VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE TNPSC Current Affairs DECEMBER - 2020 An ISO 9001 : 2015 Institution | Providing Excellence Since 2011 Head Office Old No.52, New No.1, 9th Street, F Block, 1st Avenue Main Road, (Near Istha siddhi Vinayakar Temple), Anna Nagar East – 600102. Phone: 044-2626 5326 | 98844 72636 | 98844 21666 | 98844 32666 Branches SALEM KOVAI No.189/1, Meyanoor Road, Near ARRS Multiplex, (Near Salem New No.347, D.S.Complex (3rd floor), Nehru Street,Near Gandhipuram bus Stand), Opp. Venkateshwara Complex, Salem - 636004. Central Bus Stand, Ramnagar, Kovai - 9 0427-2330307 | 95001 22022 75021 65390 Educarreerr Location Vivekanandha Educational Institutions for Women, Elayampalayam, Tiruchengode - TK Namakkal District - 637 205. 04288 - 234670 | 91 94437 34670 Patrician College of Arts and Science, 3, Canal Bank Rd, Gandhi Nagar, Opposite to Kotturpuram Railway Station, Adyar, Chennai - 600020. 044 - 24401362 | 044 - 24426913 Sree Saraswathi Thyagaraja College Palani Road, Thippampatti, Pollachi - 642 107 73737 66550 | 94432 66008 | 90951 66009 www.vetriias.com My Dear Aspirants, Greetings to all of you! “What we think we become” Gautama Buddha. We all have dreams. To make dreams come into reality it takes a lot of determination, dedication, self discipline and continuous effort. We at VETRII IAS Study Circle are committed to provide the right guidance, quality coaching and help every aspirants to achieve his or her life’s cherished goal of becoming a civil servant. The class room coaching at VETRII IAS Study Circle is meticulously planned to equip the aspirants with all the relevant facts and fundamentals of the subjects. Further the VETRII IAS Study Circle Study materials aim to support the candidate by providing the most relevant study material in a comprehensive manner. Wishing You All The Very Best !! DIRECTOR (M.Shunmugam) Vetrii IAS Study Circle. Published by VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE F Block New No. 1, 9th Street, 1st Avenue main Road, Chinthamani, Anna Nagar (E), Chennai – 102. Phone: 044 – 26265326 / 9600124042 / 9840097666 www.vetriias.com E-Mail: [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected] Feedback: [email protected] © All rights reserved with the publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmit- ted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, will be responsible for the loss and may be punished for compensation under copyright act. INDEX 01 01 - 19 HISTORY . Important Days . Defence National Security and Terrorism . World Organisations – Pacts and Summits . Eminent Persons . Sports and Games . Books & Authors . Awards & Honours . India & its Neighbours .Appointments – Who is who? 20 20 POLITICAL SCIENCE .Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility 21 GEOGRAPHY 21 .Policy on Environment and Ecology 22 - 23 ECONOMICS .New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector 22 24 24 - 29 SCIENCE .Latest Inventions in Science & Technology . Mass Media & Communication 30 NATIONAL – DIARY OF 30 EVENTS 43 43 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 46 TAMIL NADU AFFAIRS 46 VETRII'S CURRENT AFFAIRS, DECEMBER - 2020 Important Days History 1.1 Important Days Date Day Theme / Remark In India, Vijay Diwas (also called Victory Day) is celebrated every year on December 16. The country is celebrating the 49th Vijay Diwas in 2020. Vijay Diwas is observed to commemorate the service, valour, Nation Observes 49th 16-12-2020 and sacrifices of the gallant men of Vijay Diwas the Indian Armed Forces’ victory over Pakistan in 1971 war. On 16 December 1971, the Indian Armed Forces won the 13-day long decisive war against the Pakistan Army and state for the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan. International Migrants Theme 2020 : ‘Reimagining Human 18-12-2020 Day Mobility’. VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE 1 Important Days VETRII'S CURRENT AFFAIRS, DECEMBER - 2020 When: The Minorities Rights Day is observed in India every year on December 18 since 1992. Why: Protect the existence of the National or Ethnic, Cultural, Religious and Linguistic identity of minorities 18-12-2020 Minorities Rights Day within their respective territories and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity. The Day was promulgated by United Nations on December 18, 1992 to strengthen the cause of the minorities. The Goa Liberation Day is observed on December 19 in India. 2020 marks the 60th Goa Liberation Day. The Day is celebrated to commemorate the great valour of the Indian armed forces in freeing Goa from around 450 years of Portuguese rule. 19-12-2020 Goa Liberation Day Goa was liberated on December 19, 1961. The 36-hour military operation, conducted from December 18, 1961, was code-named ‘Operation Vijay’ meaning ‘Operation Victory,’ and involved attacks by the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Army. 2 VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE VETRII'S CURRENT AFFAIRS, DECEMBER - 2020 Important Days India observes the National Mathematics Day every year on 22 December since 2012 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. 2020 marks the 133rd birth anniversary of Ramanujan. National Mathematics 22-12-2020 The day was announced on 26 Day February 2012 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (22 Dec 1887- 26 Apr 1920). 2012 was also observed as National Mathematics Year. National Farmer’s Day (Kisan Diwas) is observed every year on December 23 in India to remember the role of Indian farmers in the economy. The day was first celebrated in 2001. The day is observed to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minster India Observes National 23-12-2020 Chaudhary Charan Singh. Farmer’s Day He brought farmer-friendly policies and worked towards the welfare of the farmers. Chaudhary Charan Singh was the fifth Prime Minister of India and served the country as Prime Minister from 28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980. VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE 3 Important Days VETRII'S CURRENT AFFAIRS, DECEMBER - 2020 National Consumer Day: December 24 2020 Theme: “Sustainable Consumer”. It was on this day that the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was enacted. The Act aims to provide consumers 24-12-2020 National Consumer Day with effective safeguards against different types of exploitation, such as defective goods, deficiency in services and unfair trade practices. In India, Good Governance Day (Sushasan Divas) is observed annually on December 25 to commemorate the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018). 25-12-2020 Good Governance Day Good Governance Day was established in 2014 by the newly elected administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to foster awareness among the Indian people of accountability in government. 4 VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE VETRII'S CURRENT AFFAIRS, DECEMBER - 2020 Defence, National Security and Terrorism 1.2 Defence, National Security Guard. It was commissioned by Surat Police Commissioner Ajay Tomar. and Terrorism This interceptor boat is built indigenously by L&T Jetty, Hazira. It is capable of a high speed of 45 knots having the capability to Indian Coast Guard’s OPV ‘Sujeet’ operate in shallow waters. commissioned in Goa; Indian Coast Guard’s (ICG) Offshore India’s First Maritime Theatre Patrol Vessel (OPV) ‘Sujeet’, which Command is second in the series of 5 OPVs was The first Maritime Theatre Command commissioned at the Goa Shipyard (MTC) of India is to be launched in 2021. Limited (GSL) in Vasco Town, Goa by Raj The MTC will look after the 7,516-km long Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production). coastline, the entire Indian Ocean Region The vessel has been designed and built and the 1,382 islands. This is important indigenously by GSL. to counter Chinese ever-expanding naval The 1st ship in series – ICGS Sachet foot-print in the Indian Ocean Region. was commissioned by Union Defence China has the largest Navy with 350 Minister Rajnath Singh in May, 2020. warships and submarines. The ship is 105 metres long and weights 2400 tonnes. About Maritime Theatre Command Equipped with features like Integrated The MTC will subsume the Western Bridge System, Integrated platform Naval Command (Mumbai), tri-service management system, power management Andaman and Nicobar Command system and high power external (Port Blair), Eastern Naval Command fire-fighting. (Vizag) and the southern Air Command The ship will be based at Goa and will be (Thiruvananthapuram). deployed extensively for EEZ (Exclusive Background Economic Zone) surveillance and other India currently has seventeen single- duties. service commands. It includes seven The 1st ship in series – ICGS Sachet Army commands, three Navy commands was commissioned by Union Defence and seven Indian Air Force commands. Minister Rajnath Singh in May, 2020. Only two existing tri service command came up after 1999 Kargil war. The Indigenously-built Coast Guard Andaman and Nicobar command was set interceptor boat C-454 commissioned up as a geographical command in October The interceptor boat C-454, built by 2001. The nuclear arsenal command came Larsen and Toubro at its Hazira plant, up in January 2003. will operate from Gujarat under the control of the Commander Coast Guard Region North-West of the Indian Coast VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE 5 Defence, National Security and Terrorism VETRII'S CURRENT AFFAIRS, DECEMBER - 2020 Defence minister Rajnath Singh Mig-29 and Mig-29K. hands over 3 DRDO high-tech systems ASTRA weapon system has been to chiefs of 3 armed forces developed by Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) and The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh production by Bharat Dynamics Limited recently handed over three indigenously (BDL) Hyderabad. developed high technology systems to chiefs of the three armed forces: the India Successfully Test-Fires Medium Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Range Surface-To-Air Missile For Indian Air Force. Army The three systems namely, Border Surveillance System (BOSS), Indian India today successfully test-fired a Maritime Situational Awareness System medium range surface-to-air missile (IMSAS) and ASTRA Mk-I Missile, have (MRSAM) from Odisha coast.