Top 5 Current Affairs: 21 December 2021

Govt appoints Pradeep Rawat as new Indian Ambassador to China

Diplomat Pradeep Kumar Rawat has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to China. Currently, he is the Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Rawat as India’s next envoy in China will take charge amid the worst phase in relations between the two nations. He has spent the majority of his diplomatic career handling Beijing from New Delhi.

Parliament passes Election Laws (Amendment Bill) 2021

Parliament passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 after it was given a go-ahead in the Rajya Sabha. The bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha seeks to make amendments to the Representation of the People Act and also allows electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of those who want to register as voters to establish their entity.

Annual meeting of World Economic Forum postponed

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2022 will be postponed due to the continued uncertainty over the Omicron outbreak. It was scheduled to take place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland in January 2022. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is now likely to take place during early summer.

Nagaland adopts resolution to repeal AFSPA

Nagaland Assembly unanimously passed a resolution demanding the repeal of AFSPA in the Northeast state. The state government has declared on many occasions clearly that the state must be free from the AFSPA act that gives soldiers sweeping powers to arrest without warrants or even shoot to kill in certain situations.

Govt bans 20 YouTube channels

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has ordered the blocking of 20 YouTube channels as well as 2 websites for spreading anti-India propaganda and fake news content on the internet. The banned channels were used to post the divisive content in a coordinated manner on various significant topics such as the Indian Army, Kashmir, CDS General Bipin Rawat, among others.