DAILY GK 13, 14 NOV 2020

 DAILY GK 13, 14 NOV 2020

1. VIBRATION-ABSORBING TRACKS

•      For the first time in India, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., MMRCL will lay vibration-absorbing tracks on the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Line-3 with an estimated outlay of  Rs.23,000-cr.

 

2. SHIPPING MINISTRY AS MINISTRY OF PORTS, SHIPPING & WATERWAYS

•      The President of India  has gave his assent for renaming  Shipping Ministry as the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways by exercising of the powers conferred by clause (3) of Article 77 of the Constitution and by amending the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961.

 

3. FOREIGN SECRETARY TWO-DAY VISIT TO MALDIVES

•      India’s Foreign Secretary (FS) Harsh Vardhan Shringla concluded a Two-day visit to Maldives.

•      FS reviewed the progress of ongoing development projects under USD 1.3 Billion (~ INR 9704.50 crores) Financial Package.

•      India will also support Maldives Foreign Minister’s candidature for UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) President.

 

4. LIST OF TOP 2% SCIENTISTS OF THE WORLD

•      Stanford University, United States (US) has released a list of Top 2% Scientists of the world.

•      The list has 1, 59, 683 persons and 1, 492 Indians have found a place in it.

•      The scientists have been selected in the global list on the basis of their research paper’s International Evaluation.

 

5. INDIA’S GDP GROWTH TO CONTRACT BY 8.9%

•      As per Moody’s ‘Global Macro Outlook 2021-22: Nascent economic rebound takes hold globally but will remain fragile’, India’s GDP(Gross Domestic Product) for the Calendar Year(CY) 2020 is revised upwards to -8.9%(contract by 8.9) from -9.6% projected earlier.

•      Goldman Sachs in its global economic analysis report titled ‘V(accine)-Shaped Recovery’, has projected India’s GDP growth to contract by 8.9% for CY 2020.

 

6. 2ND NATIONAL WATER AWARDS

•      M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President(VP) of India virtually presented the 2nd National Water Awards for 2019.

•      Tamil Nadu won the first prize for the Best State Award under Normal Category followed by Maharsashtra and Rajasthan in 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively.

•      Mizoram won the Best State Award under special category.

 

7. CCI APPROVES ACQUISITION OF 7.73% SHARE OF JIO BY GOOGLE

•      The Competition Commission of India (CCI) under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002 has approved an acquisition of 7.73% equity share capital of Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) by Google International Limited Liability Corporation-LLC (GIL).

•      JPL is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited(RIL).

•      Jio will get all the funds from its 13 investors(including google) who have injected Rs 1,52,056 crore for a 32.97% cumulative equity share.

 

8. 5TH SCORPENE-CLASS SUBMARINE ‘INS VAGIR’

•      Shripad Naik virtually launched the Indian Navy’s 5th Scorpene-class Submarine ‘INS Vagir’ in Arabian sea waters at Mazagon Dock, Mumbai. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDSL), Mumbai has built ‘Vagir’.

•      ‘Vagir’ is part of six Kalvari-Class submarines being built in India.

•      Designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS (The Naval Group, formerly known as Direction des Constructions Navales (DCNS)) and is being built as part of Indian Navy’s Project-75.

•      INS Kalvari, the first of the six Scorpene-class submarines, was launched in 2017, followed by Khanderi, Karanj and Vela.

 

9. SONU SOOD’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

•      Sonu Sood, an actor, producer and humanitarian, is set to pen his autobiography titled “I Am No Messiah”.

•      The book will be co-authored by Meena Iyer.

•      The book will account the experience of Sonu Sood during the COVID-19 pandemic.

•      The book is set to be published by Penguin Random House India and released in December 2020.

 

10. WORLD PNEUMONIA DAY 2020

•      World Pneumonia Day is annually celebrated across the globe on 12th November to create awareness among the general public about Pneumonia, a fatal infection and the methods to prevent the infection.

•      The World Pneumonia day was first celebrated on 12th November 2009 by the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia.

 

11. HARYANA LAUNCHES ‘PROJECT AIR CARE’

•      CM Manohar Lal Khattar virtually unveiled ‘Project Air Care’ to combat rising Air Pollution in Gurgaon.

•      65 Wing Augmentation Air Purifying Units (WAYU) would be set up at areas with high Air Quality Indices (AQI) in Gurgaon to improve the air quality.

•      The Air Purifiers have been developed by CSIR-NEERI (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute), IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Bombay.

 

12. INDIA’S FIRST SANDALWOOD MUSEUM

•      India’s first Sandalwood Museum is being established in Aranya Bhavan in Ashokapuram, Mysuru, Karnataka.

•      The museum is set up by the Regional Forest Department to educate farmers about the significance of cultivation of sandalwood.