFO’s decision to restore pension commutation, or advance part-withdrawal, under the Employees’ Pension Scheme from January 1, 2020, a move which will benefit 630,000 pensioners, a source said. These 630,000 pensioners had opted for commutation of their pension and got a lump sum amount at the time of retirement from their pension accumulations or fund before 2009. The provision for commutation of pension was withdrawn by the EPFO in 2009.
Air India: Air India on Friday paid flying allowance for November to its around 1,600 pilots, a source said days after a section of them sought immediate payment of the pending amounts. Flying allowance, which constitutes between 50-80 per cent of a pilots’ salary, is generally paid in the first week of a succeeding month.