DAILY GK 17 NOV 2020
1. LONAR LAKE AND SUR SAROVAR ADDED
TO RAMSAR SITES
• Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for
Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) announced that Sur Sarovar also
known as Keetham Lake in Agra, Uttar Pradesh and Lonar Lake in
Maharashtra, the only Crater Lake of
Country has been added to the ‘Ramsar Sites’.
• These 2 wetlands have been included in the
‘List of Wetlands of International Importance’ established by Article 2.1 of
the Convention.
• With the inclusion of these 2 wetlands,
the total number of Ramsar Sites in India is 41, the highest in South Asia.
2. SAANS CAMPAIGN TO REDUCE
CHILDHOOD PNEUMONIA DEATHS
• The Union Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare (MoHFW) launched a 3 month accelerated SAANS (Social Action and
Awareness to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully) campaign to reduce childhood Pneumonia
Deaths.
• Target of the Initiative– To reduce less
than 5 Pneumonia deaths, per a 1000 live births, to less than 3 deaths by 2025
through the accelerated SAANS (Social Action and Awareness to Neutralise
Pneumonia Successfully) initiative.
3. WORLD’S BIGGEST FREE TRADE PACT
‘RCEP’
• 15 Asia-Pacific Countries including 10
members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and their 5 Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners China,
Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia signed the World’s largest Regional
Free-Trade Agreement “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – RCEP” on
the sidelines of the 37th ASEAN Virtual Summit 2020 hosted by Vietnam. India
had pulled out of RCEP in 2019 over concerns on Imports.
• Members who have signed the RCEP pact account for 2.2 Billion People with a
combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 26.2 Trillion.
4. 1ST EVER VACCINE TO BE LISTED
UNDER WHO’S EUL
• The World Health Organization (WHO) listed
nOPV2 (novel Oral Polio Taccine type 2) Polio vaccine produced by Indonesia’s
Bio Farma PT for Emergency Use Listing (EUL), this is the first approval by WHO
of its kind amidst several outbreaks in several parts of the World.
• The nOPV2 vaccine is aimed at containing
outbreaks of circulating Vaccine-Derived Polio Virus (cVDPVs) in African Countries, Meditarranean Countries
as well as Western Pacific and Southeast Asian Region.
5. INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S PEACE
PRIZE 2020
• 17 year old Sadat Rahman from Bangladesh
won the International Children’s Peace Prize 2020 for his involvement in
setting up his Social Organization and creating
Mobile Application ‘Cyber Teens’ to end Cyberbullying.
6. DRDO SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES
QRSAM SYSTEM
• DRDO successfully Test-Fired Quick
Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) System at the Integrated Test Range,
Chandipur, Odisha. The Missile successfully hit its target during the test.
• QRSAM has been designed to protect moving Armoured
Vehicles from Aerial attacks.
• It has a range of 25 to 30 Kms.
• It is an indigenous Missile System
developed by DRDO in association with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat
Dynamics Limited (BDL).
7. TURKISH GRAND PRIX 2020
• British Driver Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
won the Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020 held at Intercity Istanbul Park,
Turkey.
• With this victory, Lewis Hamilton clinched
the 2020 Driver’s Championship Title.
• With this victory, Hamilton secured his 7th
F1 World Driver’s Championship, equalling Michael Schumacher’s (Germany) World
Record of 7 Titles.
• The Championships are organized by
Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
8. WORLD DIABETES DAY 2020
• United Nations(UN)’s World Diabetes Day is
annually observed across the globe on 14th November.
• The theme of the World Diabetes Day 2020
is “The Nurse and Diabetes”, which focuses on the Vital Role of the Nurses in
supporting the lives of the Diabetic patients.
9. NATIONAL PRESS DAY 2020
• National Press Day is celebrated annually
on November 16 across India to Commemorate the Establishment of the Press
Council of India(PCI) in 1966.
• PCI Current Chairman– Justice Chandramauli
Kumar Prasad
10. SPACEX LAUNCHES 4 ASTRONAUTS
INTO SPACE
• SpaceX launched Four Astronauts (3
Americans, 1 Japanese) to the International Space Station on the first
full-fledged Taxi Flight for NASA by a Private Company.
• They were launched by Falcon Rocket from
the Kennedy Space Center.
• The capsule has been named as
“Resilience”.
• The Crew was led by Commander Mike
Hopkins, Shannon Walker, Victor Glover (First Black Astronaut on a long-term Space
Station) Mission and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi (First person in 40 years to Launch
on three types of Spacecraft).