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ANSWERS FOR 100+ CA QUESTIONS NDA
• UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a report titled “Global Climate Litigation Report 2021”.
• According to the report Climate litigation cases have spiked in recent years, making the courtroom increasingly relevant to efforts to address climate change around the world.
• The report, published by UNEP in cooperation with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, shows climate litigation has become more common and more successful worldwide.
• As per the report, climate cases have nearly doubled over the last three years.
• Increasing climates cases are increasingly compelling the governments and corporate actors to implement their climate commitments.
• The cases are also compelling the government to pursue more ambitious climate change mitigation and adaptation goals.
• As per the data provided by the report, in 2017 884 cases were brought in 24 countries. While as of 2020, cases have increased to 1,550 filed in 38 countries and the European Union courts.
• COVID-19 “performance index” was released by the Australian think- tank, Lowy Institute.
• In the index India ranked 86 out of 98 countries, while the United States placed 94 and Brazil at the bottom of the index.
• Sri Lanka was the best faring nation in South Asia, ranking 10, while the Maldives was at 25, Pakistan at 69, Nepal at 70, and Bangladesh at 84.
• The think-tank said China was not included “due to a lack of publicly available data on testing”.
• New Zealand and Vietnam led the list, followed by Taiwan, Thailand and Cyprus in the top five.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed senior UN official Siddharth Chatterjee of India as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China.
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• Resident Coordinators are the UN Secretary-General's representatives for development at the country level. They lead UN teams supporting countries to recover better from the COVID-19 pandemic through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Guterres appointed Chatterjee as the Resident Coordinator in China, with the host government's approval.
* Justice Hima Kohli was sworn in as the chief justice of Telangana high court.
* She is the first woman chief justice of the state. She came here from Delhi high court. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office to her.
* Justice Hima Kohli got enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi. She was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court of Delhi on 29 May, 2006.
• The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) elected Fiji's ambassador as its 2021 president in an unprecedented secret ballot after a diplomatic standoff blocked the usual consensus decision.
• The island nation's ambassador in Geneva, Nazhat Shameem Khan, beat off competition from Bahrain and Uzbekistan to lead the only intergovernmental global body to promote and protect human rights worldwide.
• Khan, who served as the council's vice president in 2020 and is considered a rights champion, won with 29 out of 47 votes.
• Bahrain's ambassador and his Uzbek counterpart received 14 and four votes, respectively.
* Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has been re-elected as the president of Portugal for the 2nd term after securing over 60% of the votes in the election held on January 24, 2021.
* He belongs to Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata-PSD)
* He was elected as the president for 1st term in 2016.
* He was one of the founders of the People’s Democratic Party, later the Social Democratic Party, and was party leader from 31 March 1996 to 27 May 1999.
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* He was the co-founder, Director and Administrator of the Expresso newspaper, owned by Pinto Balsemão.
In yet another instance of shattering of the proverbial glass ceiling, the first-ever batch of over 100 women disaster combatants & rescuers has been inducted in the nation's federal calamity force NDRF. An all-woman team of newly trained NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) personnel was recently deployed for emergency duties on the banks of the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh's GarhMukteshwar town.
The move to involve women personnel in the NDRF combat ranks was in the work filed for some time. The force, as it was raised over a decade ago, was till now an all-male affair.
More than a hundred women personnel have joined the NDRF over the past few months and they are being deputed with its battalions all over the country as soon as they finish their pre-induction course and training
The women personnel who are joining are in the constabulary & sub- officer (i.e. Sub Inspector and Inspector) ranks.
According to the authorisation, each NDRF battalion of over 1,000 personnel may have 108 woman rescuers.
The Indian-American Dr Raj Iyer has taken over as the first-ever Chief Information Officer of the United States Army, after the Pentagon made the position in July 2020. Dr Raj Iyer is one among the highest-ranking Indian-American civilians in the United States Department of Defence.
About Raj Iyer:
Dr Raj Iyer holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering. He had been serving as the Principal Advisor to the Secretary of the Army and also directs representation of the secretary in matters relating to information management or information technology (IT). The CIO position is similar to a three-star General.
Recently on the occasion of the National Girl Child Day, Haridwar girl Srishti Goswami, nineteen years of age has become the CM of Uttarakhand for one day.
As per the reports, she administered from Gairsain, the summer capital of the Uttarakhand state, and will review many schemes run by the state government involving Atal Ayushman Scheme, smart city project, the department of tourism homestay scheme, and other development projects. 3
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About SrishtiGoswami:
She is the daughter of Praveen Goswami, who possess a small shop, and Anganwadi worker SudhaGoswami. Shrishti is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in agriculture stream at BSM PG College in Roorkee. She presently lives in Daulatpur village in Haridwar district.
• According to a report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India generated 771, 215 tonnes of Electronic waste (e-waste) in 2018- 19, of which only 10% were collected.
• In 2017-18, India generated 7, 08, 445 Tonnes of which only 3.5% was collected.
• Further the amount of e-waste generated increased by 32% to 1, 014, 961 tonnes in 2019-20.
• In September, 2020, CPCB had issued show-cause notices to 186 producers for not meeting collection targets for 2018-19.
• CPCB had extended EPR authorisation of 1, 630 producers as on November 26, 2020.
• 312 Dismantlers or recyclers were authorised with a capacity of processing 782, 080 tonnes of e-waste each year.
• The report also states that the volume of e-waste that a dismantler or recycler has increased over time, but the shed area of the unit remains the same.
• According to the ‘International Migration 2020’ report released by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), In 2020, 18 Million persons from India were living outside of their country of birth thus making it the World’s Largest Transnational Community. India is followed by Mexico & Russia (11 Million each), China (10 Million) & the Syrian Arab Republic (8 Million).
• The United Arab Emirates (3.5 Million), the United States of America (2.7 Million) and Saudi Arabia (2.5 Million) host the largest numbers of migrants from India.
• At the Global level, the number of International Migrants living outside their country of birth reached 281 Million in 2020. International Migrants represent about 3.6% of the World’s population.
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• The Growth of International Migration has slowed by 27% or 2 Million due to COVID-19.
Recently, DRDO developed the country's first indigenous machine pistol ASMI. The pistol which is developed by DRDO along with the guidance and help of the Indian Army is set to replace the 9mm pistols in the defence forces.
* DRDO’s Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) of Pune, Infantry School, and Mhowhave designed and developed this weapon using their respective expertise in the complementary areas.
* The 3D Printing process has been used in designing & prototyping of many parts including trigger components made by metal 3D printing.
* This weapon has huge potential in Armed forces as a personal weapon for heavy weapon detachments, tank and aircraft crews, commanders, drivers or dispatch riders, radio or radar operators, closed quarter battle,counter-insurgency and also in counter-terrorism operations etc. This is even likely to find hug employability with the central & state police organizations and also VIP protection duties and Policing.
• The Punjab government has launched E-Daakhil portal to streamline grievances redressal system.
• The E-Daakhil has been developed under the new Consumer Protection Act 2019 envisages filling of consumer disputes electronically to Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission.
• The portal will provide online e-filling of the consumer dispute to the state commission or any of the 20 district commissions in the state.
• The department has also set up consumer helpline number and mediation cell at Punjab State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission and 20 District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissions to address the grievances.
• The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has launched a month-long mass awareness campaign 'SAKSHAM' to spread awareness about green and clean energy.
• The pan-India campaign will focus on the adoption of cleaner fuels.
• They include moving towards a gas-based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, greater reliance on domestic sources to drive biofuels and increased use of electric vehicles. 5
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Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 'Player of the Century' award at the Globe Soccer Awards.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola won the Coach of the Century award. Spanish giants Real Madrid won the Club of the Century award during the event.
• Spanish Olympic champion Carolina Marin won the women's singles title at the Thailand Open Super 1000 badminton tournament in Bangkok.
• Marin, 27, beat Chinese Taipei's top seed Tai Tzu Ying in straight games in an ominous display of form as she prepares to defend her Olympic title later in the year in Tokyo.
• Tai was limited to a single digit score in the first game and while she fought hard in the second, Marin ended up winning the match 21-9, 21- 16.
Goa’s fourteen-year-old Leon Mendonca has become India’s 67th chess Grandmaster by winning the third & final norm at a tournament in Italy. Leon Mendonca, who achieved the feat at fourteen-years, 9 months & 17 days, is the second Grandmaster from the coastal State. The Chennai player G. Akash, had in July, become the nation’s 66th Grandmaster. He became the 29th Youngest Grandmaster in the world. The first Grandmaster from Goa is Ivana Maria Furtado, she achieved it in the year 2011.
The player achieved his first-ever Grandmaster norm at the Rigo Chess GM Round Robin, whereas the second came at the event in Budapest in November month and the final one at the Vergani Cup in Italy.
• The GoI has decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose that falls on January 23 as 'Parakram Diwas'.
• The Day will be mark to honour and remember Netaji's indomitable spirit and selfless service to the nation.
• The Government of India has decided to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary year of Netaji beginning from January 2021 in befitting manner at national and international level.
• India celebrates National Voters Day on January 25 every year to mark the Election Commission of India's foundation day.
• The Election Commission was founded in 1950 on this day. The occasion was first celebrated in 2011. 6
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• This year's theme is "Making Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and Informed". One focus this year is highlighting the EC's feat of running elections safely during the pandemic.
• The National Voters Day ceremony is aimed at increasing voter enrolment, with special focus on new voters. The celebrations include felicitating new voters and handing them their Elector Photo Identity Cards.
• The 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will open on 16th January this year, with Indian premiere of the movie ‘Another Round’ by Thomas Vinterberg.
• The movie starring Cannes Best Actor Award winner Mads Mikkelsen is among a star-studded line up of movies being showcased at IFFI.
• The movie is also Denmark’s official entry to Oscars.
• 51st IFFI is being organised from 16th to 24th January in Goa in both online and offline mode together
• The Government of France organised the fourth ‘One Planet Summit’, through videoconferencing, which aimed at protecting the world’s biodiversity.
• The Summit was organised in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank. The theme of the Summit was “Let’s act together for nature!”
• It was inaugurated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron, and President of the World Bank Group David Malpass.
• Industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) organised its flagship two-day annual summit — the India Digital Summit 2021 — virtually on January 19-20 with Atmanirbhar Bharat — Start of a New Decade as its central theme.
• The summit will have panel discussions around investment, advertising, policies, business, e-commerce, startups, online sports and more involving some of the country’s most prominent faces in the internet and mobile ecosystem.
• Ranjitsinh Disale won the Global teacher prize, 2020.
• He is a primary school teacher from Solapur of Maharashtra. 7
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• The Global teacher prize is awarded by the Varkey Foundation.
• The 31-year-old Ranjitsingh Disale generously declared that he will split half of the prize money of USD 1 million with his top ten fellow finalists.
• Ashraf Patel has been declared as the winner of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Award – India 2020
• She is the founder member and Board member of Pravah and ComMutiny – The Youth Collective (CYC).
• Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award – India 2020 is the 11th edition of the annual award, instituted by the Schwab Foundation and Jubilant Bhartia Foundation in 2010
• Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton capped another successful year by claiming the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year prize.
• The 35-year-old driver, who last month equalled Michael Schumacher's record of seven F1 titles, overcame Jordan Henderson and Hollie Doyle to win the British broadcaster's prestigious prize in a public vote.
• England midfielder Henderson led Liverpool to its first Premier League title in 30 years.
Adar Poonawalla, currently the Chief Executive of the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), has been named among the six ‘The Straits Times Asians of the Year’ for the year 2020, by Singapore’s leading daily, The Straits Times, for their work in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SII has collaborated with the University of Oxford, and the British- Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop COVID-19 vaccine, ‘Covidshield’, and is conducting trials in India.
The other five Asians of the Year includes:
* Chinese researcher Zhang Yongzhen
* China’s Major-General Chen Wei,
* Japan’s Dr RyuichiMorishita
* Singapore’s Professor OoiEngEong
* South Korean businessman Seo Jung-jin
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The Straits Times has collectively referred these six winners as ‘the virus busters’, because they are heroes of a kind, having devoted themselves to the pressing cause of resolving the coronavirus pandemic, each in their capacity.
• Every year the Indian Navy Day is celebrated on December 4. The theme of the this year (2020) is “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible and Cohesive”.
• The theme sends message that India is keenly watching the moves of the Chinese in the Indian Ocean Region and the Indian Navy is combat ready to encounter the Chinese forces anytime. The message includes Pakistani forces as well.
• Every year the Indian Navy Day is celebrated to commemorate Operation Trident. The operation was launched by the Indian Navy during the India-Pakistan war of 1971 to attack Karachi Harbour.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s PSLV-C50 lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport near Chennai, and successfully placed India's 42nd communications satellite CMS-01 (formerly GSAT-12R) into orbit 20 minutes after lift-off.
• The 44-metre-high four-staged engine, PSLV-C50, is the 22nd flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with six strap-on motors hugging the first stage). It will be the 52nd mission for India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• The PSLV in normal configuration is a four-stage expandable rocket powered by solid and liquid fuels alternatively, with six booster motors strapped on to the first stage to give higher thrust during the initial flight moments.
• Defence manufacturing group of Larsen and Toubro, L&T Defence received ‘green channel status’ from Defence Ministry.
• It has received the status from the Directorate General Quality Assurance (DGQA) under the Ministry of Defence for its major naval weapon delivery systems.
• L&T became the first private sector defence company to be granted this (green channel) status for delivery of major naval systems.
• Green Channel Policy was introduced in March 2017 by the Defence Ministry, as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
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The SAIL, i.e., Steel Authority of India Limited has been awarded that of the prestigious Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2020 in the Steel Sector by the Institute of Directors.
The SAIL has been the winner of this award for the successive two years, and this bears testimony to all the efforts made by the company for the sustainable and environmentally responsible steel making.
This award is one among the most coveted awards in the category. Considering various environmental issues leading to global warming & climate change, the award encourages the corporates to improve their environmental performance and to compete with the peers to set benchmarks.
The MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change) along with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India has come up with the unique initiative, i.e., a ‘firefly bird diverter’ for overhead power lines in areas where the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.
About firefly bird diverters:
• The diverters have described the fireflies as they look like fireflies from the distance, shining on power lines in the night.
• This model has been inscribed by the experts from the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) SSC (Species Survival Commission’s) Bustard Specialist Group.
• These firefly detectors have been installed in the Pokhran tehsil in Rajasthan.
About Great Indian Bustards (GIB): o IUCN status is Critically endangered. o Listed in the Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act of 1972 and in the CMS Convention and Appendix I of CITES. o It is identified as one of the recovery programme species under the Integrated Development of the Wildlife Habitats of the MoEF (Ministry of Environment & Forests.)
The Ramnagar Forest Division in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand built the first eco-bridges for smaller mammals and reptiles.
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What are Eco-Bridges?
The Eco-Bridges or Eco-Ducts are constructed to enhance the wildlife connectivity that is generally disrupted due to logging or highways. It includes concrete underpasses, canopy bridges/overpass tunnels, amphibian tunnels. These bridges are usually overlaid with planting from the area to give a contiguous look with the landscape. The eco-bridges also include overpasses, fish ladders, green roofs, tunnels, canopy bridges.
Why are they required?
* According to the WII (Wildlife Institute of India), around 50,000 kilometres of road projects have been constructed in India in 5 to 6 years.
* Also, several highways have been upgraded to four lanes.
* As per the National Tiger Conservation Authority, major animal corridors are cut by the National Highways. They are the State Highway 33 via Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, National Highway 37 via the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape in Assam.
* Thus, it is essential to build these animal pathways to prevent disrupting their natural co-habitation.
The microclimatic zones are the regions where the weather is different from that of the surrounding areas. The primary reasons identified for the microclimatic zone shifting are disappearing wetlands, change in the land use patterns, encroachment on natural ecosystems and urban heat island.
The urban heat Island occurs when the city or region experiences higher temperatures as compared to its nearby rural areas. These urban heat Island traps the heat locally and is a significant cause of the microclimatic zone shifting.
More than 80% of the Maharashtrian districts are prone to drought. Mumbai alone has witnessed more than threefold increase in the extreme floods in the last fifty years. Many districts of the state have shifted to a dry summer climate.
The study on the 'Preparing India for climate events' was recently published by the Council on Energy, Environment & Water. It is the first time the extreme weather event hotspots in India have been mapped.
• The cyclone Burevi, named by Maldives, hit the Karaikal coast of Tamil Nadu 7 days after cyclone Nivar. 11
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• This is the third cyclone formed within the last 10 days in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea put together.
• As the new cyclone Burevi comes just days after Cyclone Nivar, its impact is set to be more subdued.
• This is because when consecutive systems develop in the same region of the sea, the first system leads to a process called ‘upwelling’- i.e. cooler water from the deeper parts of the ocean moves towards the upper layer and produce less friendly conditions for cyclones.
• An Assam reserve forest, ravaged by militancy, is set to become the state’s sixth national park. The state government has proposed to upgrade the 422-sq km Ripu Reserve Forest in Kokrajhar district.
• The area of proposed Raimona National Park lies within the Ripu Reserve Forest that has a history of one of the best scientifically-managed forests in the country during the late 19th century.
• The area comprises the highest biodiverse floristic composition of the state wherein as many as 11 different forest types and sub-types could be classified.
• Bangladesh has signed its first Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bhutan, which will allow duty-free access to a range of goods between the two countries and hence boost bilateral trade between them.
• Under the PTA, 100 Bangladeshi products will get duty free access to Bhutan, while 34 items from Bhutan will get duty free access into Bangladesh.
• Further items can be added in the list later on the basis of discussion between the two countries.
• This is the first PTA signed by Bangladesh with any country in the world since its independence in 1971.
• The PTA was signed on 6th December 2020, to mark 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Bhutan. In 1971, Bhutan was the first country in the world to recognise Bangladesh as an independent country.
• At the 37th General Body meeting of Central Zoo Authority chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar two new zoos the Rajgir Zoo Safari in Nalanda, Bihar and
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Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh were granted recognition.
• With this, the state of Uttar Pradesh has a total of 9 zoos.
• The establishment of the zoo is personally monitoring by the Chief Minister of the state. The zoo is situated in the spiritual land of Gorakhpur and has a high visitation.
• The zoo features enclosures for a range of birds, herbivores and carnivores.
• The zoo aims to create awareness through naturalistic enclosures and create long-lasting visitor experience through state-of-the-art visitor facilities like 4D Theatre, battery-operated train and accessibility to Divyangjan.
• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) launched ‘BSE E-Agricultural Markets Ltd (BEAM)’ for agricultural commodities through its subsidiary BSE Investments Ltd.
• This will act as a national level, institutionalised, electronic, transparent commodity spot trading platform with vision to create a single market.
• BSE is Asia's oldest stock exchange and world's 10th largest stock exchange
• Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to be the chief guest at Republic Day Parade in January 2021.
• However, his visit was cancelled due to worsening COVID-19 situation in Britain.
• Russia was banned from using its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years.
• The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling also blocked Russia from bidding to host major sporting events for two years.
• Russian athletes and teams will still be allowed to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, as well as world championships including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, if they are not implicated in doping or covering up positive tests.
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* State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) opened India's eighth hydrocarbon producing basin when it started oil flow from a well in the Bengal basin.
* Oil production commenced from the well Asokenagar-1 in 24 Pargana district.
* ONGC has discovered and put to production seven out of the eight hydrocarbon producing basins of India, covering 83 per cent of established oil and gas reserves.
* ONGC is India's largest oil and gas producer contributing 72 per cent of the country's hydrocarbon production.
* The Bengal basin is spread across nearly 1.22 lakh square kilometres, with nearly two-third of it falling under the waters of the Bay of Bengal.
• Kerala government and UN Women have collaborated to establish India's first Gender Data Hub.
• Gender Hub will be build on the goals established through International Conference on Gender Equality held in November 2015, to collect, analyse and use more nuanced data and inform policy formulation in a manner that centre-stages women's rights.
• India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh as 42nd Ramsar site of the country
• Tso Kar Basin: High-altitude wetland complex, consisting of Startsapuk Tso (freshwater lake of about 438 hectares) and Tso Kar (hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares)
• Tso Kar means white lake
• It is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) and is also breeding areas of many bird species.
• Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot has launched 'Swachhata Abhiyan' mobile app to identify and geotag insanitary latrines and manual scavengers.
• It will provide the authorities concerned details of any insanitary latrine or manual scavenger they notice.
Gujarat government makes fire NOC mandatory for all the factories.
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The Gujarat state government has made it mandatory for all the factories have to take the no-objection certificate from that of the fire department before applying for a new licence or renewing the existing ones. The move comes after the fire incident at a chemical unit near Pirana in Ahmedabad claimed about a dozen lives recently.
A committee established by the state government after the accident at Pirana inspected 1,564 chemical units dealing in the hazardous substances and concluded not to allow any hazardous chemical units or any other factory from obtaining the licence under the Factory Act, 1948, without the ‘Fire NOC’.
The Dhokra decorative pieces added to the Tribes India collection. The Dhokra products reflect the simplicity and themes of tribal and folklife.
About Dhokra art:
• The Dhokra is a non-ferrous metal casting style which uses the lost wax technique.
• For hundreds of years, this style of metal casting has been famous all over India.
• The Dhokra products reflect the simplicity and the themes of tribal and folklife.
• They are very famous both in India and abroad.
• The Dhokra artworks are metal figurines mainly made of bronze and copper.
• Although the Dhokra art originated in the West Bengal, over time, the tribe moved to the Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh, as well as the Kerala & Rajasthan. Therefore, Art now spreads all over India.
The United Kingdom become the first country to roll out the coronavirus vaccine.
Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother from Britain, has become the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine outside of the trial following its rapid clinical approval.
She was given the life-saving jab by nurse May Parsons at her local hospital in Coventry to mark what the National Health Service (NHS) has dubbed a 'landmark moment' on the V-Day or Vaccine Day in the fight against the deadly virus. 15
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The Hawker Culture in Singapore has been inscribed on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Humanity at the 15th session of the IGC (Intergovernmental Committee) that was held virtually.
The Hawker Culture in Singapore is a living heritage shared by those who prepare the hawker food and those who dine & mingle over hawker food in the community dining spaces called hawker centres.
It reflects Singapore’s multicultural identity as the people & nation and resonates strongly with the Singaporeans across all races and social strata.
The particular List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO is made up of those intangible heritage elements which help demonstrate the diversity of the cultural heritage and raise the awareness about its importance.
The list was established in the year 2008 when the Convention for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into effect.
• India is ranked at 10th place in the ‘Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2021’, released on 7th December 2020.
• The overall score of India is 63.98. It is for the second time in a row that India emerged among the top 10 countries with higher climate performance from among 58 economies.
• India was at 9th spot last year in the index.
• Like CCPI 2020, the first three places in 2021 ranking also remains unoccupied, since none of the countries is on the path compatible with the Paris climate targets, to implement strategies to limit global warming below 2 or even 1.5°C.
• Sweden (4th) United Kingdom (5th), Denmark (6th), Morocco (7th), Norway (8th), Chile (9th) were among the top 10 rankers in the index.
* According to 11th Edition of Emissions Gap Report 2020 (Annual report) released by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), The Global CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) Emissions are set to fall by 7% in 2020 owing to Pandemic.
* The report states that emissions of the richest 1% of the Global Population (Countries like United States of America (USA), European
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Union (EU), Australia and New Zealand) account for more than twice of the share of poorest 50% of countries.
* Global GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions continued to rise in 2019. 52.4 GtCO2e (Gigatonnes of equivalent carbon dioxide) without land-use change (LUC) and 59.1 GtCO2e including LUC.
* During the last decade (2010-20) the top four emitters (China, USA, EU 27+United Kingdom and India) contributed to 55% of Total GHG emission without LUC.
* The emission reduction due to COVID-19 accounts for just 0.01 Degree Celsius Reduction of Global Warming by 2050.
* Although CO2 emissions are slated to decrease in 2020, Atmospheric concentrations of major GHGs (CO2, methane & Nitrous oxide) continued to increase in 2019 & 2020.
* The report also stated that 2020 could be the warmest on record, with wildlife, storms and droughts affecting the world.
In the 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), India has been ranked at 8th spot globally in the list of countries most affected by terrorism in the year 2019. The overall GTI score of India is 7.353 out of 10. India has recorded 277 Deaths, 439 Injuries & 558 Incidents due to Terrorism in the year 2019. Regionally, South Asia was the most impacted region by terrorism in 2019, recording more deaths than any other area. On the other hand, globally, the deaths caused due to terrorism fell by 15 per cent to 13,286 in the year 2019 over 2018.
Countries Most Affected by Terrorism:
* Afghanistan has topped the index with a score of 9.592 and emerged as the worst terror impacted nation among the 163 countries.
* It is followed by Iraq (8.682) & Nigeria (8.314) at second and third place, respectively.
Countries Least Affected by Terrorism:
* Qatar (0.014) took the 133rd Rank followed by Uzbekistan (0.010) in the 134th Rank, and around 29 Countries (with a score of 0.000) took the 135th Rank which means they are the Least Affected Countries or Face No Impact due to Terrorism.
About the Global Terrorism Index: 17
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* The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is published annually by the IEP (Institute for Economics and Peace), headquartered in Sydney, Australia, to measure the impact of the terrorism on the countries.
The 2020 Nature Index Artificial Intelligence was recently released by the ‘Nature Research’.
About Nature Index (Artificial Intelligence)
• This Index is a database of author affiliation information, tracking the contributions of authors (of research) to research the articles published in 82 high-quality natural-science journals.
• The Index provides counts of article publication at the institutional and national level. It is an indicator of the global high-quality research output and collaboration of various institutions and nations.
• The Artificial Intelligence supplement explores artificial intelligence (AI), one of the most rapidly advancing and controversial scientific research topics.
• The articles tracked for the Nature Index 2020 Artificial Intelligence supplement are primarily related to the application of Artificial Intelligence to research in the broad areas of chemistry, the physical sciences, life sciences, and Earth and environmental sciences.
Key highlights: o The US has been historically the leader in the AI-related research output, accumulating the highest number of publications over the last two decades. o Between the year’s 2015 & 2019, in terms of global output for AI research, the US was the leader, with UK, Germany & China in second, third and fourth place, respectively. o From the year 2016 to 2019, China produced more AI-related papers than any other nation. Over this time frame, China’s AI-related research output increased by just over 120%, whereas the output in the US increased by almost 70%. o In the year 2019, India has been the third most productive country in AI research, with over 23,000 papers. On the overall AI Index, it is at the 20th position in a list dominated by European countries.
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• A report ‘Counting the Cost 2020: A Year of Climate Breakdown’ has shown 15 most destructive climate disasters of 2020 that included: o Cyclone ‘Amphan’ (India) o Bushfires (Australia) o West Coast Fire (USA) o United States and Caribbean hurricanes o Floods in China, India, Pakistan and Japan o Locust Swarms (Africa) o Windstorms Ciara and Alex (Europe)
• The report was released by UK based non-profit organisation ‘Christian Aid’.
The NITI Aayog has launched indigenously developed India’s first-ever Digital Asset Management and Storage platform, known as ‘DigiBoxx’. This particular initiative will give the boost to the PMModi’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, as India now has its cloud storage platform.
This cloud storage and the file-sharing service will be available for the desktop, iOS, and Android users, including both the regular users and businesses. The ‘Digiboxx’ offers free 20GB cloud storage space& 100GB space per month at just Rs 30.
The Public Wi-Fi Access Network Interface is known as PM-WANI. Recently, Union Cabinet chaired by the PM, Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the proposal of DoT for setting up of the Public Wi-Fi Networks by the Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) to provide public Wi-Fi service via Public Data Offices (PDOs) spread across the length & breadth of the nation in order to accelerate the proliferation of the Broadband Internet services via Public Wi-Fi network in the country.
Some key features of the project:
* This project will allow setting up of public WiFi hotspots across the country via the public data offices/ public data offices (PDOs).
* It will not need the PDOs to get the license or pay a fee.
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* This will involve multiple players, including PDOs, Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOA), app providers, and a central registry.
Significance of the project:
Public Wi-Fi networks will ‘democratize’ content distribution and broadband access to millions at affordable rates. This will be the UPI (unified payments interface) of connectivity services.
• Sri Lanka will host the Asia Cup in June 2021 while Pakistan has earned the rights to host the tournament in 2022.
• As per the original schedule, the tournament was supposed to be hosted by Pakistan in 2020, however, it got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Now the event has been moved forward to June 2021, with Sri Lanka Cricket taking the hosting rights from PCB.
• As compensation, PCB has got the hosting rights for the 2022 edition.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board added “Breaking” – a competitive form of breakdancing & 3 other sports – Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, and Surfing to Medal Events Program in Olympic Games.
• Breaking will make its Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, while 3 other sports will make their Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics to be held in July, 2021 (delayed due to COVID- 19).
• The additional sports were proposed by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee.
• The sports have been included by IOC to set a new standard for inclusive, gender-balanced and youth-centred games.
• Sri Lanka will host the 2021 Edition of Asia Cup, Cricket tournament and Pakistan will host the 2022 Edition of Asia Cup, Cricket tournament.
• In July 2020, Asia Cup’s Governing body, Asia Cricket Council (ACC) announced that the 2020 Edition of Asia Cup was cancelled due to Pandemic.
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• The 2020 Edition was originally set to be hosted by Pakistan, as it was cancelled Pakistan were awarded to host the 2022 Edition as Compensation.
• Asia Cup is a men’s One Day International (ODI) & Twenty20 International Cricket Tournament.
• It is organized by ACC, which has 5 full members – India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh & Afghanistan.
• India were the Champions of the Last Edition of the Asia Cup (2018) held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• Former Indian captain and wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as the captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Decade by International Cricket Council (ICC).
• He has also been named as the skipper of the ICC T20I Team of the Decade.
• The title has been given on the basis of performances, consistency of players over last 10 years.
• Virat Kohli has been conferred with Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade by International Cricket Council.
• He scored 20,396 runs in all international cricket during the last 10 years, which is more than anyone else
• He was also part of team India that won the ICC CWC 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
• He was also named ICC Cricketer of the Year in both 2017 and 2018
• In India, the National Pollution Control Day is observed every year on December 2 to commemorate the life of people lost in the unfortunate incident of Bhopal Gas Tragedy that occurred in the year 1984 on the night of 2–3 December.
• The year 2020 marks the 36th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
• Through this day, awareness is created about the rising pollution of air, water, and soil, as well as shifts the attention of people with regards to the pollution control acts.
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• Kuldeep Handoo (2020 Dronacharya Awardee) has been appointed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Fit India’ Ambassador.
• Mr Handoo, who is Wushu Coach of Team India is serving as Inspector in Jammu and Kashmir Police Department.
• Fit India Movement is a nation-wide movement in India to encourage people to remain healthy and fit by including physical activities and sports in their daily lives.
• Minorities Rights Day is observed on December 18 in India.
• The aim of the day is to advance and protect the privileges of the individuals to have a place with linguistic, religion, castes and color minority.
• The Minorities Rights Day is celebrated by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM).
• On 18 December 1992, the United Nations adopted the Statement on the individual's Rights belonging to religious or Linguistic National or Ethnic Minorities.
• The Ministry was established on 29 January 2006. It was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• The Union Government established the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
* The 5th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) held with theme “Comprehensive analysis and Holistic management of rivers and water bodies with a focus on Arth Ganga”.
* The Summit was organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies. * This summit is aimed at discussing and disseminating the needs for the modalities of embracing Arth Ganga.
* The 5th IWIS will forge greater interaction between the investors and the stakeholders in the water sector and promote international cooperation between India and many foreign countries for water and river management
• France was accepted as 23rd member state of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
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• In the 20th IORA Council of Ministers virtual meeting, held in the UAE, France’s application was approved through consensus. Together with France, this inter-governmental ministerial forum, at present has 23 member states.
• It’s other nine dialogue partners are: China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Republic of Korea, UK and the USA.
Recently, Climate Ambition Summit 2020 was co-convened by the UN, United Kingdom, & France, in partnership with the Chile and Italy. It heard announcements from 75 leaders, including 45 relating to the new and enhanced Paris Agreement nationally determined contributions (NDCs), 24 net-zero emissions commitments, and 20 new adaptation and resilience plans. Various countries and financial institutions made a new climate finance-related pledges, including The United Kingdom, which pledged to double its climate finance contribution to USD 15.5 billion over the next five years; and the European Investment Bank, which announced a target of 50% of investments going toward the climate and environment sectors by 2025.
Announcements made by the countries included: China’s commitment to lowering its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65% from 2005 levels by the year 2030 and the EU’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels by the year 2030. Numerous countries announced or affirmed their commitment to reaching net-zero carbon dioxide or GHG emissions by mid-century.
The 5th edition of the yearly Global Technology Summit (GTS) was organized virtually by the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs), Government of India, in collaboration with Carnegie India (CI). The GTS is one among the four flagship annual conferences organised by the MEA. The other three conferences are the Raisina Dialogue, the Geo-economic dialogue, and the Indian Ocean Conference.
The theme of this year’s GTS was ‘The Geopolitics of Technology’. The speakers from included the External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar,&Dr K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the GoI.
The SCO’s Council of Heads of State 20th Summit was held on 10th November 2020 (in the Video Conference Format). This virtual meeting was chaired by the President of Russia Mr. Vladimir Putin. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi led the Indian delegation. The other Member States of SCO were represented by their respected Presidents, whereas, India & Pakistan were represented at the level of Prime Minister. Other participants were: Secretary-General of the SCO Secretariat,
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Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the Presidents of the four Observers (Afghanistan, Iran, Belarus, Mongolia) of the SCO.
This was the first-ever SCO Summit held in Virtual Format and the third meeting that India participated after becoming a full member in the year 2017. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi in his address to the SCO leaders congratulated President Vladimir Putin for organizing the meeting despite challenges and constraints arising because of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
The present Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik launched the 5th scorpene class submarine 'Vagir' of Project 75 in the Arabian sea waters at Mazagaon Dock through video conferencing recently.
INS Vagir is the 5th of the Indian Navy's six Kalvari-class submarines being built in India.
The submarines, designed by French naval defence & energy company DCNS, are being set up by the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai as part of Project-75 of the Indian Navy.
The ceremony was undertaken via Video Conferencing between MDL at Mumbai and with the Chief Guest conducting the launch by remote from Goa. The ceremony was even attended by senior naval officers and dignitaries both from the Integrated Headquarters Ministry of Defence (Navy), Headquarters Western Naval Command and officials from the Naval Group, France.
In the final of Dream11 IPL (Indian Premier League), 2020 Mumbai Indians defeated Delhi Capitals to lift their fifth IPL trophy. Chasing 157 runs for the victory, Mumbai were helped by their captain Rohit Sharma, who hit 68 runs off 51 balls.
Below are the award winners: o Rohit Sharma adjudged the Game Changer of the Match in the final of IPL 2020. o Trent Boult named the Player of the Match in the final of IPL 2020. o Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul bags the Orange Cap. o Game Changer of the Season won by KL Rahul. o Delhi Capitals’ Kagiso Rabada wins the Purple Cap. 24
www.gradeup.co o Emerging Player of the season won by Devdutt Padikkal (RCB). o Rajasthan Royals speedster Jofra Archer emerges as the Most Valuable Player.
In West Bengal, Kolkata will soon feature the India’s first-ever ‘Tyre Park’, where artworks made from the scrap and defective parts will be on display. The West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) will launch this Tyre Park.
The Tyre Park, which will set up at the Esplanade area, would have a small cafe where the people can sit, relax and enjoy the craftsmanship made from tyres. No scrap material can be labelled as the waste, it can be reused & converted into an art form. The scrap tyres, lying as waste in various bus depots, have been converted and reworked to colourful shapes by the in-house team of the WBTC.
* The Int. bird festival will be organized in Gorakhpur in the month of February.
* It will attract the international tourists at Ramgarhtal Lake for the bird watching, forest minister of Uttar Pradesh according to the Dara Singh Chauhan (currently he is serving as the Cabinet Minister in Yogi Adityanath ministry).
* During the programme of the Rotary Club in Gorakhpur, the minister said that the Gorakhpur is developing quickly in the sphere of eco-tourism and the year 2021 Gorakhpur will have a zoo.
* The Bird festival will undoubtedly give a boost to ecotourism in the area.”
Kabartal, a freshwater marsh in Begusarai district, has become the Bihar’s first wetland site under Ramsar Convention, an inter-governmental global treaty to preserve the ecological character of selected wetlands across the globe.
With this, India has now 39 Ramsar sites - highest in South Asia - among 2,412 such designated wetlands around the globe. These 39 wetlands of international significance cover a surface area of over 10,700 sq km, an area nearly the size of Sikkim.
Under the 1971 Ramsar (Iran) Convention, the member countries identify the sites which can be of critical value not only for the country or the countries in which they are located but for the humanity as a whole for their eco-services and rich biodiversity. 25
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Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched the UMANG mobile app International version in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs for select countries that include USA, UK, UAE, Canada, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
The Union Minister even launched an e-Book which presents major milestones of UMANG and significant services available on UMANG App classified into several categories. Mr Prasad even unveiled the freshly instituted UMANG Awards for the Partner Departments of the Centre and States, which is based on the highest number of transactions across services.
About UMANG mobile app:
* The UMANG mobile application: It is a Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance is a Government of India all-in-one single, secure, unified, multi-channel, multi-lingual, multi-service Mobile Application providing access to high impact services of various Government of India Departments and State Governments.
* International Version: It will help Indian international students, NRIs and Indian tourists abroad, to avail Government of India services, anytime. It will even help in taking India to the world through the 'Indian Culture' services available on UMANG and create interest amongst foreign tourists to visit India.
Recently the 12th BRICS, i.e. 2020 BRICS Summit was held virtually and was hosted by Russia. The theme of the 2020 BRICS Summit was 'Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth'.
The Summit is attended by the Heads of State/Heads of Government of the five-member states-- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Key highlights of the BRICS Summit:
The Prime Minister Modi touched upon several issues while addressing the 12th BRICS Summit. These are as follows:
* Terrorism
* United Nation Security Council (UNSC) Reforms
* Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
* Aatmanirbhar Bharat Campaign 26
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The blue tide phenomenon was observed in many stretches of Maharashtra coast – such as in the Juhu Beach. The phenomenon is because of the bioluminescence, which is the emission of light by microscopic marine plants known as phytoplankton. For example, dinoflagellates. The blue light stems from chemical reactions of proteins inside the organism.
About Bio-Luminescence: The sparkling light appearing in the sea from the microorganisms is known as bio-luminescence. Bioluminescence is generally higher in deep living organisms than the shallow species. It is controlled by the circadian clock and only occurs at night..
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, recently unveiled 'Statue of Peace' in order to mark the 151st birth anniversary celebrations of the Jainacharya Shri Vijay VallabhSurishwer Ji Maharaj, through video conferencing. The Statue unveiled in the honour of the Jain acharya has been named as the 'Statue of Peace'. This tall statue has been made from the Ashtadhatu, i.e. 8 metals, with Copper being the principal constituent, and is installed at the Vijay VallabhSadhana Kendra, Jetpura, in Pali of Rajasthan.
The Prime Minister even paid tribute to the Jainacharya, and the spiritual leaders present on occasion. Mentioning the two 'Vallabhs', SardarVallabh Bhai Patel and the Jainacharya Shree Vijay VallabhSurishwer Ji Maharaj, the PM said that he feels blessed by the certainty that after fully dedicating the tallest statue of the world of Sardar Patel, i.e. 'Statue of Unity', he is getting the opportunity to disclose the 'Statue of Peace' of Shri Vijay Vallabh.
On the Children's Day occasion, a first-of-its-kind in the world, library on the tram for the children was launched in Kolkata, West Bengal. A tram is the rail vehicle which runs on the tramway tracks along public streets.
The tram would run on the Shyambazar-Esplanade and the Esplanade- Gariahat routes, spanning across the north & south Kolkata, every day from morning to evening. It has been jointly developed by the West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) and Apeejay Anand Children's Library, and it consists of around 1,000 books.
Recently, Japan & Australia have signed a landmark defence deal in a bid to counter rising Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and all over the Pacific island nations.
Key takeaways of the deal:
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* The Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) comes weeks after foreign ministers of the Quad alliance, which involves the US and India, met in Tokyo.
* The pact allows the Japanese and Australian troops to visit each other's countries and conduct training and joint operations.
* The Australian Prime Minister said that the treaty would strengthen their security ties and facilitate cooperation between the defence forces.
* The two sides even agreed on the need for a framework to allow the Japanese military to protect the Australian forces if needed.
Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar has recently launched ‘Ayushman Sahakar’. This scheme is a unique way to assist the cooperatives to play an essential role in the creation of the healthcare infrastructure in the country.
About Ayushman Sahakar:
* Ayushman Sahakar scheme has been developed by the NCDC (National Cooperative Development Corporation).
* The NCDC would extend the term loans to prospective cooperatives to the tune of ten thousand crores in the coming years.
* This scheme will be a step towards strengthening the farmer’s welfare activities by the Central Government.
* The NCDC’s Ayushman Sahakar scheme aims at bringing transformation in the health services primarily in the rural areas.
* The scheme even provides working capital and margin money to meet the operational requirements of the health facilities. It also provides interest subvention of one per cent to women majority cooperatives.
Haryana State has the best AMB (Anemia Mukt Bharat) Index among the 29 states in the country.
Key highlights of the Index: o This index is an initiative of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has been launched to decrease the prevalence of Anemia all over India.
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www.gradeup.co o This information came in light during the 8th Governing Body Meeting of the State Health Society of the NHM (National Health Mission) in Chandigarh. o In a recently released scorecard of the AMB (Anemia Mukt Bharat) Index, Haryana was ranked at the top most spot with an AMB Index of 46.7. o There are thirty-four National Programmes being run under NHM. o First time ever in the year 2019-20 that the state had achieved 93 per cent of immunization. o Haryana is one among 11 states in the country that have attained National Health Policy targets well before 2020. o The institutional deliveries have increased to 93.7%, and it was possible due to 24-hours delivery facilities in the state.
National Board for Wildlife (established under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972) recently approved an action plan for the vulture conservation, 2020-2025. Under this new National Action Plan for Vulture Conservation, five new conservation centres are to be established in five different state such are Maharashtra, Tripura, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Recently National Action Plan was approved by the National Board for Wildlife. In 2006, a conservation plan for vultures was formulated, and it was implemented for three years.
The National Action plan mainly focuses on the conservation of three vulture species. They are as follows
* Long-billed vulture
* Oriental white-backed vulture
* Slender-billed vulture
Mohammed Siraj became the first-ever player to bowl two maiden overs in a single Indian Premier League (IPL) match during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recently in IPL 2020.
The 26-year-old bowler picked up the three crucial early wickets, and he helped the Virat Kohli-led side be in the driving seat in the recently played match in Abu Dhabi right from the start. 29
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India will soon be transferring one of its kilo-class submarines, INS Sindhuvir to the Myanmar Navy. This will be a critical move, as it will be the first submarine of the Myanmar Navy.
The INS Sindhuvir is equipped with a wide range of weapons and sensors, which will enable it to participate in various fleet, tactical & theatre level exercises.
About Kilo-class submarine:
* A kilo-class submarine is a class of diesel-electric attack submarines designed and built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. The first kilo- class submarine was brought into service in the Soviet Navy in the year 1980.
* Around 40 such type of submarines were exported to several countries including Russia, India, Algeria, China, Poland, Romania, Iran, Russia and Vietnam.
Recently PM Modi inaugurated three critical projects in Gujarat today through video conferencing.
* He launched the Kisan Suryodaya Yojana for providing sixteen hours of power supply to farmers.
* He also inaugurated the Paediatric Heart Hospital attached with U.N Mehta Institute of Cardiology & Research Centre and a Mobile Application for the telecardiology at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. o The new facilities have been established at the cost of Rupees 470 crore, which has raised the existing 450 beds to 1251 beds, fifteen cardiac modular operation theaters, 531 cardiac ICU beds and six cardiac cath labs.
* He also inaugurated the Ropeway at Girnar on occasion.
Nokia has been selected by the NASA to build the first 4G LTE Mobile Network on the moon. The NASA aims to return humans to the moon by the year 2024 and dig in for the long-term presence there under its Artemis programme. The first wireless broadband communications system in the space would be built on the lunar surface in late 2022.
About cellular network on the moon:
. The network will configure itself and set up a 4G/LTE communications system on the moon, Nokia said, though the goal would be to eventually 30
www.gradeup.co switch to 5G. It will partner with a Texas-based private spacecraft design company, Intuitive Machines, to deliver the equipment to the moon on their lunar lander.
. The network will give astronauts voice & video communications capabilities, and allow telemetry and biometric data exchange, as well as the deployment & remote control of the lunar rovers and other robotic devices.
. The network will be designed in order to withstand the extreme conditions of the launch and lunar landing and to operate in the space. It will have to be directed to the moon in an extremely compact form in order to meet the stringent size, weight & power constraints of the space payloads.
Indian Bank has recently launched a green initiative named ‘IB-eNote’ to enable a total paperless working environment. This tool provides processing and tracking of notes put up by several offices digitally. The bank for this initiative has customised the SharePoint, one of the features of the Microsoft Office. The Bank even launched ‘Ind Guru’, an e-learning platform for its employees.
About “IB-eNote”:
* The IB-eNote facility is likely to considerably improve the Turnaround Time, save the cost of paper, printing and other administrative expenses.
* The Microsoft is a leading technology company that has pioneered many industry-firsts.
* The IB-eNote is one of the Bank’s many initiatives to promote digital transformation and to address new gen customers in order to serve them.
* The bank with this initiative is taking another step in order to achieve greater efficiency by continuously empowering its biggest asset (human resources or staff members).
The C-DAC (i.e. Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) will be commissioning India’s largest HPC-AI supercomputer ‘PARAM Siddhi - AI’. This initiative will put India among the top countries in global AI supercomputing research and innovation. This initiative was headed by Abhishek Das, Scientist & Program Director (HPC-AI Infrastructure Development) at C-DAC, who conceived the idea and designed the architecture for the largest HPC-AI infrastructure in India.
About ‘PARAM Siddhi – AI’: 31
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* This high-performance computing - Artificial Intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer is a machine with 210 AI Petaflops (i.e. 6.5 Petaflops Peak DP).
* It is constructed on the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD reference architecture consisting of 42 NVIDIA DGX A100 systems, connected with NVIDIA Mellanox HDR InfiniBand networking along with C-DAC’s indigenously developed HPC-AI engine, Software Frameworks, Cloud Platform.
China is set to launch the first-ever asteroid mining robot in the world by November 2020. The main aim of the mission is to assess the capabilities of robots in asteroid mining. The robot will identify and extract some valuable resources.
Key highlights:
The robot to be sent has been named ‘Asteroid Mining Robot’. It is to be launched by the space Start-up of China. The robot is to be launched by a Long March Series rocket. The mission will open a trillion Dollars industry if it succeeds. The start-up has also been working on a mission called ‘Yuanwang-1’
About the Robot:
The Robot will not be engaged in mining activities. However, it will test technologies. The aim is to assess the capabilities of the robot in asteroid mining and find how well it’s can identify and extract resources through asteroid mining. Also, the project will verify other technologies such as intelligent spacecraft identification, orbital manoeuvre & control.
Recently, the NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga), Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Forest Department launched a ‘My Ganga My Dolphin’ Campaign.
* It is the first-of-its-kind Dolphin based eco-tourism programme based campaign.
* The campaign was launched on the occasion of Ganga River Dolphin Day which is marked on 5th October.
* The goal behind the campaign is to achieve sustainable tourism and to motivate dolphin conservation for the ecotourism across the river Ganga.
* Under this campaign, census under the stretch of river Ganga will also be conducted. Census will be conducted in 250 km stretch from Bijnor (in UP) to Narora (in UP). 32
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* The Dolphin Safari will also be conducted under this campaign at six sites of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
In the first-of-its-kind initiative, eight beaches of India have been recommended for Blue flag certification. The choice of the beaches was made by an independent national jury comprised of eminent environmentalists & scientists. This announcement was made by the current Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC), Prakash Javadekar on 18th September during a virtual event.
The eight beaches selected for the Blue flag certification are:
* Shivrajpur located in Gujarat
* Ghoghla located in Daman & Diu
* Kasarkod located in Karnataka
* Padubidri beach located in Karnataka
* Kappad in Kerala
* Rushikonda in Andhra Pradesh
* The golden beach of Odisha
* Radhanagar beach in Andaman and Nicobar
About Blue Flag certification:
* It is an internationally recognized eco-label given by the ‘Foundation for Environment Education, Denmark’.
* The Blue Flag beaches are considered the benchmark for the clean and hygienic beaches in the world.
PM Narendra Modi has dedicated Atal Tunnel to the nation recently. In Dec. 2019, the Government made a decision to name the Rohtang Tunnel as Atal Tunnel in honour of the former Prime Minister and scholar Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had taken the decision to construct a strategic tunnel below the Rohtang Pass on 3rd June 2000, and the foundation stone for the access road to the south portal of the tunnel was laid on 26th May 2002.
About Atal Tunnel:
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* Atal Tunnel is the world’s longest highway tunnel above 10,000 feet from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).
* The tunnel has been named after the former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
* Atal tunnel has been built, by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), under the Rohtang Pass in the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas on the Leh-Manali Highway in Himachal Pradesh.
* The total length of the tunnel is 9.02 km and at an elevation of 3,100 metres (10,171 ft).
* The overall cost of completion of the project is around Rs. 3200 Crore.
The Puducherry airport has become the first-ever airport of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) which is completely solar-powered. The 500 KWp ground-mounted solar power plant was commissioned on 2nd October 2020. The approximate cost of the plant is Rs. 2.8 Cr. With becoming absolutely power-neutral, the Puducherry airport will be able to meet its complete power requirement through the solar power plant.
Russia has given regulatory approval to its second Covid-19 vaccine, named ‘EpiVacCorona’, after an early-stage studies. The new coronavirus vaccine comes two months after the similar move for Russia’s first vaccine Sputnik V prompted widespread criticism from the scientists both at home and abroad.
Russia became the first country to give the regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine in August month when Sputnik V was officially registered ahead of the large-scale clinical trial. The current Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the country had registered the second Covid-19 vaccine.
• The Ministry of Labour recently notified the draft rules for the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. The rules are to be implemented by April, 2021.
• The Industrial Relations Rules, 2020 is to supersede the Industrial Tribunal (Central Procedure) Rules, 1949, Industrial Tribunal (Central Procedure) Rules, 1954, Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Central Rules, 1946 and Industrial Disputes (Central) Rules, 1957.
• Under the new Industrial Relations Rules, 2020, the establishments with more than 300 workers will have to seek Government Approval to lay 15 days in prior to the lay off of the intended actions.
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• Earlier, the limit was 100 employees. This means the doing business is being eased under the new rules.
* The enhanced version of PINAKA rocket system was successfully flight tested by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.
* This enhanced version of the Pinaka rocket would replace the existing Pinaka Mk-I rockets. While Mk-1 had a range of 40 km, the new variant can hit a target 45 to 60 km away.
* The design and development of Pinaka were done by DRDO laboratories based in Pune, namely Armament Research and Development Establishment, ARDE and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, HEMRL.
* Qatar’s ruler announced that a vote to review the policy of the country is to be held in October 2021.
* This is the first of its kind in the region. Currently, un-elected Shura Council advises the absolute ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al- Thani.
* Laws in Qatar can be overruled by a simple decree.
* The first India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave was held virtually. India was represented by External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar.
* The Conclave was jointly hosted by Ministry of External Affairs and Confederation of Indian Industry. The Conclave focused on clean technologies and renewable energies, Artificial Intelligence, supply chain logistics and block chain led transformation.
* The Nordic Baltic Eight includes Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Iceland, Norway, Lithuania and Sweden.
* The Baltic States are Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. These three countries are located in the Baltic sea and are fast growing economies.
* Private lender ICICI Bank has launched a comprehensive banking programme for its millennial customers, (in the age bracket of 18 years to 35 years ), called ‘ICICI Bank Mine’.
* The ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ is India’s first and unique product launched by the bank to offer a mobile-first, highly personalised and experiential led banking experience to the millennial customers. 35
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* The United States has officially withdrawn from the Paris climate accord on 04 November 2020.
* With this, the US has now become the only country to formally pull out of the deal since it was adopted in 2015.
* The landmark Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015 to protect the planet from the worsening impacts of the climate crisis.
* As per the rules of the agreement, a country cannot officially leave before one full year of notifying the UN of its intent to withdraw.
* The United States notified the United Nations of its withdrawal on November 4, 2019.
* National Academy of Medical Sciences(NAMS) (India) announced that Dr Satish Mishra the Principal Scientist of the Division of Molecular Parasitology and Immunology at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Central Drug Research Institute (CSIR-CDRI), Lucknow has won the “Dr. Tulsi Das Chugh Award 2020” for his research work on the life cycle of Malaria Parasite which involves two hosts and 3 invasive stages.
* The research was focused on “Secreted Protein with Altered Thrombospondin Repeat (SPATR) which is Essential for Asexual Blood Stages but not Required for Hepatocyte Invasion by the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium Berghei”.
* The study was focused on the dispensability of SPATR in Plasmodium berghei sporozoite and its importance for the establishment of blood stage infection.
* Prince Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa, Prime Minister (PM) of Bahrain passed away at the age of 84 at Mayo Clinic hospital, United States.
* He is the World’s Longest Serving PM. He has been serving as PM since 1971.
* He was born on November 24, 1935 in Jasra, Bahrain.
* He has played a vital role in the political and economic affairs of Bahrain for over 3 decades.
* He is the son of Bahrain’s former ruler, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who ruled from 1942 to 1961.
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* He was appointed as prime minister by his brother Emir Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, in 1971.
A Bangladeshi teen Sadat Rahman has been awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize2020 for his work to stop cyberbullying of teens.
The award was given away by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai during a ceremony in the Netherlands.
The prize is given away by the international children’s rights organization KidsRights.
The prize was launched by KidsRights during the 2005 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome.
• Odisha bagged the eminent ‘Best Marine State’ award which was announced by the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying.
• The award will be bestowed on 21st November, which is World Fisheries Day by the department. Along with recognition, 10 lakh amount will be given.
• The awards are a great boost to fisheries sector, especially during the COVID-19 times. In 2019, India exported Rs 47,000 crores of fisheries.
• India is the second largest producer of fish in the world.
• Therefore, fisheries has a high contribution to the Indian Economy. It is thus, important to focus on fisheries to boost declining economic growth due to COVID-19 pandemic.
• The 13th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference 2020 was held virtually on the theme “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility” from New Delhi.
• It was inaugurated by Minister of State-MoS (Independent Charge-IC) Hardeep Singh Puri, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
• This was the first virtual UMI conference amid COVID 19 and was also held for a day as against the usual format of three days without any exhibition.
• The 14th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Expo 2021 will be held on October 29-31, 2021 in Kochi, Kerala.
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• The Indian and Singapore Navy are to hold maritime exercise SIMBEX- 20 in the Andaman Sea between November 23, 2020 and November 25, 2020.
• The exercise is being conducted between the countries since 1994. The exercise aims to enhance mutual inter-operability between the countries.
• The Indian Navy ships to participate in the exercise are destroyer Rana along with Chetak helicopter, corvettes Kamorta and Karmuk. Also, submarine Sindhuraj and P81 reconnaissance aircrafts are to participate in the exercise.
• The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation was recently hosted by Malaysia. Several leaders of the cooperation joined the summit.
• The Summit was attended by the US President Donald Trump as well.
• The next APEC meeting is to be hosted by New Zealand.
• The APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 was adopted during the Summit. It envisions and open, resilient peaceful Asia Pacific community by 2040.
• The Summit also replaced the 1994 Bogor Goals with post 2020 vision.
• India’s First Moss Garden was inaugurated at Khurpatal, Nainital District of Uttarakhand by renowned Water Conservation Activist of India, Rajendra Singh (also known as Water Man of India).
• The Garden has been set up for the purpose of conservation of different species of moss.
• It will also serve the purpose of generating awareness among people regarding the importance of Moss in the environment.
• It has also been developed as a recreation centre for tourists.
• China recently launched the Change-5 Lunar Mission. The mission is the first probe in four decades to bring back rock samples from the moon from its previously unexplored portions.
• Change-5 is the first probe to land on the far side of the moon.
• As the rotation and revolution time period of the moon is same, only one side of the moon is constantly visible to the earth.
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• The other side of the moon till date remains unexplored and is called the far side of the moon.
• The mission is named after the Chinese moon goddess.
• It was launched from the Long March-5 carrier rocket, the largest carrier rocket of China. The mission will land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investors Meet and Expo (RE-INVEST 2020) today.
* During the three-day virtual conference, all the leading companies displayed their latest technological development in the field of renewable energy and discuss various options available for energy transition.
* Several world leaders, Energy Ministers of 75 countries and 200 eminent speakers attended the event. The summit is organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
* It aims to accelerate the worldwide effort to scale up development and deployment of renewable energy and connect the global investment community with Indian energy stakeholders.
* The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a book on the life and ideals of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism and first of its 10 gurus.
• Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was also present during the book release.
• The book has been penned by Kirpal Singh Ji, who is based in Chandigarh.
• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is all set to become the first Arab Gulf country, and probably the last, to generate electricity from coal, as; the Acwa Power of Saudi Arabia is developing a $3.4 billion Hassyan coal plant in Dubai.
• In this regard, the company has already inked a long time agreement with Japan’s Jera Co under which the latter will supply coal.
• The capacity of the plant will be 600 megawatts (MW) initially which will be increased to 2,400 MW by 2023. 39
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• The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has been selected as a ‘Milestone’ facility by the U.S.-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
• It is an array of thirty parabolic radio telescopes of 45-metre diameter in Pune.
• IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology in all areas related to electrical and electronics engineering.
• The previous two Indian IEEE Milestones were for the pioneering work done by Sir J.C. Bose to demonstrate the generation and reception of radio waves in 1895 (recognised in 2012), and for the Nobel Prize-winning (in 1930) ‘scattering of light’ phenomenon observed by Sir C.V. Raman in 1928.
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