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Current Affairs Today – 28th October 2020
NEWS AT A GLANCE
- Every year 28th October is observed as the International Animation Day.
- The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched ‘RuPay Festive Carnival’.
- The Union Minister of State for Shipping (I/C), Shri Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the ‘Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility’ of V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust in Tamil Nadu on 27 October 2020.
- Two Centers of Excellence (CoE) for Tribal Welfare is launched by the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda.
- The Government of India extended the deadline for making payment under the Vivad se Vishwas scheme.
- The phase-II of Rs. 11,000 crore Urban Environment Improvement Programme (UIEP) is virtually launched by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh.
- To transform the functioning of the Panchayati raj bodies of Jammu and Kashmir, the government is all set to provide digital infrastructure with internet connectivity to all halqa panchayats and Block Development Councils (BDCs).
- In Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha virtually inaugurated Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) at Jammu and Sub-Centre at Srinagar.
- Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said that music and dance can provide relief from the anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- India and United States on October 27, 2020, held the third India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and signed the significant defence pact BECA which allows India to use global geospatial maps of the US for accuracy of stand-off weapons.
- The Centre has set up a high-level committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate the 400th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur.
- India Post and US Postal Service signed agreement for electronic exchange of data related to postal shipments.
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to share expertise for the betterment of highway infrastructure.
- Microsoft has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to impart digital skills to more than one lakh underserved women in India over the next 10 months.
- In Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam administered the oath of office of the Chairman of J&K State Water Resources Regulatory Authority (SWRRA) to Ghanshyam Jha.
- The Union Education Minister, Shri Ramesh pokhriyal nishank inaugurated the DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub.
- IIT Guwahati developed a low-cost method to produce anti-ageing compounds.
NEWS IN DETAILS
IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES
28th October observed as International Animation Day
- Every year 28th October is observed as the International Animation Day.
- 2020 marks the19th International Animation Day
Objective:
- to celebrate the art of animation and also recognise the artists, scientists and technicians behind animation.
History:
- The day was created in 2002 by ASIFA, an International Animated Film Association, a member of UNESCO.
BANKING & FINANCE
NPCI launches “Rupay Festive Carnival”
- The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched ‘RuPay Festive Carnival’.
- The ‘RuPay Festive Carnival’ will give compelling advantage and interesting discounts to RuPay users.
- It aimed at contactless, motivating safe and cashless payments.
- RuPay cardholders can revel in celebrations by helping attractive offers
- Customers will be able to benefit discounts ranging from 10-65 % on famous brands, including, Swiggy, Samsung, Amazon, Flipkart among others.
Extra Shots:
NPCI
- Headquarters location: Mumbai
- Founded: 2008
- Founders: Reserve Bank of India, Indian Banks’ Association
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurates ‘Direct Port Entry Facility’ at V.O. Chidambaranar port
- The Union Minister of State for Shipping (I/C), Shri Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the ‘Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility’ of V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust in Tamil Nadu on 27 October 2020.
- The state-of-the-art Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility would enable direct movement of containers from factories, without intermediate handling at any Container Freight Station (CFS), thus facilitating the shippers to Gate-In their factory stuffed exports directly to the Container Terminal on 24×7 basis.
- This will help in increasing Ease of Doing Business for the exporters, as the facility will bring efficiency and reduce dwell time, lower tariff cost and improve the competitiveness of shipper in the international trade.
Two Centers of Excellence for tribal welfare launched
- Two Centers of Excellence (CoE) for Tribal Welfare is launched by the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda.
- The centers launched in in a collaboration between Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and Art of Living (AoL).
- The first CoE has been launched in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra for training about 10000 tribal farmers in the field of sustainable natural farming based on Go-Adharith farming techniques.
- The second CoE has been launched in Jharkhand in the field of ‘Strengthening PRIs’ in 5 districts of the state covering 30 Gram Panchayats and 150 villages.
Deadline to payments under Vivad se Vishwas scheme extended
- The Government of India extended the deadline for making payment under the Vivad se Vishwas scheme.
- The deadline has been extended to March 31, 2021.
- The deadline is being extended for the third time under this direct tax dispute settlement scheme.
- The last date for making declaration under the scheme has been extended to December 31 2020.
STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Punjab govt launched Second Phase of Urban Environment Improvement Programme
- The phase-II of Rs. 11,000 crore Urban Environment Improvement Programme (UIEP) is virtually launched by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh.
- He has launched the programme from Bachat Bhawan, Ludhiana in Punjab.
- The project will focus on the development of the state’s urban infrastructure and well- organized service delivery systems to the urban population.
Extra Shots:
Punjab
- Capital: Chandigarh
- Chief Minister: Captain Amarinder Singh
- Governor: V. P. Singh Badnore
Govt all set to provide digital infrastructure with internet connectivity to all halqa panchayats, BDCs
- To transform the functioning of the Panchayati raj bodies of Jammu and Kashmir, the government is all set to provide digital infrastructure with internet connectivity to all halqa panchayats and Block Development Councils (BDCs).
- To transform the functioning of the Panchayati raj bodies of Jammu and Kashmir, the government is all set to provide digital infrastructure with internet connectivity to all halqa panchayats and Block Development Councils (BDCs).
Extra Shots:
Jammu & Kashmir:
- Capitals- Jammu (Winter), Srinagar (Summer)
- Lt Governor- Manoj Sinha
- National Parks: City Forest (Salim Ali) National Park, Dachigam National Park, Hemis National Park, Kishtwar National Park
- Wildlife Sanctuaries: Baltal-Thajwas WLS, Changthang Cold Desert WLS, Gulmarg WLS, Jasrota WLS, Karakoram (Nubra Shyok) WLS etc
Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre at Jammu, sub-centre at Srinagar
- In Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha virtually inaugurated Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) at Jammu and Sub-Centre at Srinagar.
- The Lt Governor observed that the initiative is a move forward by the Government to promote awareness and adoption of Intellectual Property Rights amongst entrepreneurs and MSMEs in J&K.
Extra Shots:
Jammu & Kashmir:
- Capitals- Jammu (Winter), Srinagar (Summer)
- Lt Governor- Manoj Sinha
- National Parks: City Forest (Salim Ali) National Park, Dachigam National Park, Hemis National Park, Kishtwar National Park
- Wildlife Sanctuaries: Baltal-Thajwas WLS, Changthang Cold Desert WLS, Gulmarg WLS, Jasrota WLS, Karakoram (Nubra Shyok) WLS etc
V Prez Venkaiah Naidu launches virtual festival of ‘Parampara Series 2020-National Festival of Music and Dance’
- Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said that music and dance can provide relief from the anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Launching the virtual festival of ‘Parampara Series 2020-National Festival of Music and Dance’ organized by Natya Tarangini in partnership with the United Nations.
INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
India, US hold 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue
- India and United States on October 27, 2020, held the third India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and signed the significant defence pact BECA which allows India to use global geospatial maps of the US for accuracy of stand-off weapons.
- Both countries have signed a total of five agreements in 2+2 Ministerial dialogue.
- The ministerial meet between both the powerful nations consisted of a discussion on key aspects of multilateral and bilateral cooperation.
- Both the countries also came together for QUAD- Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
- both the countries have been taking steps to strengthen the cooperation against all forms of threats and not just those posed by China.
SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES
High-level committee set up to look into commemoration of 400th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur
- The Centre has set up a high-level committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate the 400th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur.
- Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla will be the member secretary of the 70-member high-level committee.
- The committee will look into approval of policies, plans, programmes and supervision and guiding the commemoration, as well as deciding dates for detailed programmes of celebration.
AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED
India Post signed as agreement with US Postal Service for Electronic Exchange of Data
- India Post and US Postal Service signed agreement for electronic exchange of data related to postal shipments.
- This will help the customs to clear the postal items well in advance, that even before the shipment reaches the port.
- Also, it will improve the performance of postal services.
- The main objective of the agreement is to facilitate ease of exports through postal channels.
Extra Shots:
Indian Post
- Department executives: Pradipta Kumar Bisoi
- Director General: Arundhaty Ghosh
- Parent Ministry: Ministry of Communications
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Founder: Government of India
- Founded: 1 April 1854
IIT Jodhpur, NHAI sign MoU for betterment of Highway Infrastructure
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to share expertise for the betterment of highway infrastructure.
- The two institutions will work in domains which include transportation engineering, structural engineering, geotechnical engineering.
- The MoU will enable Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of IIT Jodhpur to undertake internships from the above-mentioned domains.
Extra Shots:
NHAI
- Founded: 1988
- Sector: Indian National Highway System
- Purpose: Development and maintenance of national highways
- Jurisdiction: India
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Chairperson: Sanjeev Ranjan
Microsoft, NSDC collaborate to empower 1 lakh women in India with digital skills
- Microsoft has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to impart digital skills to more than one lakh underserved women in India over the next 10 months.
- This initiative is an extension of Microsoft’s partnership with NSDC to provide digital skills to over 1 lakh youth in the country.
- The programme will curate a series of live training sessions and digital skilling drives to help create opportunities for young girls and women, particularly first-time job seekers and those whose jobs may have been impacted by COVID-19, to join the future workforce.
Extra Shots
Microsoft Corporation
- CEO: Satya Nadella
- Founded: 4 April 1975, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
- Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, United States
- Founders: Bill Gates, Paul Allen
NSDC
- CEO: Manish Kumar
- Headquarters location: New Delhi
- Founded: 2008
- CFO: Prakash Sharma
- Chief strategy officer: Arunkumar Pillai
APPOINTMENTS IN NEWS
Ghanshyam Jha takes oath as Chairman of J&K State Water Resources Regulatory Authority
- In Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam administered the oath of office of the Chairman of J&K State Water Resources Regulatory Authority (SWRRA) to Ghanshyam Jha.
- He has earlier served as the Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC)
Extra Shots:
CWC
- Founded: 2001
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CURRENT AFFAIRS
DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub inaugurated at Shibpur, WB
- The Union Education Minister, Shri Ramesh pokhriyal nishank inaugurated the DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub.
- The hub was inaugurated at Shibpur in Howrah District of West Bengal.
- Objective:
- The hub provides great boost for the eastern and North Eastern regions of India.
- It will help to align the national and local Industries, startup, Research Institute under the Make in India initiative.
- This will help in smooth transition from fossil fuel energy to solar energy.
Extra Shots:
West Bengal:
- Capital: Kolkata
- Chief Minister: Mamta Banerjee
- Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar
- State Formed in: 1947
- Literacy Rate: 76.26%
- National Park: Buxa National Park, Gorumara National Park, Neora Valley National Park, Neora Valley National Park, Sunderban National Park, Jaldapara National Park
IIT-Guwahati developed Low Cost Technology anti-ageing Compound
- IIT Guwahati developed a low-cost method to produce anti-ageing compounds.
- The compound has been developed from a wide range of agricultural resources such as pulses, tea, berries, orange peels, parsley, onion and sea buckthorn.
- The product does not use organic solvents as done by the other commercial industry.
- This is the main reason for the low cost of the anti-ageing product.
- The scientists used size-based pressure driven membrane separation process.
