Current Affairs in Short: 23 December 2020

Union Cabinet approves merger of different film bodies with National Film Development Corporation

•The Union Cabinet has approved the merger of different film bodies- National Film Archives of India, Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals and Children's Film Society India with the National Film Development Corporation. The Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the decision on December 23, 2020.

•The move comes six months after the expert committees, which was formed by the ministry of information and broadcasting on rationalisation of film media units recommended the creation of an umbrella body with four different vertices—festival, heritage, production and knowledge.

•The employees of all four units will be fully accommodated and no employee will be retrenched. The decision was taken as the committee found overlapping activities undertaken by multiple institutes.

US President-Elect Joe Biden appoints Indian Americans as White House staff

•US President-Elect Joe Biden appointed two Indian Americans – Vinay Reddy and Gautam Raghavan to the White House on December 22, 2020. They have been appointed to the post of Director of Speechwriting and Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel respectively.

•The names of the two Indian Americans were announced when Biden announced names of additional members of the White House senior staff.

•Gautam Raghavan currently serves as the Deputy Head of Presidential Appointments and Vinay Reddy as a speechwriter on the Biden-Harris Transition.

Indian Railways allows travel on Chennai suburban train 

•The Indian Railways has allowed the general public to travel by Chennai’s suburban trains during non-peak hours from December 23, 2020. The Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal made the announcement on December 22nd.

•The suburban train services have been allowed to ply with adequate safety measures. The move is expected to enhance ease of movement and passenger convenience.

•The non-peak hours will be from the early hours of the day to 7:00 am in the morning and 9:30 am to 4.30 pm and then 7 pm to the closing hours of the day. The general public will be allowed to travel by trains during these timings while following all the COVID-19 guidelines.  

Tamil Nadu government gives nod to Jallikattu

•The Tamil Nadu government has given its permission to hold the traditional bull-taming sport Jallikattu with certain restrictions.

•Under the government’s guidelines, the number of players participating in the event cannot be more than 150 and COVID-19 negative certificates will be mandatory for all players.

•The number of people who can watch the event has also now been restricted to 50 percent of the gathering.
The Supreme Court had earlier in 2014 banned the sport but the ban was lifted in January 2017 after

Indian Skipper Virat Kohli ranked 7th on ICC T20I rankings

•Indian skipper Virat Kohli has moved up one space and is now currently ranked 7th in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen.

•New Zealand opener Tim Seifert and fast bowler Tim Southee also attained their career-best positions. While Seifert is ranked 9th after moving up 24 spots, Southee moved up from the 13th rank to the 7th position.

•Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi has also attained a career-best 16th position in the rankings for the shortest format.