News in Short

• Amid concerns about the crisis in the Indian economy following GDP growth slipping to a 26-quarter low of 4.5 per cent in July-September, the government is open to further reforms for making India a more attractive investment destination.
• It also said about 12 global companies have evinced interest to shift their base from China to India, taking advantage of the competitive tax rate of 15 per cent announced recently.
• Currently the GDP growth rate has slowed for the sixth consecutive quarter, with the previous low recorded at 4.3 per cent in March 2013.

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has told that the Imphal-Mandalay route will be included in the International UDAN scheme, with the bidding process for selection of airlines to be completed within two months.
• Manipur government had been pursuing the introduction of flight operations between Imphal and Mandalay for quite some time, but instead of a scheduled flight service, permission for chartered flights was given that too for a limited duration of time.
• Under the UDAN scheme, airlines are required to bid on the number of passenger seats per flight for which they will require a subsidy.

• Advocate Rajeev Dhawan who represented the Muslim parties in the Ayodhya land dispute case has been removed from the case.
• Dhawan said that he is no longer involved with the review petition being filed in the Supreme Courtby the Muslim bodies.

• Uttar Pradesh cricketer Priyam Garg has been appointed as the captain of the team which will participate in the U-19 cricket world cup in South Africa.
• India is the current defending champion of the trophy and will open its campaign against Sri Lanka on January 19, 2020.

• Argentine and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi has won the prestigious Ballon d’Or prize for the best footballer of the year.
• Messi has previously won the award five times. He overtakes Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo as the highest winner of Balloon d'Or.
• Lionel Messi beat Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to the award.