News in Short

• The Assam government has tabled a Bill in the Legislative Assembly to abolish all state-run Madrassas by converting them into general schools from next year.
• The legislation proposes to abolish the two existing Acts -- The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialities) Act, 1995 and The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialities of Services of Employees and Re-Organisation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.
• The Assam cabinet had on December 13 approved a proposal to close down all Madrassas and Sanskrit Tols (schools) however, the legislation brought in the assembly during the day did not contain anything related to the Sanskrit tols.

• Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have discovered two new species of Zingiber, commonly referred to as ginger, from Nagaland.
• While Zingiber perenense has been discovered from the Peren district of Nagaland, Zingiber dimapurense was found in the Dimapur district of the State.
• For Zingiber dimapurense, the lip of the flower (modified corolla) is white in colour, with dense dark- purplish red blotches. Its pollen is a creamy-white and ovato-ellipsoidal, whereas the fruit is an oblong 4.5 cm-5.5 cm long capsule.
• In the case of Zingiber perenense, which was discovered about 50 km from where the other species was found, the lip of the flower is white with purplish-red streaks throughout, and the pollen is ellipsoidal.

• Karnataka Legislative Council deputy chairperson S L Dharme Gowda was found dead near a railway track in Chikkamagaluru. It is suspected that he died by suicide.
• He started his political career as the member of Bilekallahalli Mandala Panchayat. Dharme Gowda was elected as MLA from Birur Assembly constituency in 2004 and served in the cooperative sector for several years.
• He had in the past served as the President of Janata Bazar, President of Chikkamagaluru DCC Bank and director of Milk union.

• Arya Rajendran has became the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram after winning the elections from the Mudavanmugal ward of the city. With this, Arya became India's youngest mayor at 21.
• She contested on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) ticket as she defeated the United Democratic Front (Kerala) candidate by 2,872 votes.
• Arya is currently the state president of CPM-backed 'Balasanghom', which is considered the ideological root of the party. She is also a member of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) Kerala state committee.

• India's Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni won the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's ODI Player of the Decade award and the ICC Spirit of Cricket of the Decade award respectively at the ICC awards.
• Kohli was also chosen the winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men's Cricketer of the Decade. Australia's Steve Smith was chosen as the ICC Men's Test Player of the Decade award while Afghanistan's Rashid Khan won the ICC T20I Player of the Decade award.
• Australia's Ellyse Perry was chosen as the winner in three out of the four categories for women: ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade, ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Decade, and ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Decade.
• Scotland's Kyle Coetzer was chosen as the ICC Men's Associate Cricketer of the Decade while Kathryn Bryce, also of Scotland, was chosen as the ICC Women's Associate Cricketer of the Decade.