• National

Train 18, now India’s fastest train

• Train 18, has now officially become India’s fastest train, which ran at a speed of 180 kilometers per hour during a trial run.
• The first trial run of the train was conducted on Bareilly-Moradabad railway section.
• Train 18 is India’s first indigenously built engine-less train.
• It was built by Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
• It will replace the premier Shatabdi Express.

• National

Madhya Pradesh Declares Kuno As National Park

• Madhya Pradesh State government has declared Kuno wildlife sanctuary as a national park in compliance with the last condition imposed by a Supreme Court-appointed committee for the much awaited ‘translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir in Gujarat.’
• The move is expected to pave way for translocation of lions from Gir in Gujarat to Kuno. It is spread over 750 sq km area.

• International

Nepal caps expenditure of its citizens

• Nepal imposed a monthly limit on the amount of Indian currency its citizen can spend in India.
• Nepali citizen would not be able to spend more than Rs. 1 lakh every month while paying for goods and services in India.
• The policy is applicable to prepaid, credit, and debit cards of Nepali banks.
• The decision was taken to deal with the current account deficit of Nepal.

• Economy and Business

RBI launches survey to capture retail payment habits in 6 cities

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will capture payment habits of individuals in six cities, including four metropolitan towns.
• For the purpose, the central bank has launched a ‘Survey on Retail Payment Habits of Individuals (SRPHi)’.
• The survey will cover a sample of 6,000 individuals from various socio-economic backgrounds across six cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Guwahati.
• “The survey seeks qualitative responses from individuals on their payment habits,” it said.

• Awards

Govt institutes ‘Aapda Prabandhan Puraskaar’

• The government of India has instituted the ‘Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskaar’.
• The award will be given to recognise the excellent work done by individuals and institutions in the field of disaster management.
• If the awardee is an institution, it will be given a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh.
• If the awardee is an individual, the person will receive a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.

• Awards

Champions of Change award given to Manipur CM

• Manipur’s Chief Minister N Biren Singh was conferred with the ‘Champions of Change’ award by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on 26 December 2018.
• He was awarded for his exemplary leadership in bringing about transformation in governance in the northeastern state.
• The award selection jury was led by former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishna and former Supreme Court judge Sudha Mishra.

• Appointments

Bimal Jalan to head expert panel on Economic Capital Framework

• The Reserve Bank of India has formed an expert committee under former governor Bimal Jalan to decide the appropriate level of reserves that the regulator should hold.
• The six-member panel has former deputy RBI governor Rakesh Mohan as its vice chairman and comprises economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, RBI central board members Bharat Doshi and Sudhir Mankad and deputy governor NS Vishwanathan.
• It will review “the need and justification of various provisions, reserves and buffers” that RBI has maintained for contingency purposes and suggest an adequate level of risk provisioning.

• Defence

China successfully tests Russia's S-400 missile air defence system

• China has successfully tested the advanced S-400 air defence system imported from Russia for which India also signed-up recently despite concerns over threat of sanctions from the US.
• S-400 is known as Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system.
• China was the first foreign buyer to seal a government-to-government deal with Russia in 2014 to procure the lethal missile system.

• Obituaries

Prof Hamidi Kashmiri passed away

• Hamidi Kashmiri, literary figure in the world of Urdu language, literature, and literary criticism passed away on 26 December 2018.
• He was a creative writer, an acclaimed critic and propounder of ‘Iktishaafi Tanqueed’.
• He has also been the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir.
• He was a recipient of the Ghalib Award and Sahitya Akademi Award (2005).

• States

Andhra Pradesh gets its own High Court in Capital Amaravati

• President Ram Nath Kovind on 26 December 2018, issued orders for the creation of a separate high court for Andhra Pradesh.
• The new high court will start functioning from 1 January 2019 from Amaravati.
• With the creation of the new high court, the country will have 25 high courts.
• According to the notification issued by the Law Ministry, Justice Ramesh Ranganathan, who is at present the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court, will head the new high court.
• It will have 15 other judges besides the chief justice.

• Miscellaneous

Aadi Sai Vijaykaran Wins ‘Top Debater in The World’ Title

• Aadi Sai Vijaykaran created history by winning the Junior Debate Championship at the World Scholar’s Cup held at Yale University, the USA.
• The theme for the cup was ‘An Entangled World: diplomacy, human relationships, the science of memory, and literature, art’.
• It is the first time an individual from India has won the coveted title.

• Miscellaneous

Railways develops AI-powered robot

• Central Railway’s Nagpur division has developed the robot named USTAAD (Undergear Surveillance Through Artificial Intelligence Assisted Droid)
• It would click pictures and record videos of the under-gears of trains and send them to engineers for repairs and maintenance.
• By use of this robot, the chances of a mistake and any deficiency overlooked by human eye can be eliminated.