VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE TNPSC Current Affairs DECEMBER - 2020
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01 - 17 HISTORY 01 . Important Days . Defence National Security and Terrorism . World Organisations – Pacts and Summits . Eminent Persons . Sports and Games . Books & Authors . Awards & Honours . Cultural Panaroma . India & its Neighbours . Latest Terminology . Appointments – Who is who? 18 18 POLITICAL SCIENCE
.Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility
19 - 20 GEOGRAPHY 19 .Policy on Environment and Ecology
21 - 22 ECONOMICS .New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector 21 23 23 - 28 SCIENCE .Latest Inventions in Science & Technology . Latest Discoveries on Health Science . Mass Media & Communication
29 29 NATIONAL – DIARY OF EVENTS
39 39 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
41 TAMIL NADU AFFAIRS 41 Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Important Days History
1.1 Important Days
Date Day Theme / Remark The theme for the World Aids Day 2020 1-12-2020 World AIDS Day is ‘Ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic: Resilience and Impact.’. 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 National Pollution of Bhopal Gas Tragedy that occurred 2-12-2020 Control Day in the year 1984 on the night of 2–3 December. The year 2020 marks the 36th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
The Theme of 2020 Navy Day is 4-12-2020 Indian Navy Day “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible & Cohesive”. International Day of 4-12-2020 Banks International Volunteer IVD 2020 Theme: “Together We Can 5-12-2020 Day Through Volunteering”. The 2020 theme – ‘Keep soil alive, 5-12-2020 World Soil Day Protect soil biodiversity’!
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 1 Important Days Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
In India, the Armed Forces Flag Day (also known as the Flag Day of India) is observed annually on December 7 since 1949 as an honour to the soldiers, sailors and airmen of India who fought on the borders to keep the country safe. The three branches of the Armed Forces 7-12-2020 Armed Forces Flag Day of India , namely, the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy are remembered on this day. The ‘Armed forces Flag Day Fund’ (AFFDF) has been constituted by the Government of India for the welfare and rehabilitation of the Ex-Servicemen (ESM) community. The ICAO Council has selected the International Civil special collective 5 year theme for 7-12-2020 Aviation Day 2019-2023: “Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development”. International Anti- Theme 2020 – ‘RECOVER with 9-12-2020 Corruption Day INTEGRITY.’ World Human Rights Theme: “Recover Better – Stand Up For 10-12-2020 Day Human Rights”.
The United Nations General Assembly created UNICEF on December 11, 1946, as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children devastated due to World War II. 11-12-2020 UNICEF Day UNICEF’s name was subsequently changed from United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to United Nations Children’s Fund though, it continued to be known by the popular acronym based on the previous title.
2 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Important Days
International Mountain 12-12-2020 2020 Theme: Mountain biodiversity. Day National Energy 14-12-2020 Conservation Day
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 3 Defence, National Security and Terrorism Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 1.2 Defence, National Security This is in line with a plan that was first envisaged during the India-China’s and Terrorism Doklam crisis in 2017 when a need for closer and direct coordination was felt in the headquarters. The present Director- Indian Navy successfully test-fires General of Military Operations Lt General BrahMos Cruise Missile Paramajit Singh is expected to assume the Indian Navy on December 1, 2020, new appointment. successfully test-fired the naval-version The creation of a third deputy chief post of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in in the Army will help reduce the burden the Bay of Bengal. As per the officials, the on the vice chief of the Army, as he would test-fire was part of a series of trials that have key officers such as in-charges are being carried out by the three defence of military intelligence and military services of India. operations under him. Similar test-firing of BrahMos missile The centre also approved the creation of was conducted by the Indian Navy in the the Director General Information Warfare Arabian Sea in October 2020. The test-fire post in the Army headquarters. of BrahMos conducted on December 1 was successful as per the Naval official. Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with
BrahMos Aerospace is an India-Russian Russian Federation Navy in Eastern collaboration. It produces a supersonic Indian Ocean Region cruise missile that can be launched The Indian Navy (IN) and the Russian successfully from aircraft, ships, Federation Navy (RuFN) are undertaking submarines, or land platforms. Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the Eastern The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile Indian Ocean Region (IOR) from 4 to 5 is also the fastest operating system in December 2020. the world in its class. DRDO has recently The exercise will help in enhancing extended the missile system’s range from interoperability, improving the existing 298 km to 450 km. understanding and imbibing best Centre approves reorganisation of practices between both the friendly navies. Army Headquarters, third deputy It involves advanced surface and anti- chief post created submarine warfare exercises, weapon The centre has approved reorganisation firings, seamanship exercises and of Army headquarters. As a part of the helicopter operations. same, the government approved the IN is being represented by indigenously creation of a third deputy Chief’s post- constructed guided missile frigate New Deputy Chief of Strategy. Shivalik and anti-submarine corvette Kadmatt along with integral helicopters.
4 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 World Organisations – Pacts and Summits RuFN includes guided missile cruiser 1.3 World Organisations – Varyag, large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev and medium ocean Pacts and Summits tanker Pechenga. The PASSEXs are conducted regularly by IN with units of friendly foreign navies. Covid-19 pandemic could push over 1 billion in extreme poverty by 2030 Launch of INS Himgiri An additional 207 million people could ‘Himgiri’, the first of the three Project 17A be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 ships being built at M/s Garden Reach due to the severe long-term impact of the Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited coronavirus pandemic, bringing the total (GRSE), Kolkata was launched Under number of the world’s extremely poor to the Project 17A program, a total of seven more than a billion, a new study from the ships, four at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders UN Development Programme (UNDP) Limited (MDL) and three ships at GRSE has found. are being built with enhanced stealth The study is part of a long-standing features, advanced indigenous weapon partnership between the UNDP and the and sensor fit along with several other Pardee Center for International Futures improvements. at the University of Denver. The launch of ‘Himgiri’ has showcased GRSE’s commitment towards the PwC India partners with UNICEF and building of three state-of-the-art warships YuWaah to upskill 300 million youths of P17A for Indian Navy. Over the years, in India over 10 years GRSE has emerged as a leading shipyard Consulting firm PwC India has having built over 100 ships. The yard has collaborated with the United Nations scaled up its infrastructure and skill sets Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and YuWaah to meet new challenges in building of (Generation Unlimited in India) to upskill P17A ships. P17A ships are the first gas 300 million young Indians over the next turbine propulsion and largest combat 10 years. platforms ever built at GRSE. This collaboration is part of PwC’s global multi-sector partnership with UNICEF and Generation Unlimited to upskill and provide about 1.8 billion youngsters with socio-economic opportunities from school to work by 2030. This partnership will focus on three facets to India’s digital empowerment for youngsters, which are education, skilling and entrepreneurship.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 5 Eminent Persons Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 WHO praises India for Fitness Ka 1.4 Eminent Persons Dose Aadha Ghanta Roz campaign
The World Health Organisation (WHO) AR Rahman roped in as ‘BAFTA has praised Prime Minister Narendra Breakthrough’ India ambassador Modi’’s ‘’Fitness Ka Dose Aadha Ghanta Oscar and Grammy-winning Indian Roz’’ programme, which calls upon all composer AR Rahman has been Indians to devote at least half-an-hour on roped in as ambassador of the BAFTA their fitness for a better living. Breakthrough initiative in India. Fit India Movement In 2020, BAFTA will identify and support Fit India Movement is a nation-wide up to five exceptional talents working in movement in India to encourage people film, games or television in India. to remain healthy and fit by including The BAFTA Breakthrough initiative, physical activities and sports in their daily is part of the Academy’s year-long lives. It was launched by Prime Minister programme to support new talent, of India Narendra Modi at Indira Gandhi coming up in the film, games and Stadium in New Delhi on 29 August 2019. television industries in the UK, China, India and the US and gives them access to unique career development and mentoring opportunities. It is a unique opportunity for promising artists to be supported by a world- renowned organisation, including connections with other talented creatives across the world and being mentored by BAFTA-winners and nominees.
HCL Tech Chairperson Roshni Nadar tops Kotak Wealth-Hurun wealthy women list 2020 Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCL Technologies topped the list of wealthiest women in India, according to the second edition of ‘Kotak Wealth Hurun–Leading Wealthy Women’ report. The report is compiled by Kotak Wealth Management, a division of Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Hurun India.
6 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Eminent Persons
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon and The bridge, on the arterial Diamond Leena Gandhi Tewari of USV are at the Harbour Road, connects the central part second and third rank respectively in the of the city to the soutwestern suburbs of Kotak Wealth Hurun wealthy women list Behala and beyond. 2020. Shaw is also the wealthiest self-made “King of Spice” Dharampala Gulati woman on the list. passed away 19 women from this list also feature in the Dharampala Chunni Lal Gulati, the Hurun India Rich List 2020, and 6 women founder and CEO of MDH Masala India;s have made it to the Hurun Global Rich famous spices company, dies at the age List 2020. of 97 due to cardiac arrest. The pioneer of the ready to use ground spices, also called Gitanjali Rao 15 year old Indian- as “King of Spice” was awarded India’s American Scientist & Inventor named third highest civilian award “Padma First Ever Times :Kid of the Year” Bhushan” in 2019. Gitanjali Rao, 15-year-old Indian- American Scientist and Inventor has been Ex-PM Gujral remembered on 101st named as the first ever “Kid of the Year” birth anniversary by TIME Magazine. She was selected The 101st birthday of country’s 12th from a field of more than 5000 nominees Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral was for her work “to tackle issues ranging celebrated at IK Gujral Punjab Technical from contaminated drinking water to University (IKGPTU) by holding an opioid addiction and cyberbullying using e-interaction. technology”. Father of Fibre Optics Narinder Singh Kolkata’s Majerhat Bridge Named Kapany passes away “Jai Hind” to mark Subhas Chandra Narinder Singh Kapany, also known as Bose’s 125th Birth Anniversary the father of fibre optics, passed away. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata The India-born American physicist was Banerjee named the newly-built Majerhat named as one of the seven “Unsung bridge in Kolkata as “Jai Hind” bridge to Heroes” by Fortune in their ‘Businessmen commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of the Century’ issue of November 1999. of Subhas Chandra Bose. Kapany was the first to transmit images The 650-metre-long bridge, which has through fibre optics back in 1954 and laid been built in the place of an old one that the foundation for high-speed internet collapsed in September 2018. technology.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 7 Eminent Persons Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman PM Modi was the 7th most Tweeted features in the 100 Most Powerful about person in the world in 2020 Women by Forbes Twitter in its 2020 annual year-end Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman review, revealed that Prime Minister made it to the 100 most powerful women Narendra Modi was the 7th most tweeted- list announced in the 17th annual Forbers about person in the world this year. US power list. This is the second time she President Donald Trump, US President- features in the list, in 2019 ranked 41st in elect Joe Biden and George Floyd were 2020. the top three names on Twitter’s 2020 list India’s leading Business women, kiran of most tweeted people. mazumdar-shaw, Chairman of Biocon Indian American Vice President-elect Limited also featured in the list at 68th Kamala Harris was the only woman on position. the list and stood at the 10th position The list also saw the biggest jump in globally. ranking to 3rd position by Kamala Harris, The findings were a part of Twitter’s Vice President Elect of USA, and Prime annual review report, recapping the Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina trends, moments, and memes that Wajed is ranked at 39. dominated Twitter through the year. Rank Personality Profession 41 Nirmala Finance Minister of Sonu Sood Tops UK’s ’50 Asian Sitharaman India Celebrities In The World’ list 2020 68 Kiran Founder, Chair and Indian actor Sonu Sood has topped the Mazumdar Managing Director, first-of-its-kind ’50 Asian Celebrities in Shaw Biocon Ltd. The World’ 2020 list, published by UK 1 Angela Chancellor, based Eastern Eye newspaper. Merkel Germany The 47-year-old talented Bollywood 2 Christine President, European star has been honored for his inspiring Lagarde Central Bank philanthropic work throughout the 3 Kamala Vice President-elect, Covid-19 pandemic, especially helping Harris United States migrant workers reach their hometowns. Sonu Sood beat global stars, including 4 Ursula von President, European from Hollywood, the music industry, der Leyen Commission, television, literature and social media, to European Union be named the number one Asian celebrity 5 Melinda Co-Chair, Bill & on the planet for 2020. Gates Melinda Gates Foundation
8 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Eminent Persons
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris named Time As a test pilot, on October 14, 1947, Yeager Person of the Year 2020 became the first human to officially break US President Joe Biden and Vice the sound barrier, when he flew the President Kamala Harris have been experimental Bell X-1 aircraft at Mach 1 named as “Person of the Year” 2020 by (speed of sound) at an altitude of 45,000 Time magazine. Biden and Harris got ft (13,700 m). featured in Top 10 most-tweeted-about Throughout his life, he flew more than people globally, wherein, Biden fetched 360 different types of aircraft and went on the second spot and Harris was on the to break several other speed and altitude tenth position, the only woman on the records in the following years. list. Yeager had been associated with World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War U A Khader, among finest Malayalam and his three-war active-duty flying writers career spanned more than 30 years. Celebrated Malayalam writer U A Khader, who published more than 70 novels, short stories and travelogues that are considered among the finest works in the language, died in Kozhikode. He was 85. Khader was known for a progressive and secular outlook to his life and his literature. His most acclaimed work of fiction, Thrikkottoor Peruma (Thrikkottoor Lore), won him the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984.
US Pilot Chuck Yeager, first man to fly faster than speed of sound, passes away at 97 US Air Force officer and test pilot Chuck Yeager, who in 1947 became the first pilot in history to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight, has passed away. He was 97. (Level flight means flying at a constant altitude, not going up and down.)
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 9 Sports and Games Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 1.5 Sports and Games Madagascar replaces Maldives to host 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games Japan to host 7-team FIFA Club World The 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games Cup in 2021 (IOIG), will take place in Madagascar, instead of Maldives. FIFA (Federation Internationale de The Indian Ocean Island Games Football Association) announced that Federation has changed the host nation Japan will host the existing Seven- due to concerns over the COVID-19 Team format of FIFA Club World Cup pandemic. in December, 2021. It will be the 18th 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games will be Edition of FIFA Club World Cup. the 11th edition of this multi-sport event The year 2021 will witness 2 FIFA Club for athletes representing the National World Cup Tournaments – The 2020 Olympic Committees of Indian Ocean Edition FIFA Club World Cup (17th island nations. Edition) will be held in Qatar from Maldives had received the hosting right February 1-11, 2021 and the 2021 Edition of the event in 2019. of FIFA Club World Cup will take place in Japan in December, 2021. IOC gives Olympic status to Originally a redeveloped 24-Team Club Breakdancing; to debut at Paris in World Cup was scheduled to take place 2024 in China in 2021, it is now scheduled to take place at a later date. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has registered ‘Breakdancing’ as Jehan Daruvala Becomes first Indian the newest entry into Olympics and an to Win Formula 2 Race official Olympic sport, on December 7, 2020, with the aim to attract a new and Jehan Daruvala created history on 6th younger audience. December 2020, as he became the first Breakdancing will be known as ‘Breaking’ Indian to win a Formula 2 race at the 2020 in Olympics event. Sakhir Grand Prix. This was the final race of the F2 season. Bajrang Punia, Elavenil Valarivan bag Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Launches Sportsperson of the Year awards 2nd edition of Fit India Cyclothon Indian athletes, Bajrang Punia (Freestyle- Wrestling) and Elavenil Valarivan Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju launched (Shooting), bagged the top honours at the the second edition of Fit India Cyclothon virtually held FICCI India Sports Awards through virtual platform on 7th December 2020 on the back of the 10th 2020. Global Sports Summit. The mega cycling event will run for 25 days, beginning from 7th December till 31st December 2020.
10 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Books & Authors The two athletes, who have had an 1.6 Books & Authors impressive 2019-20 season, won the Sportsperson of the Year awards in their respective categories. ‘PM Modi and his Government’s Here is the list of Winner in different Special Relationship with Sikhs’ book Categories: Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Award Personality Hardeep Singh Puri released a Book titled “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sportsperson of Elavenil Valarivan Government’s Special Relationship with the Year (Female) Sikhs”. The book was released on the Sportsperson of Bajrang Punia occasion of Gurupurab. the Year (Male) Best State Madhya Pradesh A book titled ‘Future of Regional Promoting Sports Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific’ Award by ADB Best Company Anil Kumble The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Promoting Sports has released a new book titled ‘Future (Private Sector) of Regional Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific’. The book provides insight on how stronger regional cooperation strategies, including in health, trade, finance, and disaster risk, can help governments in Asia and the Pacific accelerate economic growth and robust recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘40 Years with Abdul Kalam – Untold Stories‘ by Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai Vice President Venkaiah Naidu recently released a book on from former president Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The book titled “40 Years with Abdul Kalam – Untold Stories” has been written by scientist Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, a former chief of BrahMos Aerospace.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 11 Awards & Honours Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Education Minister presents first copy 1.7 Awards & Honours of his inspirational book on Maharishi Arvind to President Union Education Minister Ramesh Chennai Metro Rail gets World Safety Pokhriyal Nishank presented the first Organisation award copy of his inspirational book “Pioneer Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has of Humanity: Maharishi Arvind” to been given the International Award 2020 President Ram Nath Kovind at the by the World Safety Organisation (WSO), Rashtrapati Bhavan. US, for its efforts to maintain safety The book is in Hindi with the title standards and periodic conduct of safety ‘Manavta ke Praneta Maharishi Arvind’. programmes for the engineers and staff Shri Arvind was a person fully devoted and ensuring safety of people, property to Indian culture, Indian values, Indian and the environment. nationalism and Indian philosophy. CMRL won the award under the WSO Through this book, I have wanted to Concerned Company/Corporation convey his philosophy and thinking in category. very simple language to the younger generation of the country and the world. Maharashtra’s Ranjitsinh Disale becomes first Indian to win 2020 India’s first woman author writes on Global Teacher Prize sales, ‘Romancing Targets’ by Nidhi Ranjitsinh Disale, a government teacher Vadhera launched worldwide from Zilla Parishad Primary School, in The book titled ‘Romancing Targets’ by Paritewadi village, Solapur district of author Nidhi Vadhera has been released Maharashtra, has won the 2020 Global recently. Teacher Prize. In this book, Author Nidhi Vadhera He is the first Indian to win this award, shares with you a systematic approach to which carries a prize money of $1 million understand the sales process which will (Rs 7.4 crore). empower you to embrace sales targets The 32-year-old has won the annual and achieve results without getting burnt Global Teacher Prize 2020 in recognition in the process. of his efforts to promote girls’ education in his village and trigger a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India. Disale made efforts and added QR codes to textbooks of primary classes to provide links to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments.
12 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Awards & Honours
He also worked towards education for International King Bhumibol World Soil girls and teaching people about the ill- Day Award for 2020, presented annually effects of teenage marriage and even by the Food and Agriculture Organization helped to achieve 100% attendance of (FAO) [Headquarter – Rome, Italy]. girls. The award was conferred to the ICAR Ranjitsinh has also created history by on the occasion of World Soil Day, on announcing to share half the prize money December 5, through video conferencing. with the nine finalists from across the ICAR has been conferred the award for world for the award, where each one its commitment to raising awareness will receive about $55,000 each. He also of the importance of healthy soils at the becomes the first winner to share the World Soil Day celebration in 2019, which prize money with the finalists. addressed soil erosion under the motto The Global Teacher Prize is an annual “Stop soil erosion, save our future”. prize founded by the Varkey Foundation in 2014 to recognise an exceptional teacher UN declares ‘Invest India’ winner of who has made outstanding contribution investment promotion award 2020 to the profession. The award is given in The United Nations Conference on partnership with UNESCO. Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has declared ‘Invest India’ as winner Anita Anand’s ‘The Patient Assassin’, of the 2020 United Nations Investment win PEN Hessell-Tiltman history prize Promotion Award in a ceremony at its British Indian Journalist and author headquarters in Geneva. Anita Anand’s book that tells the story The Award recognises and celebrates the of a young man caught up in the 1919 outstanding achievements of the world’s Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar best-practice investment promotion has won a prestigious history literary agencies. The evaluation was based prize in the UK. on UNCTAD’s assessment of work True Tale of Masacre, Revenge and the undertaken by 180 national investment Raj’ beat six other titles for the PEN promotion agencies across the world. Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2020, awarded annually for a non-fiction book Raj Kamal Jha wins Rabindranath of specifically historical content. Tagore Literary Prize 2020 Raj Kamal Jha, the writer and chief editor Indian Council of Agricultural of ‘The Indian Express’, has won the Research (ICAR) Wins 2020 King Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020 Bhumibol World Soil Day Award of for his book, “The City and the Sea”. FAO This was the 3rd edition of the The Indian Council of Agricultural Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize, Research (ICAR), has won the prestigious which carries a cash prize of $5,000.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 13 Awards & Honours Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Her work area focuses on birational Prize was founded in 2018 by US-based geometry, which aims to classify and publisher Bundalo to recognise works describe the structure of algebraic towards world peace, literature, art, varieties. education and human rights. The prize is awarded annually to a The Rabindranath Tagore Literary researcher from a developing country Prize for Social Achievement 2020 was funded by the Department of Science and conferred to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Technology of the Government of India bin Said Al Said, the late Sultan of Oman in association with ICTP (International and The People of Oman, and renowned Centre for Theoretical Physics), and the Indian choreographer Sandip Soparrkar International Mathematical Union (IMU) for his contribution to the betterment of was given for her outstanding work in society through his initiative “Dance for algebraic geometry. a Cause”. Dr. Araujo, who is Vice President of the Committee for Women in Mathematics Punjab scientist refuses award from at the International Mathematical Union minister Union, is the first non-Indian women Punjab agriculturalist Dr Varinder Pal mathematician to receive this prize and Singh refused to accept an award from the will be a role model for all women around Centre as a gesture of support to farmers the world. protesting against the government’s agricultural laws. Ashraf Patel Wins Social Entrepreneur Singh, the principal soil chemist at of the Year (SEOY) Award – India the Punjab Agricultural University in 2020 Ludhiana, was recognised by the Fertiliser Ashraf Patel, the founder member and Association of India for his work in the Board member of Pravah and ComMutiny field of plant nutrition. – The Youth Collective (CYC) has been declared as the winner of the Social Carolina Araujo awarded 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Award Ramanujan Prize for Young – India 2020. Mathematicians It is the 11th edition of the annual award, The year 2020 Ramanujan Prize for instituted by the Schwab Foundation and Young Mathematicians was awarded Jubilant Bhartia Foundation in 2010. to Dr Carolina Araujo, Mathematician The award was presented by the Union from the Institute for Pure and Applied Minister of Women & Child Development Mathematics (IMPA), Rio de Janeiro, & Textiles, SmritiZubinIrani. Brazil.
14 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Cultural Panorama UNESCO launches Bangabandhu 1.8 Cultural Panorama award on the creative economy UNESCO has launched an international Ninth edition of International Sand award named after Bangabandhu Sheikh Art Festival & Konark Festival 2020 Mujibur Rahman following Bangladesh’s begins in Odisha proposal. The 9th edition of the International Sand The UN agency’s executive board unanimously adopted the proposal on Art Festival and the 31st edition of the UNESCO-Bangladesh Bangabandhu Konark Festival, has kicked-off in Odisha. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International The five days event has been organised Prize for the “Creative Economy” in its from 01 December 2020 till 05 December 210th session. This is the first time a UN 2020.
agency launched an award named after International Sand Art Festival is being Bangabandhu. held at the Chandrabhaga Beach of Konark in Puri district of Odisha. About 70 artists from across the country are taking part in the festival. The world-renowned sand artist and Padmashree Awardee, Sudarsan Pattnaik, has been appointed as Chief Curator of the festival.
Gwalior, Orchha in UNESCO world heritage cities list The historical fort cities of Gwalior and Orchha in Madhya Pradesh have been included in the list of UNESCO’s world heritage cities under its urban landscape city programme, according to the state government. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), an agency of the United Nations, aims at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, the sciences, and culture. Gwalior was established in 9th century and ruled by Gurjar Pratihar Rajvansh, Tomar, Baghel Kachvaho and Scindias.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 15 India and its Neighbours Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 1.9 India and its Neighbours China Gezhouba Group and its local partner Laraib Group Pakistan are the shareholders of the ‘Azad Pattan Hydropower Project’, which is located on New DRDO lab-created for focused Jhelum river in Sadhanoti district of PaK. research along India’s border with Pakistan, China The government has created a new DRDO lab for conducting focused research on terrain and avalanches along India’s borders with China and Pakistan. The 1.10 Latest Terminology lab has been created by merging together two existing DRDO laboratories. The new laboratory has been named ‘Pandemic’ chosen as the top word of Defence Geo Informatics Research 2020 by Merriam-Webster dictionary Establishment. The two labs merged ‘Pandemic’ has been chosen as the top by the government include the Manali- word of 2020 by Merriam-Webster based Snow and Avalanche Studies dictionary. Pandemic is a combination Establishment and Delhi-based Defence of pan, for all, and demos, for people or Terrain Research Establishment. population with roots in Latin and Greek. The merger is the first step in the large- scale reforms to be taken up in the DRDO by its Chief Dr G Satheesh Reddy in order to make the organisation leaner and more result-oriented.
Pak Kashmir Inks Pact with China for 700 MW Power Project The Government in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir (PaK) has singed agreements with a Chinese company and a local renewable energy firm for the construction of 700 MW hydropower project at an estimated cost of USD 1.35 billion in the region as part of the ambitions China- Pakistan Economic Corridor.
16 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Appointments – Who is who? 1.11 Appointments – Who is WHO Foundation: It is independent grant-making who? organization with headquarters in Geneva. It was started in May 2020. Professor Kuldeep Handoo appointed as “Fit Thomas Zeltner is its founder, He is also India” movement ambassador chairman of its Board. Srinagar born Wushu coach and the first Dronacharya Awardee from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Kuldeep Handoo is appointed as the Ambassador of Fit India movement. He won 11 gold medals in National and 6 in International stage, is the Wushu coach of Team India. Under his guidance Athletes have won two gold medals at the world championship and one at the World Cup. He also serves as Inspector of police in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian-origin Anil Soni appointed as first CEO of WHO Foundation Indian-origin Anil Soni has been appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the WHO Foundation. He will take his position from 1 January 2021. He was head of Global Infectious Diseases at Viatris. Viatris is a global healthcare company. He has served as Senior Advisor, HIV at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CEO at Clinton Health Access Initiative. He has also worked in different roles for Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis and for Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 17 Govt – Welfare oriented... Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 POLITICAL 2. SCIENCE
2.1 Govt – Welfare oriented Under the Yojana, the subsidy will be provided for two years in respect of new Govt schemes, their employees engaged on or after October 1, 2020 and up to June 30, 2021. utility
Five-star village postal scheme launched in Uttarakhand The Union Minister of State for Communication Sanjay Dhotre launched five star village postal scheme to ensure the universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in Dehradun for rural areas of Uttarakhand.
Union Cabinet approves Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana The Union Cabinet on December 9, 2020 gave its nod to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) to boost employment and incentivise creation of new employment opportunities during the COVID-19 recovery phase under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0. The Cabinet has given its nod to expenditure worth Rs 1,584 crore for the current fiscal year and Rs 22,810 crores for the scheme’s entire duration from 2020 to 2023.
18 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Policy on Environment and Ecology 3. GEOGRAPHY 3.1 Policy on Environment and Ecology
Cyclone Burevi Green Charcoal Hackathon A depression formed over southeast Shri R.K.Singh, the Union Minister of Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a State (I/C) for Power and New & RE, cyclonic storm in the next 36 hours, the was speaking with a vision to create a India Meteorological Department has conducive environment by reducing announced. When the cyclone forms, it carbon emissions and nurture technology would be called cyclone Burevi, a name solutions in India. NVVN (NTPC given by the Maldives. VidyutVyapar Nigam), a wholly-owned subsidiary company of NTPC Ltd, today Indonesian Volcano Erupts launched the Green Charcoal Hackathon. A volcano in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province erupted, spewing Assam Proposed to set up its 6th ash and smoke as high as four kilometers National Park into the sky and forcing more than 2,700 The Assam government has proposed residents to seek refuge. to establish its 6th National park, the The eruption from the Mt. Ile Lewotolok “Raimona National Park’ in the Ripu volcano, about 2,600 kilometers east of Reserved Forest of the state which was Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta. severely damaged due to militancy. The proposal to upgrade an area of 422 Suryadhar Lake in Dehradun square kilometre notified Ripu Reserve Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Forest under Manas National Park and Singh Rawat inaugurated the Suryadhar Tiger Reserve into Raimona National lake at Doiwala in Dehradun on 29 Park has been submitted to Jagadish November 2020. Mukhi, the governor of Assam. The Suryadhar lake is located at the trijunction of Haridwar, Rishikesh and Bihar migratory bird festival Dehradun, and has been built at a cost of Bihar is planning its first ever migratory Rs 50.25 crore. bird festival this year. This is a three-day It is 550 metres long, 28 metres wide and festival to be organised in Bhagalpur 10 metres deep with a capacity of 77,000 District. cubic metres.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 19 Policy on Environment and Ecology Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
It is to be jointly organised by Bhagalpur It is for the second time in a row that India forest division, Bombay Natural History emerged among the top 10 countries with Society and the local Mandar Nature higher climate performance from among Club. The region houses a large number 58 economies. of migratory birds between November India was at 9th spot last year in the and March every year. The festival is index. intended to check cases of poaching in Like CCPI 2020, the first three places in the region. 2021 ranking also remains unoccupied, since none of the countries are on the Mt Everest declared 86 cm taller by path compatible with the Paris climate Nepal and China targets, to implement strategies to limit The world’s highest mountain peak global warming below 2 or even 1.5°C. ‘Mount Everest’ has become taller by Sweden (4th) United Kingdom (5th), 0.86m, as per a survey conducted jointly Denmark (6th), Morocco (7th), Norway by Nepal and China. (8th), Chile (9th) were among the top 10 The Government of Nepal and China rankers in the index. jointly conducted an exercise to measure the world’s highest peak. The new height of Mt Everest, has been calculated at 8,848.86 metres, which is 0.86m more than the previous measurement done by India in 1954. In 1955, the height of Mount Everest was measured at 8848 m (29,028 feet) by the Survey of India. In Tibetan language, Mount Everest is known as Mount Qomolangma while in Nepalese language it is famous as Sagar-Matha.
Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2021 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.
20 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector
4. ECONOMICS 4.1 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector
Ethereum 2.0 With this, 27 states and 3 union territories Ethereum is a decentralised and open have accepted the Centre’s borrowing source blockchain platform, which is a plan, leaving only Jharkhand which is yet growing list of cryptographic blocks. to decide. Ether (ETH) is the cryptocurrency token The government of Chhattisgarh has of the Ethereum platform. communicated its acceptance of option-1 It is the world’s second-largest to meet the revenue shortfall arising out cryptocurrency by market capitalization, of GST implementation. All states except only after bitcoin. It is also the world’s Jharkhand and all the 3 union territories most actively used blockchain. with legislative Assembly have decided Ethereum was first proposed in 2013 by in favour of option-1, announced by a a Russian- Canadian cryptocurrency finance ministry. researcher and programmer VitalikButerin. Fitch Ratings lowers India’s GDP The largest cryptocurrency ‘Bitcoin’ contraction at 9.4% for FY21; 11% works on the principle of Mining, for FY22 which in turn requires solving complex Fitch Ratings has revised the GDP growth problems leading to large consumption rate for India in its Global Economic of electricity. Outlook, and now expects the economy to contract 9.4 percent in the current Chhattisgarh accepts Centre’s financial year 2020-21, as compared to borrowing proposal for GST shortfall (-)10.5 percent forecast earlier. Chattisgarh has accepted the Centre’s Fitch has also projected the FY22 GDP borrowing proposal and will get Rs 3,109 growth at 11 percent and 6.3 percent crore through the special window to meet growth in FY23. the goods and services (GST) revenue shortfall.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 21 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
Nomura Expects India to be fastest RBI to set up centre in Jaipur for growing Asian economy in 2021 at receipt, storage and dispatch of notes 9.9% The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has The Japanese research and brokerage decided to set up an Automated Banknote house Nomura has projected India to be Processing Centre (ABPC) in Jaipur for the fastest growing Asian economy in receipt, storage and dispatch of currency 2021. notes. Nomura has estimated the gross domestic The functions of the ABPC will also product (GDP) growth of India for the include processing of banknotes received calendar year 2021 (CY21) at 9.9%. from currency chests (CCs) and bank For calendar year 2020 (CY20), Nomura branches, and destruction of soiled expects GDP growth at-7.1 percent. banknotes in an automated manner, Apart from this, the Nomura expects said the RBI’s Request for Proposal GDP at -8.2 percent in FY21, and 11.9 (RFP) for engagement of consultant for percent in FY22. comprehensive consultancy services for establishment of ABPC at Jaipur. The volume of banknotes in circulation has increased three-fold from March 2001 to March 2019, and is expected to rise further in the years to come.
22 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology 5. SCIENCE
5.1 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology
Hayabusa2 Spacecraft of Japan Key points: The Hayabusa2 spacecraft of Japan is The 4-metre diameter tank is of 8-metres nearing the earth after a yearlong journey length to load around 5,755 Kg propellant from asteroid Ryugu. The asteroid is in the 89 Cubic Metre Volume. located at a distance of about 300 million The welds have been done to meet 100% kilometres from the Earth. The spacecraft quality requirements of radiography, dye is to reach the earth in Southern Australia penetrant check and leak-proof. on December 6, 2020 carrying precious samples from the asteroid . Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 in UK The entire operation is being held by The United Kingdom became the first JAXA, Japanese Aerospace exploration country on December 2, 2020, to approve agency. According to the agency the the widespread use of the Pfizer- capsule that is protected by a heat shield BioNTech vaccine against the pandemic. will turn into a fire ball at its 200 kilometre The Medicines and Healthcare Products from the earth surface. The parachute Regulatory Agency- MHRA, a British of the capsule will open at about 10 regulator, approved the vaccine against kilometres. the virus and informed that it offers up to 95% of protection against it. The Pfizer- HAL delivers Biggest Ever Cryogenic BioNTech vaccine is safe for the rollout Propellant Tank ‘C32-LH2’ to ISRO next week and immunisation can be Hindustan Aeronautics Limited started soon for people who are in the (HAL) delivered ‘C32-LH2’ Cryogenic high priority groups. Propellant Tank to the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Chang’e-5 lands on lunar surface Bengaluru, Karnataka. It is Biggest ever China’s Chang’e 5 lander has returned cryogenic propellant tank fabricated by its first panorama from its landing site on HAL. the moon. C32-LH2 is made of aluminium alloy and The sample-return mission made a has been designed to improve the payload successful soft landing in the Oceanus capability of GSLV (Geosynchronous Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”) region Satellite Launche Vehicle) MK-III (Dec. 1) and almost immediately began launching vehicle. its science and imaging tasks.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 23 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
Chang’e 5 is a historic 23-day quest to India join a select leage of nations having collect lunar samples and return them to such super grade fuel. Earth — the first such moon mission since The high octane premium grade petrol 1976, when the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 will be marketed under the brand XP-100 probe hauled about 6 ounces (170 grams) and it will be made available in 10 cities of lunar material home. across the country including the national capital in the first phase. The second Karnataka’s first 11.5 megawatt phase will see addition of 5 more cities power plant run on municipal waste including Chennaia and Kolkata. being set up at Bidadi The Octane ratings are measures of fuel In Karnataka, Chief Minister B S stability, which help increase engine Yediyurappa laid the foundation stone efficiency. for a 11.5 megawatt power plant based on municipal waste in Bidadi, a town in Britain becomes first country in world Bengaluru. to approve coronavirus vaccine It is first of its kind power plant in the In a historic move, Britain has become the state being set up by the Karnataka first country in the world to approve the Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. and will help in converting 600 tonnes The vaccine will be rolled out from next of municipal waste into 11.5 megawatt week onwards. Priority for vaccination energy. will be given to healthcare workers and This power plant will add 80.59 million care home residents. units of power to the existing power grid. The power plant project is being Sputnik V vaccine rushed out to wary constructed at a cost of Rs. 260 crore and Russians is likely to be operational by 2022. Russia began distributing its COVID-19 vaccine, with Moscow as the focal point Union Petroleum Minister launches for people to participate in the first mass India’s first indigenously developed vaccination against the virus. 100 Octane premium petrol The Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural will be distributed at 70 clinics around Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan Moscow, but it has been made available launched India’s first indigenously first to doctors and other medical developed environment-friendly fuel, workers, teachers and social workers, as 100 Octane premium petrol through the government has deemed these groups video conferencing on December 1, 2020. to be at the highest risk of exposure to the He described the launch of the fuel as one disease. step towards facilitating ease of living for the citizens. The development has helped
24 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology
Modern mobile phone for summoned regulatory body under the Department court employees of Space (DoS) to enable private players Are the employees involved in the undertaking space activities in India. process of issuing summons to the courts Pixxel aims to put a constellation of 30 at the state level delivered to the correct earth observation micro-satellites into a address? Isn’t it Court officials announced sun-synchronous orbit by mid-2023. a new plan is being implemented to provide them with state-of-the-art GPS- NASA Astronaut Harvests 20 Radishes enabled mobile phones. Aboard International Space Station The Supreme Court has issued guidelines NASA astronaut grew red lettuce aboard for the procedure of issuing summons the International Space Station, another with the help of e-mail. As per the above astronaut has now harvested radish guidelines, modern mobile phones are in microgravity. As a part of a plant being provided to those involved in the experiment called Plant Habitat-02 (PH- summons process in the district courts. 02), astronaut Kate Rubins created history This will enable the court office to by harvesting 20 radish plants in the ISS monitor whether the summons has gone Advanced Plant Habitat. to the right person. All the plants have now been placed in cold storage to be returned to earth along ‘Pixxel’ to launch remote-sensing with the space mission in 2021. satellite on ISRO rocket in early 2021 The harvest marks the first time that The Bengaluru-based space-technology NASA has grown radishes on the orbiting start-up Pixxel, has signed a pact with laboratory. Stating reasons behind the Indian Space Research Organisation selecting radishes for the experiment, (ISRO) to launch its first remote-sensing the American space agency stressed that satellite on Isro’s workhorse Polar the vegetable is “well understood by Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket in scientists” and reach maturity in mere 27 early 2021. days. Earlier, the startup had planned to launch this satellite towards the end of 2020 and Pairing CRISPR with a smartphone on a Russian Soyuz rocket. camera helps for COVID-19 test finds The agreement was signed between results in 30 minutes Pixxel with NewSpace India Limited Researchers in California aim to develop (NSIL), a Government of India company a new CRISPR-based test for COVID -19 under the Department of Space. that can be read anytime, anywhere by This agreement with NSIL is first-of-a- turning a basic smartphone camera into kind private earth-observation mission a microscope capable of detecting the and one of the first since the setting up coronavirus’ genetic material. of IN-SPACe, the authorisation and
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 25 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
The team consists of scientists from the and a privately owned and operated University of California, San Francisco, chamber to move experiments as big as UC Berkeley, and the Gladstone Institutes refrigerators outside the orbiting lab. including a collaboration with Jennifer This is SpaceX’s 21st station supply Doudna, president of the Innovative run for Nasa since 2012. The flight was Genomics Institute, and winner of the delayed a day by rough weather in the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for co- booster-recovery area offshore. This was discovering CRISPR-Cas genome editing, the 68th successful booster landing by the technology that underpins the test. SpaceX. The new test uses a Cas13 protein tagged with a molecule that glows once it’s cut, China becomes second nation to plant as part of the genetic-snipping that occurs flag on the Moon when it matches up with a specific piece China has become the second country in of RNA. When more of the virus’ genome the world to unfurl its national flag on the is present, more cuts occur—creating moon surface. a brighter glow that can be picked up Earlier this feat was achieved only by the by a smartphone camera used with a USA when it planted its flag on the Moon darkened box. during the Apollo mission in 1969. China achieved the historic feat when SpaceX launches 2nd Dragon capsule ‘Chang’e 5‘ probe of China, which was to space station launched to collect soil and rock samples SpaceX launched a newer and bigger of the lunar surface, took off from the version of its Dragon supply ship to the moon to return to earth after planting the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX national flag on 3rd December 2020. now, for the first time, has two capsules in orbit at the same time. LiDAR Technique SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off with The Indian Railways is to use LiDAR the latest Dragon from Nasa’s Kennedy technique to conduct ground survey Space Center. The first-stage booster - for the Delhi Varanasi High Speed Rail making its fourth flight - landed on an corridor. LiDAR is Light Detection and ocean platform several minutes after the Ranging technique. liftoff. It was first used in May this year The Indian Railways is to use the LiDAR for the first astronaut launch by Elon technique mounted on a helicopter. This Musk’s company. is being done after its success in the The shipment, weighing 2,900 kg, Mumbai Ahmedabad bullet train project includes billions of microbes and crushed for the first time. asteroid samples for a biomining study, The technique uses a combination of GPS a new medical device to provide rapid data, laser data, flight parameters to give blood test results for astronauts in space, an accurate survey.
26 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology
LiDAR The species has adapted to survive harsh It is a remote sensing method that conditions, low nutrient availability, and uses light in the form of pulsed laser to blossoms every monsoon. Globally, 85 measure available distances in the earth. species are known from Ischaemum, of The light pulses in the system generate which 61 species are exclusively found in three-dimensional information about India. the shape of the earth and its surface The team discovered a novel species characteristics. A LiDAR instrument named Ischaemumjanarthanamii from consists of a scanner, laser and a GPS plateaus of Western Ghats of Goa, and receiver. Helicopters and aeroplanes are a research paper describing this species the most commonly used platforms to was published recently in Annales acquire LiDAR data. BotaniciFennici, a Finland based journal.
IIT-Guwahati Researchers Develop Skylotech partners with BSNL to Technology To Harvest Water From bring satellite-based IoT network Air Global machine connectivity solutions Researchers at Indian Institute of company Skylotech India has partnered Technology, Guwahati claimed to have with BSNL to launch a satellite-based developed a new technology to harvest narrowband IoT network in India. water from the air by using the concept of This solution, developed by Skylo, will hydrophobicity. connect with BSNL’s satellite ground Such water-harvesting techniques use infrastructure and provide pan-India the concept of hydrophobicity or water- coverage, including Indian seas. repelling nature of some materials. This new ‘Made in India’ Solution, which The concept of hydrophobicity can be is indigenously developed by Skylo, will understood by looking at the lotus leaf connect with BSNLs satellite- ground The research team from IIT-Guwahati has infrastructure and provide PAN-India used the concept of chemically patterned coverage, including Indian seas. The SLIPS for the first time, to effectively coverage will be so vast that it will not harvest water from moist air. leave any dark patch within the boundary of India, from Kashmir & Ladakh to Novel species of Muraingrasses Kanyakumari, and from Gujarat to the spotted in Western Ghats of Goa North East, including the Indian seas. A new species of Indian Muraingrasses, known for their ecological and economic ISRO to launch communication importance, has been spotted by scientists satellite CMS-01 on Dec 1 in the Western Ghats of Goa, one of the The Indian Space Research Organisation four global biodiversity hotspots of India. (ISRO) will launch communication satellite CMS-01 aboard Polar Satellite
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 27 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C50) on December Local mRNA vaccine gets nod for 17, 2020. human trials
This will be the 52nd mission of PSLV The drug regulator has allowed human and it will be launched from the second trials of the first local mRNA Covid launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space caccine candidate and the preliminary Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. results are likely by March. It assumes The launch is tentatively scheduled to significance as Covid-19 vaccines based take place at 3:41 pm on December 17, on this platform, such as those by Pfizer- 2020 subject to weather conditions. BioNtech and Moderna, are expected to The communication satellite aims to have better effsicacy but currently appear provide services in the Extended-C out of bounds for India. Band of the frequency spectrum, which The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) includes the Indian mainland, Andaman under the Central Drugs Standard & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. The Control Organisation (CDSCO) that satellite will be the 42nd Communication met recommended grant of conditional Satellite of India. approval for phases ½ human clinical trial of the vaccine candidate. The Indian-American among 18 recommendations of the panel were astronauts selected for NASA’s later approved by the Drugs Controller Artemis Moon programme General of India (DCGI). Indian-American, Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari is among the 18 astronauts who Land to start a business: New facility have been selected by NASA for its to search the internet Artemis moon-landing programme. A separate internet facility has been set NASA announced the names of the 18 up at Chipkot Shop to easily find land for astronauts, half of whom are women, on starting a business in Tamil Nadu. December 9, 2020. The facility, which has been set up for the The 43-year-old is the only Indian- first time in India, was inaugurated by American in the list. He is a graduate of Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palanisamy. the US Air Force Academy, MIT, and US Naval Test Pilot School. He was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class The astronauts on the Artemis Team have been chosen from a diverse range of backgrounds, expertise and experience. While the oldest is 55 years old, the youngest is 32 years old.
28 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 National – Diary of Event 6. NATIONAL – DIARY OF EVENT
Piyush Goyal inaugurates newly from class 5 to class 8 to go to schools). electrified Dhigawara-Bandikui Other government schemes like section of North Western Railway ‘Rupashree (one-time financial grant The Union Minister of Railways Shri of Rs 25,000 for economically stressed Piyush Goyal inaugurated newly families at the time of their daughter’s electrified Dhigawara-Bandikui section marriage), ‘Jai Johar’ (for the betterment of North Western Railway (NWR) in the of ST people), ‘Taposili Bondhu’ (pension state of Rajasthan on 29 November 2020. scheme for SC people), ‘Akhyashree’ The Minister also flagged off first train on (a scheme that provides scholarships this newly electrified route. to students of minority communities in The Dhigawara-Bandikui section is on the state) and MGNREGS will also be Delhi-Ajmer route via Jaipur. included. The Railways has set the target to electrify the entire percentage of railway lines India to build multipurpose reservoir across the country in phased manner. in Arunachal against China’s hydropower project on Brahmaputra ‘Duare Sarkar’: Outreach Programme Amid concerns over China building of West Bengal begins a major hydropower project on the Benefits of at least 11 state government- Brahmaputra river in Tibet, India too run schemes will be made available to plans to construct a multipurpose eligible people at camps to be set up for reservoir in Arunachal Pradesh to offset ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at doorsteps) its impact. programme starting. The flagship T S Mehra, Commissioner (Brahmaputra schemes include the globally acclaimed and Barak), in the Jal Shakti ministry said ‘Kanyashree’ (a cash transfer scheme the multi-purpose 10,000 MW hydropower aimed at retaining girls in schools and project is under consideration. “This preventing their early marriage), besides project will help offset the impact of the ‘Khadya Sathi’( for ensuring that almost hydropower project by China. 90 per cent of the population comes According to a study, published in the under food security), ‘Sikshashree’ (one journal Nature Communications, the time grant given to SC and ST students long-term baseline conditions of the river,
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 29 National – Diary of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
which flows under a variety of names Centre constitutes AIPA committee through Tibet, India and Bangladesh. headed by Environment Secretary The Central Government has set up an Rajasthan CM inaugurates India’s Apex Committee for the Implementation first “Organ donor Memorial” of the Paris Agreement (AIPA) for On the occasion of 11th National Organ achieving its goals under the global deal. Donation Day celebration in Jaipur, The 17-member committee comprised of Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot inaugurated members from 13 key ministries of the virtually the first of its kind “Organ Union Government. Donor Memorial” in the country. The Union Ministry of Environment, Key points: Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) The organ donor memorial has been secretary R P Gupta will be the head built near SMS Hospital by the Mohan of this committee and the additional Foundation Jaipur Citizens Forum and secretary, MoEFCC, Ravi Shankar Prasad the Jaipur Municipal Corporation. will be the vice-chairperson. The memorial is inspired by the famous The Environment ministry has enlisted as Jantar Mantar of Jaipur and it was many as 16 functions for the APIA. designed by Sameer Wheaton. World’s Oldest Nanostructures Found First-ever Virtual Aadi Mahotsav with in 6th century BC Pottery rom Keeladi, focus on Madhya Pradesh Tamil Nadu The Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Scientists have discovered the oldest Shri Arjun Munda, launched the first- known human-made nano-materials in ever virtual edition of Aadi Mahotsav – the ‘Unique black coatings” of ancient Madhya Pradesh on 01 December 2020. pottery shards dated to 600 BC that were The 10-day long festival, will begin from unearthed from an archeological site in December 1, 2020. Keeladi, Tamil Nadu. The research was It is being hosted on the Tribes India published in the Journal Scientific Reports website – www.tribesindia.com. and the findings have been documented The main focus of the first virtual Aadi in a paper published in “Nature”. Mahotsav is on the tribal craft and culture In accordance with the research these of Madhya Pradesh. coatings are made of carbon manotubes The next focus state of the programme (CNTs) which have enabled the layer to would be Gujarat (from 11th December last more than2600 years. 2020), followed by West Bengal from the It should be noted that this discovery 21st December, 2020. has succeeded the old known carbon manostructure that was found in the Damascus blades from the 16th – 18th century.
30 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 National – Diary of Event
Notably the technique used in the Top 5 Police Stations for 2020 Damacusblades was also made in India. State District Police Station Manipur Thoubal Nongpok Maharashtra Government approves Sekmai proposal to rename all residential Tamil Nadu Salem City AWPS- colonies with caste-based names Suramangalam Maharashtra cabinet on December 2, 2020 approved a proposal seeking to rename Arunachal Changlang Kharsang all residential colonies having names Pradesh based on caste. Chhattisgarh Surajpur Jhilmili With this, all residential colonies with (Bhaiya Thana) names such as Brahman-wada, Mahar- Goa South Goa Sanguem wada, Dhor-vasti, Bouddh-wada, Mali- galli and Mang-wada will be given new The top 10 Police Stations were selected names such as Samata Nagar, Bhim from among the 16,671 Police Stations in Nagar, Jyotinagar, Shahunagar and the country through data analysis, direct Kranti Nagar. observation and public feedback. Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Aslam Sheikh said that these caste-based Ministry of AYUSH to develop Nisarg colonies were established during the Gram campus at Pune as the 21st British rule to divide people and it has Century abode of Naturopathy been now decided to rename them after Invoking recollections of Mahatma people who undertook social service for Gandhi’s famous Nature Cure campaign the country. of 1946 at the “Nisarg Upchar” Ashram in Uruli Kanchan village near Pune, Nongpok Sekmai in Manipur Adjudged the upcoming new campus of National as India’s Top Police Station for 2020 Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune will The Ministry of Home Affairs, be called “Nisarg Gram”. Government of India releases the list of Located at a distance of 15 Km from best performing Police Stations across the NIN’s present premises at Bapu Bhavan, country every year, to incentivize more the new Institution will be future-ready, effective functioning of police stations with many novelties and innovations and bring healthy competition among incorporated in the project per se and the them. curriculum of the Naturopathy courses.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 31 National – Diary of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
Parkash Singh Badal In this case, if Tamil is merged with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and other languages, the Central Institute of five-time former chief minister Parkash Classical Tamil Studies is also likely to Singh Badal returned the Padma merge with BPV. Vibhushan award in protest against the “betrayal of the farmers by the India to surpass 350 mn 5G government of India and the shocking connections by 2026 indifference and contempt with which In India, 5G subscriptions will surpass it is treating the ongoing peaceful and 350 million, accounting for 27 per cent of democratic agitation” of the farmers all mobile subscriptions in 2026, Swedish against the three farm Acts. gear maker Ericsson said in a report titled “Ericsson Mobility Report.” Upgrading the Indian Languages The projections come on the heels of Institute in Mysore as a University another Fitch Ratings report that said Central Government that 5G spectrum auction India could be The Central Institute of Indian Languages delayed if the government focused on a (CIIL) was established in 1969 in Mysore 4G auction next year. to study Indian languages. Globally, more than 1 billion people will The Hindi and English language have access to 5G coverage by the end of development institutes of the Central 2020. The report projects that four out of Government were upgraded to Central every ten mobile subscriptions in 2026 Universities. Attempts are also being will be 5G. made to transform CIIL into a Central University. It will be renamed as 7th WASH Conclave Bharathiya Pasha Vishwa Vidyalaya The 7th WASH (Water, Sanitation and (BPV) after its conversion to Central Hygiene) Conclave was organised in University. It is planned to combine virtual mode from 2 to 4 December 2020 languages with classical status into by organised by the UNICEF and the its departments. Although Telugu, National Institute of Rural Development Malayalam, Kannada and Oriya have and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR). the status of classical languages , they do The theme of the conclave was “Hygiene not have a separate research institute like Matters”. Tamil. Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan For Tamil, the Central Institute of Classical Harichandan was the Chief Guest at the Tamil Studies is set up in Chennai. After event. 13 years, the permanent director was The event had participants from Andhra hired just a few months ago. Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana to discuss key issues with particular focus on hygiene and create an opportunity
32 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 National – Diary of Event
for strengthening collaborations and two new zoos the Rajgir Zoo Safari in partnerships among institutions Nalanda, Bihar and Shaheed Ashfaque including government dealing with Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan in Gorakhpur, WASH and related programs across three Uttar Pradesh were granted recognition. states and districts The Government of India has set the Kanhargaon becomes 50th wildlife target to provide access to and use of sanctuary of Maharashtra safe and adequate drinking water to all Kanhalgaon, spread over 270sqkm in households within premises by 2024. Chandrapur district, is the latest to be declared a wildlife sanctuary. It will be the Renamed Kerala’s Rajiv Gandhi 50th wildlife sanctuary of Maharashtra. Centre for Biotechnology after late With the addition of the state’s RSS ideologue Golwalkar 50th wildlife sanctuary and 10 new The Modi government has decided to conservation reserves (CR), Maharashtra rename the second campus of Rajiv has expanded its protected area network Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) from 62 to 73 zones with over 10,000 sq in Kerala after late RSS ideologue M S km of the state now secured. Golwalkar. Tharu Tribals Government will set up an AYUSH The Uttar Pradesh government has Export Promotion Council recently launched a scheme to take the The Ministry of AYSUSH and the unique culture of the Tharu tribes all over Ministry of Commerce & Industry will the world. The intention of the scheme set up an Export Promotion Council for is to put these tribal villages on tourism increasing AYUSH export. map. This will create jobs and bring Both Ministry will work together for economic Independence to the tribal standardization, pricing and quality population in the region. of AYUSH products in order to boost The State Government of Uttar Pradesh AYUSH exports. is planning to connect the villages of the This decision was taken in a joint review Tharu tribals located in the International meeting of AYUSH trade and Industry. border of Nepal. It is a Homestay scheme under which the Uttar Pradesh Two new Zoos in Bihar and Uttar Forest Department will offer tourists an Pradesh granted recognition by experience of living in the natural habitat Central government of Tharu tribals. These huts are made of At the 37th General Body meeting of grass collected from the forest. Central Zoo Authority chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 33 National – Diary of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
PM Modi inaugurates virtual India Mumbai offers highest quality of life, Mobile Congress 2020 Chennai treats its women best: Study Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi IIT-Bombay researchers have come up inaugurated and addressed the virtual with an urban quality of life index tailored edition of the India Mobile Congress to the reality of life in India. And, for the (IMC) 2020 on 8th December 2020 through first time, they have factored in gender video conference. parity. Chennai, it turns out, is the most The theme for IMC 2020 is “Inclusive women-friendly and Patna the least. Innovation – Smart, Secure, Sustainable”. Overall, Mumbai tops the list of 14, The three day event will be held from 8th followed closely by Delhi, Kolkata and to 10th December 2020. Chennai. But so important is the gender IMC 2020 has been organised by the role index that quality of life rankings Department of Telecommunications, of six cities would have changed had it Government of India, and the Cellular not been considered — Delhi, Jaipur and Operators Association of India (COAI). Indore would have been ranked higher, The objective of IMC 2020 is to align and Mumbai, Bhopal and Lucknow with the Prime Minister’s vision to would have ceded their spots. promote ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, Only Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai ‘Digital Inclusivity’, and ‘Sustainable surpass the average score for gender development, entrepreneurship & index, while Indore, Jaipur and Patna are innovation’ and drive foreign and local way below average. investments, encourage R&D in the telecom and emerging technology sectors. Wi-Fi PM-Wani Connectivity The central government announced West Bengal cabinet approves three major plans to boost the economy. construction of ‘state’s first deep sea Two of them are connected to the digital port in Tajpur’ economy. Among these is a public Wi-Fi West Bengal Chief Miniter Mamata network access scheme ‘PM Vani’. The Banerjee announced that the state cabinet objective is to extend Wi-Fi network to has approved the construction of a deep every village. sea port in Tajpur. Tajpur Deep Sea Port will be built at a Cabinet approves undersea fibre link cost of Rs 15,000 crore and will generate between Lakshadweep islands and employment for 25,000 people. It will be Kochi the state’s first deep seaport. The Union Cabinet approved an undersea The concentration of iron and steel optical fibre cable link to connect 11 industries around Kharagpur will get a islands of Lakshadweep with Kochi boost by having a port at their doorstep for exports.
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in mainland India at an estimated cost and road traffic, which is 138 years old. of `1,072 crore, including operational Once this six-lane bridge is fully expenses for five years. operational, the traffic on NH-922 and The Lakshadweep-Kochi project was NH-30 will ease substantially. announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day this year. In The Second Cancer Genome Atlas August, Modi inaugurated India’s first Conference held in Delhi undersea cable line between Chennai and The Minister of Science and Technology Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and has actually held the second TCGA- Nicobar Islands. Cancer Genome Atlas 2020 conference in New Delhi. The conference brought Lakshadweep becomes 100% organic together scientists and clinicians from Lakshadweep has been declared the first all over the world to jointly establish the Union Territory to become 100% organic. Indian Cancer Genome Atlas (ICGA). The region opted for farming that is 100% Indian Cancer Genome Atlas (ICGA) organic and is without the use of synthetic aims to create an indigenous, open- fertilizers and pesticides. In 2016, Sikkim source and comprehensive database to was declared to be the first organic collect molecular profiles of all prevalent farming state in India. The certification cancers in the Indian population. to Lakshadweep for being 100% organic was given on the basis of the evidence India drops to 9th spot in global spam submitted by the administration. call tally, Gujarat gets max calls: Truecaller Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Indian mobile users saw a 34% decline in Inaugurates 1.5 km Koilwar bridge spam calls received in 2020, helping the over Sone river in Bihar country move lower to the ninth position The Union Minister for Road Transport in the tally of most spammed countries, and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari according to a report by Truecaller. Brazil inaugurated the 1.5 km long Koilwar continues to stay on top position. Bridge over Sone River in Bihar through Within India, Gujarat received the most Video Conferencing on 10 December spam calls in 2020.While India was at the 2020. fifth position in terms of number of spam The total cost of setting up this three- calls received by users in 2019. lane bridge is estimated at Rs 266 crore. Other countries in the top 10 tally are The bridge is major road for transport the US, Hungary, Polen (Poland), Spain, between Bihar and UP. Indonesia, the UK, Ukraine and Chile. This newly inaugurated bridge is a part of the six-lane bridge being made in place of existing two-lane bridge, for both rail
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 35 National – Diary of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
Prime Minister Narendra Modi CO2 emissions drop globally by 7 addresses International Bharati percent in 2020: Report Festival 2020 Virtually The global carbon dioxide emissions Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi reportedly dropped by 7 percent in the addressed the International Bharathi year 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Festival 2020 through video conferencing as per a study published in the journal on 11th December 2020. Earth System Science Data on December The festival was organised by Vanavil 10, 2020. Cultural Centre in Chennai to celebrate The study revealed that the Global Carbon the 138th birth anniversary of Mahakavi Project, which is a group of international Subramanya Bharathi, an eminent writer, scientists who track emissions, had poet and journalist from Tamil Nadu. calculated that the world will have put Prime Minister Narendra Modi also 37 billion US tons of carbon dioxide in conferred the 2020 Bharathi Award to the the air in 2020, which is down from 40.1 noted writer Seeni Viswanathan, who is billion US tons of CO2 emitted in 2019. credited with compiling the voluminous works of Bharathi in chronological order.. 5th India Water Impact Summit The Bharathi Award is conferred every Begins year since 1994, to eminent persons who The 5th India Water Impact Summit have done laudable service in any field of (IWIS) kicked off on 10th December 2020 social relevance. virtually. The five day programme will conclude on 15 December 2020. PM Narendra Modi to address FICCI’s The event was inaugurated by Ratan Lal 93rd AGM on Dec 12 Kataria, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prime Minister Narendra Modi will IWIS 2020 has been organised by the be delivering the inaugural address at National Mission for Clean Ganga FICCI’s 93rd Annual General Meeting and (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River annual convention at 11 am on December Basin Management and Studies (cGanga) 12, 2020. This year’s theme of the Annual to discuss water-related issues and steps Convention is “Inspired India”. taken to save the planet’s most precious The event will witness participation resource. from several ministers, bureaucrats, Objective of IWIS 2020 is Comprehensive diplomats, international experts and Analysis and Holistic Management of other leading luminaries. It will witness Rivers and Water Bodies. discussions between various stakeholders on the implications of COVID-19 on the economy and the way forward.
36 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 National – Diary of Event
AP CM virtually launches ‘Jagananna Health Minister releases 5th National JeevaKranthi’ scheme Family Health Survey for 17 states, 5 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. UTs Jagan Mohan Reddy virtually launched Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan ‘JaganannaJeevaKranthi’ scheme, under released the 5th National Family Health which 2.49 lakh units of sheep and goats Survey (NFHS) on December 12, 2020. The will be distributed to women in a phased survey comprises detailed information manner at a cost of `1,869 crore. on population, health and nutrition for The scheme aims at improving the living India and its states and union territories. standards of women with less investment. The Health Ministry stated that it is a Under the scheme, women belonging globally important data source and is to the Backward Classes, the Scheduled comparable to Demographic Health Castes (SCs), and the Scheduled Tribes Surveys (DHS) Programme of 90 other (STs) in the age group of 45-60 years countries on several key indicators. It can would get 2.49 lakh sheep and goat be used for cross country comparisons units. Each unit consists of 15 sheep or and development indices. goats (with one ram or billy) in each unit. The present National Family Health The State would facilitate and provide Survey NFHS is being conducted on 6.1 suggestions, in case the women want to lakh sample households. The first phase buy the sheep and goats on their own. of the survey comprises results of 17 states and five union territories. 9th Sustainable Mountain The states and UTs include Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Development Summit held in Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Dehradun Islands, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, The 9th edition of Sustainable Mountain Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Karnataka, Development Summit (SMDS) was Goa, Maharashtra, Telangana, West organized in virtual mode, on the Bengal, Mizoram, Kerala, Lakshadweep, occasion of International Mountain Day, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. from December 11 to December 14, 2020. The four-day-long summit was organised Maharashtra govt all set to launch by Indian Mountain Initiative (IMI) and ‘MahaSharad’ platform hosted by Sustainable Development Maharashtra’s Department of Social Forum Uttaranchal (SDFU), Dehradun. Justice is all set to launch an ambitious
The theme for 2020 SMDS was scheme for distribution of assistive ‘Emerging Pathways for Building a devices to lakhs of persons with Resilient Post COVID-19 Mountain disabilities through MahaSharad Digital Economy, Adaptation, Innovation and Platform to coincide with NCP chief Acceleration’. Sharad Pawar’s 80th birthday. It will be available on Play Store by March 2021.
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Maharashtra System for Health Guwahati as gateway to Southeast and Rehabilitation Assistance” or Asia MahaSharad platform has been created Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda to provide various devices to persons Sonowal announced that his government with disabilities free of cost through was working to transform Guwahati as a the Commissionerate for persons with gateway to Southeast Asia Disability.
Malana Cream Malana Cream is a type of hash, which comes from the Malana Valley in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. The Charas is the resin obtained from a species of the cannabis plant, which grows in the valley. The Narcotics Control Bureau has recently claimed that it has seized the smuggled ‘Malana Cream’. Charas was banned in India in 1986 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
NITI Aayog releases ‘Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India’ NITI Aayog has released a white paper titled ‘Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India’ on 14 December 2020. The ‘Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India’ is a continuation of the work on Health Systems Strengthening. Public health surveillance (PHS) is an important function, requiring primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of care. The white paper lays out India’s vision 2035 for public health surveillance through the integration of the three-tiered public health system into Ayushman Bharat.
38 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 International Affairs 7. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
World’s loneliest elephant moved The United States Environmental from Pakistan to Cambodia Protection Agency regards air quality An elephant described as the “world’s satisfactory if the AQI is under 50. loneliest” has landed in Cambodia Lahore’s AQI fell in the range of 301 after a seven-hour flight from Pakistan, and higher, which has been classified as receiving a warm welcome from Cher, “hazardous”. who will accompany him to a sanctuary housing potential mates. Singapore: first country to approve The case of Kaavan an overweight, sale of lab created meet 36-year-old bull elephant prompted A maker of meat and egg substitutes, global uproar from animal rights groups, has been approved to sell its laboratory- who petitioned for him to be moved from created chicken in Singapore, which an Islamabad zoo accused of substandard becomes the first government to allow care and conditions. the sale of cultured meat.
US Air Quality Index: Lahore is India Ranks 8th and Afghanistan world’s most polluted city Tops Global Terrorism Index 2020 Pakistan’s cultural capital Lahore has In the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2020, once again topped the list of world’s most India has been ranked at 8th spot globally polluted cities. in the list of countries most affected by “Lahore ranks the most polluted city in terrorism in 2019. the world,” according to air pollution The GTI score of India is 7.353 out of 10. data released by the US Air Quality Index With a score of 9.592, Afghanistan has According to the index, Lahore reported topped the index as the worst terror a particulate matter (PM) rating of 423. impacted nation among the 163 countries. Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi It is followed by Iraq (8.682) and ranked at 7 on the AQI. New Delhi came Nigeria (8.314) at second and third place in second with a PM of 229, while Nepal’s respectively. capital Kathmandu ranked the third- Regionally, South Asia was the most worst city with a PM of 178. impacted region by terrorism in 2019, recording more deaths than any other region.
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Also, globally the deaths caused due to The meeting is generally held in Davos, terrorism fell by 15 percent to 13,286 in Switzerland, but amid covid, the meeting 2019 over 2018. was first shifted to Lucerne-Burgenstock, The Global Terrorism Index is published Switzerland in October 2020. Now again annually by the Institute for Economics the venue has been shifted to Singapore. and Peace (IEP), headquartered in It would return to Davos, Switzerland, in Sydney, Australia, to measure the impact 2022. of terrorism on the countries.
India invites UK’s Johnson as 2021 Republic Day chief guest United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is expected to be the chief guest at 2021 Republic day with Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inviting him. Johnson, on his part, has invited PM Modi to the G-7 summit in the United Kingdom next year. The last British prime minister at the Republic Day parade was John Major in 1993.
World Economic Forum 2021 to be held in Singapore instead of Switzerland The World Economic Forum (WEF) has decided to host its 2021 annual meeting in Singapore, which earlier was scheduled to take place in Lucerne-Burgenstock, Switzerland from 13-16 May 2021. The decision to shift the annual forum from Switzerland has been taken in view of the Covid-19 situation in Europe. This would be the second time since its inception in 1971 that the forum will be held outside Switzerland. In 2002, the forum was held in New York to show solidarity with the American people in the aftermath of 9/11.
40 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020 Tamilnadu Affairs 8. TAMILNADU AFFAIRS
Sidbi, TN Govt sign MoU for MSME T.N. to constitute Commission for training programs collecting caste-wise data MSME financier Sidbi signs a Tamil Nadu government announced Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) setting up of a commission to examine with the Government of Tamil Nadu to methodologies to collect caste-wise set up a Project Management Unit (PMU) quantifiable data, in an attempt to that will design training and capacity nullify Pattali Makkal Katchi’s demand building programs. and protest for 20 per cent reservation The programs will be designed in areas for Vanniyars, who belong to the Most such as technology transfer, promotion of Backward Class. innovation, intellectual property rights, research & development, leveraging of Women judges up to 13 in Madras HC technology and technology solutions The Madras High Court retained its for enhancing business capabilities position as the High Court with the and collaborations between MSMEs & highest number of women judges. technology driven businesses, startups, The newly appointed judges sworn etc. in by Chief Justice AP Sahi this morning are Justices Govindarajulu Fruit processing plant set up at Chandrasekharan, AA Nakkiran, Karumanthurai farm near Salem Veerasamy Sivagnanam, Ganesan A fruit processing center has been set up Ilangovan, Ananthi Subramanian, at the Government Horticulture and Hill Kannammal Shanmuga Sundaram, Sathi Tracts Department in Karumanthurai, Kumar Sukumara Kurup, Murali Shankar Salem District. Through this, value added Kuppuraju. Manjula Ramaraju Nalliah products like jam, juice and pickles are and Thamilselvi T Valayapalayam. produced and sold directly.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 41 Tamilnadu Affairs Vetrii's Current Affairs, December - 2020
Recommendation to the Central Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami Government to unite 7 castes in the will inaugurate the scheme tomorrow name of Devendra Kulavelallar from the clinic in Sheik Mestri Street in Chief Minister Palanisamy announced Royapuram. that they are going to recommend to A total of 47 clinics would begin the Central Government to unite the 7 operations in Chennai from tomorrow castes and call them by the same name as and subsequent, they will be expanded Devendra Kulavelalaar . based on the need.
The 7 castes including Pallar, Kudumban, CM announced that Tamil Nadu would Pannadi, Kaladi, Kadayar , Devendra be having 2000 mini-clinics for attending Kulathan continued to insist on calling to minor ailments such as cold, cough him by the same name as Devendra and fever, and in the first phase, 630 mini- Kulavelar . clinics would operate across the State.
Ola to set up world’s largest scooter Health ministry’s telemedicine factory in Tamil Nadu at Rs 2,400 cr service eSanjeevani logs 1 million consultations The SoftBank-backed mobility platform Ola has signed a Memorandum of The Union Health Ministry’s national Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil telemedicine initiative eSanjeevani Nadu government, to set up its first completed a million consultations. factory in the state, at an investment of Rs The top ten States with highest 2,400 crore. consultations through eSanjeevani are Upon completion, the Ola factory in Tamil Nadu (319507), Uttar Pradesh Tamil Nadu will be the largest scooter (2,68,889), Madhya Pradesh (70,838), manufacturing facility in the world. Gujarat (63,601), Kerala (62,797), Initially, the factory will have an annual Himachal Pradesh (49,224), Andhra manufacturing capacity of 2 million units. Pradesh (39,853), Karnataka (32,693), The factory is in line with Prime Uttarakhand (31,910) and Maharashtra Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an (12,635). AtmaNirbhar Bharat, and will make India a manufacturing hub for two-wheeler electric vehicles.
50 mini-clinics in Chennai to begin operations from December 14 Close to 50 mini-clinics in Chennai across the 15 zones of the Corporation.
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