Hello and welcome to exampundit.in. Here are the important Current Affairs Today 20th October 2020. These are important for the upcoming Exams. Candidates who were preparing for the examination can use these current affairs and also you can download the same as PDF.
Current Affairs Today – 20th October 2020
NEWS AT A GLANCE
- Every year 20th October is observed as the World Osteoporosis Day (WOD).
- Every year 20th October is observed as the World Statistics Day.
- The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement of 177 million USD to upgrade 450 km of district roads and state highways in the state of Maharashtra.
- The Ayushman Sahakar scheme is launched by the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.
- NITI Aayog announced the establishment of a Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre, CIC with Amazon Web Services, AWS.
- The 4th edition of India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The food regulator FSSAI has announced to extend its Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) across the entire country from November 1, 2020.
- The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Institute of Himalayan bioresource Technology has taken up Heeng cultivation in the Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh.
- Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will virtually lay the foundation stone for the first-ever multi-modal logistic park of the country in Assam.
- Singapore recently included facial recognition to its National Identity Database.
- Japan and Vietnam signed agreements to ensure “free and open Indo-Pacific”.
- A Webinar conducted on ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Fostering Steel Usage in Rural Economy, Agriculture,Rural Development, Dairying and Food Processing’.
- The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister Jay Shankar will hold 2+2 dialogue with their United States counter parts mark as per and Mike pompeo.
- An Australian think tank the Lowy Institute released the Asia Power Index 2020.
- The UNICEF and India’s International Advertising Association (IAA India) has been collaborated with each other with an objective to boost the evidence and real time validation-based research on gender representation and stereotypes in TV and advertisements in India.
- Tata Motors has partnered with HDFC Bank for financing of its passenger vehicles.
- First Edition of ISA Solar Awards is presented virtually through the online mode.
- Seema Mustafa, the Editor of The Citizen, has been elected as President of the Editors Guild of India.
- India successfully test fired the Stand-Off Anti-Tank Missile called SANT.
- An annual badminton tournament the Denmark Open which was organized by Danmarks Badminton Forbund was concluded in Denmark.
- The 2019-20 I-League title won by Mohun Bagan.
- First-of-its-kind, fully-automated direct payment platform, ‘mooPay’, for dairy farmers in Rajasthan is recently launched by the IIT-Madras incubated dairy-tech startup named Stellapps.
- A book titled “On the Trails of Buddha: A Journey to the East” authored by Deepankar Aron, IRS Officer is released by the West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankar.
- One among the finest gurus of carnatic music in India, Padmabhushana Vid. Shri Puliyur Subramaniam Narayanaswamy passed away at the age of 86.
- India’s has developed a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Processing Facility that has helped in achieving decentralised decimation of solid wastes.
NEWS IN DETAILS
IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES
World Osteoporosis Day observed on 20 October
- Every year 20th October is observed as the World Osteoporosis Day (WOD).
Objective:
- to raise global awareness of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease.
Theme:
- In 2020 the Global WOD Campaign theme is “THAT’S OSTEOPOROSIS”.
World Statistics Day observed on 20 October
- Every year 20th October is observed as the World Statistics Day.
- This year 2020 observed the third edition of World Statistics Day.
Organised by:
- The celebration of World Statistics Day 2020 is a global collaborative endeavour, organized under the guidance of the United Nations Statistical Commission.
Theme:
- The World Statistics Day 2020 theme “Connecting the world with data we can trust.”
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
India sign 177 million USD agreement with ADB to develop roadways of Maharashtra
- The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement of 177 million USD to upgrade 450 km of district roads and state highways in the state of Maharashtra.
- The project will also train Public Works Department staff to build their capacity in climate change adaptation and disaster resilient features.
Extra Shots:
ADB
- Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
- President: Masatsugu Asakawa
- Founded: 19 December 1966
- Purpose: Economic development
- Membership: 68 countries
GOVERNMENT SCHEMES
Ayushman Sahakar scheme launched for co-operative healthcare facilities
- The Ayushman Sahakar scheme is launched by the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.
- The Scheme was developed by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
- Objective: to encourage cooperatives play an important role in creation of healthcare infrastructure in the country.
- The NCDC will extend loans to the tune of Rs.10,000 crore to prospective cooperatives to set up healthcare facilities.
- Additionally, the scheme would provide interest subvention of one percent to women majority cooperatives.
Extra Shots:
NCDC
- Founded: 1963
NITI Aayog to establish Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre with AWS
- NITI Aayog announced the establishment of a Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre, CIC with Amazon Web Services, AWS.
- It is the first of its kind in India.
- NITI Aayog is delighted to collaborate with AWS in this endeavour.
Extra Shots:
NITI Aayog
- Formed: 1 January 2015
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Chairperson: Narendra Modi
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
India Energy Forum to be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi
- The 4th edition of India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Objective: to enhance important dialogue on the nation’s new energy future.
- It will be schedule on October 26-28, by IHS Markit.
FSSAI to expand its new food safety compliance platform from 1st Nov
- The food regulator FSSAI has announced to extend its Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) across the entire country from November 1, 2020.
FoSCoS:
- FoSCoS is a cloud-based, upgraded new food safety compliance online platform of FSSAI.
- It can be accessed at https://foscos.fssai.gov.in.
- FoSCoS will provide one point stop for all engagement of a food business operator (FBO) with the department, for any regulatory compliance transaction.
Extra Shots:
FSSAI
- Founded: August 2011
- Sector: Food safety
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Chairperson: Rita Teaotia
Indian Himalayas introduced Heeng Cultivation
- The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Institute of Himalayan bioresource Technology has taken up Heeng cultivation in the Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh.
- Around 750 hectares are to be covered under Heeng cultivation.
STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Nitin Gadkari to lay foundation stone for country’s first-ever multi-modal logistic park in Assam
- Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will virtually lay the foundation stone for the first-ever multi-modal logistic park of the country in Assam.
- It will be developed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana of the Centre.
- The 694 crore rupees park at Bongaigaon district will provide direct connectivity to air, road, rail and waterways to the people of Assam.
- The fund for the multimodal logistics park would be spent in 3 components – road and railway connectivity as well as building and infrastructure work. An MoU will also be signed to implement the project.
Extra Shots:
Assam:
- Capital: Dispur
- Chief Minister: Sarbananda Sonowal
- Governor: Jagdish Mukhi
- National Park: Dibru-Saikhowa NP, Kaziranga NP, Manas NP, Nameri NP, Rajiv Gandhi Orang NP, Dehing Patkai
INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Singapore become the first Country to attach Facial Verification in National Identification Database
- Singapore recently included facial recognition to its National Identity Database.
- And thereby, it has become the first country to include the technology in its national database.
- The system introduced is called “SingPass Face Verification”.
- Though this, a number of government services can be accessed online.
- It provides 400 online services including public housing applications and tax declarations. The facial recognition system is compatible with tablets, computer, public kiosks and cell phones.
Extra Shots:
Singapore (Capital/Currency): Singapore/ Dollar
- Prime Minister: Lee Hsien Loong
Japan and Vietnam sign Agreements
- Japan and Vietnam signed agreements to ensure “free and open Indo-Pacific”.
- Also, the agreement will allow Japan to export its defence equipment to Vietnam.
- Recently, the QUAD grouping held in Tokyo, reaffirmed the significance of “free and open Indo-Pacific” and raised concerns over increasing Chinese influence in the region.
- The agreement between Japan and Vietnam will add to QUAD decisions in the region.
- The United States has invited the ASEAN countries to join QUAD grouping.
- The current members of QUAD are India, Japan, US and Australia.
Extra Shots:
Japan (Capital/Currency): Tokyo/Yen
- Prime Minister: Yoshihide Suga
SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES
Webinar: Fostering Steel Usage in Rural and Agriculture Sector
- A Webinar conducted on ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Fostering Steel Usage in Rural Economy, Agriculture,Rural Development, Dairying and Food Processing’.
- The Webinar was organised by the Union Ministry of Steel in collaboration with CII.
Objective:
- to identify present and future requirements of steel and steel products in Rural Development Sector and increase awareness on usage & benefits of using steel goods.
Extra Shots:
CII
- President: Uday Kotak
- Headquarters location: New Delhi
- Founded: 1895
India-US to sign the BECA pact during 2+2 Dialogue
- The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister Jay Shankar will hold 2+2 dialogue with their United States counter parts mark as per and Mike pompeo.
- The dialogue is to be held between October 26 2020 and October 27 2020.
- During the dialogue India and US will sign the fourth and final foundational military pact called BECA.
- BECA is basic exchange and cooperation agreement for Geo spatial cooperation.
RANKS AND INDICES
Asia Power Index 2020 released
- An Australian think tank the Lowy Institute released the Asia Power Index 2020.
- The Asia Power Index 2020 ranks 26 countries and territories to assess the relative power of states in Asia.
- In the Index, China emerged as the most powerful country in the Asia-Pacific region.
- The United States Topped the Asia Power Index 2020 and India ranked fourth with a score of 39.7 out of 100.
Top 5 Countries:
- US
- China
- Japan
- India
- Russia
AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED
UNICEF and IAA India collaborated to boost Gender Equality in Ads
- The UNICEF and India’s International Advertising Association (IAA India) has been collaborated with each other with an objective to boost the evidence and real time validation-based research on gender representation and stereotypes in TV and advertisements in India.
- With an aim to support responsible and gender empowering policies, IAA will not only support technical insights to the research but also share the findings to the advertising industries.
Extra Shots:
UNICEF
- Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
- Head: Henrietta H. Fore
- Founded: 11 December 1946, New York, New York, United States
- Founders: United Nations General Assembly, Ludwik Rajchman
Tata Motors partners with HDFC Bank for financing of passenger vehicles
- Tata Motors has partnered with HDFC Bank for financing of its passenger vehicles.
- With an aim to drive up Companies sales in the festive season it has introduced two new schemes’ Gradual Step Up Scheme’ and ‘TML Flexi Drive Scheme’.
- Under the Gradual Step Up scheme, customers can avail EMI options as low as ₹799 per lakh per month.
- Flexi Drive scheme offers the option to the consumer to choose any three months every year, where s/he can pay a minimum EMI of ₹789 per lakh per month.
Extra Shots:
HDFC Bank
- CEO: Aditya Puri
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Founded: August 1994, India
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
ISA Solar Awards 2020 Presented for the first time
- First Edition of ISA Solar Awards is presented virtually through the online mode.
- The objective of presenting the award is to recognize distinguished scientists and organizations that excel in providing affordable, reliable and sustainable solar energy.
Winners List:
- ISA Kalpana Chawla Haryana Solar Award:Bhim Singh (IIT Delhi) and Dr. Aaesha Alnuaimi (Dubai Electricity Wter Authority, UAE)
- ISA Karnataka Visvesvaraya Solar Award: Japan (For Asia Pacific Region)
- Netherland (Europe and Other Region): ISA Diwakar Solar Award: Arpan Institute (Haryana) and Arushi Society (Madhya Pradesh)
Extra Shots:
ISA Solar Awards
- This award is presented in three categories.
These are as follows:
- Visvesvaraya award – to recognise the countries with maximum floating solar capacity in each of the four regions of ISA.
- Kalpana Chawla awards – to recognise outstanding contribution of scientists and engineers working in the field of solar energy.
- Diwakar award – to recognizes organisations & institutions that have been working for the benefit of differently-abled people and have maximised the use of solar energy in the host country.
ISA
- Director General: Upendra Tripathy
- Headquarters: Gurugram, Haryana
APPOINTMENTS IN NEWS
Editors Guild of India elected Seema Mustafa Elected as its President
- Seema Mustafa, the Editor of The Citizen, has been elected as President of the Editors Guild of India.
- Mustafa succeeds Shekhar Gupta, the Editor-in-Chief of ThePrint.
- Nath will take over from A.K. Bhattacharya, the Editorial Director of Business Standard, and Sheela Bhatt, the Contributing Editor of Rediff.com, respectively.
DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
India successfully test fires SANT Missile
- India successfully test fired the Stand-Off Anti-Tank Missile called SANT.
- It was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization for the Indian Air Force.
- The missile was test fired at the Chandipur test range.
SANT
- SANT missile is a variant of Nag missile.
- The other variants of Nag missile are Helina (or Dhruvastra) and MP-ATGM.
- SANT is an upgraded version of HELINA.
SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS
Anders Antonsen and Nozomi Okuhara clinched the Denmark Open 2020
- An annual badminton tournament the Denmark Open which was organized by Danmarks Badminton Forbund was concluded in Denmark.
Winners List:
| CATEGORY | WINNER | Runner -Up |
| Men’s Single | Anders Antonsen (Denmark) | Rasmus Gemke (Denmark) |
| Women’s Single | Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) | Carolina Marin (Spain) |
| Men’s Double | Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge (England) | Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov (Russia) |
| Women’s Double | Fukushima Yuki and Hirota Sayaka (Japan) | Matsumoto Maya and Nagahara Wakana (Japan) |
| Mixed Double | Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich (Germany) | Chris and Gabby Adcock (England) |
I-League 2019/20 trophy won by Mohun Bagan
- The 2019-20 I-League title won by Mohun Bagan.
- The trophy from AIFF Leagues CEO Sunando Dhar was received by the Indian footballer Dhanachandra Singh in the presence of state sports minister Aroop Biswas.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CURRENT AFFAIRS
IIT Madras launches ‘mooPay’ for dairy farmers in Rajasthan
- First-of-its-kind, fully-automated direct payment platform, ‘mooPay’, for dairy farmers in Rajasthan is recently launched by the IIT-Madras incubated dairy-tech startup named Stellapps.
- mooPay is a payment gateway for dairies and dairy farmers where the dairy officials can transfer milk payments digitally to member farmers from the dairies’ existing bank account to farmers’ savings bank account
BOOKS & AUTHORS
A book titled “On the Trails of Buddha: A Journey to the East” released by West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhakar
- A book titled “On the Trails of Buddha: A Journey to the East” authored by Deepankar Aron, IRS Officer is released by the West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankar.
- The Book is published by Niyogi Books Private Limited.
OBITUARY
Acclaimed carnatic vocalist P S Narayanaswamy passes away
- One among the finest gurus of carnatic music in India, Padmabhushana Vid. Shri Puliyur Subramaniam Narayanaswamy passed away at the age of 86.
- He was the winner of many awards and titles, including the Padma Bhushan, and Kalaimamani from the Tamil Nadu government.
MISCELLANEOUS
India’s First Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Processing Facility developed by CSIR-CMERI
- India’s has developed a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Processing Facility that has helped in achieving decentralised decimation of solid wastes.
- This was developed by the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
- The MSW facility has not only been equipped with unique capabilities to make it easy with a diverse range of waste including masks, sanitary napkins, diapers etc. but also with unique disinfection capabilities to help break the COVID chain through UV-C lights and hot-air convection methods.
Extra Shots:
CSIR-CMERI
- Director: Harish Hirani
- Location: Durgapur, West Bengal
