Daily GK 07 Oct. 2020

 Daily GK 07 Oct. 2020

1. MY GANGA MY DOLPHIN CAMPAIGN

•  On the occasion of Ganga River Dolphin Day i.e. on October 5, 2020, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Forest Department launched a Dolphin-based ecotourism programme namely “My Ganga My Dolphin campaign” at six sites across the states of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar and West Bengal (WB).

•  During the campaign, Dolphin census will be conducted in the 250 km stretch from Bijnor (UP) to Narora (UP), many community awareness campaigns will be carried out and young volunteers will be encouraged to enrol as Ganga Mitras.

 

2. 5TH SPECIAL SESSION OF THE WHO EXECUTIVE BOARD

•  Dr Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) virtually chaired the 5th Special Session of Bureau of the Executive Board as Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO).

•  The objective behind this session was to ensure the full and effective implementation of the terms of resolution WHA (World Health Assembly) 73.1 on COVID-19 response.

•  It should be noted that Harsh Vardhan is the chair of the WHO Executive Board.

 

3. 2020 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS

•  Goran K. Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the Nobel Prize in Physics 2020.

•  One half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was given to Roger Penrose(United Kingdom-UK)  for his discovery that black hole formation is resilient prediction of the general theory of relativity and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel(German) and Andrea Ghez(America) for their discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy(Milky Way).

 

4. RESIGNATION OF PRIME MINISTER OMAR AL-RAZZAZ

•  King of Jordan, Abudullah accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz. The monarch dissolved the parliament on 2nd October 2020, at the end of its 4-year term. Omar al-Razzaz will stay in caretaker capacity until the appointment of a successor to oversee the parliamentary elections on 10th November 2020 and formation of the new government.

 

5. INDIA, FRANCE TO LAUNCH CONSTELLATION OF MARITIME SURVEILLANCE SATELLITES

•  National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will jointly launch Constellation of Maritime Surveillance Satellites for Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The Satellite will trace illegal spillage of oil by ships.

•  It will be the first space-based system in the world capable of tracking ships continuously.

 

6. INDIA’S FASTEST HPC-AI SUPERCOMPUTER ‘PARAM SIDDHI – AI’ WITH NVIDIA

•  In order to be at par with internationa standards in AI (Artificial intelligence) supercomputing research and innovation, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) will commission India’s largest HPC-AI supercomputer, ‘PARAM Siddhi – AI’.

•  The initiative was headed by Abhishek Das, Scientist and Program Director (HPC-AI Infrastructure Development) at C-DAC, who conceived the idea and designed the architecture for the largest HPC-AI infrastructure in India.