DAILY Current Affairs 21 MAY 2020

DAILY Current Affairs 21 MAY 2020

1. 12,000 HP ELECTRIC MADE IN INDIA LOCOMOTIVE

·        Indian Railways(IR) operationalised its 1st 12,000 horsepower(hp) electric made in India Locomotive(loco), WAG12(with Number 60027)  from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station(Mughalsarai Junction), Uttar Pradesh to Shivpur.

·        It is manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd.

·        (MELPL) Factory, Bihar which is a joint venture between French giant Alstom(74% share) & IR(26% share).

·        India became the 6th country to produce high hp loco indigenously & is the 1st time it operationalised high hp on a broad gauge track in the world.

·        The project started in 2018 and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the project on 10th April’ 2018.

·        The prototype locomotive was delivered in March 2018.

2. COIR GEO TEXTILES TO BE USED IN RURAL ROAD CONSTRUCTION

·        According to the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency under Union Ministry of Rural Development, Coir Geo textiles has been finally gets nod as a good material for rural road construction under the third phase of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, (PMGSY-III).

·        1674 km road will be constructed using Coir Geo textiles in 07 states namely- 164 Kms of road in Andhra Pradesh (AP) , 151 kms in Gujarat, 71 kms in Kerala , 328 kms in Maharashtra,470 kms in Odisha, 369 kms Tamil Nadu (TN) and 121 kms in Telengana.

·        The construction will need One Crore Sq. mtrs of coir Geo-textiles, that will cost around Rs.70 Crore.

About Coir Geo textiles:

·        It is a permeable fabric, natural, strong, highly durable, resistant to rots, moulds and moisture, free from any microbial attack.

·        It plays an important role in soil erosion.

·        They protect the land and provide vegetative growth during the formative period after which degrade into the soil.

·        About PMGSY: It was launched by the central Government in December 2000 to provide all-weather friendly single road connectivity to the prescribed size.

·        PMGSY-III launched on December 18,2019, this phase aims to construct 1,25,000 km of roads with an estimated cost of about 80,250 crores rupees (Central Share of Rs. 53,800 crores) for the period 2019-20 – 2024-25.

3. SEVERAL INITIATIVES TO BOOST EDUCATION SECTOR

·        Nirmala Sitharaman has announced several initiatives to boost the education sector in New Delhi to boost the access and equity in education and improve the gross enrolment ratio in the coming years.

·        A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA will be launched which will combine all efforts related to digital / online /on-air education, which will  enable multi-mode access to education, and includes:

·        DIKSHA(one nation-one digital platform) will become the nation’s digital infrastructure to provide quality e-content in school education for all the states/UTs

·        TV(one class-one channel) where one dedicated channel per grade for each of the classes 1 to 12 will provide access to quality educational material- Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds(SWAYAM) online courses in Massive Open Online Course(MOOCS) format for school and higher education

·        Indian Institute of Technology Professor Assisted Learning(IITPAL) for IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)/ National Eligibility cum Entrance Test exam(NEET) preparation

·        Air through Community radio and CBSE Shiksha Vani podcast; study material for the differently-abled developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.

·        Manodarpan initiative is launched to provide such support through a website, a toll-free helpline, national directory of counselors and  interactive chat platform among others so as to provide  psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional wellbeing.

4. VIDEO-KYC FACILITY FOR CUSTOMERS

·        In view of the ongoing lockdown in the country due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), Kotak Mahindra Bank has become the 1^st bank in India to allow video Know your customer (KYC) facility for its customers opening savings account (SA) on Kotak 811 platform.

5. GOVINDA RAJULU CHINTALA APPOINTED AS NABARD CHAIRMAN

·        The appointments committee of the union cabinet appointed Govinda Rajulu Chintala as Chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

·        He was the successor of Harsh Kumar Bhanwala.

·        He will serve as the Chairman of NABARD for the period of 2 years till his superannuation in July 31, 2022.

6. WORLD BEE DAY 2020- MAY 20

·        The May 20th of every year is celebrated as the World Bee Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Anton Jansa, the pioneer of beekeeping born in 1734 in Slovenia and to acknowledge the role of bees in the ecosystem.

·        The theme of world Bee Day 2020 is “Save the Bees”.

7. WORLD METROLOGY DAY 2020: MAY 2020

·        Theme for the year 2020: Measurements for global trade.

·        The theme raises awareness about the important role of measurement in facilitating fair global trade, ensuring products meet standards and regulations, and satisfying customer quality expectations.

8. J&K NEW RULES FOR ISSUING DOMICILE CERTIFICATES

·        The administration in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir issued a new set of rules named “Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 2020” which defines the rules for issuing domicile certificates in the UT.

·        J&K STARTS AN INITIATIVE ‘SUKOON’ – COVID-19 BEAT THE STRESS