Current affairs notes on November-2020, Part 1

1.Rashtriya Ekta Diwas: Observed on 31st October across the nation. Observed on 31st October across the nation. It marks the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The government, in 2014, decided to observe Sardar Patel Jayanti Day as Ekta Diwas.

2. Typhoon Rolly or Goni has hit Philippines. In the North Atlantic Ocean and Northeast Pacific, they are called hurricanes. But if the same type of disturbance takes place in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, it is known as a typhoon. And in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, cyclone is the correct term.

2. Himachal Pradesh is vying for the allotment of a bulk drug park under a central government scheme. The Central Government is planning to setup three such parks across the country. A bulk drug is also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). It is the key ingredient of a drug or medicine, which lends it the desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological activity.

3. The Union Home Ministry has written to all States to examine and register FIRs based on the complaints received on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in. Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) has been launched for providing detection of malicious programmes and free tools to remove such programmes.

4. Army Aviation Corps (AAC) celebrated its 35th Corps Day on November. It is the youngest Corps of the Indian Army.

5. Writer Paul Zacharia has been selected for the 28th Ezhuthachan Puraskaram. Instituted in 1993, it is the highest literary honour of the Kerala government. Given by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.

6. Kaziranga is crisscrossed by four main rivers — Brahmaputra, Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri. Kaziranga is crisscrossed by four main rivers — Brahmaputra, Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri. Much of the focus of conservation efforts in Kaziranga are focused on the ‘big four’ species— Rhino, Elephant, Royal Bengal tiger and Asiatic water buffalo. It hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses.

7. ‘16 psyche’- It is an asteroid which orbits between Mars and Jupiter.

8. PM Modi recently inaugurated 17 tourism projects around the Statue of Unity (SoU), now called the ‘Kevadia Tourism Circuit’. Kevadia is a village in the tribal Narmada district. It is home to the Sardar Sarovar Dam reservoir on the Narmada river.

9. The Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit is a global virtual summit of overseas and resident Indian researchers and Academicians.

10. Mansar Lake is situated 62 km from Jammu. Surinsar-Mansar Lakes are designated as Ramsar Convention in November 2005.

11. As part of Mission Sagar-II, Indian Naval Ship Airavat will deliver food aid to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea. Mission Sagar-II, follows the first ‘Mission Sagar’ undertaken in May-June 2020, wherein India reached out to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, and provided food aid and medicines.

12. The United States has formally left the Paris Agreement. It is a historic international accord that brings almost 200 countries together in setting a common target to reduce global greenhouse emissions in an effort to fight climate change. The pact seeks to keep global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, and to try and limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

13. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved funding to the tune of ₹1,810.56 crore for the 210 megawatt (MW) Luhri hydropower project on the Satluj river in Himachal Pradesh.

14. Data Maturity Assessment Framework (DMAF):

Launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It is a framework to evaluate the data ecosystems of cities.This will support cities in the creation of a ‘culture of data’ under the DataSmart Cities initiative of the Smart Cities Mission.

15. NPCI has given its nod to WhatsApp to offer payments services via the Unified Payments Interface. Unified Payments Interface or UPI is an immediate real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI). It was introduced in April 2016 as a pilot project and is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

16. EOS-01 launch. This will be ISRO’s first mission since the launch of RISAT-2BR1, on December 11 last year. It is an earth observation satellite.

17. The Fifteenth Finance Commission led by Chairman N K Singh, submitted its Report to the President of India. The Finance Commission is a constitutionally mandated body that is at the centre of fiscal federalism. Set up under Article 280 of the Constitution.

18. Opec+ refers to the alliance of crude producers, who have been undertaking corrections in supply in the oil markets since 2017. OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

19. The Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) between India and Maldives.

20. The annual Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Expo is a flagship event held under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. Theme for 2020: “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility”.

Thank You.