DAILY GK: 28, 29, 30 NOV 2021

 DAILY GK: 28, 29, 30 NOV

1.       NITI AAYOG’S 1^ST NATIONAL MPI 2021

·         NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog released its first ‘National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2021-Baseline report’ in which Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (UP) ranked as the poorest state in India.

·         Kerala has lowest poverty across India (0.71%), followed by Goa (3.76%), Sikkim (3.82%).

 

2.       WHO DESIGNATES NEW COVID-19 STRAIN, NAMED ‘OMICRON’, AS VARIANTS OF CONCERN 

·         World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated the new, fast-spreading coronavirus variant, B.1.1.529, which was detected in South Africa named “Omicron” after a letter in the Greek alphabet, as ‘Variant of Concern(VOC)’.

·         Currently designated VOCs are, Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1), Delta (B.1.617.2), and Omicron (B.1.1.529).

·         B.1.1.529 variant was first reported from South Africa on 24th November 2021 and the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.

·         Variants of Interest (VOI) VOI is a SARS-CoV-2 variant with genetic changes which is known to affect Virus characteristics like transmissibility, disease severity, Immune Escape, Diagnostic or Therapeutic Escape.

 

3.       20TH SUMMIT OF SCO COUNCIL OF HEADS OF GOVERNMENT

·         Dr. S. Jaishankar, Union Minister of External Affairs represented India at the 20th Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) held  in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan under the Chairmanship of Kazakhstan.

·         SCO was founded in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at a summit held in Shanghai, China.

·         India and Pakistan became SCO’s permanent members in 2017.

 

4.       SWADESH - WORLD’S 1ST MULTIMODAL BRAIN IMAGING DATA & ANALYTICS

·         SWADESH is a unique brain initiative, which focuses on certified neuroimaging, neurochemical, neuropsychological data and analytics that are made accessible to researchers for managing brain disorders.

·         Aim is to strengthen Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research and to assist the scientific community to come up with promising treatments.

 

5.       MEGHALAYA LAUNCHES DRONE AQUILAX2 TO DELIVER MEDICINES

·         Meghalaya launched a pilot of India’s 1st Medicine Delivery via  e-VTOL (Virtual take off and landing ) Drone AquilaX2. The drone delivers medicines to remote primary health centers (PHC).

 

6.       NATIONAL ORGAN DONATION DAY 2021 – NOVEMBER 27 

·         The National(Indian) Organ Donation Day is annually observed across India on 27th November to create awareness about the importance of organ donation and to recognise the contributions made by the organ donors.

 

7.       VARANASI (UP), 1^ST INDIAN CITY TO START ROPEWAY SERVICE AS A MODE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT

·         Varanasi, a city in Uttar Pradesh (UP) is all set to become the first Indian city to start ropeway service as a mode of public transport in order to ease the traffic congestion.

·         The proposed ropeway will be constructed between Cantt Railway Station (Varanasi Junction) to Church Square (Godauliya) covering an aerial distance of 3.45km.

·         India will be the third country in the world after Bolivia and Mexico to use a ropeway for public transport.

·         Varanasi is the constituency of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

·         Varanasi is known as the Gateway of Eastern India.

 

8.       MANIPUR TO GET WORLD’S TALLEST RAILWAY BRIDGE PIER

·         The Indian Railways is constructing the world’s tallest railway bridge pier across river Ijai near Noney Valley crossing at a pier height of 141 metres in Manipur, India as a part of the 111 km long Jiribam-Imphal railway project.

·         The bridge will surpass the record of 139 meters high Mala – Rijeka viaduct on the Belgrade–Bar railway, in Montenegro, Europe.

·         Under the Jiribam-Imphal railway line, Imphal will connect Imphal with the broad gauge network of India. The 111 km project consists of 61% of tunnels.

 

9.       VIVEK JOHRI IS CBIC CHAIRMAN

·         Vivek Johri is appointed the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) by succeeding M Ajit Kumar 

·         CBIC is a part of the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance, headed by a chairperson and comprises six members.

·         It forms policy concerning levy and collection of Customs, Central Excise duties, Central Goods & Services Tax and IGST, prevention of smuggling and administration of matters relating to Customs, Central Excise, Central Goods & Services Tax, IGST and Narcotics to the extent under CBIC ‘s purview.

 

10.    PRIME MINISTER OF CZECH REPUBLIC

·         The President of Czech Republic, Milos Zeman appointed Petr Fiala as the new Prime Minister (PM) of the country.

·         He belongs to the Civic Democratic Party (CDS) 

·         Petr Fiala had written a book ‘Theory of Political Parties’ along with Maxmilián Strmiska.

·         Czech Republic is also known by its short-form name Czechia and formerly known as Bohemia. It is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Capital-Prague

 

11.    BAHRAIN TENNIS CHALLENGER 2021

·         Indian tennis player, Ramkumar Ramanathan won maiden singles title on the first edition of Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP)’s Bahrain Ministry Of Interior Tennis Challenger 2021 held in Manama, Bahrain.

·         He defeated Evgeny Karlovskiy from Russia.

·         Ramkumar Ramanathan secured 186th ATP rank. With this victory, he became the highest-ranked Indian on the ATP singles ranking chart.