DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

DECEMBER 13 AND 14, 2020

BY- ANUJ JINDAL

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 NATIONAL NEWS
1. Power and Renewable Energy Minister Raj Kumar Singh has mentioned that India plans to
impose new tariffs on imports of solar cells and modules from 1 April 2022.
• According to Singh, the finance ministry will issue an order to impose a basic customs duty
of 40% on modules and 25% on solar cells as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
• The customs duty will replace a 15% safeguard duty that is being imposed on imports from
China and Malaysia.

2. India and Brazil held their 1st webinar on the theme of 'Indian Defence Industry Global
Outreach for Collaborative Partnership'.
• Organizer – Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), under the Ministry of
Defence.
• It is a part of the series of webinars which are being organized with other countries to
achieve defence export target of $5 billion in the next five years.
• SS-CBC India Ammunition project is set to start operations in Andhra Pradesh in August
2021.
• Under the project, Brazil and India will manufacture the ammunition together through the
joint venture between Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC) Brazil and Stumpp
Schuele & Somappa India (SSS Defence).
• CBC Brazil is the world’s second-largest ammunition manufacturer.

3. The ‘India Workplace Equality Index’, India’s first comprehensive benchmarking tool for
employers to measure their progress on LGBT+ inclusion at the workplace, was launched by
Keshav Suri Foundation, Pride Circle, Stonewall UK and FICCI.
• The index measures companies on nine areas: policies and benefits, employee lifecycle,
employee network group, allies and role models, senior leadership, monitoring,
procurement, community engagement and additional work.
• Out of the total 65 companies assessed, 21 firms won under the gold category, while 18
were placed under silver and 13 got bronze.

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4. TiE Global Summit 2020 – largest entrepreneurship summit, ever held on the planet, both in-
person and virtual – was organized by Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) in Hyderabad.
• Theme – Entrepreneurship 360

5. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has inaugurated the three lane 1.5 km long
Koilwar bridge over Sone river in Bihar.
• Road Minister Nitin Gadkari has approved a four-lane elevated road from Bharauli (Buxar)
to Haidaria for providing connectivity to the Poorvanchal Expressway.
• The four-laning of Muzaffarpur- Sitamarhi-Sonewarsha road (NH-77), which is part of
Ramjanki Marg, will simplify the travel to Jakanpur Dham (Nepal). It’s Detailed Project
Report will be ready May next year.

6. India and Qatar have agreed to set up a task force on energy to facilitate Qatari investments
into India’s energy sector.
• Qatar is India’s largest natural gas supplier. It exports 8.5 million tonnes per annum of
LNG (liquefied natural gas) to India.
• Qatar Petroleum vice-president will represent Qatar in the Task Force on Energy, while
India will be represented by a senior officer from the petroleum ministry.
• Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs – Sherida Al-Kaabi

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7. 5th round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOCs) between India and Cyprus (a country in
Middle East) were held through virtual mode.
• Cyprus Capital: Nicosia; Currency: Euro; President: Nicos Anastasiades.

8. 5th India - Myanmar bilateral meeting on Drug Control Cooperation was held virtually.
• Indian Representative - Rakesh Asthana, Director General Narcotics Control Bureau.
• Myanmar Representative - Commander of the Drug Enforcement Division (DED) cum
Joint Secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, Pol. Brig. Gen. Win
Naing.
• 6th India - Myanmar Bilateral Meeting on Drug Control Cooperation will be held in
India in 2021.

9. 1st bilateral virtual meeting between India and Uzbekistan was held.
• Nine agreements / MoU were signed between both countries across different development
areas.
• India and Uzbekistan have a mutually identified target of USD 1 billion for bilateral trade.
• India approved to give a Line of Credit of USD 448 millions to Uzbekistan for four
developmental projects in the fields of road construction, sewerage treatment and
information technology.
• Both countries agreed to enhance business exchanges through the Uzbekistan-India
Business Council, which is run by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the
Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Uzbekistan (Uz-CCI).
• 2nd session of India-Uzbekistan Business Forum was held in October 2020.

10. International Bharati Festival 2020 was virtually organised by the Vanavil Cultural Centre
(Tamil Nadu) to celebrate the 138th birth anniversary of Tamil poet and writer Mahakavi
Subramanya Bharati on 11th December 2020.
• Scholar Shri Seeni Viswanathan received the Bharathi Award 2020, given by the
Vanavil Cultural Centre to honour people doing social work.

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 • Subramanya Bharati is regarded as the father of the modern Tamil literature. He was a
poet during the Indian Nationalist era.

11. Socio-Economic profiling of PM-Svanidhi beneficiaries is being conducted by the central

govt.
• Under this, a complete profile of each PM-Svanidhi beneficiary and their family members
will be prepared.
• In the Phase 1, 125 cities have been selected for the program.
• Quality Council of India is the implementing partner for this profiling.
• It has been launched as a pilot project in six cities – Gaya, Indore, Kakching (Manipur),
Nizamabad, Rajkot, and Varanasi.
• Purpose: After this socio-profiling, all the enlisted beneficiaries, who are eligible for benefits
of other central govt schemes will be provided benefits by using this data.

12. NHPC laid the foundation stone of head regulator works of Indo-Nepal Link Canal at Barrage
of 94.2 MW Tanakpur Power Station of NHPC located in Banbasa, Uttarakhand.
• The 1.2 km long Indo-Nepal canal is being constructed under ‘Mahakali Treaty’ signed
between India and Nepal.
• India and Nepal signed the Mahakali Treaty in 1996 for sharing water of Mahakali river.

13. 2,927 Court complexes across country have been connected by high-speed Wide Area
Network (WAN) under e-Courts Project.
• Department of Justice, along with BSNL, is working on to connecting the remaining courts
with WAN.
• eCourts Project was conceptualized in 2005 under the “National Policy and Action Plan for
Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian
Judiciary”.
• It is implemented in two phases – 2007-15 (Phase 1) and phase 2 started in 2015.

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14. Indian embassy in Beijing organized a movie series - "CinemaSCOope" - for the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation’s diplomats and their family members.
• Secretary General of SCO, Vladimir Norov, attended it.
• More than two dozen Indian movies including "3 Idiots", dubbed in Russian language, will
be screened on a monthly basis till India's chairmanship of SCO "Council of Heads of
State" in 2023.
• The movies are dubbed in Russian language. The event was jointly inaugurated by Indian
Ambassador to China Vikram Misri along with Norov.
• India hosted 19th SCO Heads of Govt meeting, chaired by V-P M. Venkaiah Naidu.

15. Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) National Centre for Divyang Empowerment (NCDE)
has been established at Rangareddy district in Telangana.
• The centre will provide skill training to the specially-abled CRPF soldiers who suffered
disability while serving the nation.
• The centre has been developed with the collaborated help from Cyber Council of
Hyderabad.

16. 9th Sustainable Mountain Development Summit has been organized by Integrated
Mountain Initiative (IMI) in virtual mode on the occasion of International Mountain Day (11
December).
• Theme of the summit – Emerging Pathways for Building a Resilient Post-Covid-19
Mountain Economy: Adaptation, Innovation and Acceleration.
• Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) is a civil society led network platform to promote
development in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR).
• Theme of the Mountain Day 2020 – Mountain biodiversity
• This year, the campaign on social media is #MountainsMatter.

17. Gujarat has announced to implement its new fire safety policy from January 26, 2021.

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 • Private entities and engineers will be allowed to inspect and certify buildings for their fire
safety preparedness.
• Four new posts of ‘Director of Fire’ for four zones in the state will be created to oversee
the buildings for fire safety. The post has been designed by Gujarat Institute of Disaster
Management under its director general P.K. Taneja.
• The approval and renewal of fire safety certification will be done entirely on the portal called
Fire Safety COP (Fire Safety Compliance Portal). Thus, Gujarat became the first state in
the country to have a modernized fire safety certification process.

18. Maharashtra approved the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations to
govern and strengthen the real estate sector of the state.

19. Swadhinata Sarak, a road to link India with Mujibnagar (town in Bangladesh) will be opened
on March 26, 2021 to mark 50 years of the country’s independence and to boost people-to-
people ties.
• Chilahati (Bangladesh) - Haldibari (West Bengal) rail link between India and Bangladesh
are also expected to open on Dec 16.

20. Madhya Pradesh govt has announced to form “Sahyogini Matru Samiti” at Anganwadi
centres to fight malnutrition among children.
• These kinds of Samitis were constituted in the past to increase the participation of women
in programmes run at the village level.
• The committee will be formed under the provision of ‘Vigilance Committee and Social
Audit System’ for empowerment, transparency and accountability of the activities of the
Anganwadi centers under the National Food Security Act 2013.
• The Matru Sahyogi Samiti will work as ‘Vigilance Committee’ to monitor the nutritional
supplements being provided under Anganwadi Seva.

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 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. World Health Organisation's 'Lives in the Balance' summit was organized to provide
essential services to women, new-borns, young children and adolescents across the world.
• Organizers - WHO's Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH).
• Outcomes - USD 20.6 billion pledged by high, low- and middle-income countries to help
women, new-borns, young children and adolescents deal with the covid-19 pandemic as
well as longstanding issues.
• $6.6 billion of the total pledge is committed by low and middle-income countries including
India’s pledge of $2 billion.
• $14 billion (68% per cent) is from official development assistance and grants given by
Germany, Canada, Sweden, UK, USA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
WHO's The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health

ª Launched – 2005
ª Secretariat – hosted by WHO at its HQ in Geneva, Switzerland
ª It is the world’s largest alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health (WCAH).
ª It brings together over 1,000 partner organizations across 192 countries.

2. In September 2020, Dr Harsh Vardhan (Health Minister) participated in the Partnership for
Maternal, Newborn and Child Health’s (PMNCH) ‘Accountability Breakfast’ event virtually.
• Hosts – White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) and Every Woman Every Child (EWEC).
• Theme – to protect hard earned gains in the field of Reproductive, Maternal and Child
Health from the COVID pandemic.
• Dr Vardhan highlighted “Safe Motherhood Assurance / Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan
(SUMAN)” initiative, launched in 2019, to ensure dignified and respectful delivery of quality
healthcare services for free of cost.

3. UN Environment Program has released the Emission Gap report 2020. Findings:
• Global GHG emission has reached a record high of 52.4 Giga tonne carbon equivalent.

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 • Fossil carbon dioxide emission has reached a record 38 giga tonne carbon equivalent in
2019.
• Over the last decade, the top four emitters (China, USA, EU27 + UK and India) have
contributed to 55% of the total GHG emissions.
• CO2 emissions could decrease by about 7% in 2020 as compared to 2019.
• The concentrations of other GHGs such as methane and nitrous oxide will continue to
increase in 2020.

4. China has become the second nation to its plant flag on the Moon. US planted the first flag
on the Moon during the manned Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
• The flag was planted by Chang’e-5 lander vehicle just before its return to the Earth.
• Chang’e-5 is taking China’s first lunar samples to Earth.

5. WHO and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) –
both headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland – have signed an MoU to implement the
Emergency Medical Team (EMT) initiative.
• The MoU is also known as the Red Channel Agreement.
• Purpose: to strengthen the delivery of emergency medical and health services during
humanitarian crises.
• WHO Director-General – Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
• IFRC Secretary-General – Mr Jagan Chapagain.

6. World Bank organized the Inter-Ministerial meeting on Vaccination of South Asia against
covid-19; attended by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.
• 260 vaccine candidates are in different stages of development globally. Out of these, 8 are
scheduled to be manufactured in India, including 3 indigenous ones.

7. World Economic Forum will convene its Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore from
13-16 May, 2021.

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 • WEF’s Annual Meeting 2022 will be held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.
• The Forum will host the Global Technology Governance Summit in Tokyo from 6-7 April
2021, ahead of the Special Annual Meeting 2021.

8. WHO has released its Global Health Estimates 2019. Key findings:
• Global average of longevity (life expectancy) was 73 years in 2019 compared to nearly
67 in 2000.
Non-Communicable Diseases Communicable Disease

• 7 out of world’s top 10 causes of death
are non-communicable disease in
2019, as against 4 of the 10 leading
causes in 2000.
• Heart diseases – Represents 16% of
total deaths from all causes
• Alzheimer’s disease – Ranked 3rd in
both Americas and Europe in 2019
• Diabetes - Deaths from diabetes
increased by 70% globally between
2000 and 2019, with an 80% rise in
deaths among males.
• 6 of the top 10 causes of death in low-
income countries are due to
communicable diseases
• Pneumonia – Ranked as the fourth
leading cause of death.
• AIDS – It dropped from the 8th leading
cause of death in 2000 to the 19th in
2019
• Tuberculosis - It is no longer in the
global top 10, falling from 7th place in
2000 to 13th in 2019, with a 30%
reduction in global deaths.
• However, it remains among the top 10
causes of deaths in the African and
South-East Asian regions, where it is
the 8th and 5th leading cause
respectively.

9. International Climate Action Summit 2020 was organized by UK, UN, France in partnership
with Chile and Italy.

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 • The summit was organized to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Paris Climate Agreement
2015.
• This summit is a precursor to the COP 26 UN climate change conference that will take
place in Glasgow, UK in November 2021.
• Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries have committed to limit the average
temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to make efforts
to limit it even further to 1.5 Celsius.
• According to the Indian Ministry of Environment, United States contributed 25% of all global
emissions, Europe 22%, China 13% and India only 3%.

10. Pakistan and China conducted their joint air force exercise named "Shaheen (Eagle)-IX".

11. NASA has selected a batch of 18 astronauts for its Artemis mission.
• With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by
2024.
• Raja Chari (a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, MIT) is the only Indian-American in
the list.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

1. Bharti Infratel has received approval from the registrar of companies (RoC) for changing its
name to Indus Towers.
• Bharti Infratel is the merged entity of Bharti Infratel Limited to Indus Towers Ltd.

2. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) launched an electronic spot platform for agricultural
commodities - 'BSE E- Agricultural Markets Limited' (BEAM), through its subsidiary BSE
Investments Limited.
• BEAM has leveraged state-of-the-art technology to offer customized solutions to traders,
farmers as well as stakeholders to facilitate risk-free purchase and sale of various
agricultural commodities.

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 • With the help of BEAM, farmers in one state will be able to reach out to markets in other
states and auction their produce.
• In India, Spot Exchanges refer to electronic trading platforms which facilitate purchase and
sale of specified commodities, including agricultural commodities, metals and bullion by
providing spot delivery contracts in these commodities.

3. DBS Bank India has partnered with Haqdarshak (social enterprise) to enable recovery of
Indian MSMEs from Covid-19’s impact.
• Haqdarshak developed a new platform detailing about MSME-focused government welfare
schemes, covering registrations, documentation and applications for financing.
• Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions CEO and Co-founder – Aniket Doegar

4. SEBI has formed Corporation Finance Investigation Department (CFID) to look into the
frauds committed by company’s promoters.
• The CFID will even check if resources like company land, guest houses or vehicles are
misused by promoters.
• Head – Executive Director of SEBI, Nagendra Parakh*
Note: the head of the department is not confirmed.

5. RBI has announced to set up an Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC) in Jaipur
for receipt, storage and dispatch of currency notes in order to deal with increasing circulation of
banknotes.
• The expected storage capacity requirements for the ABPC in Jaipur would be 1,883 million
pieces of fresh note stock (daily average) during 2024-25 which will be increased to 27,757
million pieces during 2039-40.

IMPORTANT DAYS
1. Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the Ministry of Power, celebrates National Energy
Conservation Day on December 14.

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2. International Day of Neutrality is observed on December 12 by UN to promote peace and
harmony among countries.

3. International Universal Health Coverage Day is observed on December 12 by UN.

• Theme - Health for All: Protect Everyone
• The theme focuses on to promoting investment in health systems.
• On this day, India released National Health Family Survey- 5 for 2019-20, covering 17
states and 5 UTs. The survey reveals health, nutrition, and population details of India.
• This is the Phase 1 of the survey. Phase 2, covering 12 States and 2 UTs, is expected to
be completed by May 2021.
Key highlights of the survey:

ª Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) slipped in 15 states and UTs in comparison to NFHS-4
(2015-16)
ª Under-5 and infant mortality rate (IMR) – reduced in 18 states and UTs in comparison
to 2015-16.
ª U-5 underweight and wasting – increased in 16 states & UTs in comparison to 2015-
16.
o Wasting percentage increased in U-5 children in 12 states and UTs in
comparison to NFHS-4.
ª U-5 stunting – increased in 13 states and UTs in comparison to 2015-16.
ª U-5 overweight – increased in 20 states and UTs
ª Vaccination coverage among children age 12-23 months across all states/UTs
improved.
ª Sex Ratio (females per 1,000 males) – increased in 17 states
o Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir
and Ladakh saw a drop in sex ratio of the total population.

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 ª The fertility rate has further declined, contraceptive use has increased and unmet need
(of females for contraceptive methods) has been reduced in most Phase I states.
ª Total Fertility Rate (TFR) – All the 17 states analysed, except for Bihar, Manipur and
Meghalaya, have a TFR of 2.1 or less.
ª In all the states, anaemia is much higher among women as compared to men.
ª Female sterilisation continues to dominate as the modern method of contraception in
states like Andhra Pradesh (98 per cent), Telangana (93 per cent), Kerala (88 per cent),
Karnataka (84 per cent), Bihar (78 per cent) and Maharashtra (77 per cent).
ª Child marriages – increased in Tripura (40.1% from 33.1% in 2015-16), Manipur (16.3%
from 13.7%) and Assam (31.8% from 30.8%), while West Bengal (41.6%) and Bihar
(40.8%) still have high prevalence of child marriages.
ª Teenage pregnancies – increased in many states.
ª Spousal violence – Karnataka witnessed the largest increase in spousal violence, from
20.6 per cent in NFHS 4 to 44.4 per cent in NFHS-5.
ª Sexual violence has increased in five states (Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra,
Meghalaya and West Bengal)
Note: The comprehensive survey is covered in PIB December 2020 monthly PDF.

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 AWARDS
1. Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians 2020 has been awarded to Carolina Araujo –
Mathematician from the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil – for her work in algebraic geometry.
• She has become the first non-Indian to receive this prize.
• Ms Araujo is also the Vice President of the Committee for Women in Mathematics at the
International Mathematical Union (IMU). Prof. Carlos Kenig is the President of IMU.
• The prize is awarded annually to a researcher from a developing country; funded by the
Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) in collaboration with International
Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International Mathematical Union.
• Age limit for this award – less than 45 years.
• Instituted by – DST in the memory of Srinivasa Ramanujan (mathematician)

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2. UNESCO has decided to launch an international prize in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman in the field of ‘creative economy’ w.e.f., November 2021.
• Prize money - $ 50,000
• Field - Individuals working for creative economy.
• It will be given one in two years for global economic initiatives of the youth.
• UNESCO has declared 2021 as ‘International Year of Creative Economy for
Sustainable Development’.
• Currently, there are 23 UNESCO International Awards in the name of international
celebrities and organisations.

SPORTS
1. Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch racing driver) has won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020.

2. Yash Vardhan has won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the 6th edition of the
International Online Shooting Championship (IOSC).
• The championship was organized by former India shooter Shimon Sharif.
• The second place was won by Martin Strempfl of Austria.

3. Anthony Joshua of United Kingdom is the World’s heavyweight champion.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has published “Putting Farmers First” booklet
that details about various measures initiated by the BJP government since 2014 for farmer
welfare.

2. Gennova, Pune in collaboration with HDT Biotech Corporation, USA, developed India’s first
indigenous mRNA vaccine candidate named HGCO19.
• The company got grant under the Ind-CEPI mission of Department of Biotechnology.

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3. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has launched 'The Shaurya Unbound' book to
commemorate the valour of its brave soldiers during the 2001 Parliament attack.
• Author – Nitu (CRPF DIG) and M. Dhinakaran
• The book was launched in Hindi with the title 'Samundar Samawe Boond Mein'.
• The book also mentions Constable Kamlesh Kumari. 2020 is the 19th anniversary of the
attack.

4. Vidyavachaspati Bannanje Govindacharya (Sanskrit and Kannada scholar) has passed

away.

5. The American singer, guitarist and Professional Baseball player Charley Pride has died.
• He was the first black superstar of country music.

6. U A Khader (Malayalam writer) has passed away.

7. Former India football player D. Ethiraj passed away. He was a member of the 1962 Asian
Games gold medal-winning team.

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