CURRENT AFFAIRS 5 SEPT 2020

 CURRENT AFFAIRS 5 SEPT 2020

1)    12TH MEKONG GANGA COOPERATION SENIOR OFFICIALS’

·       12th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Senior Officials Meeting took place virtually, The key areas of cooperation tourism, culture, education, transport and communications were discussed and reviewed during the meeting.

·       The meeting was attended by Senior Officials from all 6 MGC Member States (India, Cambodia, Lao PDR (People’s Democratic Republic), Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam).

 

2)    RBI ANNOUNCED ADDITIONAL OMO OF RS 20,000 CR

·       RBI announced measures in order to ensure orderly market conditions and congenial financial conditions.

·       In this regard Reserve Bank will conduct additional special open market operations (OMO) involving the simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities (G-secs) for Rs 20,000 crore in two tranches of  Rs 10,000 crore each on September 10, 2020 and September 17, 2020.

·       The apex bank also announced term repo operations of Rs 100,000 crore (1 trillion) to infuse liquidity into the market.

·       Reserve Bank also increased the held to maturity limit (HTM) or the amount that banks invest in G-secs from 19.5% to 22%. 

·       RBI reviewed the Priority Sector Lending (PSL) Guidelines to align it with emerging national priorities amid COVID-19 impact.

·       In this regard, new categories are included under priority sector for financing viz. start-ups (up to Rs 50 crore); loans to farmers for installation of solar power plants for solarisation of grid connected agriculture pumps and loans for setting up Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plants.

 

3)    LIGO AND VIRGO DETECTED MAMMOTH COLLISION OF ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ BLACK HOLES FOR 1ST TIME

·       For the 1st time, The Collision of ‘Impossible’ Black Holes was detected and directly observed by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Laboratory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration also known as LVC (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), which includes scientists from the Australian National University (ANU). 

·       They Initially found 2 black holes of 66 and 85 solar masses, which generated a final black hole of 142 solar masses, till now it is the largest black hole ever observed through gravitational-wave observations.

 

4)    PUNJAB GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES ‘I RAKHWALI’ APP

·       Punjab State Minister for Department of Forest & WildLife & Preservation Sadhu Singh Dharmsot launched ‘I Rakhwali’ application.

·       The app was launched to safeguard the forest areas in the state by making common citizens as stakeholders in the process.

·       It will help citizens to become ‘Greenery Saviours’.

·       The main aim is to inspire people to plant more trees and this app will help people come forward and contribute towards environment protection.

 

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CURRENT AFFAIRS 4 SEPT 2020

 CURRENT AFFAIRS 4 SEPT 2020

1)    BAN ON 118 CHINESE MOBILE APPS 

·       Ministry of Electronics and Information & Technology banned 118 Chinese Mobile Applications.

·       The mobile applications have been banned as they were found to be harmful to the Sovereignty, Integrity, Defence of India and Public Order.

·       The Government has banned them amidst the border tensions with China.

·       The apps have been banned under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009.

 

2)    SIKKIM CELEBRATED PANG LHABSOL

·       A festival of cultural heritage and historical importance is one of the most historically and culturally significant festivals celebrated annually by Sikkim people.

·       This festival is celebrated only in this state.

·       It commemorates the blessing of Mount Khangchendzonga as the guardian deity of Sikkim.

 

3)    GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2020

·       For the First time, India joined the group of Top 50 Countries in the 13th Edition of Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020, as it took the 48th rank with a score of 35.59 in the Annual report jointly released by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD Business School. 

·       The Theme of the 13th edition of the GII 2020 is “Who Will Finance Innovation?”.

Rank	Country	Score	Income
1	Switzerland	66.08	HI*
2	Sweden	62.47	HI
3	United States	60.56	HI

 

4)    THE WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKING 2021

·       Times Higher Education (THE), based in the United Kingdom (UK) released the World University Rankings 2021.

·       Placed under the group of 301-350 rankings, Indian Institute of Science(IISc) Bengaluru tops among the 63 institutions that qualified for the rankings.

·       University of Oxford of UK was spotted tops in the list IIT, Ropar which is under the 351-400 group rankings and IISc Bengaluru are the only Indian institutes in the world top 400 Universities.

5)    NATIONAL AWARD TO TEACHERS 2020

·       For the first Time, Sudha Painuli, a vice-principal of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS), established under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been selected for National Award to Teachers (NAT) 2020. 

·       Sudha Painuli is the vice-principal of EMRS-Kalsi, Dehradun, Uttarakhand since its establishment. Sudha Painuli made it to the list of 47 outstanding teachers after a 3-stage rigorous online transparent process.

 

6)    NEW CHAIRMAN OF PTI

·       The Board of Directors of Press Trust of India(PTI) announced that Aveek Sarkar (75 years), Editor Emeritus and Vice Chairman of Ananda Bazar Group of Publication was elected as the new Chairman of PTI, he will succeed Vijay Kumar Chopra, Chief Editor of the Punjab Kesari Group of Newspapers.

 

7)    FIRST EVER CEO OF IR

·       The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the organizational restructuring of the Indian Railways, which includes the merger of eight Group A services and also approved the appointment of the current chairman of the Railway Board V K Yadav as the first ever Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IR.Along with the CEO post he also holds the chairman post.

 

8)    ADANI GROUP TO ACQUIRE 74% STAKE IN MIAL

·       Adani Airport Holdings Limited(AAHL), holding company of Adani Group for its airports business has entered into an agreement to acquire 74% in Mumbai International Airport Limited(MIAL) or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

 

9)    POPE FRANCIS’S NEW BOOK “LET US DREAM”

·       Pope Francis is set to release the book “Let Us Dream” in December 2020.

·       The book will be an outcome of numerous exchanges between Pope Francis and his Biographer Austen Ivereigh in the weeks following the Coronavirus outbreak around the world.

 

 

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DAILY GK 3 SEP 2020

 DAILY GK 3 SEP 2020

1. ACCIDENTAL DEATHS & SUICIDES IN INDIA 2019 REPORT

·          The National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs released an annual report titled “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India(ADSI) 2019”.

·          This is NCRB’s 53rd edition of the series which was started in 1967.

·          Delhi recorded the highest number of deaths due to dangerous driving and overall road accidents in 2019.

·          In Chennai and Bengaluru, 1,258 and 768 persons died in road accidents respectively.

·          The report states that around 139,123 people died by suicide in India during 2019.Maharashtra (18,916), Tamil Nadu (13,493), West Bengal (12,665), Madhya Pradesh (12457) and Karnataka (11,288) accounts for 49% of the suicides in India.

 

2. CYCLING SUMMIT IN 2021

·          Cycling Federation of India(CFI) is set to host the first ever Cycling Summit in 2021 in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

·          The one-day summit is designed with an aim to promote the culture of cycling and sharing of knowledge between beginner and professional cyclists.

·          On 1st September 2020, CFI signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) for the 2021 summit with Contarctica, a marketing exploration firm.

 

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