News18 Daybreak | Army Chief Bipin Rawat Appointed India's First Chief of Defence Staff and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

Today’s Big StoriesArmy Chief Bipin Rawat appointed India's first Chief of Defence Staff after cabinet panel nod

Outgoing Army chief General Bipin Rawat was appointed as India's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who will act as the principal military adviser to the defence minister on all matters relating to tri-services.

Rawat was commissioned into the Army in December 1978 and is currently serving as Chief of Army Staff since January 1, 2017. The Army Chief is retiring today after a three-year stint, following which Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane will take charge.Ajit Pawar takes oath as Deputy CM, Aaditya Thackeray joins Maharashtra Cabinet as Uddhav expands team

Ajit Pawar was sworn in as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister for the second time in two months — this time as part of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government in the state — as chief minister Uddhav Thackeray finally expanded his Cabinet. Pawar, who had tried to orchestrate a coup within the NCP by joining hands with the BJP, had taken oath as the deputy of Devendra Fadnavis last month, but the government had only lasted 80 hours, prompting him to return to the Sharad Pawar-led party. Another key name sworn in was Aaditya Thackeray, who became the first from his family to taste electoral success. Aaditya is likely to get the environment or higher education ministry.In Other NewsSome relief: The Jammu and Kashmir administration released five political leaders who have been under detention since the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state by the Centre on August 5. The five leaders, belonging to the National Conference and the PDP, had been under preventive detention for the past four months.Cold wave: Delhi experienced its coldest day in December in 119 years with the day temperature recording 9.4 degrees Celsius. Severe cold conditions continued to prevail in Rajasthan with Sikar district of the state recording the minimum temperature at minus 0.5 degree Celsius.'No place for badla': Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Police over the crackdown on anti-Citizenship Act protesters saying there is no place for violence or "revenge" in the country.Air India crisis: Struggling Air India might be forced to shut down by June next year unless it finds a buyer as "piecemeal" arrangements cannot be sustained for long. The airline has a debt burden of around Rs 60,000 crore.All eyes on Kim: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for "offensive measures" to strengthen security ahead of a New Year speech that could flesh out the nuclear-armed nation's threat to seek a "new way" forward after the expiration of its year-end deadline for US sanctions relief.On Our Specials

The impacts of climate change aren’t immediately visible. They are not limited to cyclones that ravage and floods that inundate. They are also gradual, almost imperceptible, slowly altering the familiar into something else. Odisha is no different. From 1901 to 1981, the state saw 380 cyclones and another study estimated that from 1963 to 1999, it saw 13 major disasters that killed 22,228 people and rendered 3.4 million people homeless. In a four-part series, Aniruddha Ghosal maps the rise of these vector-borne diseases and how the fight against them has been.On Reel

Curated and compiled by Karan Anand