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• The report, published by UNEP in cooperation with the Sabin Center for
Climate Change Law at Columbia University, shows climate litigation has
become more common and more successful worldwide.
• As per the report, climate cases have nearly doubled over the last three
years.
• As per the data provided by the report, in 2017 884 cases were brought
in 24 countries. While as of 2020, cases have increased to 1,550 filed in
38 countries and the European Union courts.
• Sri Lanka was the best faring nation in South Asia, ranking 10, while the
Maldives was at 25, Pakistan at 69, Nepal at 70, and Bangladesh at 84.
• The think-tank said China was not included “due to a lack of publicly
available data on testing”.
• New Zealand and Vietnam led the list, followed by Taiwan, Thailand and
Cyprus in the top five.
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* Justice Hima Kohli was sworn in as the chief justice of Telangana high
court.
* She is the first woman chief justice of the state. She came here from
Delhi high court. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath
of office to her.
* Justice Hima Kohli got enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of
Delhi. She was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court of
Delhi on 29 May, 2006.
* He was one of the founders of the People’s Democratic Party, later the
Social Democratic Party, and was party leader from 31 March 1996 to 27
May 1999.
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The move to involve women personnel in the NDRF combat ranks was in
the work filed for some time. The force, as it was raised over a decade
ago, was till now an all-male affair.
More than a hundred women personnel have joined the NDRF over the
past few months and they are being deputed with its battalions all over
the country as soon as they finish their pre-induction course and training
The women personnel who are joining are in the constabulary & sub-
officer (i.e. Sub Inspector and Inspector) ranks.
The Indian-American Dr Raj Iyer has taken over as the first-ever Chief
Information Officer of the United States Army, after the Pentagon made
the position in July 2020. Dr Raj Iyer is one among the highest-ranking
Indian-American civilians in the United States Department of Defence.
Recently on the occasion of the National Girl Child Day, Haridwar girl
Srishti Goswami, nineteen years of age has become the CM of
Uttarakhand for one day.
As per the reports, she administered from Gairsain, the summer capital of
the Uttarakhand state, and will review many schemes run by the state
government involving Atal Ayushman Scheme, smart city project, the
department of tourism homestay scheme, and other development
projects.
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About SrishtiGoswami:
She is the daughter of Praveen Goswami, who possess a small shop, and
Anganwadi worker SudhaGoswami. Shrishti is currently pursuing a
Bachelor's degree in agriculture stream at BSM PG College in Roorkee.
She presently lives in Daulatpur village in Haridwar district.
• In 2017-18, India generated 7, 08, 445 Tonnes of which only 3.5% was
collected.
• The report also states that the volume of e-waste that a dismantler or
recycler has increased over time, but the shed area of the unit remains
the same.
• The United Arab Emirates (3.5 Million), the United States of America
(2.7 Million) and Saudi Arabia (2.5 Million) host the largest numbers of
migrants from India.
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• The E-Daakhil has been developed under the new Consumer Protection
Act 2019 envisages filling of consumer disputes electronically to
Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission.
• The portal will provide online e-filling of the consumer dispute to the
state commission or any of the 20 district commissions in the state.
Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 'Player of the Century' award at
the Globe Soccer Awards.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola won the Coach of the Century
award. Spanish giants Real Madrid won the Club of the Century award
during the event.
• Spanish Olympic champion Carolina Marin won the women's singles title
at the Thailand Open Super 1000 badminton tournament in Bangkok.
• Marin, 27, beat Chinese Taipei's top seed Tai Tzu Ying in straight games
in an ominous display of form as she prepares to defend her Olympic title
later in the year in Tokyo.
• Tai was limited to a single digit score in the first game and while she
fought hard in the second, Marin ended up winning the match 21-9, 21-
16.
The player achieved his first-ever Grandmaster norm at the Rigo Chess
GM Round Robin, whereas the second came at the event in Budapest in
November month and the final one at the Vergani Cup in Italy.
• The GoI has decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose that falls on January 23 as 'Parakram Diwas'.
• The Election Commission was founded in 1950 on this day. The occasion
was first celebrated in 2011.
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• This year's theme is "Making Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and
Informed". One focus this year is highlighting the EC's feat of running
elections safely during the pandemic.
• The 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will open on 16th
January this year, with Indian premiere of the movie ‘Another Round’ by
Thomas Vinterberg.
• The movie starring Cannes Best Actor Award winner Mads Mikkelsen is
among a star-studded line up of movies being showcased at IFFI.
• 51st IFFI is being organised from 16th to 24th January in Goa in both
online and offline mode together
• The Summit was organised in cooperation with the United Nations and
the World Bank. The theme of the Summit was “Let’s act together for
nature!”
• Ashraf Patel has been declared as the winner of the Social Entrepreneur
of the Year (SEOY) Award – India 2020
• Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award – India 2020 is the 11th edition
of the annual award, instituted by the Schwab Foundation and Jubilant
Bhartia Foundation in 2010
The SII has collaborated with the University of Oxford, and the British-
Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop COVID-19
vaccine, ‘Covidshield’, and is conducting trials in India.
* Japan’s Dr RyuichiMorishita
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The Straits Times has collectively referred these six winners as ‘the virus
busters’, because they are heroes of a kind, having devoted themselves
to the pressing cause of resolving the coronavirus pandemic, each in their
capacity.
• The theme sends message that India is keenly watching the moves of
the Chinese in the Indian Ocean Region and the Indian Navy is combat
ready to encounter the Chinese forces anytime. The message includes
Pakistani forces as well.
• L&T became the first private sector defence company to be granted this
(green channel) status for delivery of major naval systems.
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The SAIL, i.e., Steel Authority of India Limited has been awarded that of
the prestigious Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2020 in
the Steel Sector by the Institute of Directors.
The SAIL has been the winner of this award for the successive two years,
and this bears testimony to all the efforts made by the company for the
sustainable and environmentally responsible steel making.
This award is one among the most coveted awards in the category.
Considering various environmental issues leading to global warming &
climate change, the award encourages the corporates to improve their
environmental performance and to compete with the peers to set
benchmarks.
• The diverters have described the fireflies as they look like fireflies from
the distance, shining on power lines in the night.
• This model has been inscribed by the experts from the IUCN
(International Union for Conservation of Nature) SSC (Species Survival
Commission’s) Bustard Specialist Group.
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The microclimatic zones are the regions where the weather is different
from that of the surrounding areas. The primary reasons identified for the
microclimatic zone shifting are disappearing wetlands, change in the land
use patterns, encroachment on natural ecosystems and urban heat island.
The urban heat Island occurs when the city or region experiences higher
temperatures as compared to its nearby rural areas. These urban heat
Island traps the heat locally and is a significant cause of the microclimatic
zone shifting.
The study on the 'Preparing India for climate events' was recently
published by the Council on Energy, Environment & Water. It is the first
time the extreme weather event hotspots in India have been mapped.
• The cyclone Burevi, named by Maldives, hit the Karaikal coast of Tamil
Nadu 7 days after cyclone Nivar.
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• This is the third cyclone formed within the last 10 days in the Bay of
Bengal and Arabian Sea put together.
• As the new cyclone Burevi comes just days after Cyclone Nivar, its
impact is set to be more subdued.
• The area of proposed Raimona National Park lies within the Ripu
Reserve Forest that has a history of one of the best scientifically-managed
forests in the country during the late 19th century.
• Bangladesh has signed its first Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with
Bhutan, which will allow duty-free access to a range of goods between the
two countries and hence boost bilateral trade between them.
• Under the PTA, 100 Bangladeshi products will get duty free access to
Bhutan, while 34 items from Bhutan will get duty free access into
Bangladesh.
• Further items can be added in the list later on the basis of discussion
between the two countries.
• This is the first PTA signed by Bangladesh with any country in the world
since its independence in 1971.
• The PTA was signed on 6th December 2020, to mark 50th anniversary
of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Bhutan. In 1971, Bhutan
was the first country in the world to recognise Bangladesh as an
independent country.
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• BSE is Asia's oldest stock exchange and world's 10th largest stock
exchange
• Russia was banned from using its name, flag and anthem at the next
two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years.
• The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling also blocked Russia from
bidding to host major sporting events for two years.
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* ONGC has discovered and put to production seven out of the eight
hydrocarbon producing basins of India, covering 83 per cent of
established oil and gas reserves.
* ONGC is India's largest oil and gas producer contributing 72 per cent of
the country's hydrocarbon production.
* The Bengal basin is spread across nearly 1.22 lakh square kilometres,
with nearly two-third of it falling under the waters of the Bay of Bengal.
• India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex situated in the Changthang
region of Ladakh as 42nd Ramsar site of the country
Gujarat government makes fire NOC mandatory for all the factories.
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The Gujarat state government has made it mandatory for all the factories
have to take the no-objection certificate from that of the fire department
before applying for a new licence or renewing the existing ones. The move
comes after the fire incident at a chemical unit near Pirana in Ahmedabad
claimed about a dozen lives recently.
The Dhokra decorative pieces added to the Tribes India collection. The
Dhokra products reflect the simplicity and themes of tribal and folklife.
• The Dhokra is a non-ferrous metal casting style which uses the lost wax
technique.
• For hundreds of years, this style of metal casting has been famous all
over India.
• The Dhokra products reflect the simplicity and the themes of tribal and
folklife.
• The Dhokra artworks are metal figurines mainly made of bronze and
copper.
• Although the Dhokra art originated in the West Bengal, over time, the
tribe moved to the Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh, as
well as the Kerala & Rajasthan. Therefore, Art now spreads all over India.
The United Kingdom become the first country to roll out the coronavirus
vaccine.
She was given the life-saving jab by nurse May Parsons at her local
hospital in Coventry to mark what the National Health Service (NHS) has
dubbed a 'landmark moment' on the V-Day or Vaccine Day in the fight
against the deadly virus.
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The list was established in the year 2008 when the Convention for
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into effect.
• The overall score of India is 63.98. It is for the second time in a row
that India emerged among the top 10 countries with higher climate
performance from among 58 economies.
• Like CCPI 2020, the first three places in 2021 ranking also remains
unoccupied, since none of the countries is on the path compatible with the
Paris climate targets, to implement strategies to limit global warming
below 2 or even 1.5°C.
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Union (EU), Australia and New Zealand) account for more than twice of
the share of poorest 50% of countries.
* During the last decade (2010-20) the top four emitters (China, USA, EU
27+United Kingdom and India) contributed to 55% of Total GHG emission
without LUC.
* The emission reduction due to COVID-19 accounts for just 0.01 Degree
Celsius Reduction of Global Warming by 2050.
* The report also stated that 2020 could be the warmest on record, with
wildlife, storms and droughts affecting the world.
In the 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), India has been ranked at
8th spot globally in the list of countries most affected by terrorism in the
year 2019. The overall GTI score of India is 7.353 out of 10. India has
recorded 277 Deaths, 439 Injuries & 558 Incidents due to Terrorism in
the year 2019. Regionally, South Asia was the most impacted region by
terrorism in 2019, recording more deaths than any other area. On the
other hand, globally, the deaths caused due to terrorism fell by 15 per
cent to 13,286 in the year 2019 over 2018.
* Afghanistan has topped the index with a score of 9.592 and emerged as
the worst terror impacted nation among the 163 countries.
The 2020 Nature Index Artificial Intelligence was recently released by the
‘Nature Research’.
• The articles tracked for the Nature Index 2020 Artificial Intelligence
supplement are primarily related to the application of Artificial Intelligence
to research in the broad areas of chemistry, the physical sciences, life
sciences, and Earth and environmental sciences.
Key highlights:
o Between the year’s 2015 & 2019, in terms of global output for AI
research, the US was the leader, with UK, Germany & China in second,
third and fourth place, respectively.
o From the year 2016 to 2019, China produced more AI-related papers
than any other nation. Over this time frame, China’s AI-related research
output increased by just over 120%, whereas the output in the US
increased by almost 70%.
o In the year 2019, India has been the third most productive country in
AI research, with over 23,000 papers. On the overall AI Index, it is at the
20th position in a list dominated by European countries.
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o Bushfires (Australia)
This cloud storage and the file-sharing service will be available for the
desktop, iOS, and Android users, including both the regular users and
businesses. The ‘Digiboxx’ offers free 20GB cloud storage space& 100GB
space per month at just Rs 30.
* This project will allow setting up of public WiFi hotspots across the
country via the public data offices/ public data offices (PDOs).
* It will not need the PDOs to get the license or pay a fee.
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* This will involve multiple players, including PDOs, Public Data Office
Aggregators (PDOA), app providers, and a central registry.
• Sri Lanka will host the Asia Cup in June 2021 while Pakistan has earned
the rights to host the tournament in 2022.
• Now the event has been moved forward to June 2021, with Sri Lanka
Cricket taking the hosting rights from PCB.
• As compensation, PCB has got the hosting rights for the 2022 edition.
• Breaking will make its Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Olympics in
Paris, while 3 other sports will make their Olympic debut at the 2020
Tokyo Summer Olympics to be held in July, 2021 (delayed due to COVID-
19).
• The sports have been included by IOC to set a new standard for
inclusive, gender-balanced and youth-centred games.
• Sri Lanka will host the 2021 Edition of Asia Cup, Cricket tournament and
Pakistan will host the 2022 Edition of Asia Cup, Cricket tournament.
• In July 2020, Asia Cup’s Governing body, Asia Cricket Council (ACC)
announced that the 2020 Edition of Asia Cup was cancelled due to
Pandemic.
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• India were the Champions of the Last Edition of the Asia Cup (2018)
held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• He has also been named as the skipper of the ICC T20I Team of the
Decade.
• Virat Kohli has been conferred with Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC
Male Cricketer of the Decade by International Cricket Council.
• He was also part of team India that won the ICC CWC 2011 and ICC
Champions Trophy 2013.
• He was also named ICC Cricketer of the Year in both 2017 and 2018
• The year 2020 marks the 36th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
• Through this day, awareness is created about the rising pollution of air,
water, and soil, as well as shifts the attention of people with regards to
the pollution control acts.
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• The aim of the day is to advance and protect the privileges of the
individuals to have a place with linguistic, religion, castes and color
minority.
* The 5th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) held with theme
“Comprehensive analysis and Holistic management of rivers and water
bodies with a focus on Arth Ganga”.
* The Summit was organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga and
the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies.
* This summit is aimed at discussing and disseminating the needs for the
modalities of embracing Arth Ganga.
* The 5th IWIS will forge greater interaction between the investors and
the stakeholders in the water sector and promote international
cooperation between India and many foreign countries for water and river
management
• France was accepted as 23rd member state of the Indian Ocean Rim
Association (IORA).
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• In the 20th IORA Council of Ministers virtual meeting, held in the UAE,
France’s application was approved through consensus. Together with
France, this inter-governmental ministerial forum, at present has 23
member states.
• It’s other nine dialogue partners are: China, Egypt, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Turkey, Republic of Korea, UK and the USA.
The 5th edition of the yearly Global Technology Summit (GTS) was
organized virtually by the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs), Government
of India, in collaboration with Carnegie India (CI). The GTS is one among
the four flagship annual conferences organised by the MEA. The other
three conferences are the Raisina Dialogue, the Geo-economic dialogue,
and the Indian Ocean Conference.
The theme of this year’s GTS was ‘The Geopolitics of Technology’. The
speakers from included the External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar,&Dr
K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the GoI.
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This was the first-ever SCO Summit held in Virtual Format and the third
meeting that India participated after becoming a full member in the year
2017. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi in his address to the
SCO leaders congratulated President Vladimir Putin for organizing the
meeting despite challenges and constraints arising because of the COVID-
19 pandemic.
The present Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik launched the
5th scorpene class submarine 'Vagir' of Project 75 in the Arabian sea
waters at Mazagaon Dock through video conferencing recently.
INS Vagir is the 5th of the Indian Navy's six Kalvari-class submarines
being built in India.
o Rohit Sharma adjudged the Game Changer of the Match in the final of
IPL 2020.
o Trent Boult named the Player of the Match in the final of IPL 2020.
In West Bengal, Kolkata will soon feature the India’s first-ever ‘Tyre Park’,
where artworks made from the scrap and defective parts will be on
display. The West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) will launch this
Tyre Park.
The Tyre Park, which will set up at the Esplanade area, would have a
small cafe where the people can sit, relax and enjoy the craftsmanship
made from tyres. No scrap material can be labelled as the waste, it can
be reused & converted into an art form. The scrap tyres, lying as waste in
various bus depots, have been converted and reworked to colourful
shapes by the in-house team of the WBTC.
* It will attract the international tourists at Ramgarhtal Lake for the bird
watching, forest minister of Uttar Pradesh according to the Dara Singh
Chauhan (currently he is serving as the Cabinet Minister in Yogi
Adityanath ministry).
With this, India has now 39 Ramsar sites - highest in South Asia - among
2,412 such designated wetlands around the globe. These 39 wetlands of
international significance cover a surface area of over 10,700 sq km, an
area nearly the size of Sikkim.
Under the 1971 Ramsar (Iran) Convention, the member countries identify
the sites which can be of critical value not only for the country or the
countries in which they are located but for the humanity as a whole for
their eco-services and rich biodiversity.
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Recently the 12th BRICS, i.e. 2020 BRICS Summit was held virtually and
was hosted by Russia. The theme of the 2020 BRICS Summit was 'Global
Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth'.
The Prime Minister Modi touched upon several issues while addressing the
12th BRICS Summit. These are as follows:
* Terrorism
The Prime Minister even paid tribute to the Jainacharya, and the spiritual
leaders present on occasion. Mentioning the two 'Vallabhs', SardarVallabh
Bhai Patel and the Jainacharya Shree Vijay VallabhSurishwer Ji Maharaj,
the PM said that he feels blessed by the certainty that after fully
dedicating the tallest statue of the world of Sardar Patel, i.e. 'Statue of
Unity', he is getting the opportunity to disclose the 'Statue of Peace' of
Shri Vijay Vallabh.
Recently, Japan & Australia have signed a landmark defence deal in a bid
to counter rising Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and all
over the Pacific island nations.
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* The pact allows the Japanese and Australian troops to visit each other's
countries and conduct training and joint operations.
* The Australian Prime Minister said that the treaty would strengthen
their security ties and facilitate cooperation between the defence forces.
* The two sides even agreed on the need for a framework to allow the
Japanese military to protect the Australian forces if needed.
* The scheme even provides working capital and margin money to meet
the operational requirements of the health facilities. It also provides
interest subvention of one per cent to women majority cooperatives.
Haryana State has the best AMB (Anemia Mukt Bharat) Index among the
29 states in the country.
o This index is an initiative of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has been launched to decrease
the prevalence of Anemia all over India.
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o This information came in light during the 8th Governing Body Meeting of
the State Health Society of the NHM (National Health Mission) in
Chandigarh.
o First time ever in the year 2019-20 that the state had achieved 93 per
cent of immunization.
National Board for Wildlife (established under the Wild Life (Protection)
Act, 1972) recently approved an action plan for the vulture conservation,
2020-2025. Under this new National Action Plan for Vulture Conservation,
five new conservation centres are to be established in five different state
such are Maharashtra, Tripura, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Recently National Action Plan was approved by the National Board for
Wildlife. In 2006, a conservation plan for vultures was formulated, and it
was implemented for three years.
* Long-billed vulture
* Slender-billed vulture
Mohammed Siraj became the first-ever player to bowl two maiden overs
in a single Indian Premier League (IPL) match during Royal Challengers
Bangalore’s (RCB) clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recently
in IPL 2020.
The 26-year-old bowler picked up the three crucial early wickets, and he
helped the Virat Kohli-led side be in the driving seat in the recently played
match in Abu Dhabi right from the start.
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The INS Sindhuvir is equipped with a wide range of weapons and sensors,
which will enable it to participate in various fleet, tactical & theatre level
exercises.
o The new facilities have been established at the cost of Rupees 470
crore, which has raised the existing 450 beds to 1251 beds, fifteen
cardiac modular operation theaters, 531 cardiac ICU beds and six cardiac
cath labs.
Nokia has been selected by the NASA to build the first 4G LTE Mobile
Network on the moon. The NASA aims to return humans to the moon by
the year 2024 and dig in for the long-term presence there under its
Artemis programme. The first wireless broadband communications system
in the space would be built on the lunar surface in late 2022.
About “IB-eNote”:
* The bank with this initiative is taking another step in order to achieve
greater efficiency by continuously empowering its biggest asset (human
resources or staff members).
China is set to launch the first-ever asteroid mining robot in the world by
November 2020. The main aim of the mission is to assess the capabilities
of robots in asteroid mining. The robot will identify and extract some
valuable resources.
Key highlights:
The Robot will not be engaged in mining activities. However, it will test
technologies. The aim is to assess the capabilities of the robot in asteroid
mining and find how well it’s can identify and extract resources through
asteroid mining. Also, the project will verify other technologies such as
intelligent spacecraft identification, orbital manoeuvre & control.
Recently, the NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga), Wildlife Institute
of India (WII) and Forest Department launched a ‘My Ganga My Dolphin’
Campaign.
* Under this campaign, census under the stretch of river Ganga will also
be conducted. Census will be conducted in 250 km stretch from Bijnor (in
UP) to Narora (in UP).
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* The Dolphin Safari will also be conducted under this campaign at six
sites of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
The eight beaches selected for the Blue flag certification are:
* Kappad in Kerala
* The Blue Flag beaches are considered the benchmark for the clean and
hygienic beaches in the world.
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* Atal Tunnel is the world’s longest highway tunnel above 10,000 feet
from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).
* The tunnel has been named after the former Indian Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee.
* Atal tunnel has been built, by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO),
under the Rohtang Pass in the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas
on the Leh-Manali Highway in Himachal Pradesh.
* The overall cost of completion of the project is around Rs. 3200 Crore.
The Puducherry airport has become the first-ever airport of the Airports
Authority of India (AAI) which is completely solar-powered. The 500 KWp
ground-mounted solar power plant was commissioned on 2nd October
2020. The approximate cost of the plant is Rs. 2.8 Cr. With becoming
absolutely power-neutral, the Puducherry airport will be able to meet its
complete power requirement through the solar power plant.
• The Ministry of Labour recently notified the draft rules for the Industrial
Relations Code, 2020. The rules are to be implemented by April, 2021.
• Under the new Industrial Relations Rules, 2020, the establishments with
more than 300 workers will have to seek Government Approval to lay 15
days in prior to the lay off of the intended actions.
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• Earlier, the limit was 100 employees. This means the doing business is
being eased under the new rules.
* This enhanced version of the Pinaka rocket would replace the existing
Pinaka Mk-I rockets. While Mk-1 had a range of 40 km, the new variant
can hit a target 45 to 60 km away.
* Qatar’s ruler announced that a vote to review the policy of the country
is to be held in October 2021.
* This is the first of its kind in the region. Currently, un-elected Shura
Council advises the absolute ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-
Thani.
* The Baltic States are Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. These three
countries are located in the Baltic sea and are fast growing economies.
* The ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ is India’s first and unique product launched by
the bank to offer a mobile-first, highly personalised and experiential led
banking experience to the millennial customers.
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* The United States has officially withdrawn from the Paris climate accord
on 04 November 2020.
* With this, the US has now become the only country to formally pull out
of the deal since it was adopted in 2015.
* He has played a vital role in the political and economic affairs of Bahrain
for over 3 decades.
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* He was appointed as prime minister by his brother Emir Isa bin Salman
Al Khalifa, in 1971.
The award was given away by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala
Yousafzai during a ceremony in the Netherlands.
The prize was launched by KidsRights during the 2005 World Summit of
Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome.
• Odisha bagged the eminent ‘Best Marine State’ award which was
announced by the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry &
Dairying.
• The awards are a great boost to fisheries sector, especially during the
COVID-19 times. In 2019, India exported Rs 47,000 crores of fisheries.
• The 13th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference 2020 was held virtually
on the theme “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility” from New Delhi.
• This was the first virtual UMI conference amid COVID 19 and was also
held for a day as against the usual format of three days without any
exhibition.
• The 14th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Expo 2021 will be
held on October 29-31, 2021 in Kochi, Kerala.
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• The Indian and Singapore Navy are to hold maritime exercise SIMBEX-
20 in the Andaman Sea between November 23, 2020 and November 25,
2020.
• The exercise is being conducted between the countries since 1994. The
exercise aims to enhance mutual inter-operability between the countries.
• The Indian Navy ships to participate in the exercise are destroyer Rana
along with Chetak helicopter, corvettes Kamorta and Karmuk. Also,
submarine Sindhuraj and P81 reconnaissance aircrafts are to participate
in the exercise.
• The APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 was adopted during the Summit. It
envisions and open, resilient peaceful Asia Pacific community by 2040.
• The Summit also replaced the 1994 Bogor Goals with post 2020 vision.
• The Garden has been set up for the purpose of conservation of different
species of moss.
• China recently launched the Change-5 Lunar Mission. The mission is the
first probe in four decades to bring back rock samples from the moon
from its previously unexplored portions.
• Change-5 is the first probe to land on the far side of the moon.
• As the rotation and revolution time period of the moon is same, only
one side of the moon is constantly visible to the earth.
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• The other side of the moon till date remains unexplored and is called the
far side of the moon.
• It was launched from the Long March-5 carrier rocket, the largest
carrier rocket of China. The mission will land in the Mons Rumker region
of the moon.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a book on the life and ideals of
Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism and first of its 10 gurus.
• Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was also present during
the book release.
• The book has been penned by Kirpal Singh Ji, who is based in
Chandigarh.
• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is all set to become the first Arab Gulf
country, and probably the last, to generate electricity from coal, as; the
Acwa Power of Saudi Arabia is developing a $3.4 billion Hassyan coal
plant in Dubai.
• In this regard, the company has already inked a long time agreement
with Japan’s Jera Co under which the latter will supply coal.
• The capacity of the plant will be 600 megawatts (MW) initially which will
be increased to 2,400 MW by 2023.
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• The previous two Indian IEEE Milestones were for the pioneering work
done by Sir J.C. Bose to demonstrate the generation and reception of
radio waves in 1895 (recognised in 2012), and for the Nobel Prize-winning
(in 1930) ‘scattering of light’ phenomenon observed by Sir C.V. Raman in
1928.
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