Current Affair of November 2020

National

1. The Indian and Canadian Archaeologists have found that dairy products were produced by Harappans even before 2500 BCE. The year 2020 marks the 100 years of discovery of Indus Valley Civilization. The study was conducted based on molecular chemical analysis. The analysis of residue in pottery found in Kotada Bhaldi, Gujarat showed traces of boiled milk. Also, the study has discovered that large quantity of milk was present. This gives clues that there might have been milk trade between different settlements.

2. The IISc and the Indian Oil Corporation Research and Development Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop biomass gasification-based Hydrogen Generation Technology to produce Fuel Cell Grade Hydrogen at an affordable price. The technology being envisaged under the programme will provide clean energy option to address the challenge of biomass waste. The technology is to be demonstrated at the Indian Oil Research and Development Centre at Faridabad. The hydrogen generated from this demonstration plant is to be used to power fuel cell buses of bigger projects of Indian Oil.

3. The UNESCO has recently included Panna National Park of Madhya Pradesh under its list of Biosphere reserves. Along with Panna, Fuvahmulahand Addu Atoll of Maldives was also included under the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The UNESCO, under its Man and Biosphere programme has included Panna Biosphere region as one of its Biosphere Reserve. Panna National park was included as biosphere reserve by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest.

4. On November 1, 2020, the Union Minister of Development of the North Eastern Region Shri Jitendra Singh inaugurated the Mansar Lake Development Plan in Jammu and Kashmir. The plan is to attract more than 20 lakh tourists every year. It is expected to generate employment of 1.15 crores of man-days. In all, the project will generate Rs 800 crores of revenue. The lake is to be rejuvenated and renovated on the lines of Ganga river cleaning project. Along with Lake Mansar, River Devika of Jammu and Kashmir is also to be renovated and rejuvenated. Together, these two projects are to be implemented at a cost of Rs 200 crores.

5. Every year, the United Nations marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2. Between 2006 and 2019, more than 1,200 journalists have been killed. The recent assassination of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 kindled worldwide criticism and scrutiny of the Saudi Government. The date of November 2nd was chosen to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against journalists to commemorate the assassination of French journalists in Mali in 2013.

6. The BRICS Business Forum was held recently through video conferencing. The BRICS Business council held the forum. The council was formed in 2013 summit in Durban. Since its establishment, the primary task of BRICS Business council is to increase trade and investment among the member countries of BRICS. Russia chaired the meet as it is currently holding the rotating leadership of BRICS. Around 90 speakers from the member countries participated at the forum. One of the main tasks of the council is to update the Strategy for Economic Partnership of BRICS. The plan focuses on business-to-business engagements to create transactions and explore investment opportunities among member countries.

7. On the eve of Statehood Day celebrations, on November 1, 2020, the State Government of Chhattisgrah launched Fortified Rice Distribution Scheme. The scheme was launched to reduce malnutrition and anaemia. Under the scheme, fortified rice is distributed through fair price shops. The fortified rice is a mixture of Vitamin-B12, iron and folic acid. It helps to control malnutrition and anaemia.

8. On November 2, 2020, the Ganga Utsav was begun virtually. The festival is to continue till November 4, 2020. The Ganga Task Force as a part of celebration conducted afforestation drives with NCC cadets. The Ganga Utsav is being organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga celebrating the 12th anniversary of declaring River Ganges as National river. The event was organised jointly by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

9. On November 2, 2020, the Government of India released Rs 2,200 crores to 15 states to improve Air Quality Measures. The air quality improvement measures are to be executed in more than million plus cities. The amount was released based on the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. The fund will help states undertake air quality measures and capacity building in local bodies. The amount was released to states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

10. The State Government of Tamil Nadu recently notified that it will grant 100% motor vehicle tax exemption for Electric Vehicles. Earlier, the State Government had issued orders for 50% concessional rate to EV taxes. It has now been made to 100%. The State Government has exempted taxes to both transport and non-transport vehicles. The State Government is already providing incentives to attract investments. The Tamil Nadu Government provides 100% GST reimbursement and 50% capital subsidy to the EV manufacturing units. The plan is to set up an EV park through these incentives. The park is to be set up in 300 acres of land.

11. On November 2, 2020, the Chief Minister of Assam, Sabananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of Indo-Israeli Centre of Excellence for vegetables Protected Cultivation in Khetri in the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam. The centre will provide exposure to the latest Israeli technologies to the farmers of the state. It will help them in maximising their production. The centre is to provide a major boost to agricultural and horticultural production in Assam. The aim is to double farmers’ income in the region through infusion of technology in agribusiness, agriculture and food processing.

12. The State Government of Tamil Nadu recently notified that it will grant 100% motor vehicle tax exemption for Electric Vehicles. Earlier, the State Government had issued orders for 50% concessional rate to EV taxes. It has now been made to 100%. The Electric Vehicle Park is expected to create 150,000 jobs in the state. The State Government recently signed Memorandum of Understandings worth Rs 30,664 crores. Of this, Rs 3,500 crores are from auto sector. The plan is to set up the park through the MoUs signed. The park will be first of its kind in India.

13. The World Wide Fund Water Risk Filter Report says that nearly 30 Indian cities are likely to face acute water risks. This includes Jaipur, Amritsar, Indore, Srinagar, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam and Kozhikode. Of these cities Jaipur topped the list. It was followed by Indore, Thane, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. The report defines “water risk” as battling between flooding and droughts.

14. The Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan recently released the report prepared by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). The report was titled “Estimating the Economic Benefits of Investment in Monsoon Mission and High-Performance Computing Facilities”. According to the report, 1000 crores of investment in High Performance computing facilities in India will bring in 50,000 crores of benefits. This is to mainly get reflected in livelihood of 1.07 crores of people Below Poverty Line and 53 lakhs Below Poverty Line fisher folk households.

15. On November 5, 2020, Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi chaired the Global Investor Roundtable Conference. The conference witnessed the participation of twenty of the world largest Sovereign Wealth Funds and pension. These participants owned total assets of more than 6 billion USD. The main focus of discussion at the conference was about the vision of GoI in becoming a 5 trillion USD economy.

16. On November 5, 2020, the first India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave was held virtually. India was represented by External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar. The Conclave was jointly hosted by Ministry of External Affairs and Confederation of Indian Industry. The Conclave focused on clean technologies and renewable energies, Artificial Intelligence, supply chain logistics and block chain led transformation.

17. On November 4, 2020, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a number of initiatives for the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and refugee population. This included land pattas and setting up of cultural and development boards. The initiatives have included all the refugees in the colonies spread across the state. Around 1,25,000 land pattas are to be provided. The State Government will also provide 25,000 land pattas to the refugees.

18. The “Go Electric” campaign was launched by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in coordination with the Andhra Pradesh State Energy Conservation Mission. The Andhra Pradesh State Government is to set up 400 Electric Vehicle charging vehicles all over the state to promote the usage of electric vehicles. This is to be achieved in coordination with the “Go Electric” campaign of BEE.

19. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is to set up a committee to review the existing guidelines of Television Rating Agencies. The committee has been formed with four members under the chairmanship of CEO of Prasar Bharti Sashi Shekar Vempati. The other three members of the committee include Rajkumar Upadhyaya (Executive Director of C-Dot), Dr Shalabh, Professor of Statistics from IIT Kanpur and Professor Pulak Ghosh of Decision Sciences Centre for Public Policy.

20. On May 27, 2020, a major or fire broke out at Baghjan oil well of Oil India Limited. The fire couldn’t be put off till date. A Snubbing Unit from Canada is being brought to put off the fire. The Katakey Panel was set up by National Green Tribunal to provide a report about the accident. BP Katakey is a retired Guwahati High Court Judge.

21. The scientists have discovered a massive detached coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. It is the first to be discovered in 120 years. The reef is taller than the Empire State Building of the United States. The reef was discovered by the Australian Scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute. They were on an exploration in the Falkor vessel around Australia. The team was conducting underwater mapping of the Great Barrier Reef Seafloor.

22. Every year, the International Day for Preventing the exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict is marked on November 6. The resolution to celebrate the day was passed in 2001. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, a least 40% of internal conflicts are linked to the exploitation of natural resources in the last 60 years.

23. On November 5, 2020, the fourth high level meeting of India-OPEC Energy Dialogue was held virtually. India was represented by the Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The dialogue is being held since 2015. During the dialogue, India pressed for assessing COVID-19 induced disruptions of oil supply. India during the meet urged OPEC to address the anomalies prevalent in differential crude oil prices fixed by the OPEC members for different regions.

24. The East and West Coasts of India are prone to cyclones with maximum hazards such as winds, storm surge and heavy winds. However, this October 2020 missed such events during this monsoon. Around 80 cyclones are formed around the world every year. Out of these, five are formed in Arabian Sea or Bay of Bengal. They are together known as the North Indian Ocean. The cyclones in North Indian Ocean are bi-modal in nature. This means that they occur during two seasons, that is, in April-June and October-December.

25. On November 7, 2020, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) announced that it will start providing Malaria outbreak forecast from next monsoon. Also, it announced that India is to ramp up its high performance computing facility. Under this the existing capacity of 10 petaflop is to be increased to 40 petaflops. According to the recently released NCAER report titled "estimating the economic benefits of investment in monsoon mission and high performance computing facilities", the investment in high-performance computing facilities is to bring 50 times benefits and profits.

26. Every year India observes National Cancer Awareness Day on November 7. Cancer is the second leading cause of death according to the World Health Organization. The day was first observed in 2014. It coincided with the birth anniversary of scientist Marie Curie. She won the nobel prize for discovering radium and plutonium. She was the first woman to win Nobel prize. Marie Curie died as she was exposed to large amounts of radiation.

27. The scientists from Zhejiang University have reported in their study that the percentage of tarballs has increased in the Himalayan region and this is increasing the glacial melt in the region. Tarballs are carbonaceous particles. They are capable of absorbing even small light. They are formed due to the burning ot fossil fuels and biomass. They deposit and ice and snow. This increases their light absorbing capability that hastens the glacial melting.

28. Every year on November 9, the Uttarakhand Day is celebrated. It is also called as Uttarakhand Divas or Uttarakhand State Foundation Day. In 2020, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Rawat is to inaugurate hot air balloon festival in Mussorie. Apart from the hot air balloon celebrations, the state is also organizing Majestic Uttarakhand photo exhibitions and ‘Heal with Wheels’.

29. The Wildlife Institute of India recently released a survey on the Ganges river. According to the survey, 49% of the river is high on biodiversity. These are results of phase I of the survey. The second survey is to be conducted shortly. The Gangetic Dolphins and Otters in the river have increased in numbers. This indicates that the pollution level in the river has decreased and the river is in healthy state.

30. Every year, the World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated to ensure that citizens are kept well informed about the developments of science. This year the day is celebrated under the following theme The Goal 17 of SDG aims to enhance north-south, south-south and triangular regional cooperation through development of science and technology.

31. The recent murder in Faridabad’s Ballabhgarh has again ignited discussions over the forced religious conversions. In the last few years, it is a topic of major debate that girls of a particular community are forced to convert their religion and there is a need to curb it. After the murder of a girl in broad daylight, Haryana’s Home Minister Anil Vij has highlighted that the state government is looking over the possibility of making a new law for forced conversions. Not only this, but Vij has also sought information about a similar law already in place in Himachal Pradesh- Anti Conversion Law.

32. On November 9, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated various development projects in Varanasi through video conferencing. The total cost of these projects is Rs 614 crores. The projects inaugurated includes sound show, Sarnath Light, Sewerage related works, infrastructure protection for conservation of cows, agriculture produce warehouse, multipurpose seed storehouse, Varanasi city smart lighting works, 102 Gau Ashray Kendras, 105 Anganwadi Kendras.

33. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has renamed the Ministry of Shipping to Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on November 8, 2020. PM Modi announced the renaming of the ministry at the inaugural virtual event of Ro-Pax terminal at Surat’s Hazira. He also flagged-off the Ro-Pax ferry service between Hazira and Ghogha in Gujarat in the event. This ferry service between Hazira and Ghogha will reduce the distance of 370 km to 90 km by seat route. Also, the journey time is now reduced to 3-4 hours from 10-12 hours earlier.

34. Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the country’s first solar-based Integrated Multi-Village Water Supply Project (IMVWSP) in Arunachal Pradesh. While dedicating the project, Shekhawat said that the project is as per the vision of PM Modi for the utilization of multiple resources. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Pema Khandu was also present at the event. Pema Khandu also launched the “Arunachal Jal Sankalp” programme in this event. This is a state-government programme to supplement Jal Jeevan Mission.

35. The Haryana Government passed a bill on November 6 which provides a right to recall an elected member of Panchayati Raj Institutions if they fail to perform their duties well. The state government also provided 50% reservation to women in these bodies. This bill will help in increasing the accountability of Panchayat members to the voters as now they can be removed from their posts if they do not perform well. It is a significant bill passed by the state government and can prove very effective in development in rural areas.

36. The recent murder in Faridabad’s Ballabhgarh has again ignited discussions over the forced religious conversions. In the last few years, it is a topic of major debate that girls of a particular community are forced to convert their religion and there is a need to curb it. After the murder of a girl in broad daylight, Haryana’s Home Minister Anil Vij has highlighted that the state government is looking over the possibility of making a new law for forced conversions. Not only this, but Vij has also sought information about a similar law already in place in Himachal Pradesh- Anti Conversion Law.

37. The Wildlife Institute of India recently released a survey on the Ganges river. According to the survey, 49% of the river is high on biodiversity. These are results of phase I of the survey. The second survey is to be conducted shortly. The Gangetic Dolphins and Otters in the river have increased in numbers. This indicates that the pollution level in the river has decreased and the river is in healthy state.

38. The Fifteenth Finance Commission headed by N K Singh is to submit its report the President of India. The Finance Commission had recommended to set up Modernisation of Defence and Internal Security Fund. The fund is to be called Rashtriya Suraksha Naivedya Kosh. The fund is to add up to Rs 2.4 lakh crores by 2021-26. Of this, Rs 1.5 lakh crore is to be directly transferred to Consolidated Fund of India.

39. The Pakistan Gurudwara body, PSGPC (Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee) is to celebrate the first anniversary of the inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor. The Corridor connects Dera Baba Nanak in India with Gurudwara Darbar Sahib. The corridor is closed from Indian side due to COVID-19 pandemic. Every year, around 3000 people from India reach the site to commemorate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

40. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently announced that the Earth Mass has deviated in August 2020 as compared to that of 2004-09. According to NASA, the sea level increase may be due to the change in earth mass. The change in earth mass is mainly caused due to land movement relative to sea. The changes in land movement was more in snow- and ice-covered regions. This is because, here the ice cover is disappearing. In other words, here the surface mass of the earth is being lost.

41. Australia-India Water Centre (AIWC) has been inaugurated in a virtual event. This Water Centre is led by IIT Guwahati from Indian side and University of Western Sydney from the Australian side. Along with this, the centre has 21 partners from India and Australia. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Scott Morrison gave a joint declaration in a virtual summit in June 2020 that “Water security” is a major challenge for both the countries and decided to strengthen the technical and policy cooperation to improve the management of water and sustainable development. With this view, different universities, business partners and research organisations from both the countries committed to form Australia-India Water Centre (AIWC).

42. The Ministry of Power, Government of India has released an official notification that mandates all the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) to comply Energy Conservation (EC) Act, 2001. As per the official notice, all the DISCOMs will now be governed under the various provisions of EC Act like Energy Accounting & Auditing, Implementation of energy conservation & efficiency measures, identification of Energy Losses, Appointment of Energy Manager, etc.

43. On November 11, 2020, the Vice President Venkaiah Naidu announced the second National Water Awards. Tamil Nadu won the first place followed by Maharashtra and Rajasthan at second and third places respectively. The National Water Awards were launched in 2007. The main objective of the award is to encourage stakeholders and individuals to adopt innovative groundwater augmentation practices.

44. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration along with the University of Maryland released a report on health of coral reefs in US Virgin Islands and in Hawaii and Guam in the Pacific. The study has found that only 2% coral reefs are left alive along the coasts of Florida. This is the first time, a nation-wide coral assessment is being held in the US. The report classified the regions as very good, good, fair, impaired and critical. Most of the coral reefs in the US, according to the report, were fair.

45. Amur Falcons are long distance migratory birds. They arrive in Manipur and Nagaland for roosting. They are Siberian birds that reach the North East for about two months at the onset of winter. After winter, they leave for South Africa. They traverse over 29,000 km migratory route between Siberia and South Africa. In October 2019, around five birds were satellite tagged. These satellite tagged birds have reached to Manipur village again in 2020 after traversing 29,000 km. The satellite tagging project was begun after mass killing of the birds in 2015. With the funds from Wildlife Institute of India and Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change, the Manipur forest Department is implementing the project.

46. Every year, India celebrates National Education Day on November 11. It is also called Rashtriya Shiksha Diwas. The day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. He was the first Education Minister of India. In 2008, the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced November 11 as the National Education Day. The ministry was recently renamed as Ministry of Education. The ministry in 2020 has Ministry of Education has organised National Education Day programmes at IIT Bombay. The programme mainly discussed about the National Education Policy, 2020.

47. Every year, World Pneumonia Day is celebrated on November 12 by World Health Organization, UNICEF and several other international organizations. The first World Pneumonia Day was marked in 2019 by Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia. The Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia called GAPP was released by WHO and UNICEF in 2009. According to GAPP, around 1 million children can be saved every year if treatment and prevention of pneumonia is widely introduced in poorest countries of the world.

48. On November 11, 2020, the Election commission of India announced election results for the state of Bihar. The NDA has won absolute majority winning 125 seats. According to the Election commission of India, BJP won 72 seats, the JDU won 42 and the RJD had won 75 seats. Congress contested in 70 constituencies and won in 19. The LJP party of Chirag Paswan won just one seat. Chirag Paswan is the son of Ram Vilas Paswan, Ram Vilas Paswan was the former minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. He recently passed away due to health issues.

49. Punjab had revoked/withdrawn the general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). From now, CBI will have to take permission from the state government to investigate any case. This comes within a week after Jharkhand and Kerala decided to withdraw the general consent to CBI. The Punjab government released an official notification on November 8 stating that prior consent of the state government will be required by CBI to probe any case.

50. IIT Alumni Council has launched “MegaScope” for personalized healthcare. MegaScope has been launched to include testing, data analysis and genomics to precisely diagnose infections and to prescribe personalised medicines. MegaScope will add host genome data mapping along with Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and data backbone to the MegaLab initiative.

51. Punjab had revoked/withdrawn the general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). From now, CBI will have to take permission from the state government to investigate any case. This comes within a week after Jharkhand and Kerala decided to withdraw the general consent to CBI.

52. India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) report on ‘Deepening Cooperation in IBSA: Perspectives from Key Sectors’ has been launched by the Economic Relations Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Rahul Chhabra. The report has been prepared by the second batch of the fellows of IBSA Visiting Fellow Program. The fellows of IBSA fellowship program undertook research on cooperation at the UN in Traditional Medicine, Intellectual Property Rights, and Financial Sector Cooperation & Trade in Banking Services & Energy.

53. Public Service Broadcasting Day is celebrated every year on November 12 as the remembrance of the first and only visit of Mahatma Gandhi to the studio of All India Radio, Delhi in 1947. During his visit to the All-India Radio station, Gandhi addressed people who were displaced after partition of Haryana and were temporarily settled in Kurukshetra. Every year, a special event is organized to observe the Public Service Broadcasting Day in the premises of All India Radio, New Delhi.

54. On November 11, 2020, the Jharkhand General Assembly passed a resolution demanding a separate ‘Sarna Code’ for Tribals. The proposal was tabled by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The resolution was passed unanimously with voice vote. The Resolution seeks a separate column for followers of Sarna religion in Census 2021. The resolution will seek a special column for the followers of Sarna religion in Census 2021. The Sarna religion followers are worshippers of nature. They do not consider themselves as Hindus. They have been fighting for a separate religious identity for decades. Currently, Sarna is not classified as a separate religion.

55. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched a roadmap to “Aatma Nirbhar Madhya Pradesh 2023” on November 12 through a virtual event. Under the roadmap, special focus will be on health and education in the state. Four seminars were conducted on physical infrastructure, good governance, health and education to prepare the roadmap of the state. On the basis of the inputs received by the experts in the seminar, the roadmap of Aatma Nirbhar Madhya Pradesh has been prepared.

56. On November 11, 2020, the Jharkhand General Assembly passed a resolution demanding a separate ‘Sarna Code’ for Tribals. The proposal was tabled by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The resolution was passed unanimously with voice vote. The resolution will seek a special column for the followers of Sarna religion in Census 2021. The Sarna religion followers are worshippers of nature. They do not consider themselves as Hindus. They have been fighting for a separate religious identity for decades. Currently, Sarna is not classified as a separate religion.

57. United Kingdom’s Internal Market Bill is a public bill passed on September 9, 2020. The UK Internal Market Bill aims to make trade arrangements for all four countries of UK- England, Scotland, and Wales and Northern Ireland after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, 2020. The bill is designed to protect jobs and trade and wants to put common laws for trade across the whole of UK.

58. IFSC International Retail Business Development Committee has presented its final report to IFSCA on November 11. The final report has recommendations on Capital Markets. The committee also made recommendations for the development of IFSC. Before this, the committee has submitted two interim reports on insurance and banking. This IFSC International Retail Business Development Committee was appointed on August 3, 2020 by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). The authority mandated the committee to submit its report in 3 months.

59. Every year National Ayurveda Day is marked on Dhanteras, that is, Dhanwantri Jayanti. Dhanwantri is a Hindu god of medicines. This year the day is marked under the theme: Ayurveda for COVID-19. The Ministry of AYUSH began to celebrate Dhanteras as National Ayurveda Day since 2016. The main advantage of Ayurveda over the other traditional medicines is that it is well documented. Prevention of disease and promotion of health are the main objectives of Ayurveda.

60. On November 13, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it is to set up a traditional medicine centre in India. The announcement of establishing the centre was made during the inaugural ceremony of two future ready Ayurveda institutions. These institutions were inaugurated in Jamnagar and Jaipur. The Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda was established in Jamnagar and has been conferred with the status of Institution of National Importance. The National Institute of Ayurveda that has been inaugurated at Jaipur has been designated as the Institution Deemed to be University. The status for these institutions were provided by the University Grants Commission.

61. While launching Ro-Pax terminal at Hazira and flagging-off Ro-Pax ferry service between Hazira and Ghogha on November 8, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Gujarat maritime cluster ports, a dedicated system to address Ports to sea-based logistics, will be built in GIFT city. While the concept of maritime clusters is new to India, they have been driving some of the most competitive ports of the world like Singapore, Rotterdam, Oslo, Hong Kong, London, and Shanghai.

62. On November 12, 2020, on the occasion of the World Pneumonia Day, the International Vaccines Access Centre released the 11th Annual Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report. According to the report, India has made significant progress in vaccination coverage to prevent Diarrhoea and Pneumonia. According to the report, India has achieved the global target of 90% coverage of three of five vaccines. These vaccines are DPT Vaccine, Measles vaccine, PCV vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine and Haemophilus Influenzae Type B vaccine. DPT is Diphtheria, Petrussis and Tetanus vaccine. PCV is Pneumoccal Conjugate Vaccine.

63. Every year, World Diabetes Day is celebrated on November 14. The celebrations of the World Diabetes Day is led by International Diabetes Federation. This year the World Diabetes Day is celebrated under the Theme: Nurses make the difference for Diabetes. The World Diabetes Day was launched in 1991 by the World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation.

64. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recently announced that the Lonar Lake in Maharashtra and Sur Sarovar lake in Uttar Pradesh have been added to the Ramsar sites. The Lonar lake is the only crater lake in the country. The Sur Sarovar lake is also called the Keetham lake. It was created by asteroid collision during Pleistocene Epoch. The crater sits inside the Deccan Traps of the Deccan Plateau. It has 160 birds, 12 mammal species and 46 reptiles. Two small streams called Penganga and Purna drain into Lonar lake.

65. The isolated UK overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha was declared the largest fully protected Marine reserve of Atlantic Ocean. This will prohibit sand extraction, bottom trawling fishing and deep-sea mining in more than 90% of waters of the territory. It includes 687,000 square kilo metres of water in the Atlantic ocean. UK is on the track of bringing 30% of world ocean under protected zone by 2030. The marine waters of Tristan da Cunha has been declared a protected zone in order to achieve this goal.

66. Every year the National Press Day is celebrated on November 16. This is because the Press Council of India was established on November 16, 1966. The Press Council of India acts as a moral Watchdog for media. Also, the Press Council of India makes sure that the freedom of press is not controlled by the threats or influence of other extraneous factors. In India, the celebration of National Press Day is considered as the symbol of free and responsible press in India.

67. Every year, the International Day for Tolerance is celebrated on November 16 by the UNESCO and several other international organizations. The day is celebrated to increase awareness about importance of tolerance in the society. It also aims to increase awareness among people about the negative effects of intolerance. According to UNESCO, tolerance is an attribute that helps people to live together peacefully. According to the 1995 Declaration of Principles of Tolerance by UNESCO, tolerance is acceptance, respect and appreciation of world cultures and ways of being Human. This is the basic theme of 2020 International Day for Tolerance as well.

68. Every year, the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda is observed on November 15. In order to commemorate his sacrifices and contributions towards the National movement, the state of Jharkhand was created on his birth anniversary. Therefore, Jharkhand celebrates its Statehood Day on November 15. Birsa Munda was a tribal freedom fighter who hailed from the Munda tribe. He is also known as “Dharti Abba”, meaning “The Earth Father”. He was the backbone of the Millenarian Movement that arose in the Jharkhand and Bihar belt during the 19th century.

69. On November 16, 2020, the President of Janata Dal was appointed as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth consecutive term. The Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor. The Chief Ministers and the Prime Ministers in India are appointed by the Governor and President respectively. On the other hand, the Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Parliament are elected by the people. According to Article 164, the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor.

70. On November 15, 2020, the Labour Ministry released draft rules under Code on Social Security. The rules provide for Aadhaar-based registration. This includes registration of gig workers, unorganized workers and platform workers on the portal of Central Government. The draft rules have been linked to the Employees Provident Fund Organization, National Social Security Board, Employees State Insurance Corporation, platform workers and gig workers outlined in Code on Social Security. The rules also include construction workers. In order to avail the benefits of social security schemes that are framed under the code, the workers have to register in the portal of labour ministry.

71. The International Air Transport Association recently announced that Shanghai is the world’s most connected city in the world. Along with Shanghai, three other cities such as Beijing, Chengdu and Guangzhou have emerged as the most connected cities in the world. Earlier London was the most connected city in the world according to the International Air Transport Association. It has now fallen to eighth spot. Heathrow Airport of London is the second busiest airport in the world. In 2019, the airport welcomed more than 80 million passengers. The air traffic and connectivity of London has now declined by 67% according to the international Air Transport Association. Similarly, the air traffic and connectivity of Tokyo has fallen by 55%. The other cities that saw major decline in connectivity are Seoul by 69%, Hong Kong and Bangkok by 81%.

72. The Registrar General of India recently released the Vital Statistics of India based on Civil Registration System. The report mainly provides insights on Sex Ratios in various states of India. It is the number of females born per thousand males. Arunachal Pradesh was the state with highest Sex Ratio. The sex ratio of the state was 1084. The state of Manipur had the least Sex Ratio of 757.

73. Every year, the National Epilepsy Day is celebrated on November 17. The day is celebrated to create awareness about epilepsy. Epilepsy is a chronic brain disorder. It results in recurrent fits or seizures. The seizures occur due to sudden and excessive discharges occurring in brain cells or neurons. The disease can be diagnosed only after the person has had at least one seizure. Mostly epilepsy occurs in patients who are over the age of 65 and in children.

74. The World Health Organization is to celebrate Antimicrobial Awareness Week between November 18, 2020 and November 24, 2020. The week aims to increase awareness of global antimicrobial resistance. Also, it encourages best practices among health workers, general public and policy makers to stop the spread of drug resistance infections. This year, the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is to be celebrated under the Theme: United to Preserve antimicrobials.

75. On November 16, 2020 the Bharat Biotech announced the commencement of Phase III trials of COVAXIN vaccines in India. The trials will involve 26,000 volunteers. It is to be held in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research. The trials are the largest clinical trials that is conducted for COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The trial is also the first phase III trail for a COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The trial has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India. Under the trial, the volunteers will receive two intramuscular injections at a time gap of 28 days.

76. The National Action Plan for Vulture Conservation, 2020-25 was recently approved by National Board for Wild life. The plan has suggested that new veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs be tested on vultures before they are commercially released. The new plan automatically removes veterinary use of a drug if it is found to be toxic to vultures. This is to be done with the help of Drugs Controller General of India.

77. On November 17, 2020 the Energy Efficiency Services Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of New and Renewable Energy, Goa. According to the agreement, the first convergence project of India to generate Green Energy for agriculture and rural areas is to be set up in Goa. The project is to focus on energy solutions that are evolved based on the concepts that combine climate change, renewable energy and Artificial Intelligence. The main objective of the project is to connect sectors such as LED lights, solar energy and energy storage in order to provide solutions that will enable decarbonisation.

78. Every year, the World COPD Day is celebrated on November 18. COPD is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The disease obstructs the airflow in lungs. Thus it hampers the ability of the infected person to carry out day to day activities. The World COPD day is observed to increase awareness about the chronic inflammatory lung condition. This year, the day is celebrated under the Theme: Living Well with COPD-Everybody, Everywhere.

79. On November 18, 2020, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that the State Government is to constitute ‘Cow Cabinet’ to conserve and promote cow cattle in the state. The first meeting of the cabinet is to be held on November 22, 2020. The meeting is to be held at Gau Sanctuary Salaria Agar Malwa.

80. On November 17, 2020 the Energy Efficiency Services Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of New and Renewable Energy, Goa. According to the agreement, the first convergence project of India to generate Green Energy for agriculture and rural areas is to be set up in Goa. The project is to focus on energy solutions that are evolved based on the concepts that combine climate change, renewable energy and Artificial Intelligence. The main objective of the project is to connect sectors such as LED lights, solar energy and energy storage in order to provide solutions that will enable decarbonisation.

81. On November 18, 2020, the World Economic Forum selected 36 cities from 22 countries for pioneering a policy road map for smart cities. These smart cities are being developed under the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. Of the 36 cities selected, four are Indian cities. The four Indian cities selected are Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and Hyderabad.

82. On November 18, 2020, the Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa condemned the comments made by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar over the border dispute between the two states. Pawar mentioned the dispute as an attempt to incite fire. The border dispute between the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka is also called the “Belgaum border dispute” or the Belagavi dispute. Belgaum is now a part of Karnataka and earlier was a part of Bombay Presidency of British India. During British rule, the Bombay Presidency encompassed Maharashtra, Gujarat and certain areas of North Karnataka.

83. In order to keep poachers at bay, the world’s only known White Giraffe was fitted with GPS tracking device in north east Kenya. The Giraffe is white in colour due to a rare genetic condition called Leucism. Leucism is loss of pigmentation. The tracking device will provide hourly update about the whereabouts of the Giraffe. This will help to keep the animal safe from poachers. The White Giraffe was first spotted in 2016. The mother and calf had died.

84. On November 18, 2020, the Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa condemned the comments made by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar over the border dispute between the two states. Pawar mentioned the dispute as an attempt to incite fire. When the states were divided based on linguistic and administrative lines under the State Reorganization Act in 1956 Belgaum district was included under Mysore state (now Karnataka). This was done in spite of the fact that Belgaum had majority of Marathi-speaking population. Hence, the dispute. However, according to 1881 census, Belgaum had 64.39% of Kannada speaking individuals and 26.04% of Marathi speaking individuals.

85. Every year, the United Nations and several other international organizations celebrate World Toilet Day on November 19. The official convener of the World Toilet Day is the UN-Water. According to the United Nations, more than 4.2 billion live without safely managed sanitation. Also, more than 673 million people still practice open defecation. According to WHO, 58% of diarrhoea cases are caused due to unsafe water, poor hygiene practices and poor sanitation. The World toilet Day will help reduce these conditions by increasing awareness on sanitation.

86. The State Government of Karnataka recently announced that it will soon declassify 6.64 lakh hectares of 9.94 hectares of deemed forests in the state. This is around 67% of the deemed forest land. Deemed Forests are land tracts that appear to be forest but have not been notified as forest in historical records or government records. The deemed forests comprise 1% of forest land in India. In 1996, the Supreme Court ordered the states to identify and classify deemed forests.

87. The Directorate of Revenue intelligence (DRI) recently launched Operation Calypso. Under the operation, 504 grams of cocaine was seized and a transnational drug racket was busted. The gang has successfully smuggled more than 3.3 kilograms of cocaine in Mumbai. The value of the smuggled cocaine has been estimated as 20 crores of Rupees.

88. On November 18, 2020, the Supreme Court of India issued notice on petition against the election of the Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Rajya Sabha. The Supreme Court bench comprising of Chief Justice S A Bobde, Justice Ramasubramanian and Justice A S Bopanna issued notice challenging the election of the minister to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. The petition was filed by Congress leader Gaurav Pandya.

89. On November 19, 2020, the Supreme Court of India pronounced that the consent of State Government is mandatory for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to extend its jurisdiction in the state. The verdict has come after the eight non-BJP states withdrew their consent for CBI to probe fresh cases in the jurisdiction of the state. The states were Jharkhand, Kerala, West Bengal, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh.

90. On November 19, 2020, the Global Bribery Risk Matrix was released by TRACE. India ranked 77 with a score of 45 in the global list. In 2019, India was at 78th position with a score of 48. In 2020, India has performed better than that of China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Bhutan was the only neighbour that was ranked better than India. Bhutan secured 48th rank on the list.

91. Every year, the World Fisheries Day is celebrated on November 21. According to the United Nations, more than two-thirds of the world fisheries are overfished. Therefore, it is important to celebrate the day to create awareness about sustainable fishing. The World Fisheries Day is to be celebrated under the Theme: Social Responsibility in the fisheries value chain.

92. On November 19, 2020, India and European Union held Counter Terrorism Dialogue. During the dialogue, the strategic partners condemned terrorism in all forms. The dialogue also reviewed threats posed by UN-sanctioned terrorist entities. India and European Union are to soon conclude the Free Trade Agreement. During the dialogue, European Union stressed to increase India’s investments in the field of Green Energy. This is because, EU has set a targets of becoming carbon neutrality. Carbon Neutrality is achieving net zero carbon dioxide emission.

93. On November 20, 2020, the Government of India signed Memorandum of Understanding with leading oil and gas marketing companies to establish Compressed Bio-Gas Plants all over India. These plants are to generate biogas from crop wastes. The agreements were signed under the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative.

94. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is celebrating National Newborn Week between November 15, 2020 and November 21, 2020. The main objective of celebrating National Newborn Week is to create awareness about the importance of newborn child survival and development. Every year around 2.6 million babies die in the first 28 days. The first 28 days are considered crucial for child survival.

95. On November 20, 2020, Government of India sanctioned a loan of 3,971 crores of rupees for micro irrigation projects in Tamil Nadu. This is one of the biggest loans being sanctioned for the state of Tamil Nadu. The loan has been sanctioned at subsidised interest rate under micro irrigation fund. The micro irrigation fund was created within the National bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, NABARD. The micro irrigation funds are used only to implement micro irrigation projects

96. On November 21, 2020, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddav Thackeray launched “Maha Awas Yojana”. The project aims to build 8.82 lakhs of rural houses in 100 days. The project includes construction of toilets as well. The cost of the project has been estimated as Rs 4,000 crores. The Government of India recently announced Affordable housing Scheme for the migrant workers affected by COVID-19. This was launched under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

97. The Indian Pharmaceutical Association in collaboration with Delhi Pharmaceutical Trust celebrated the 59th National Pharmacy Week between November 16, 2020 and November 22, 2020. The National Pharmacy Week was celebrated under the Theme: Pharmacists: Frontline Health Professionals. The Indian Pharmaceutical Association has been organizing the National Pharmacy Week every year during the third week of November. This year the 59th National Pharmacy Week was celebrated.

98. The G20 summit of 2020 was hosted by Saudi Arabia recently. The subsequent G20 summits are to be held in Italy in 2021, Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024. The main focus of the Summit was on resilient, inclusive and sustainable recovery from covid-19 crisis. During the Summit the leaders discussed on the preparedness of the countries in response to the pandemic. They also shared their vision on building a resilient future.

99. The National Green Tribunal recently directed all the states and union territories to designate a nodal agency to protect the water bodies in their regions. The nodal Agencies may hold their meetings under the guidance of chief secretaries of the state. Also, the National Green Tribunal has further directed that the meeting should be held on time. The Nodal agency will adopt a mechanism to monitor and also address grievances. The National Green Tribunal also asked the central monitoring committee to monitor 351 polluted river structures periodically.

100. The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve and the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department bagged the first international award TX2. The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve was awarded for doubling its number of tigers in four years. The target set was to double the numbers in ten years. The target was set by the partners of the award in 2010. The partners are Global Tiger Forum, United Nations Development Programme, Conservation Tiger Standards and Lion’s Share. None of the other thirteen tiger range countries could success in doubling the big cat population within a span of ten years.

101. The Airport Authority of India launched Aviation Awareness Week between November 23, 2020 and November 27, 2020. The week is observed in all airports and also in locations managed by the Airport Authority of India. Aviation awareness week is being celebrated to raise awareness on aviation safety. The Airport Authority of India during the celebration will undertake employment engagement programs. The week celebrations stress on the fact that safety preventive measures should be adopted at every airport premises irrespective of traffic volume. This is being done as the wildlife or bird menace has increased around airports.

102. On November 24, 2020, the Martyrdom Day of Guru Tegh Bahadur was observed all over India. The day is being marked as the Guru sacrificed his life on November 24, 1675, to protect his human values, religion, ideals and principles. The day is also celebrated as Shaheedi Divas every year. He is called “Hind di Chaadar” with love and respect. He was the ninth of the ten gurus of Sikhism. He was born in Amritsar in 1621. He was also the youngest son of Guru Hargobind. Around 150 hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur has been included in Guru Granth Sahib.

103. On November 23, 2020, the Union Information Technology Minister Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the International version of the UMANG application. UMANG is Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance. It was launched in UK, US, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, UAE, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand. The International version was launched on the completion of three years of UMANG. It was launched in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.

104. The cyclone Nivar is to make landfall between Mamallapuram and Karaikal of Tamil Nadu. It is to hit the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. The National Crisis Management Committee recently reviewed the status of cyclone held through video conferencing. The committee was set up by Government of India in the wake of natural calamity. It gives instructions to the Crisis Management Group. The Crisis Management Group consists of nodal officers from varied ministries.

105. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, November 22, launched the ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ (Tap Water to Every Household) for the residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra and Mirzapur district. Government was committed to solving the water scarcity problem and hence the scheme of worth ₹5,555 crores was launched in the state. This region is full of natural resources. Despite the region having many rivers like Ganga, the Ghaghara, the Yamuna and the Sarayu, water scarcity prevails in the region. Thus, “Har Ghar Nal Yojana” has been launched. Also, the the river water and the underground water in the region is getting polluted rapidly. Therefore, it is important to provide clean drinking water to the region.

106. Every year, the International Day for Elimination of violence against women is marked by the United Nations on November 25. The day is celebrated to create awareness that women around the world are subjected to domestic violence, rape and other forms of violence. This year the day is celebrated under the Theme: “Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect”. The International Day of Elimination of Violence against women also starts the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-based violence”.

107. Every year Constitution Day is celebrated on November 26. It is also known as Samvidhan Divas or National Law Day. The day is celebrated to mark the adoption of Constitution. The Constitution of India was adopted on November 26, 1949. The Constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950 and hence India celebrates its Republic Day on 26th January every year. And the Constitutional head of India, the President hoists the national flag on this day.

108. On November 26, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment called the RE-Invest. The 3rd Global RE-Invest Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo was organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India. It is to be held from 26 – 28 November 2020 on a Virtual Platform. The theme of RE-Invest, 2020 is Theme: Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition.

109. The Government of India has launched the National Portal for Transgender persons. The portal will help the transgender community to apply for identity card and certificate online. It was developed under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020. The major benefit of the portal is that the portal will help the transgenders to obtain the certificate without any physical interface. Also, the portal will help the transgenders to get the identity cards in their self-perceived identity which is an important provision of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

110. The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Prakash Javadekar recently launched the India Climate Change knowledge portal. The portal will hold major information about the steps taken by the government at both National and international levels to address climate change issues. It will act as a single point information source providing information about different climate initiatives of the government.

111. The Lachit Divas was celebrated in several parts of the country on November 24. The day was celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Lachit Borphuran. It is mainly celebrated in Assam to commemorate the heroism of Lachit Borphukan. In 2017, the first country wide celebration of Lachit Divas was held. He was a commander in Ahom kingdom, making the most located in the present day Assam. He was known for his leadership in the 1671 Battle of Saraighat. He is known for his heroic role in the battle to drive away the Mughal forces under the command of Ram Singh to take over the kingdom.

International

1. On November 1, 2020, the world strongest Typhoon Goni hit the eastern part of Philippines. This typhoon is considered as the strongest typhoon in the world. It is bringing in catastrophic violent winds and is thus being considered as the hardest landfall on record. The Typhoon Goni has attained its maximum speed of 310 km per hour. More than 347,000 people have been evacuated. The typhoon is expected to damage more than 928,000 hectares of land and 58,431 hectares of corn.

2. China recently connected its first indigenously developed third generation nuclear power reactor called Hualong one to its national grid. The Hualong One nuclear power reactor is first of its kind. According to the China National Nuclear Corporation, Unit 5 of Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant located in Fujian province was connected to the grid for the first time. Unit 5 is the first nuclear power reactor in the world to adopt Hualong One technology. It can generate 10 billion kilo watt hour electricity ever year. This will help China cut its carbon emission by 8.16 million tonnes.

3. On November 2, 2020, the Chief Minister of Assam, Sabananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of Indo-Israeli Centre of Excellence for vegetables Protected Cultivation in Khetri in the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam. The centre will provide exposure to the latest Israeli technologies to the farmers of the state. It will help them in maximising their production. The centre is to provide a major boost to agricultural and horticultural production in Assam. The aim is to double farmers’ income in the region through infusion of technology in agribusiness, agriculture and food processing.

4. On November 2, 2020, Duarte Pacheco was elected as the new President of Inter Parliamentary Union. He will serve as the president of the union between 2020 and 2023. India was represented by the Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla at the session. The previous president of the Inter Parliamentary Union was Mexican MP Gabriela Cuevas Barron.

5. The Central Board of Direct Taxes recently exempted the interest, dividend and long term capital gains made by the Sovereign Fund MIC Redwood 1 RSC Limited of Abu Dhabi, UAE (United Arab Emirates). The exemption has been provided under clause 23 FE of Section 10 of the Income Tax Act. This will allow sovereign wealth funds to invest in infrastructure projects in India. The exemption is to be allowed till March 31, 2024.

6. On November 3, 2020, India and UAE held the High-Level Joint Task Force on Investments. The task force was created in 2012. India and UAE recently strengthened their Defence Cooperation. This will help India achieve its target of 5 billion USD of defence exports in five years. UAE is the 10th largest investor of India (as of 2015). When PM Modi visited UAE, UAE-India Infrastructure Fund was set up with an ambitious target of 75 billion USD to support infrastructure of India.

7. The United States recently approved 600 million USD armed drones sale to Taiwan. By the end of October 2020, US approved the sale of Harpoon missile systems to Taiwan. The current ruling Communist Party of china claims Taiwan. Taiwan was spit from China mainland in 1949 during a civil war. After the first Sino-Japanese war in 1895, the Qing Government ceded Taiwan to Japan. Later in world war II, China took over the control of Taiwan from Japan and began ruling the island with the consent of UK and US. However, in few years a civil war broke out in China and troops of Chinag Kai Shek were beaten by the Communist armies. The Communist army was then under the control of Mao Zedong.

8. On November 3, 2020, India and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Troika held an annual Political Dialogue. India was represented by the External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar at the dialogue. During the dialogue, India requested the members of GCC to ease the return of Indian professionals and workers to the Gulf countries. It is an intergovernmental economic and political union. It comprises of Arab states such as Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE. The main objectives of the council are to formulate regulations in trade, tourism, administration and customs. It establishes scientific research centres.

9. On November 3, 2020, two resolutions were adopted by United Nations namely “Convention on Prohibition of the use of Nuclear Weapons” and “Reducing Nuclear Danger”. The resolutions were sponsored by India. The resolution is being tabled by India since 1982. The resolution was also backed by majority of the members of United Nations. It requests the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva to commence negotiations to prohibit use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances.

10. On November 4, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi approved the Memorandum of Understanding signed between India and UK. The MoU was signed in the field of Information Communication Technologies and Telecommunications. The MoU was signed between Department of Digital, Media and sports of UK Government and Ministry of Communications of India. It will strengthen bilateral cooperation between the countries in the field of telecommunications.

11. On November 4, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi approved the MoU signed between India and UK in the field of medical product regulation. The MoU was signed between United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). The MoU will help establish fruitful cooperation in matters relating to medical products registration.

12. On November 4, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi approved the Memorandum of Understanding signed between India and Israel in the field of Health and Medicine. In April 2020, Israel supplied advanced medical equipment to help India fight COVID-19. India in return sent five tonnes of medicines including Hydroxychloroquine. Also, a special team of defence experts, researchers arrived from Israel to join hands with Indian researchers in developing rapid testing solution of COVID-19. Under this, the researchers are now developing a COVID-19 testing kit that will produce results in less than 30 seconds.

13. The United States 59th Quadrennial Presidential Election was held on November 3, 2020. However, the election verdict of the country still remains inconclusive. All the three elections in the US, that is, for the federal, local and state are directly organised by the ruling governments of the individual state. The US Constitution grants the states with wide latitude in conducting elections. This results in varied election rules across the country.

14. On November 5, 2020, the first India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave was held virtually. India was represented by External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar. The Conclave was jointly hosted by Ministry of External Affairs and Confederation of Indian Industry. The Conclave focused on clean technologies and renewable energies, Artificial Intelligence, supply chain logistics and block chain led transformation.

15. On November 5, 2020, the Government of Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Serum Institute of India for priority delivery of 3 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. This COVISHIELD Vaccines was developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford. According to the agreement, initially 1.5 crore people will be vaccinated as each person requires two vaccine doses.

16. On November 5, 2020, the India-Indonesia fifth joint working group on coal was held. The meeting of the working group was held through video conference. During the meeting, the countries discussed on Indian Coal Policy reforms, commercial mining of coal in India and coking coal exploration. India is currently looking for opportunities to import more coal from Indonesia. This is because the coal prices in world market is declining at rapid rate. The plan is to replace coal imports destinies with Indonesia and not increase coal imports.

17. On November 6, 2020, PM Modi is to hold a virtual bilateral summit with his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte. The leaders are to sign 15 pacts in the field of energy, trade, ship building and culture. The summit is to explore possibilities of Italian investments in India especially in defence. Also, the leaders will discuss on hosting G20 summit. Italy agreed to host G20 summit in 2021 on India’s request. India is to host the G20 summit in 2022.

18. Joe Biden has won the US elections defeating Donald Trump. His Oath of Office as the 46th President of the US will be administered by the Chief Justice of Supreme Court. He is to assume office on January 20, 2021. The election results make Trump the first one term president since 1990. This year, the US vote counting was delayed. The delay in declaration of US Election results was due to several reasons. The foremost was that different state in the country adopt different polling, counting processes.

19. On November 7, 2020, the United Arab Emirates announced major changes to its Islamic laws. It includes loosening of alcohol restrictions, allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate and loosening criminalization of honour killings. Previously the users had to purchase license for liquor and to have alcohol at homes. The new rule now allows Muslims to drink alcoholic beverages freely. The Government also liberalized the laws protecting the honour crimes in the country. The law that supported a tribal custom under which a male may evade prosecution has now been relaxed.

20. The Atal Innovation Mission-Sirius Innovation Programme was launched for India and Russia school children. The programme aims to develop technological solutions for both India and Russia. The programme is to be held between November 7, 2020 and November 21, 2020. Around 48 students and 16 educators are to participate in the programme. The innovations developed by the students will be from the field of block chain, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

21. The 4th India- Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation was held virtually on November 6. The meeting was co- chaired by India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Teodoro Locsin Jr, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Philippines. The first-ever Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation of India- Philippines was held on March 15, 2011. Since then, the foreign ministers of both the countries meet after every 2 years to discuss the matters of mutual cooperation.

22. On November 8, 2020, the US President Joe Biden announced a 12-member Task Force to deal with COVID-19 in the United States of America. The task force is to be headed by a former General Surgeon Vivek Murthy and other officials from Food and Drug Administration and universities. It also included former Obama administration health advisers.

23. On November 9, 2020, Sudan was removed from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. India has welcomed its removal. Also, India welcomed the normalisation of Sudan’s relations with Israel. After UAE, Bahrain, Sudan became the third country to normalise its relations with Israel in the last two months. On October 23, 2020, Sudan normalised its ties with Israel through a deal brokered by US President Donald Trump.

24. On November 10, 2020, India attended first BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meet. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman represented India at the meet. During the meet, the finance ministers observed that BRICS members have delivered significant initiatives in 2020 at G20 Action Plan in response to COVID-19. Also, the leaders highlighted that G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative ensured immediate support.

25. The Pakistan Gurudwara body, PSGPC (Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee) is to celebrate the first anniversary of the inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor. The Corridor connects Dera Baba Nanak in India with Gurudwara Darbar Sahib. The corridor is closed from Indian side due to COVID-19 pandemic. Every year, around 3000 people from India reach the site to commemorate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

26. The Ethiopian National Defense Force conducted airstrikes against the forces of Tigray region as a result of the conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). As of now, military operations as well as air strikes have been conducted against the forces of Tigray region since November 4. If we talk about the recent conflict that is going on, then the Tigray Crisis began with the announcement by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that forces supporting TPLF have attacked a military base and many soldiers have been martyred. After this, PM Abiy started military operations against the forces of the fortified Tigray region on November 4, 2020.

27. Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari has released a special pictorial anthology on Mahatma Gandhi to mark the 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This anthology is written in the Nepali language. The book was launched at a special function held at in Kathmandu in the presence of Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra. This anthology on Gandhi is titled as “Maile Bujheko Gandhi” or “the Gandhi as I understood”.

28. India and Maldives have agreed over four MOUs during the visit of India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Maldives. The four MOUs were signed for cooperation in sports and youth affairs; connectivity project, setting of plant and soil testing labs. These MOUs will help to improve the relations between the two countries. Maldives tourism industry has been greatly affected by COVID-19 and because of this India provided a loan of $250 million to the country in September 2020. The Indian foreign secretary appreciated the “India First” policy of Maldives and also said that it is strongly reciprocated by India through “Neighborhood first” policy.

29. Australia-India Water Centre (AIWC) has been inaugurated in a virtual event. This Water Centre is led by IIT Guwahati from Indian side and University of Western Sydney from the Australian side. Along with this, the centre has 21 partners from India and Australia. Dan Tehan, Education Minister, Australia and Jal Shakti Minister of India, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was present at the virtual inauguration of Australia-India Water Centre (AIWC).

30. On November 10, 2020, India attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit. India was represented by PM Modi at the summit. This is the 20th summit of the organization and third for India since it became a member in 2017. India was an observer at the SCO since 2005.Since 2017, the Indian delegation is being led by PM Modi at the summit.

31. The United Nations has created a new alliance to prevent COVID-19 food crisis. It was proposed by Italy and led by Food and Agriculture Organization. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition Report, 2020 more than 690 million people went hungry in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic is to add 130 million more into chronic hunger by the end of 2020. In order to reduce the catastrophe, the Food and Agriculture Organization has launched Food Coalition.

32. On November 10, 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a peace deal to end the ongoing conflict between the countries. According to the deal, the countries will maintain positions in the areas where they currently hold. This means a significance gain to Azerbaijan. The peace deal between the countries was brokered by Russia. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been holding, military conflict for six weeks now. The peace deal was signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashiyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

33. On November 11, 2020, Indian Army gifted twenty trained horses and mine detection dogs to Bangladesh Army. The doges were trained by the Veterinary Corps and Remount of the Indian Army. The Indian Army also trained the Bangladesh Army in training the experts to handle the horses and dogs. The Chief of Brahmastra Corps participated in the event. The presentation ceremony was held at Petrapole-Benapole Integrated Check Post in India-Bangladesh border.

34. On November 11, 2020, India and China agreed to implement a three step disengagement in Pangong Tso. Under the new plan, the military forces of the countries are to move back to their respective positions before April-May 2021. The Disengagement Plan was finalized during the 8th Corps Commander level talks held between the countries on November 6, 2020.

35. Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy (NLD) party has claimed to have won the Myanmar elections. Around 38 million voted to select the National League of Democracy (NLD) Party for a second term. NLD was required to win at least 2/3rd of the elected seats to win. The previous term of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Sui was very controversial because of the way she handled the Rohingya Crisis. Around 1 million Rohingya Muslims were displaced in the crisis in 2017 which has led to a bad reputation of Aung San Sui. Even a genocide case was brought up in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Myanmar.

36. India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) report on ‘Deepening Cooperation in IBSA: Perspectives from Key Sectors’ has been launched by the Economic Relations Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Rahul Chhabra. The report has been prepared by the second batch of the fellows of IBSA Visiting Fellow Program. The fellows of IBSA fellowship program undertook research on cooperation at the UN in Traditional Medicine, Intellectual Property Rights, and Financial Sector Cooperation & Trade in Banking Services & Energy.

37. India has received the first commercial shipment from Bangladesh through water route on November 9, 2020. The shipment was received Assam’s Karimganj on the Protocol for Inland Water Trade and Transit (PIWTT) route. This is a step towards utilizing the inland waterway connectivity for trade and prosperity between both the countries.

38. Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan attended the meeting from the Indian side. While addressing the meeting, the minister highlighted the response strategy of India for COVID-19. He also highlighted the technological innovations by India to fight the pandemic like Aarogya Setu App, ITIHAS system, etc.

39. United Kingdom’s Internal Market Bill is a public bill passed on September 9, 2020. The UK Internal Market Bill aims to make trade arrangements for all four countries of UK- England, Scotland, and Wales and Northern Ireland after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, 2020. The bill is designed to protect jobs and trade and wants to put common laws for trade across the whole of UK.

40. The INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization conducted Operation Thunder, 2020 in 103 countries. The operation was conducted against environmental crimes. The Operation Thunder was held between September 14, 2020 and October 11, 2020. It resulted in large seizures of protected forestry and wildlife specimen. This triggered arrests and investigations world-wide including India.

41. China recently launched the first 6G experimental satellite. The satellite will test the technology of Tetrahertz waves in space. On November 6, 2020, china launched world’s first experimental satellite. It was launched into orbit along with 12 other satellites. The satellite weighs 70 kg approximately. The satellite carries technologies used for forest fire prevention and crop disaster monitoring.

42. On November 12, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cochaired India-ASEAN summit along with the Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngyuyen Xuan Phuc. ASEAN is Association of South East Asian Nations. During the summit, PM annoucned that India is to contribute 1 million USD to COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund. The summit reviewed the status of India-ASEAN strategic partnership. It focused on key areas such as maritime cooperation, connectivity, trade and commerce, capacity building and education. ASEAN is considered as an influential grouping as the ASEAN region has high potential for upcoming markets. The region is expected to grow at an average of 5.2% by 2022. It is to become the world largest single market by 2030. Therefore, India, China, Japan and Australia are competing with each other to grab their place in the market.

43. On November 15, 2020, China and fourteen other countries signed a deal to set up the world largest trading bloc. The negotiations to sign the deal began in 2011. These 15 countries account to 30% of world population and 30% of global GDP. Thus, the deal is the world largest Free Trade Agreement. The deal was signed on the side lines of online ASEAN summit. The agreement will lower the tariffs further. Also, it is less comprehensive than the Trans-Pacific trade deal. This is the first time China and Japan reached a bilateral tariff reduction arrangement. Also, it is for the first time China, South Korea and Japan have come together in a single free trade agreement.

44. India was represented by the External Affairs minister S Jaishankar at the East Asia Summit. The summit adopted Ha Noi Declaration. The minister expressed concerns over eroding trust in the South China sea region. He also highlighted the importance of adhering to international sea laws and respecting sovereignty and integrity. China claims sovereignty of all the South China Sea that holds huge hydrocarbon reserves. India has been promoting rules-based order in the region. This is mainly about adhering to the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the sea).

45. The G20 countries for the first time agreed on a common framework to restructure government debts. This is because COVID-19 crisis has left the poorer countries at risk of failing to repay the loans. Earlier the G20 countries agreed on G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative. Now, it is being signed as a pact with an upgraded framework. The pact has been made mandatory for the member country governments.

46. The isolated UK overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha was declared the largest fully protected Marine reserve of Atlantic Ocean. This will prohibit sand extraction, bottom trawling fishing and deep-sea mining in more than 90% of waters of the territory. It includes 687,000 square kilo metres of water in the Atlantic ocean. UK is on the track of bringing 30% of world ocean under protected zone by 2030. The marine waters of Tristan da Cunha has been declared a protected zone in order to achieve this goal.

47. The United States territory of Puerto Rico for the third time in ten years has voted in favour of statehood. It demands to be treated at par with the other 50 states of USA. On November 3, 2020, on the same day of US elections, majority of Puerto Ricans voted in favour of a non-binding referendum for full statehood. Similarly, Washington, D.C. has also been insisting to become the 51st state of USA.

48. The World Health Organisation has added a vaccine to its Emergency Use Listings. The vaccine added is the nCOP2 developed by Bio Farma of Indonesia. The vaccine has been developed to treat derived polio virus strain. This is being done in the backdrop of increasing cases of vaccine derived poliovirus between 2010 and 2019. This approval of WHO is first of its kind. According to the World Health Organisation, as of May 2020, there have been a total of 149 immunodeficiency vaccine derived poliovirus cases starting from 1961.

49. On November 17, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to attend the 12th BRICS summit that is to be hosted by Russia. The summit is to be held under the theme “Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth”. The BRICS members to participate in the meeting are China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa. The meeting was to be held at St Peterburg in July 2020. However, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly Russia chaired the 7th BRICS summit.

50. On November 16, 2020, DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) signed an agreement with World Bank. Under the agreement, the World Bank will provide advisory services on asset monetization. Asset Monetisation is creating new sources of revenue by unlocking underutilized or untilised public assets. DIPAM is to facilitate monetization of non-core assets and enemy property of Rs 100 crores. There are plans to sell minority stakes in LIC.

51. On November 15, 2020, the Peruvian President Manuel Merino was forced out of power (meaning forced to resign). On November 9, 2020, Martin Vizcarra, predecessor of Manuel was impeached by the Peruvian Legislature. He was impeached on the grounds of unproven charges of corruption. Vizcarra is not affiliated with any political party. Vizcarra had promised an anti-graft agenda that initiated reforms to tackle corruption in the judicial and legislative branches of the Peruvian Government. This was basically seen as threats by most of the political parties in the country.

52. On November 15, 2020, China and other fourteen Asian countries signed the world largest trade pact under the RCEP of ASEAN grouping. The agreement left the doors open for India. However, in 2019, India walked out of the agreement. According to India, the deal does not address its demands adequately. This includes issues of market access along with protected list of goods and services that shield the domestic economy. Under the RCEP deal, China is the major economy. This will pave way for cheap Chinese imports to enter India. Because, if India signs the deal, it will have to remove duties that are currently imposed. This will result in mass dumping of Chinese goods and will ultimately affect domestic production. India is already facing trade deficit of 5.8 billion USD (as of June 2020) with China.

53. During its closing day of 73rd World Health Assembly, on November 17, 2020, the World Health Organization released the “Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer”. The international organization aims to reduce more than 40% of new cases by 2050 by screening, vaccination and treatment. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women in the world. In the backdrop of COVID-19, the fight against cervical cancer has become challenging. The COVID-19 has eliminated the focus from other diseases and has interrupted vaccination.

54. On November 17, 2020, the members of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held a ministerial meeting virtually. During the meeting, the members committed to pursue free and open trade and investment towards the economic recovery from the impact of covid-19 pandemic. The meeting was chaired by Malaysia. This ministerial meeting comes ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders Meet that is to be held in November 20, 2020. The Bogor Goals of APEC is one of its flagship initiatives and the deadline set for the Goals was 2020.

55. On November 17, 2020, the Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved Governance Reforms that are to begin from January 1, 2021. The reforms were earlier postponed several times due to number of reasons including COVID-19 pandemic. The reforms are being made at executive level. These Deputy Prime Minsters are recommended by the Prime Minister of Russia. The Deputy Prime Ministers carry out activities of the federal government bodies. It is a temporary post.

56. The United Arab Emirates recently approved the issuance of Golden Card Visa with several changes. The Visa is for ten years. The visa is being provided for professionals, physicians, engineers and PhD holders from certain universities. The visa grants 10-year residency to the holders and their families as well. Apart from the professionals, the other eligible candidates to obtain the visa are persons with specialised degrees in Artificial Intelligence, Epidemiology and Big Data. Also, students who rank top in the country (both school and university level) are also eligible to obtain the visa.

57. On November 17, 2020, India and Kazakhstan held seventh round of foreign office consultations via video conference. The countries signed the “Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Projects in Kazakhstan”. During the consultations, the countries reviewed their bilateral cooperation within the framework of their strategic partnership. The consultations covered economic, political, defence, energy, space, cultural matters. Also, the countries shared their experiences in combating COVID-19 pandemic.

58. On November 17, 2020, the United Nations along with “the Vaccine Confidence Project” of University of London launched “Team Halo”. More than 100 scientists from different parts of the world have come together under the project. Team Halo aims to tackle misinformation on safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. Under the initiative, the scientists will create social-media friendly videos on COVID-19 vaccine science based on their personal experiences.

59. On November 17, 2020, during the 12th BRICS Summit, the members adopted counter terrorism strategy. The main objective of the strategy is to deal with terrorism. The BRIS Counter Terrorism Working Group implement the strategy. The major sub-working groups of the group are terrorist financing, capacity-building, countering radicalization, use of internet for terrorist purposes and issues of foreign terrorist fighters.

60. On November 17, 2020, Japan and Australia signed the “Reciprocal Access Agreement” to counter the growing influence of China in the South China sea and in the Pacific Island Nations. The defence agreement has taken six years of negotiations. This will bring the countries closer amidst militarization in South China sea and series of disputes over islands in East China sea.

61. The researchers from the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered that the Chapare Virus is capable of human to human transmission. Bolivia is currently facing an outbreak of the virus. Just like the Ebola virus, the Chapare virus is capable of causing haemorrhagic fever. Chapare is the region in La Paz (capital of Bolivia). A small outbreak of the virus occurred in the region for the first time and hence the name Chapare virus.

62. On November 17, 2020, the US Government announced that the US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq will be reduced. The US forces in Afghanistan is to be reduced from 4,500 to 2,500 and in Iraq from 3,000 to 2,500. According to NATO, by withdrawing forces, the United States is putting Afghanistan at the risk of becoming a platform of international terrorism once again. This might lead to attack on US again (just like Twin tower attack).

63. On November 18, 2020, the World Economic Forum selected 36 cities from 22 countries for pioneering a policy road map for smart cities. These smart cities are being developed under the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. Of the 36 cities selected, four are Indian cities. The four Indian cities selected are Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and Hyderabad. The selected 36 cities will collaborate with global experts and enhance their city policies in areas ranging from cyber security to services to be provided to physically challenged people. These 36 cities will adopt five policies namely better broadband coverage, privacy protection, accountability for cyber security, better accessibility to digital city services for physically disabled and increased openness of city data. With these inputs they will frame a road map to become a smart city which will then be used by other cities in the world in following phases of the initiative.

64. On November 19, 2020, India and the New Development Bank signed an agreement of 500 million USD. Under the agreement, the New Development Bank is to lend the funds to implement Delhi- Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System project. The funds will be used to provide reliable, fast, safe and comfortable public transport system in the region.

65. On November 19, 2020, India and Luxembourg held the first stand alone summit in two decades. The countries appreciated the launch of four Luxembourg satellites by Indian Space Research Organization in 2019. India welcomed Luxembourg’s decision of joining International Solar Alliance. Luxembourg has agreed to extend its full support to India during its term in United Nations Security Council (2021-22).

66. On November 20, 2020, PM Narendra Modi and Bhutanese PM Lotay Tshering jointly launched RuPay card Phase II that will allow Bhutan citizens to access RuPay network in India. The phase I was launched in August 2019. The implementation of Phase I of Rupay cards enabled visitors from India to access Point of Sale terminals and ATM terminals across Bhutan. Now, the phase II that is being launched will allow Bhutanese card holders to access RuPay network in India.

67. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) has been accepted as a component of the World-Wide Radio Navigation System by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for its operation in the Indian Ocean Region. This will enable the vessels to use IRNSS to obtain position information similar to GLONASS and GPS. The navigation system up to 1,500 km in the Indian Ocean waters can now replace GPS. This means that the ships in the Indian Ocean can obtain information from IRNSS for their position at sea.

68. The G20 summit of 2020 was hosted by Saudi Arabia recently. The subsequent G20 summits are to be held in Italy in 2021, Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024. The main focus of the Summit was on resilient, inclusive and sustainable recovery from covid-19 crisis. During the Summit the leaders discussed on the preparedness of the countries in response to the pandemic. They also shared their vision on building a resilient future.

69. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation was recently hosted by Malaysia. Several leaders of the cooperation joined the summit. The Summit was attended by the US President Donald Trump as well. The next APEC meeting is to be hosted by New Zealand. Earlier on November 17, 2020, the members of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation held ministerial meeting. The members then committed towards free and open trade and investment.

70. India and European Union held 6th round of consultations on disarmament and non-proliferation matter. The partners discussed on exchange of information on development in the field of chemical, nuclear and biological disarmament. They also discussed about the development on outer space security, conventional weapons and non-proliferation. They held talks on strategic stability of environment, export control regions and other development of mutual interest.

71. On November 26, 2020, India and Finland signed Memorandum of Understanding in the field of biodiversity conservation and environment protection. The agreement was signed by the Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and his counterpart Krista Mikkonen of Finland. According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the countries will exchange their best practices in areas such as prevention of air and water pollution, waste management, low carbon solutions, sustainable management of natural resources and promotion of circular economy. Also, it will help the countries to develop technological, scientific and management capabilities. It aims to develop bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit. This will help in the promotion of sustainable development.

72. The United Arab Emirates recently became the first and probably the last Arab country to generate electricity from coal. The coal plant, Hassyan is to be set up in Dubai at 3.4 billion USD. The capacity of the plant will be 600 MW. Later, the capacity of the plant is to be increased to 2,400 MW by 2023. In spite of the fact that it is the dirtiest power plant, UAE is opting for coal-based power plant because the Hassyan standards for pollution is to be based on guidelines for Natural Gas Power Plant. This way the new coal-based power plant will emit less carbon. It is to be lesser than that of the standards set by the World Bank and European Union.

73. The Union Minister of External Affairs Shri S Jaishankar recently announced at the Geneva Donors conference that India is to construct the Shahtoot Dam across the Maidan river, a tributary of river Kabul in Afghanistan. The negotiations to build the dam across the river began in 2016. In 2016, India had funded for the Salma dam across Hari river (Herat province) of Afghanistan. The dam is also called the Afghan-India Friendship Dam.

74. The New Zealand government is to decide soon upon declaration of climate emergency. The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern is to introduce a motion in the Parliament soon. If passed the motion will be a historical step in bringing climate change to the centre of policy making. In November 2019, the parliament of New Zealand passed the Zero Carbon Act. According to the act, New Zealand commits to zero carbon emissions by 2050.

75. The Defence Ministers of India and Vietnam recently discussed the collaboration in the defence industry. The discussions include training, capacity building and cooperation in United Nations Peace keeping operations. The countries reaffirmed the strong India-Vietnam Defence cooperation during the discussion. During the discussions, the countries reaffirmed their vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to enhance self-reliance. India expressed its willingness to enhance the level of training of all the three services of Vietnam Defence Forces.

76. India and the United States have extended the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Energy agreement for another ten years. The agreement is also called the 123 agreement. India buys the nuclear material from United States based on this agreement. The extension of the agreement was signed at the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP). The U.S.-India deal took more than 3 years as it had to go through several complex stages, including amendment of U.S laws. This was mainly because India is not a signatory of Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It is mandatory for the countries to sign the NPT to become a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). In spite of this, the NSG granted the waiver to India (allowed India to sign the agreement with the US), allowing the access to civilian nuclear technology and fuel from others.

Defence

1. On October 2, 2020, the Indian Naval Ship Airavat entered Port Sudan as part of Mission Sagar Phase II. Under Mission Sagar, India is currently providing assistance to its friendly foreign countries to help them overcome COVID-19 pandemic and natural calamities. INS Airavat was carrying a consignment of 100 tonnes of food aid.

2. On November 3, 2020, the ICGS C-452, designed and built by L&T is to be commissioned in the Indian Navy. The ship was indigenously built in India under the Make in India initiative. Earlier, Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh had commissioned the ICGS Sachet and two other interceptor boats namely C-451 and C-450 in Goa.

3. On November 5, 2020, the Defence Research Development Organization test fired the advanced version of Pinaka rocket successfully. The rocket was test fired in Chandipur, Odisha. The enhanced version is to achieve longer range as compared to the earlier version. This is to replace the current version of Pinaka Mk-1 system deployed along the borders of Pakistan and China.

4. On November 4, 2020, Bangladesh and United States held a joint Naval Exercise CARAT. CARAT is Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training. The exercise was held at Chittagong. Historically, the exercise involves people-to-people interactions, variety of professional exchanges, community relations project, Subject Matter Expert exchanges and social events. Due to COVID-19, the exercise was held virtually.

5. On November 7, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the one rank one pension scheme of armed forces has completed 5 years of successful journey. The Government of India has disbursed Rs 42,700 crores to more than 20.6 lakh ex-servicemen in the last five years. Currently uniform pension is given to the retiring defence personnel irrespective of their rank and the length of service. This is 50% of their last drawn salary. The Armed personnel who retired on or after June 30, 2014 are covered under the scheme.

6. On November 9, 2020, the Defence Minister Shri Raj Nath Singh inaugurated the anti-Satellite Missile System at Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) headquarters, New Delhi. The DRDO successfully conducted anti-satellite missile test at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.

7. On November 11, 2020, Indian Army gifted twenty trained horses and mine detection dogs to Bangladesh Army. The doges were trained by the Veterinary Corps and Remount of the Indian Army. The Indian Army also trained the Bangladesh Army in training the experts to handle the horses and dogs. The Chief of Brahmastra Corps participated in the event. The presentation ceremony was held at Petrapole-Benapole Integrated Check Post in India-Bangladesh border.

8. On November 12, 2020, the Indian Navy launched the fifth Scorpene submarine “Vagir” at Mazagon Dock of south Mumbai. The submarine is capable of taking missions such as anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, mine laying, intelligence gathering and area surveillance. Vagir is a part of six Kalvari class submarine that is being built in India. These submarines were designed by French Navy and an energy company DCNS. The six submarines were built under Project-75 of Indian Navy.

9. On November 13, 2020, India test fired all-weather Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air-Missiles at the Chandipur Test Fire Range. It is called QRSAM and is a canister-based system. The missile is capable of striking aerial target at a height of 15 km. It is launched from mobile two vehicle system. One of the vehicles in the system carries the missile and the second carries the radar. The radar can track 100 targets simultaneously. Also, it is capable of engaging six targets simultaneously.

10. The second phase of Malabar Exercise is to be held between November 17, 2020 and November 20, 2020 in the Northern Arabian Sea. The first phase of Malabar exercise was held between November 3, 2020 and November 6, 2020 in Bay of Bengal. The exercise is important because the four countries together form the QUAD grouping. Under the recent QUAD group meeting held in October 2020, the countries agreed on free and open Indo-Pacific Region.

11. On November 17, 2020, India test fired the Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) defence system and was successful. This is the second time the test is being conducted. The first QRSAM system test fire was conducted on November 13, 2020 and was successful. The test was conducted from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha. The test was conducted in deployment configuration. QRSAM is a short range missile and was developed by DRDO. It consists of fully automated command and control systems, active array battery multifunction radar, active array battery surveillance radar. The weapon system is to be inducted into Indian Army by 2021. However, it was deployed in Eastern Ladakh in June 2020 during the standoff with China. It has a range of 25 km to 30 km.

12. On November 17, 2020, Japan and Australia signed the “Reciprocal Access Agreement” to counter the growing influence of China in the South China sea and in the Pacific Island Nations. The defence agreement has taken six years of negotiations. This will bring the countries closer amidst militarization in South China sea and series of disputes over islands in East China sea.

13. Recently, the social media was all about the use of “microwave weapons” by the Chinese Army. India and China are locked at the Line of Actual Control since June 2020. Around twenty Indian soldiers have been killed in the Galwan valley during the fierce clash between the armies. The armies have reached to consensus in the regions of Pangong Tso lake, Gogra, hot spring regions.

14. On November 19, 2020, the Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh launched a portal for defence land management system. The system will bring in transparency, speed and efficiency in dealing land management. The portal has been integrated with GIS (Geographical Information System) based tools. This will improve the decision-making process by removing unnecessary communication between the stakeholders.

15. The 30th Indo-Thai CORPAT is being held between Indian Navy and Royal Thai Navy from November 18, 2020 to November 20, 2020. INS Karmuk, HTMS Kraburi along with the Dornier maritime aircraft are to participate in the CORPAT. The countries have been holding CORPAT along the International Maritime Boundary Line twice a year since 2005. CORPAT builds up interoperability between the participating navies. It facilitates the reduction of Illegal Unreported Unregulated fishing, maritime terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy and armed robbery. It also enhances operational synergy.

16. The Indian and Singapore Navy are to hold maritime exercise SIMBEX-20 in the Andaman Sea between November 23, 2020 and November 25, 2020. The exercise is being conducted between the countries since 1994. The exercise aims to enhance mutual inter-operability between the countries. The Indian Navy ships to participate in the exercise are destroyer Rana along with Chetak helicopter, corvettes Kamorta and Karmuk. Also, submarine Sindhuraj and P81 reconnaissance aircrafts are to participate in the exercise.

17. The trilateral Naval exercise, SITMEX-20 between India, Singapore and Thailand was held in the Andaman sea. The SITMEX-20 Naval exercise was scheduled in a “non-contact at sea only format” due to covid-19 restrictions. The main objective of the exercise is to increase the interoperability between the three navies. The exercise will also enhance multifaceted Maritime operations. Apart from SITMEX, India and Singapore held SIMBEX-20 separately in the Andaman sea.

18. The Defence Research Development Organization recently flagged off the first Varunastra, the heavy weight torpedo. The torpedo was designed and developed by the BDL, Vishakhapatnam Unit of Indian Navy. It is a ship launched electrically propelled heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo that is capable of targeting quiet submarines. It can be deployed in both shallow and deep-water environment. Varunastra is the first heavy weight torpedo of India.

19. On November 24, 2020, President Ram Nath Kovind boarded the Air India one-B777 aircraft. The president boarded the aircraft to visit Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and offer prayers at the Venkateshwara Swamy temple. The aircraft is carrying its first VVIP official. The Air India one will be a call sign for the VVIP. The aircraft is to be used by the president, vice president and prime minister of India. The aircraft is fuel efficient. This has a longer range than that of the B747-400 aircraft deployed for similar VVIP operations.

20. On November 24, 2020, India successfully test fired the land attack version of Brahmos supersonic missile. It was test fired in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The range of the missile has been extended to 400 km from 290 km. Its speed has been increased to 2.8 Mach which is almost three times the speed of sound. The missile can be launched from ships, submarines, aircraft and from land platforms. Brahmos was a joint venture of DRDO and Russia. It was developed based on the Russian P-800 Oniks Cruise missile. The name of Brahmos missile was coined from the two rivers Brahmaputra of India and Moskva of Russia. It is the fastest anti-ship cruise missile in the world. Brahmos-II is currently under development with a speed of Mach 7-8. After India became a member of Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016, Russia is to jointly build a new version of Brahmos missile that has a range of 800 km.

21. The Defence Ministers of India and Vietnam recently discussed the collaboration in the defence industry. The discussions include training, capacity building and cooperation in United Nations Peace keeping operations. The countries reaffirmed the strong India-Vietnam Defence cooperation during the discussion. During the discussions, the countries reaffirmed their vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to enhance self-reliance. India expressed its willingness to enhance the level of training of all the three services of Vietnam Defence Forces.

Business, Economy & Banking

1. The Ministry of AYUSH and Invest India will set up “Strategic Policy and Facilitation Bureau” to facilitate systematic growth of AYUSH sector. The Bureau will help to make AYUSH systems future ready. It will support in making initiatives under the ministry to its full potential. Also, it will help to initiate the growth and investment of the AYUSH sector.

2. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued guidelines to manage mental illness during COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines will help protect vulnerable patients and frontline health care workers. This is being done to reduce risk of COVID-19 exposure and protect patients against psychiatric disorders.

3. The IISc and the Indian Oil Corporation Research and Development Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop biomass gasification-based Hydrogen Generation Technology to produce Fuel Cell Grade Hydrogen at an affordable price. The technology being envisaged under the programme will provide clean energy option to address the challenge of biomass waste. The technology is to be demonstrated at the Indian Oil Research and Development Centre at Faridabad. The hydrogen generated from this demonstration plant is to be used to power fuel cell buses of bigger projects of Indian Oil.

4. The Ministry of Labour recently notified the draft rules for the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. The rules are to be implemented by April, 2021. The Industrial Relations Rules, 2020 is to supersede the Industrial Tribunal (Central Procedure) Rules, 1949, Industrial Tribunal (Central Procedure) Rules, 1954, Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Central Rules, 1946 and Industrial Disputes (Central) Rules, 1957.

5. On November 2, 2020, the Government of India released Rs 2,200 crores to 15 states to improve Air Quality Measures. The air quality improvement measures are to be executed in more than million plus cities. The amount was released based on the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. The fund will help states undertake air quality measures and capacity building in local bodies. The amount was released to states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

6. On November 2, 2020, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set key targets for the year 2020-21. According to the agreement, the Government of India has set a new revenue target of Rs 2,406 crore from the renewable energy industry. Till November 2, 2020, the IREDA has financed more than 2,700 renewable energy projects in India. The total loan disbursement to these projects were Rs 57,000 crores. By this, it has helped to add 17,259 MW of green power to the country.

7. The State Government of Tamil Nadu recently notified that it will grant 100% motor vehicle tax exemption for Electric Vehicles. Earlier, the State Government had issued orders for 50% concessional rate to EV taxes. It has now been made to 100%. The State Government has exempted taxes to both transport and non-transport vehicles.

8. On November 4, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi approved the Rs 1810 crore investment proposal of 210 MW of Luhri Stage I Hydro Power Project. The hydro power project is to be constructed on River Sutlej. The project will generate 758.2 million units of electricity annually. The project is to be implemented by the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited. It is to be implemented in Build-Own-Operate-Maintain mode. In order to implement the project, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Government of Himachal Pradesh and Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited during the event “Rising Himachal”. It is a Global Investor Meet that was inaugurated by PM Modi in November 2019.

9. On November 4, 2020, the Prasar Bharati and Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Under the MoU, all the 51 DTH education channels will be available as DD co-branded channels to all DD Fresh Dish viewers. The 51 DTH channels includes Swayamprabha, E-Vidya for Class 1 to 12, DigiShala, Vande Gujarat, etc. The channels are to provide quality educational programmes to rural and remote households. These services are to available free of cost for all the viewers 24/7. This will aid the GOI to achieve its target of providing “Education to all”.

10. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is to set up a committee to review the existing guidelines of Television Rating Agencies. The committee has been formed with four members under the chairmanship of CEO of Prasar Bharti Sashi Shekar Vempati. The other three members of the committee include Rajkumar Upadhyaya (Executive Director of C-Dot), Dr Shalabh, Professor of Statistics from IIT Kanpur and Professor Pulak Ghosh of Decision Sciences Centre for Public Policy.

11. On November 6, 2020, the National Payment Corporation of India approved the Facebook owned messaging Application, WhatsApp to “Go Live” on UPI. This is to be achieved through new feature of WhatsApp called “WhatsApp Pay”. In order to achieve this, WhatsApp has partnered with five banks namely ICICI Bank, Indian Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India. Apart from these five banks , Jio Payment Bank has also been included. Now, anyone can send money on WhatsApp to any other user using the UPI supported application.

12. Saffron Production under the National Saffron Mission that was so far confined to Kashmir is now to be implemented in the North East. The plants are to be transported from Kashmir to Sikkim. So far, saffron production was confined to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It was mainly grown in the Pampore region of India. The region is known as “Saffron Bowl of Kashmir” and is the main contributor to saffron production.

13. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has made FASTags mandatory for all four-wheelers from January 1, 2021. The ministry released an official notification regarding this on November 6 and also clarified that it will be applicable to old vehicles also. As per the notification, it is a major step towards online payment at toll centres.

14. On November 9, 2020, the Coal Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi announced that the 19 mines were auctioned during first tranche of coal mine auction. The first tranche of the auction is to generate revenue of Rs 7,000 crores. The auctioned mines have peak rated capacity of 51 million tonnes. Of the 19 auctioned mines, 11 were open cast, five were of underground and three were of mix category. The mines are located in the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. According to the Coal ministry, the state governments were consulted throughout the auction process.

15. On November 10, 2020, India attended first BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meet. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman represented India at the meet. During the meet, the finance ministers observed that BRICS members have delivered significant initiatives in 2020 at G20 Action Plan in response to COVID-19. Also, the leaders highlighted that G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative ensured immediate support.

16. The Mumbai based research non-profit India Migration Now has recently released “Interstate Migrant Policy Index” (IMPEX). The index measures integration of interstate migrants. The average IMPEX score of India is 37 out of 100. According to the index, the states of Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have been most successful in integrating migrant workers. On the other hand, Delhi has the least Interstate Migrant Policy Index.

17. Karnataka Bank Ltd. has launched the National Common Mobility Debit (NCMC) card. It is the first-ever contactless debit-cum-prepaid Rupay Card of the bank and is an inter-operable transport card. This debit card has been launched in-line with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ vision. The Rupay-NCMC debit card was launched by the Managing Director & CEO of the bank, Mahabaleshwara M S.

18. The Finance Ministry has given its approval for the creation of national database for unorganised sector. It will be the first-ever national database for migrant workers. The aim of creating national database is to give a proper platform to migrant labourers. It will also make it easy for the government to implement programmes for the unorganised sector.

19. On November 11, 2020, the Government of India set up an inter-ministerial committee to strengthen capital goods sectors. This will help India achieve its goal of becoming a 5 trillion USD economy. The Government of India has set up a 22-member inter-ministerial committee to strengthen Capital Goods Sector. The committee will look into issues pertaining to Capital goods Sector.

20. On November 12, 2020, the Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman announced the Economic Stimulus Package 4.0. Production Linked Incentive Scheme for 10 sectors. Rs 1.46 trillion to be provided. Rs 6,940 crore scheme to promote manufacture of API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients). Rs 18,000 crores allocated to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). The implementation of the programme will generate 7.8 million jobs. Rs 10,200 crores for industrial infrastructure, green energy and defence equipment Rs 3,000 crores for IDEAS Scheme. Rs 10,000 crores to Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. These funds are to be utilised for MGNREGA or for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Rs 65,000 crores was allocated for fertilizer subsidies. Rs 6,000 crores for National Investment and Infrastructure Funds.

21. On November 12, 2020, Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman announced the fourth economic stimulus package. During the announcement, the Finance Minister introduced the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana”. The beneficiaries of the scheme include employees in EPFO registered establishments who were on monthly wages less than Rs 15,000. Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana will benefit new employees of EPFO registered organizations and the new employees who had lost jobs between March 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020.

22. International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) conducted a meeting on November 11 in New Delhi. The IFSC Authority approved the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) Regulations, 2020 in the meeting. The draft banking regulations approved at the meeting opens the way for making rules for the various aspects of banking operations that would be permissible at the IFSC. As banking plays an important role at IFSC, banking regulations will help it in reaching its desired potential.

23. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will be starting ‘Bharat Darshan–Dakshin Bharat Yatra’ from December 12. The Bharat Darshan Yatra will start from Hyderabad and Secunderabad from December 12 to 18. The theme of this yatra will be ‘Show India to Indians’. The facility of boarding and de-boarding this tourist train will be available at Secunderabad, Khammam, Nellore, Vijayawada, Warangal, Ongole, and Renigunta.

24. Credit rating agency, Moody’s Investors Service has revised the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast of India to -8.9 percent upwards for calendar year 2020 from the -9.6 percent contraction forecasted earlier. The agency forecasted in September 2020 that India’s GDP will contract by 9.6%.

25. On November 12, 2020, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Mission COVID Suraksha. Under the mission, the Government of India has allocated Rs 900 crores to the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines in India. The funds allocated do not cover the cost and distribution of the vaccines. The mission is a part of the stimulus package launched on November 12, 2020, that is of worth Rs 2.65 lakh crores. Along with the mission, the finance minister also announced several other measures of economic stimulus. Also, Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana was launched to boost employment in the country during COVID-19 recovery phase.

26. On November 12, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cochaired India-ASEAN summit along with the Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngyuyen Xuan Phuc. ASEAN is Association of South East Asian Nations. During the summit, PM annoucned that India is to contribute 1 million USD to COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund. The summit reviewed the status of India-ASEAN strategic partnership. It focused on key areas such as maritime cooperation, connectivity, trade and commerce, capacity building and education. ASEAN is considered as an influential grouping as the ASEAN region has high potential for upcoming markets. The region is expected to grow at an average of 5.2% by 2022. It is to become the world largest single market by 2030. Therefore, India, China, Japan and Australia are competing with each other to grab their place in the market.

27. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) increased to 1.48% in October 2020. This was the highest in the past eight months. The inflation rate based on WPI Food Index fell from 6.92% in September 2020 t0 5.78% in October 2020. The WPI manufacturing increased to 2.12% in October 2020 as compared to 1.61% in September 2020.

28. On November 15, 2020, China and other fourteen Asian countries signed the world largest trade pact under the RCEP of ASEAN grouping. The agreement left the doors open for India. However, in 2019, India walked out of the agreement. According to India, the deal does not address its demands adequately. This includes issues of market access along with protected list of goods and services that shield the domestic economy. Under the RCEP deal, China is the major economy. This will pave way for cheap Chinese imports to enter India. Because, if India signs the deal, it will have to remove duties that are currently imposed. This will result in mass dumping of Chinese goods and will ultimately affect domestic production. India is already facing trade deficit of 5.8 billion USD (as of June 2020) with China.

29. On November 17, 2020, the chairman of Jai Bhawani Women cooperative textile mill announced that the mill will soon operate on solar power. With this, the mill will become the first Solar Power enabled textile mill in Asia. The mill is located in Parbhani district of Maharashtra. The mill is spread across 30 acres of land. It processes cotton to cloth. The mill does ginning, pressing, weaving and spinning of cotton. Parbhani district of Maharashtra is the leading cotton producing district in the state. Majority of the farmers in the state grow cotton and producing cotton is seen as a profitable investment in the state.

30. On November 17, 2020, Kris Gopalakrishnan, the former co-chairman and co-founder of Infosys was appointed as the first Chairperson of Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. He was appointed by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub aims to promote innovation across financial sector. The RBI set up the hub to promote, support and hand-hold cross thinking. The hub will aim to increase the use of innovative technologies across the finance sectors. The hub acts as a centre for incubation and ideation of new capabilities that can be leveraged to create innovative financial services and products.

31. On November 17, 2020 the Energy Efficiency Services Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of New and Renewable Energy, Goa. According to the agreement, the first convergence project of India to generate Green Energy for agriculture and rural areas is to be set up in Goa. The project is to focus on energy solutions that are evolved based on the concepts that combine climate change, renewable energy and Artificial Intelligence. The main objective of the project is to connect sectors such as LED lights, solar energy and energy storage in order to provide solutions that will enable decarbonisation.

32. On November 18, 2020, the World Economic Forum selected 36 cities from 22 countries for pioneering a policy road map for smart cities. These smart cities are being developed under the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. Of the 36 cities selected, four are Indian cities. The four Indian cities selected are Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and Hyderabad.

33. The Reserve Bank of India recently imposed a moratorium on Lakshmi Vilas Bank of India for a period of thirty days. The apex bank has also drafted a scheme for the merger of the bank. Under the scheme, the Lakshmi Vilas Bank is to be amalgamated with the DBS Bank of Singapore. The Chennai-based bank has a network of 563 branches. It holds deposits of Rs 20,973 crores. The bank had undergone a steady decline in the last three years. It has been experiencing continuous withdrawal of deposits and very low levels of liquidity. The bank failed to raise adequate capital to address its issues. In September quarter of the financial year 2020-21, the bank posted net loss of Rs 397 crores as against Rs 112 crores in June quarter. Around one-fourth of the bank advances have turned into bad assets. Also, the non-performing assets of the bank were at 25.4% of its advances in the September quarter. The RBI has put a cap of Rs 25,000 on withdrawals from the bank.

34. On November 19, 2020, India and World Bank signed 120 million USD to modernise transport sector in the state of Meghalaya. The project aims to improve 300 km of strategic road segment through climate resilient and nature-based solutions. The project will help Meghalaya to emerge as the major connecting hub of trade with border countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The project will cater small scale industries, agriculture areas, tourism, health and education centres. Currently, around 5,362 habitations in Meghalaya lack transport connectivity. It will increase access to health facilities. More than 500,00 inhabitants of the state will benefit in the state. The project is expected to generate direct employment of 8 million person days.

35. On November 19, 2020, Mastercard and United States Agency for International Development launched “Project Kirana”. The programme will enable women entrepreneurs to grow, launch and thrive. Under Project Kirana, a two-year programme is to be rolled out in selected cities such as Kanpur, Lucknow and Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh. The project will work to increase revenue, digital payments and expand financial inclusion.

36. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel has launched Seismic Survey campaign of Oil India Limited in the Mahanadi basin of Odisha. According to the ministry, the oil and gas exploration will be a game changer in the socio-economic development of Odisha. The estimated cost of the seismic survey is Rs 220 crores. The estimated cost of the exploration campaign in the region is Rs 1,248 crores. Of this, the seismic survey will require Rs 220 crores. Mahanadi basin was chosen as the first location to roll out the National Seismic Programme.

37. On November 20, 2020, Government of India sanctioned a loan of 3,971 crores of rupees for micro irrigation projects in Tamil Nadu. This is one of the biggest loans being sanctioned for the state of Tamil Nadu. The loan has been sanctioned at subsidised interest rate under micro irrigation fund. The micro irrigation fund was created within the National bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, NABARD. The micro irrigation funds are used only to implement micro irrigation projects

38. The Reserve Bank of India had earlier constructed an Internal Working Group under P K Mohanty. The committee was set up to review ownership guidelines of Indian private sector banks. The committee has submitted a report about the bank licensing in India. Large industrial houses and corporates shall be allowed as promoters of banks. However, this is possible only after making required amendments to the Baking Regulations Act, 1949.

39. On November 23, 2020, the Union Education Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated 46 online AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy Faculty Development Programmes (FDP). It was launched to train the teachers in higher education institutions association with AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education). The main objective of the academy is to provide quality technical education all over India. It promotes research and entrepreneurship. The ATAL-FDPs are to be organised by premier institutes of India such as IITs, IIITs, NITs and research labs. Currently there are eleven ATAL academies in India. They have trained more than 1 lakh people and has thus been included in the Book of World Records, London.

40. On November 25, 2020, the Union Cabinet approved Rs 6,000 crores of capital infusion into the National Infrastructure Investment Fund. This is a part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. The move will leverage to create financial pipeline of Rs 1 lakh crore. The National Investment Infrastructure Fund was set up by Government of India in February 2015. The main objective of creating the fund was to increase the investment in Greenfield and brownfield projects. National investment and Infrastructure Fund manages three funds namely master fund, strategic fund, fund of funds. The master fund is primarily invested in in building roads, airports, ports, power, etc. The fund of funds is managed by managers with good track records in infrastructure sectors. These funds mainly focus on infrastructure services and allied sectors, green infrastructure and mid income and affordable housing. Strategic investment fund is an alternative investment fund and is managed by SEBI. It mainly focuses on equity and equity linked instruments. This fund is often allocated to brownfield and Greenfield investment in the core infrastructure sectors.

Science & Technology

1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA has found that 16 Psyche asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter is made of rare metals such as gold, cobalt, platinum, rhenium and iridium. The total worth of the precious metals in the asteroid has been estimated as 10,000 Quadrillion USD by NASA scientists.

2. The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has developed “IITM COVID Game” to create awareness about the COVID-19 virus. The game mainly focuses on children. The Game is a browser-based software and can be played on any device. It is available in 12 different Indian languages such as Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Oriya, Marathi, Malayalam, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese and Punjabi. The game features a character who encounters right things such as washing hands, wearing masks and also encounter things to be avoided such as hugs and handshakes. If the character does the right thing the points get added up.

3. On November 4, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi approved the Memorandum of Understanding signed between India and Spain. The MoU will facilitate scientific and technical collaborations between the countries in the field of Astronomy. The MoU was signed between the Instituto de Astrofiscia de Canarias of Spain and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

4. The Oil India Limited recently announced that a new technique snubbing unit is to be brought from Canada to control the oil well blowout in Assam’s Baghjan. The Oil India Limited owned Baghjan well erupted on May 27, 2020. It has been burning for more than five months now. The fire damaged the highly sensitive ecosystem in the region. It displaced more than 9,000 people. The fire is still uncontrollable even after five months of continuous efforts. In order to put off the fire, a snubbing unit is being brought from Canada.

5. NASA recently reported that it observed a mix of radio signals and X-ray in Milky Way in April 2020. This has never been observed earlier in the galaxy. NASA has also reported the spotting of Fast Radio Bursts. This was detected by the CHIME telescope. The Fast Radio Bursts were discovered in 2007. However, this is the first time the radio bursts were spotted in Milky Way Galaxy. Though, the radio bursts were discovered, their source of origin couldn’t be located.

6. The scientists have discovered a massive detached coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. It is the first to be discovered in 120 years. The reef is taller than the Empire State Building of the United States. The reef was discovered by the Australian Scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute. They were on an exploration in the Falkor vessel around Australia. The team was conducting underwater mapping of the Great Barrier Reef Seafloor.

7. On November 6, 2020, China launched 13 satellites in a single rocket successfully. Of these 13 satellites, 10 were from Argentina. This is the biggest launch of foreign satellites by the country. The satellites were launched on the Long March 6 carrier rocket. This was the 351st satellite launch of the Long March series. China has been putting satellites of several countries in space including its close ally, Pakistan.

8. The East and West Coasts of India are prone to cyclones with maximum hazards such as winds, storm surge and heavy winds. However, this October 2020 missed such events during this monsoon. Around 80 cyclones are formed around the world every year. Out of these, five are formed in Arabian Sea or Bay of Bengal. They are together known as the North Indian Ocean.

9. The Indian Space Research Organization launched an all weather Earth Observation Satellite, EOS-01 using PSLV-C49 rocket along with nine customer satellites. The Earth Observation Satellite launched is a Radar Imaging Satellite. It is the third of the three-spacecraft constellation. The other two are RISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1. These two satellites were launched in 2019. These three satellites in the constellation are to provide all weather round the clock service with high-resolution images.

10. The Virgin Hyperloop that plans to connect Mumbai and Pune in 25 minutes has conducted its first successful passenger ride. The test was conducted in Las Vegas. The Hyperloop is a new mode of transport that speeds up to 1000 kilometres per hour. The idea was conceived by Tesla and SpaceX in 2012. There are several companies that are working on the technology. However, Virgin Hyperloop is the only one that is develop the transport in India.

11. The DRDO has developed fire detection and suppression system for passenger buses. The technology can detect fire in buses in less than 30 seconds. Also, it can extinguish the fire in 60 Seconds. The technology was developed by the Delhi based Centre for fire explosive and environment safety of DRDO. The fire detection and suppression system consist of a water tank of 80 litres of capacity, network of tubing with 16 atomizers and 6.8 kilograms of Nitrogen cylinder. The nitrogen cylinder installed is pressurized to 200 bar.

12. The Indian Astronomers have collaborated with 2020 Physics Nobel Laureate Prof Andrea Ghez on the “Thirty Meter Telescope Project”. The telescope is being installed at Hawaii and is to revolutionise the understanding of the universe. It is an international partnership project between India, China, Japan, California and Canada.

13. Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd (TataMD) have unveiled “TataMD CHECK” which is a novel diagnostic testing for COVID-19. It is the world’s first CRISPR CaS-9 based diagnostic tool and is powered by FELUDA. CRISPR Cas-9 is a technology developed in India by CSIR- IGIB for COVID-19 testing. TataMD is the healthcare venture of Tata Group.

14. A team of researchers from Taiwan’s Academia Sinica have discovered a “hidden gene” in the novel coronavirus. This hidden gene in SARS-CoV-2, virus causing COVID-19, may have contributed to its unique biology and potential of the pandemic. Discovery of a gene for a virus that already has 15 genes in total could have a significant impact on how we will fight against the virus.

15. China recently launched the first 6G experimental satellite. The satellite will test the technology of Tetrahertz waves in space. On November 6, 2020, china launched world’s first experimental satellite. It was launched into orbit along with 12 other satellites. The satellite weighs 70 kg approximately. The satellite carries technologies used for forest fire prevention and crop disaster monitoring.

16. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 14, 2020. The spacecraft will carry a crew of four people to the International Space Station (ISS) for a 6-month-long mission. Just before the mission, NASA has also provided its first spacecraft certification by certifying SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket. After this certification, SpaceX will now be able to operate regular flights to the space station.

17. The Leonid Meteor Showers are to reach their peak in India between November 17, 2020 and November 18, 2020. For the year 2020, these showers are active between November 6 and November 30. The Leonids emerge from the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The comet takes 33 years to complete one revolution around the sun. The Leonid meteor showers are bright and are travelling at the speed of 71 km per second. During this year, around 10 to 15 meteors are expected to be seen every hour. The Leonid showers include large meteors than the average meteors.

18. On November 16, 2020, SpaceX launched four astronauts into the space under Mission Crew 1. The Crew Dragon capsule becomes the first spacecraft to be certified by NASA after 40 years. Being the first in a series, there will be regular flights by the SpaceX to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was used to launch the spacecraft and is reusable. The SpaceX has scheduled to launch two more crewed flights in 2021. The mission was initially planned to be launched in July 2020. However, it was postponed due to covid-19 pandemic.

19. On November 16, 2020, Moderna, a US Biotech firm announced that its COVID-19 vaccines are 94.5% effective. The announcement comes in days after Pfizer released results showing 90% effectiveness in its own vaccine. Both the companies use mRNA technology in their vaccines. This is the first time the mRNA technology is being used to create vaccines.

20. On November 17, 2020, Larsen and Toubro delivered a Booster Segment, the first hardware for the Gaganyaan Mission to ISRO. The company has delivered the module ahead of schedule. It is an engine or can also be a booster rocket. It is either the first stage of a multi stage rocket or a shorter burning rocket used to augment the take off thrust of the space vehicle.

21. Param Siddhi is a high-performance computing-artificial intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer that was established at C-DAC under the National Supercomputing Mission. It has secured rank 63 in TOP 500 most powerful non-distributed computer system list in the world. Param Siddhi was jointly developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Department of Science and Technology. The supercomputer has a speed of 5.267 petaflops. It has now got the recognition of non-distributed super computer systems. Param Siddhi was built on NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD reference architecture networking.

22. On November 19, 2020, India and European Union held Counter Terrorism Dialogue. During the dialogue, the strategic partners condemned terrorism in all forms. The dialogue also reviewed threats posed by UN-sanctioned terrorist entities. India and European Union are to soon conclude the Free Trade Agreement. During the dialogue, European Union stressed to increase India’s investments in the field of Green Energy. This is because, EU has set a targets of becoming carbon neutrality. Carbon Neutrality is achieving net zero carbon dioxide emission.

23. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) has been accepted as a component of the World-Wide Radio Navigation System by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for its operation in the Indian Ocean Region. This will enable the vessels to use IRNSS to obtain position information similar to GLONASS and GPS.

24. On November 21, 2020, NASA launched the Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite to monitor oceans. The satellite was launched in SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite launch was a part of the Mission Jason Continuity of Service. The mission was launched to measure the height of the ocean. Measuring the height of the ocean is one of the key components in understanding the climate change. The spacecraft consists of two components. The other component of the spacecraft is to be launched in 2025.

25. China recently launched the Change-5 Lunar Mission. The mission is the first probe in four decades to bring back rock samples from the moon from its previously unexplored portions. Change-5 is the first probe to land on the far side of the moon. As the rotation and revolution time period of the moon is same, only one side of the moon is constantly visible to the earth. The other side of the moon till date remains unexplored and is called the far side of the moon.

26. The Brain Fingerprinting or Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature is a neuro psychological method used to interrogate an accused in the crime by studying his or her brain responses. On November 21, 2020, the CBI officials arrived at the Gandhinagar based forensic science laboratory with the accused. The accused were alleged of rape and murder of a nineteen year old Dalit girl Hathras, UP.

Government Schemes

1. The Ministry of Shipping recently announced that the government of India is to set up fourteen more aerodromes in the country to develop sea plane tourism in the country. Recently, PM Modi inaugurated the seaplane service between Statue of Unity in Kevadia and Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad. The PM inaugurated the service on the side lines of the celebration of Ekta Diwas

2. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare recently launched the Sahakar Pragya. The initiative will train the primary cooperative societies in the country. It holds 45 new training modules of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). It will enhance the training capacity of NCDC through a network of eighteen regional training centres. Under the Sahakar Pragya initiative, the 45 training modules are to be delivered at LINAC. LINAC is Laxman rao Inamdar National Academy for Cooperative Research and Development operating under NCDC.

3. As of November 3, 2020, around 15 State Governments have identified districts to implement the Fortification of Rice Scheme. The State Governments have identified the districts where the scheme is to be implemented and have notified the same to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India has been implementing the “Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice and its distribution through Public Distribution System”. The scheme is to be implemented for a period of three years between 2019-20 and 2022-23. The total estimated budget of the scheme is Rs 174.6 crores. The scheme was launched to take the country towards nutritional security.

4. On November 4, 2020, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Tourism and Culture Shri Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the “Tourist Facilitation Centre” at Guruvayur, Kerala. The centre was constructed under the PRASAD Scheme of Ministry of Tourism. The centre was constructed at a cost of Rs 11.57 crores. The centre was constructed under the “Development of Guruvayur” project of PRASAD scheme. Around 45.36 crores of rupees were allocated for the project under the scheme. Under the project, the components such as CCTV Network infrastructure, multi-level car parking and tourist amenities centre were constructed.

5. On November 4, 2020, the Prasar Bharati and Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Under the MoU, all the 51 DTH education channels will be available as DD co-branded channels to all DD Fresh Dish viewers. The 51 DTH channels includes Swayamprabha, E-Vidya for Class 1 to 12, DigiShala, Vande Gujarat, etc. The channels are to provide quality educational programmes to rural and remote households. These services are to available free of cost for all the viewers 24/7. This will aid the GOI to achieve its target of providing “Education to all”.

6. On November 4, 2020, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a number of initiatives for the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and refugee population. This included land pattas and setting up of cultural and development boards. The initiatives have included all the refugees in the colonies spread across the state. Around 1,25,000 land pattas are to be provided. The State Government will also provide 25,000 land pattas to the refugees.

7. The “Go Electric” campaign was launched by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in coordination with the Andhra Pradesh State Energy Conservation Mission. The Andhra Pradesh State Government is to set up 400 Electric Vehicle charging vehicles all over the state to promote the usage of electric vehicles. This is to be achieved in coordination with the “Go Electric” campaign of BEE.

8. The Election Commission of India is to organize a three-day International Virtual Election Visitors Programme. The programme is meant for foreign election organizations. Over 40 countries participated in the programme. This included Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh as well. Apart from these countries the international organizations such as International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), Association of World Election Bodies and International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES) also participated in the programme.

9. On November 7, 2020, the Government of India announced that over 11 lakh MSMEs have registered on the new online system of Udyam Registration. It was launched in July 2020. According to GoI, over 3.72 lakh have been registered under manufacturing category and 6.31 lakh have registered under service sector. Of these registered enterprises, 93.17% were micro enterprises, 5.62% were small enterprises and 1.21 were medium enterprises. Around 7.98 lakh enterprises were owned by male, 1.73 lakh enterprises were owned by female entrepreneurs. Around 11,188 enterprises were owned by Divyangjan.

10. The Government of India recently announced that it is to expand the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme to more than ten sectors. This includes food processing, leather, textiles, battery manufacturing. The pharmaceuticals (and medical devices) and electronics are already under the scheme. These sectors were suggested by NITI Aayog. The rest four sectors are to be decided soon.

11. On November 9, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated various development projects in Varanasi through video conferencing. The total cost of these projects is Rs 614 crores. The projects inaugurated includes sound show, Sarnath Light, Sewerage related works, infrastructure protection for conservation of cows, agriculture produce warehouse, multipurpose seed storehouse, Varanasi city smart lighting works, 102 Gau Ashray Kendras, 105 Anganwadi Kendras.

12. On November 9, 2020, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar chaired Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee meeting. The committee approved 29 projects leveraging investment of Rs 443 crores. Under the Scheme of Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition, Rs 189 crores were allocated. Rs 15 crores was allocated to the BFL scheme. BFL is creation of Backward and Forward Linkages. BFL is a part of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana.

13. Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs launched a scheme – PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) on June 1, 2020. The scheme has been launched to empower street vendors by providing them with loans. Under this scheme, the ministry aims to provide collateral free loans of up to Rs 10,000 to street vendors for resuming their business in urban areas. The scheme aims to cover approximately 50 lakh street vendors.

14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the SVAMITVA Scheme- “Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas” on April 24, 2020. The scheme was launched on National Panchayat Day. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is the nodal ministry for the implementation of this scheme. Svamitva scheme was launched on a pilot-basis for 6 states- Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.

15. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has recently issued orders to expand Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM). Accordingly, the new target of the scheme has been enhanced to achieve solar capacity of 30.8 GW by 2022. This is to be done with the revised central financial support of Rs 34,035 crores. In September 2020, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy proposed to initiate centralised tendering process for the year 2020-21 targeting 4.5 lakh standalone solar pumps. In the first year of the scheme, the target was 1.75 lakh solar pumps. The tendering process is being done by EESL.

16. On November 11, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi approved Production Linked Incentive Scheme for ten sectors. The schemes are worth of Rs 1.46 lakh crores. The GoI had earlier announced the scheme for pharmaceuticals and electronic products alone. Now, upon being extended the scheme is to return several benefits.

17. Hunar Haat has restarted from November 11 after a gap of around seven months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To mark the beginning of operations, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi inaugurated ‘Hunar Haat’ at Delhi Haat, Pitampura. The Hunar Haat is being organized by the IITF, Pragati Maidan from November 11 to 22. The theme of this Hunar Haat is “Vocal for Local”. As the name suggests, local products made from Metal, Maati (clay), and Machiya (wooden and jute products) are the major attractions of the event. Other than this, products made from cane-bamboo and pottery work can also be seen at the event. More than 100 stalls have been set up at the haat.

18. The Union Ministry of Textiles has launched a campaign for Diwali- “Local4Diwali”. The campaign has been launched to promote the Indian handicraft which is the cultural heritage of the country and also a source of livelihood for many. As per the available data, the handicrafts sector is a major sector of women empowerment as almost 55% of the workers and artisans are women.

19. On November 12, 2020, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the Continuation and Revamping of the Scheme for Financial Support to Public Private Partnership in Infrastructure Viability Gap Funding Scheme till 2024-25. The main objective of the scheme is to promote PPP (Public-Private Partnership) in social and economic infrastructure for proper operation and maintenance, for efficient creation of assets and make the socially essential projects commercially viable.

20. On November 11, 2020, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries announced that a 50% transport subsidy is being provided to 41 notified fruits and vegetables from the Himalayan and the North Eastern states. Earlier, these notified fruits and vegetables were provided with rail subsidies under the Kisan Rail Scheme. This is being done after UDAN scheme has developed significant number of airports in these regions.

21. On November 12, 2020, the Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman announced the Economic Stimulus Package 4.0. Atma Nirbharat Bharat Rozgar Yojana is being launched. This will incentivise creation of new employment opportunities during COVID-19 recovery phase. The beneficiaries of the scheme include employees in EPFO registered establishments who were on monthly wages less than Rs 15,000.

22. On November 12, 2020, Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman announced the fourth economic stimulus package. During the announcement, the Finance Minister introduced the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana”. The beneficiaries of the scheme include employees in EPFO registered establishments who were on monthly wages less than Rs 15,000. Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana will benefit new employees of EPFO registered organizations and the new employees who had lost jobs between March 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020.

23. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched a roadmap to “Aatma Nirbhar Madhya Pradesh 2023” on November 12 through a virtual event. Under the roadmap, special focus will be on health and education in the state. Along with launching the roadmap to Aatma Nirbhar Madhya Pradesh, the chief minister also transferred the interest-free loan of 10 thousand rupees each into the accounts of rural street vendors under the Mukhya Mantri rural Street Vendor Loan Scheme.

24. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has made amendments in the implementation guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyaan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme on November 13, 2020. It is a scheme for farmers which aim to install solar pumps, grid-connected solar and other renewable power plants across the country.

25. On November 18, 2020, the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan addressed the Ministerial meeting of the Global Prevention Coalition for HIV prevention. During the meet, the minister shared about the success of HIV Prevention Model of India. It was launched in 1992 to prevent and control AIDS in India. Till now, four phases of the programme have been implemented. National AIDS Control Organisation is implementing the programme. Currently, India is implementing National Strategic Plan (2017-24) that aims to eradicate AIDS by 2030.

26. On November 18, 2020, the Minister of Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar launched the Capacity building Component of the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises scheme. Under the capacity building component of the scheme, the trainers are to be delivered with classroom lecture and demonstration through online mode. These trainers will in turn train the district level trainers who will ultimately train the beneficiaries. Currently, the training is to be provided for fruits and vegetable processing.

27. On November 19, 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the “Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge”. The challenge aims to ensure that no life of septic tank or sewer cleaner is lost during cleaning. The challenge stresses on the fact that safety and dignity of sanitation workers is the core of Swachh Bharat Mission. The Challenge was launched on the occasion of World Toilet Day. The results of the challenge are to be announced on independence day. The challenge aims to promote mechanized cleaning.

28. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has proposed a new scheme to develop Wind-Solar Hybrid Parks. The scheme aims to address the key issues faced by renewable energy projects. The Wind-Solar Hybrid park will be a concentrated zone of power projects. It will provide an area with the required infrastructure. This will include evacuation facilities as well. The evacuation areas are important to minimise the risks of the projects. The sites to develop the wind-solar hybrid parks are to be selected by National Institute of wind Energy

29. On November 21, 2020, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddav Thackeray launched “Maha Awas Yojana”. The project aims to build 8.82 lakhs of rural houses in 100 days. The project includes construction of toilets as well. The cost of the project has been estimated as Rs 4,000 crores. The Government of India recently announced Affordable housing Scheme for the migrant workers affected by COVID-19. This was launched under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

30. On November 20, 2020, the Government of India signed Memorandum of Understanding with leading oil and gas marketing companies to establish Compressed Bio-Gas Plants all over India. These plants are to generate biogas from crop wastes. The agreements were signed under the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative.

31. A Multi-disciplinary Technical Committee that was set up under the Jal Jeevan Mission has recommended five technologies in order to provide field level solutions to the states. The Jal Jeevan Mission gives utmost importance to realize the objective of Jal Jeevan Mission. It aims to provide household tap water connection to every household by 2024.

32. On November 24, 2020, the Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar approved food processing projects of Rs 234.68 crores. Around seven proposals received under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana were approved. The proposals were sent under the Scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for Agro Processing Cluster of PMKSY. The policy was released in 2019. It aims to develop food processing sector and address critical gaps hampering its growth. The policy aims to increase the investment in the food processing sector by six times by 2035.

33. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, November 22, launched the ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ (Tap Water to Every Household) for the residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra and Mirzapur district. Government was committed to solving the water scarcity problem and hence the scheme of worth ₹5,555 crores was launched in the state. This region is full of natural resources. Despite the region having many rivers like Ganga, the Ghaghara, the Yamuna and the Sarayu, water scarcity prevails in the region. Thus, “Har Ghar Nal Yojana” has been launched. Also, the the river water and the underground water in the region is getting polluted rapidly. Therefore, it is important to provide clean drinking water to the region.

34. The Invest India and the United Nations Development Programme has launched the sustainable development goal investor map for India. It has laid out 18 Investment Opportunity Areas. This investment opportunity areas are in six critical sustainable development goals that were launched by the United Nations. The map will enable the factors that will help India in achieving its sustainable development goals. It will help India understand how it can reduce the SDG financing gap in the country.

35. The Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar recently inaugurated a cooperative programme for the beekeepers and honey collectors. The programme was launched in 5 states. Under the programme, five farmer producer organisations are to be set up in five states. They are to be established in East Champaran, Bihar; Bharatpur, Rajasthan; Morena Madhya Pradesh; Mathura, Uttar Pradesh; and Sundarbans, West Bengal. The organisations are to be set up by NAFED, National agricultural Cooperative marketing federation of India.

36. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently chaired the 33rd PRGATI interaction. During the meeting, projects worth of Rs 1.41 lakh crores were reviewed. These projects were taken up by DPIIT, Ministry of Railways, Power Minister and Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. PRAGATI is Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. It aims to provide pro-active governance and timely implementation of projects. It was launched in 2015. It is a multi-modal and multi-purpose platform that aims to address the grievances of a common man. It also monitors and reviews projects of Government of India and also projects flagged by the State Governments.

37. The Government of India recently launched Mission COVID Suraksha to accelerate development of vaccine in the country. It will ensure that the vaccines being developed are brought closer to the market. The mission was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on November 12, 2020 as a part of 12 announcements made under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan 3.0. The Finance Minister had allocated Rs 2.65 lakh crores under the fourth economic package. Of this, Rs 900 crores has been allocated to Department of Biotechnology to accelerate development of COVID-19 vaccine. This fund is to be used to implement Phase I of Mission COVID Suraksha which is to run for 12 months. The funds allocated are to be used for the development of vaccines and licensure of vaccines that are in clinical stage or ready to enter clinical stage. The Department is currently supporting development of ten vaccines.

Awards & Honours

1. On November 5, 2020, Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Navarne was conferred with the rank of honorary General of Nepal Army. The President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari presented him with a scroll and a sword during the honouring ceremony. Chief Navarne is on a three day visit to Nepal. He is in Nepal to discuss “Army-to-Army relations and bilateral defence cooperation” with his counterpart.

2. The scientists have discovered a massive detached coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. It is the first to be discovered in 120 years. The reef is taller than the Empire State Building of the United States. The reef was discovered by the Australian Scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute. They were on an exploration in the Falkor vessel around Australia. The team was conducting underwater mapping of the Great Barrier Reef Seafloor.

3. The President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind appointed Shri Yashvardhan K Sinha as the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of India. The post of Chief Information Commissioner was lying vacant over two months after Bimal Julka completed his term in August, 2020. Sinha was short-listed for the post by a three-member committee headed by PM Modi. Besides the Prime Minister, the opposition party leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Home Minister Amit Shah were the members of the panel.

4. On November 7, 2020, Joe Biden was declared the winner of US Election, 2020. He is to become 46th President of the United States beating Donald Trump. Biden had played a key role in strengthening the relations between India and US as a Vice President and also as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 2006 he had announced that it is his dream that in 2020 India and US will be the closes nations in the world.

5. On November 8, 2020, PM Modi is to launch Ro-Pax ferry service between Ghogha and Hazira in Gujarat through video conferencing. The Ro-Pax ferry vessel called the “Voyage Symphony” is a three-deck vessel. It has a load capacity to load thirty trucks, 100 passenger cars and 500 passengers. The Ro-Pax terminal has a wide range of facilities such as parking area, office building, water tower and a substation.

6. On November 9, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated various development projects in Varanasi through video conferencing. The total cost of these projects is Rs 614 crores. The projects inaugurated includes sound show, Sarnath Light, Sewerage related works, infrastructure protection for conservation of cows, agriculture produce warehouse, multipurpose seed storehouse, Varanasi city smart lighting works, 102 Gau Ashray Kendras, 105 Anganwadi Kendras.

7. On November 8, 2020, the US President Joe Biden announced a 12-member Task Force to deal with COVID-19 in the United States of America. The task force is to be headed by a former General Surgeon Vivek Murthy and other officials from Food and Drug Administration and universities. It also included former Obama administration health advisers.

8. Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari has released a special pictorial anthology on Mahatma Gandhi to mark the 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This anthology is written in the Nepali language. The book was launched at a special function held at in Kathmandu in the presence of Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

9. On November 11, 2020, the Vice President Venkaiah Naidu announced the second National Water Awards. Tamil Nadu won the first place followed by Maharashtra and Rajasthan at second and third places respectively. Mizoram bagged the top most position under the special category.

10. Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy (NLD) party has claimed to have won the Myanmar elections. Around 38 million voted to select the National League of Democracy (NLD) Party for a second term. NLD was required to win at least 2/3rd of the elected seats to win. The previous term of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Sui was very controversial because of the way she handled the Rohingya Crisis. Around 1 million Rohingya Muslims were displaced in the crisis in 2017 which has led to a bad reputation of Aung San Sui. Even a genocide case was brought up in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Myanmar.

11. World’s longest serving Prime Minister Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Bahrain PM, died on November 11. He was 84. He died at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in the United States. He became the Prime Minister of Bahrain on 19 January 1970 but took office on 5 August 1971 after the country’s independence. He was also the winner of World Peace Culture Award in 2017.

12. On November 16, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled “Statue of Peace”. The statue is being unveiled to mark the 151st birth anniversary of Jain Acharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj. The statue is made of Ashtadhatu. Ashtadhatu is an octo-alloy. The alloy is mainly used in casting metallic idols in Hindu and Jain temples. The alloy is made of metals such as gold, copper, silver, tin, zinc, iron, tin and antimony (or mercury). The metals are mixed in equal proportions to create the idol. The other famous alloy is Panchadhatu (or Panchaloha). This alloy is made of gold, copper, silver, iron and zinc.

13. On November 15, 2020, the Peruvian President Manuel Merino was forced out of power (meaning forced to resign). On November 9, 2020, Martin Vizcarra, predecessor of Manuel was impeached by the Peruvian Legislature. He was impeached on the grounds of unproven charges of corruption. Vizcarra is not affiliated with any political party. Vizcarra had promised an anti-graft agenda that initiated reforms to tackle corruption in the judicial and legislative branches of the Peruvian Government. This was basically seen as threats by most of the political parties in the country.

14. On November 17, 2020, Kris Gopalakrishnan, the former co-chairman and co-founder of Infosys was appointed as the first Chairperson of Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. He was appointed by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub aims to promote innovation across financial sector. The RBI set up the hub to promote, support and hand-hold cross thinking. The hub will aim to increase the use of innovative technologies across the finance sectors. The hub acts as a centre for incubation and ideation of new capabilities that can be leveraged to create innovative financial services and products.

15. On November 17, 2020, the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated the Lilavati Awards. The award is an initiative of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The award has been named after the 12th century book called “Lilavati”. The book was written by the mathematician Bhaskara II. Lilavati was the daughter of Indian Mathematician Bhaskara II. The prize was handed out for the first time at the International Congress of Mathematicians that was held in 2010.

16. On November 17, 2020, the former President of the United States Barack Obama published a memoir called “A Promised Land”. It is the first of the two volumes that Obama had written during his tenure as President of United States which is between 2009 and 2017. The book concludes with the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011. The book is to be translated in several foreign languages such as Chinese, Polish, Vietnamese, French, German, Hungarian, Hebrew, etc. The former president has mentioned Ramayana and Mahabharata in his book. Also, he has included his fascinations about Mahatma Gandhiji. He has spoken about the Gandhis and BJP as “Divisive Nationalism”.

17. On November 18, 2020, Assam won four awards in fisheries sector from the National Fisheries Development Board operating under the Ministry of Fisheries. Assam received the best state award under the category of best hilly and North Eastern State in Fisheries. Also, the Assam Apex Cooperative Fish Marketing and Processing Federation Limited (FISHED) won the first place in the category of hilly and North Eastern Government Organization. The Nagaon district of Assam was selected the best hilly and North Eastern district category. Amal Medhi, a farmer from Nalbari district of Assam won first place under the category of hilly and North Eastern fish farmer category.

18. The Booker Prize of the year 2020 was won by Douglas Stuart for his debut novel “Shuggie Bain”. The shortlist of Booker Prize consisted of five more titles such as Burnt Sugar. The Burnt Sugar was published in India as “Girl in White Cotton”. It also included “The New Wilderness” by Diane Cook, “The Shadow King” by Maaza Mengiste, “This Mournable Body” by Tsitsi Dangarembga, “Real Life” by Brandon Taylor and “The Shadow King” by Maaza Mengiste.

19. Every year the cherry blossom festival is hosted by Meghalaya in the starting of November. This year the festival has been cancelled due to covid-19. It is the only Cherry festival being conducted in India. The India International Cherry blossom festival is organised by the Government of Meghalaya every year. The festival hosts live music, stalls showcasing the cuisine, beauty pageants, etc.

20. On November 23, 2020, Tarun Gogoi, former Chief Minister of Assam passed away due to post covid-19 complications. Mr Gogoi was diagnosed with COVID-19 in August 2020. He was then administered with the plasma therapy. The blood plasma therapy is a covid-19 treatment where the plasma of recovered covid-19 patient is injected into an active covid-19 patient. The blood plasma of recovered covid-19 patient consists of antibodies against the virus. Thus, the immune system against the virus is made stronger. This helps in speed recovery.

21. The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve and the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department bagged the first international award TX2. The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve was awarded for doubling its number of tigers in four years. The target set was to double the numbers in ten years. The target was set by the partners of the award in 2010. The partners are Global Tiger Forum, United Nations Development Programme, Conservation Tiger Standards and Lion’s Share.

Sports

1. The Ministry of Sports has approved 6 Khelo India Centres of Excellence in six different states. Khelo India centre of excellence is an initiative of the Sports Ministry to upgrade the existing sports infrastructure in all states and Union Territories. The ministry has announced a financial support of over 64 crore to upgrade these six Khelo India centres.

2. On November 10, 2020, Mumbai Indians won the IPL 2020 Trophy for the fifth time. The team has so far won the title in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Rohit Sharma was the captain of the team. The BCCI (Board of Control of Cricket of India) announced in 2007 about the establishment of Indian Premier League. In 2008, it unveiled owners of eight city-based franchises.

3. China’s Chen Meng has been crowned as the winner of the first-ever ITTF Women’s World Cup title. Chen Meng is the world’s No.1 women tennis player at present. She defeated her Chinese compatriot Sun Yingsha by 11-13 11-6 11-9 11-6 11-8 to win the title. After winning the title, Chen said this has given a boost to her confidence for the next tournament i.e. ITTF Finals.

4. The Union Minister of Sports, Kiren Rijiju recently announced that the Government of India is to incentivize 500 private academies under Khelo India scheme. Under the model, the private academies are to be graded into different categories based on the quality of achievement of the players. In the first phase, monetary assistance is to be provided to 14 Olympic sports disciplines. Under the new model, all the 14 priority disciplines that have been identified for excellence in the Olympics 2028 are eligible to receive support.

5. On November 16, 2020, Aryna Sabalenka won the Linz Open. The 22-year old Belarusian traded places with Serena Williams who has dropped to 11th in ranking. Serena has not played since French Open due to her Achilles injury. She is a Belarusian Tennis player. She has been ranked at number 9 in singles and number 2 in doubles by the Women Tennis Association. Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam at the 2019 US Open. In all she has won twelve Women Tennis Association (WTA) titles.

6. On November 17, 2020, Dominic Theim of Austria won Rafael Nadal and has become the first player to qualify to semi-finals of 2020 ATP. Nadal will now have to beat Tsitsipas to reach the semi-finals. ATP is Association of Tennis Professionals. Rafael Nada is a Spanish tennis player. He has been ranked number two in the ATP rankings. Rafael Nadal in October 2020, equalled record of Roger Federer by winning 20 Grand Slams. Novak Djokovic, a Serbian Tennis player is seen as the major rival to Rafael Nadal.

7. On November 17, 2020, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) cancelled the Women Under-17 world cup due to COVID-19 pandemic. It has been postponed to 2021. The 2020 FIFA Women Under-17 World Cup was to be held in India. Both Under-17 and Under-20 women’s World cup were to be held in India. This has been cancelled and the country has been awarded to host the 2022 cup.

8. On November 22, 2020, Daniil Medvedev defeated Dominic Thiem to win the ATP tournament. The tournament was held in London. The ATP tournament is the second highest tier of men’s Tennis Tournament after the Grand Slam. The tournament was first held in 1970. He is a Russian tennis player at rank number 4 under ATP ranking. He was born in Moscow.

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References:
jagranjosh.com
gktoday.in
business-standard.com