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1. India's First Solar-Powered Miniature Train launched in Kerala  A solar energy-driven miniature train, billed as the country's first of its kind, was inaugurated at the Veli Tourist Village in Thiruvananthapuram by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.  The train, which would be an attraction for children especially, was part of a string of projects totally worth ₹ 60 crore taken up to elevate the facilities at the panoramic destination to international standards.

2. Enhanced version of PINAKA rocket system successfully flight tested  Enhanced PINAKA rocket, developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been successfully flight tested from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.  Development of Enhanced Pinaka system was taken up to achieve longer range performance compared to earlier design with reduced length.  Note: A total of six rockets were launched in quick succession and the tests met complete mission objectives. Enhanced version of the Pinaka rocket would replace the existing Pinaka Mk-I rockets.

3. IBM, Indian Oil Corporation collaborate for digital services  IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) has collaborated with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) to transform the latter's customer experience using digital tools.  The Indian Oil One mobile app and portal are part of Indian Oil's Project ePIC, an integrated platform for Customer Relationship Management and Distribution Management System.  This platform ensures real-time updates to inventory, orders, and invoices, thereby reducing the time to order fulfillment.  'Project ePIC' (Electronic Platform for Indian Oil customers) is the most prominent digital transformation project managed by IBM globally, in terms of its scale, in the chemicals and petroleum industry.

4. Annual State of Education Report (ASER) 2020  As per ASER, survey conducted in September across the country, about 20% of rural children have no textbooks at home. About one in three rural children had done no learning activity at all. About two in three had no learning materials or activity given by their school, and only one in ten had access to live online classes.  It found that 5.3% of rural children aged 6-10 years had not yet enrolled in school this year, in comparison to just 1.8% in 2018. Among 15-16-year-olds, however, enrolment levels are actually slightly higher than in 2018. Enrolment patterns also show a slight shift toward government schools, with private schools seeing a drop in enrolment in all age groups.  Note: ASER is a nationwide survey of rural education and learning outcomes in terms of reading and arithmetic skills that has been conducted by the NGO Pratham for the last 15 years.

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5. 15 States identified for implementing centrally sponsored pilot scheme on Fortification of Rice & its distribution through Public Distribution System  Department of Food & Public Distribution has approved the pilot scheme for a period of three years beginning 2019-2020. Fifteen State Governments have identified their respective districts (1 district per state) for implementing the pilot scheme.  Already 5 states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh have started the distribution of fortified rice in their respective identified districts.  Note: The fortified rice is a mixture of iron, vitamin B-12 and folic acid enriched fortified rice kernel (FRK), which meet the nutritional requirements in the diet and thereby help in controlling malnutrition and anemia.

6. Dilip Rath elected to International Dairy Federation board (IDF)  National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Chairman Dilip Rath has been elected to the board of global dairy body International Dairy Federation.  Rath has been associated with IDF for the last 10 years as Member Secretary of Indian National Committee and as a member of the Standing Committee on Dairy Policy and Economics.  Note: International Dairy Federation (IDF) is an international non- governmental, non-profit association having members from national committees constituted by dairy organisations in each country.

7. SaarLorLux Open 2020 (Germany)  List of winners Women's Women's Men's singles Men's doubles Mixed doubles singles doubles Winner- Winner- Winner- Winner- Winner- Toma Junior Kirsty Gilmour Jeppe Bay, , Mathias Popov Lasse Moelhede Christiansen, Runner-up- Runner-up- Alexandra Boje Runner-up- Daniel Runner-up- Runner-up- Mark Caljouw Lundgaard, Amalie Mark Lamsfuss, Mathias Thyrri Magelund, Isabel Herttrich Freja Ravn

8. COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge Award  Six women led startups have won COVID-19 Shri Shakti.  The Jury selected top 3 entries as winners, 3 additional entries as Promising Solutions.  Top 3 winners: (i) Dr. P. Gayatri Hela (Bengaluru-based Resada Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd). (ii) Romita Ghosh (Shimla-based iHeal HealthTech Pvt. Ltd).

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(iii) Dr. Anjana Ramkumar and Dr. Anushka Ashokan(Kerala based Thanmatra Innovations Pvt. Ltd).  Top 3 Startups identified as ‘Promising Solutions’: (i) Vasanthi Palanivel (Bengaluru-based Seragen BioTherapeutics Pvt. Ltd). (ii) Shivi Kapil (Bengaluru-based Empathy Design Labs). (iii) Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar (STREAM Minds).  Note: COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge was launched by MyGov in collaboration with UN Women in April 2020. It aims to encourage and involve women led startups to come up with innovative solutions that can help in the fight against COVID19 or solve problems that impact a large number of women,

9. Dr. Susanta Kar honoured with “Prof. A N Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award-2020"  Dr. Kar is a Senior Scientist, Molecular Parasitology and Immunology, CSIR- CDRI, Lucknow.  This award is given by Society of Biological Chemists (India) for his work of defining the survival tactics of Leishmania donovani.  Note: Society of Biological Chemists (India) SBC (I) has instituted many awards, in order to recognize the meritorious and significant contributions made by the researchers/scientists on the development of biological sciences in the country, SBC (I) was founded in 1930, with its Head Quarters at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

10. Former Bihar Chief Minister Satish Prasad Singh passed away  Singh had served as the state chief minister for five days, between January 28 and February 1, 1968.