December 3rd Week 2020 Current Affairs Online Test English

• The NASA is implementing a program for “Data sonification”, which involves the use of non–speech data to be translated into sound. Recently, the Researchers at the Chandra X–ray center has used three important phenomenon of the universe and translated the frequencies of light into different pitches of sound. Crab Nebula, Bullet Cluster and Super nova are the three iconic images.

• Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo–Addo who is the present President of Ghana has been re– elected as the President of the country for the second time. He has secured 51.2 percent of the vote as against his rival – the former President John Mahama, who secured 48% votes.

• Recently, researchers have found the presence of animal products, such as the meat of pigs, cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat in the remains of Indus Valley Civilization. This has been conformed from the Lipid residue analysis of ceramic vessels found in the urban and rural settlements of the civilization in North and western part of India.

• ‘Mahakavi’ Subramania Bharathiar was born in Ettayapuram, Thoothukudi. He was an Indian independence activist, journalist and a pioneer in Tamil Literature. International Bharati Festival is organized by the Vanavil Culture Centre in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to honour the poet. His 138th birth anniversary was observed on December 11, 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated and presented the Bharati Award to the writer Seeni Viswanathan.

• Every year December 12th is observed as the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day by the World Health Organisation. UHC ensures that all people get access to quality health services without any financial hardships. Universal health coverage has been inducted as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations. This years’ (2020) is “Health for All: Protect Everyone”

• Indian state–owned telecommunications company BSNL in partnership with machine connectivity solutions company Skylotech India, to launch a satellite–based narrowband IoT network in India. The solution will connect with the satellite ground infrastructure of BSNL. This is the world’s first satellite–based narrowband–IoT network. The IoT connectivity is already tested in Indian Railways and fishing vessels among others.

• The 5th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) has recently commenced with a focus on Arth Ganga – river conservation synchronised development. The theme of the summit is comprehensive analysis and holistic management of rivers and water bodies. It is being organised virtually by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga).

• The ABTO (Association of Buddhist Tour Operators) International Convention is an event organised by ABTO in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism. ABTO is a body consisting of over 1500 members in India and overseas. It has been organising the ABTO convention and International Buddhist Travel Mart (IBTM) since 2018, in Bodh Gaya in the state of Bihar.

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently appreciated India’s initiative of ‘Fitness Ka Dose, Aadha Ghanta Roz’. The campaign, which aims to promote physical activity, was launched as part of the nation–wide Fit India Movement. It urges all Indians to follow at least 30 minutes of fitness activities every day. This is on the lines with the WHO fitness campaign.

• The International Mountain Day is observed every year on December 11 to celebrate and bring awareness to the world’s mountain environments and the people and cultures that inhabit them. The 2020 theme is “Mountains biodiversity”.

• Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, has recently spotted a new species of Murainagrass. Ischaemum is a genus of grass, widespread in tropical and semitropical regions. It is commonly called as Murainagrass. A new and tolerant species has been spotted in Goa in the Western Ghats. It was named Ischaemum janarthanamiiin honour of Goa University’s Botany Professor M. K. Janarthanam.

• According to a study released by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), over 75% districts in India are hotspots of extreme climate events.
• The districts, which are home to more than 63.8 crore people, are hotspots of extreme climate events such as cyclones, floods, droughts, heat and cold waves. This is the first time the extreme weather event hotspots in the country are being mapped.

• The Indian Railways has recently launched Hospital Management Information System (HMIS). This aims to provide enhanced health care facilities to its employees. The trial version of the project has been launched in South Central Railway. This is expected to improve the health care system of the Railways and improve the utilisation of resources.

• The “Heroes of 2020” is published by the TIMES Magazine. It honours those people who have “went above and beyond the call of duty”. Rahul Dubey who is an Indian–American has been listed in the Heroes of 2020, who opened the doors of his Washington DC home to over 70 people demonstrating against the killing of George Floyd.

• International Anti–Corruption Day is observed on 9 December. The day aims to raise awareness about corruption and the measures that can be taken to combat corruption. The theme for the year 2020 is “Recover with Integrity”.

• The National Energy Conservation Day is celebrated every year on December.14. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under Union Ministry of Power spearheads the celebrations of the day every year since 1991.

• “The Presidential Years” is an upcoming book authored by the late former President of India Pranab Mukherjee. This memoir is the fourth volume of the memoirs, that will be released globally in January 2021. The third volume of former President’s autobiography titled “The Coalition Years — 1996–2012” in the year 2017.

• Nepal has recently spotted the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris), at an altitude of 3,165 m above sea level for the first time. The largest of all Asian big cats has been spotted by a camera trap set up by the Forest Department. The country is to provide special attention to the Kanchenjunga Landscape in eastern Nepal. It provides connectivity to India’s Singalia National Park and Dooars floodplains.

• Indian Mountain Initiative (IMI) organized the 9th edition of Sustainable Mountain Development Summit in Dehradun. The summit has been organized in a Virtual Mode, on account of the COVID 19 pandemic. It is a 4–day long summit where issues like migration, water security, climate resilience would be discussed by delegates.

• Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has developed India’s first Covid–19 vaccine candidate based on mRNA. It has recently received approval from drug regulators of the country for entrusting it to clinical trials. HGCO19 is the name of the mRNA vaccine candidate developed by the Pune based institution, using the seed grant received under Ind–CEPI mission of the department of biotechnology of the Union Ministry of science and technology

• The Export–Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has recently extended a USD 448–million line of credit (LOC) for various infrastructure projects in Uzbekistan. Extended on behalf of the Indian government, the LoC would be used in various projects in transport, water and technology sectors in the country. EXIM Bank has so far extended 266 LOCs to various countries.

• The Indian Embassy in Beijing recently launched a movie series “CinemaSCOpe”, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Under the programme, over two dozen Indian films dubbed in Russian, will be screened on a monthly basis. The screening will continue till India’s chairmanship of the SCO ‘Council of Heads of State’ meeting in 2023.

• Russia has successfully test–launched its heavy lift Angara A5 space rocket for the second time, the first launch having undertaken in 2014. As per the state space agency Rocosmos, these Angara rockets do not use aggressive and toxic propellants, thereby increasing environmental safety in the areas adjacent to the launch complex and in the drop zones.

• The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) has stated that more than 5 million people of Yemen would head towards hunger in the year 2021. Also, FAO has estimated that more than 50,000 people in the country would be living in famine conditions by next year. Yemen has been in a civil war since 2014 and the normal life of the Arab country has been severely hurt.

• The year 2021 has been declared as the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, by the United Nations. This has been decided in the UN General Assembly meeting held in December 2020. The proposal was sponsored by Indonesia and was presented by a group of nations including China, India, Australia, Philippines and Thailand.

• The Indian Coast Guard has recently launched an operation named “Operation Oliva”. This operation aims to protect the Olive Ridley turtles of the Odisha coast, which are endangered. The Coast Guard has launched two ships near the major nesting sites, to prevent entry of fishing vessels. Aircrafts of the coast guard have also been deployed as a part of this operation.

• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla released a book on occasion of 19th anniversary of the Indian Parliament attack. The book titled ‘The Shaurya Unbound’ (English Version) and ‘Samundar Samawe Boond Mein’ (Hindi Version) were released on the 2001 incident. As many as 14 people including the five terrorists died during the incident.

• Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted the invitation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations on 26 January, 2021 in New Delhi. With this, Boris Johnson becomes the second UK prime minister to attend the celebrations after John Major in 1993. Moreover, UK Prime Minister has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the UK–hosted G7 summit next year.

• French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a referendum to add the efforts against climate change and the need to protect the environment in the French Constitution. Earlier, the EU leaders including Macron agreed to achieve at least 55 percent compared with 1990 levels, by 2030.

• Vigyan Yatra is the name of the promotional activity of the India International Science Festival. Mobile science exhibition vans were flagged off from many cities as a part of the activity, to promote the culture of science among the people.

• In the year 2018, artists, journalists and activists gathered in the San Isidro region of Cuba, to protest against the country’s rules on censorship of cultural activities. Hence, it came to be known as the Movimiento San Isidro, or the San Isidro Movement (MSI). After a member of MSI was arrested in November this year, its members began a hunger and then were arrested. The Government name the protestors as agents of Imperialism.

• Several bar–headed geese have recently migrated to Point Calimere Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary, which is located on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu. These birds have the ability to fly in extreme weather and very high altitudes. They might have flown thousands of miles from Tibet, Central China and Mongolia. They breed in these countries and migrate to India during winter.

• The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has recently launched a project to set up 2,000 mini–clinics across the state. They will be known as ‘Amma Mini Clinics’, after the former late Chief Minister J Jeyalalitha. The clinics aim to provide essential healthcare services to the poor and downtrodden. Minor ailments will be treated and this step will reduce the burden of Government hospitals.

• The United States Agriculture Department has recently confirmed the first known case of the coronavirus in a wild animal, a mink. Earlier, Denmark decided to cull several farmed minks after they were infected by the virus. The virus was also found in zoo tigers and household cats and dogs. But this is the first free–ranging and native wild animal being confirmed with the infection.

• As per the recent announcement from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), widespread rain or thundershowers will come back to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and regions over the South Peninsula. The Easterly waves move fast across the Bay of Bengal and usually target the south peninsula region. Also called as the tropical wave or tropical easterly wave, it is an area of relatively low air pressure, which moves from east to west across the tropics and causes cloudiness and thunderstorms.

• Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has been awarded with the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for the year 2020 in the Steel Sector. SAIL has been the winner of this prestigious award for successive two years.
• Steel Authority of India Limited is an Indian state–owned steel making company based in New Delhi. Various measures of the company to preserve environment have been recognised.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Gujarat and laid the foundation stones for various developmental projects. The Hybrid Renewable Energy Park in the district of Kutch will be the country’s largest renewable energy generation park, when completed.
• Foundation stones were also laid for a fully automated milk processing and packing plant and a Desalination plant in Mandvi, Kutch.

• An indigenously built interceptor boat C–454 of the Indian Coast Guard was commissioned at Hazira port in Surat, Gujarat. This Interceptor boat is built by L&T Jetty, Hazira and is capable of operating in shallow water with very high speed. The boat is fitted with advanced navigation and communication equipment.

• The Department of Posts and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) have launched a new digital payment application named ‘DakPay’. It is a suite of digital banking services provided through their postal network, across the country. The features include Domestic Money Transfers – DMT, Virtual debit card, UPI payment, AePS and Bill payment.

• Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) and reviewed the current global and domestic macro–economic situation and financial stability in the nation. Union Finance Minister is the chairperson of FSDC, an autonomous regulatory body set up in the year 2010.

• T–Fiber, Telangana Fiber Grid Project is a state–wide project, which aims to establish optical fiber network and to provide high–speed broadband service in Telangana. Recently, the Telangana state government has declared the T–Fiber project a ‘Vital Public Purpose Project’. This means, the project need not get permission from several state departments for implementation.

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Memorandum of Understanding between Indi and United States for exchange of information in areas of mutual interest in the electricity sector. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), India and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), USA would join hands for this arrangement. The MoU will help to improve regulatory framework in power sector.

• 22 hatchlings of black softshell turtles that were reared at a temple in Assam have been released into the wetlands of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve recently. These species of turtles are considered ‘Extinct in the wild’, as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A very few numbers of them are left in some temple ponds, mostly in Assam.

• The Prime Minister headed Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a financial assistance amounting Rs.3500 crore to sugarcane farmers of the country. The funds are to be credited directly into the bank accounts of the farmers. The decision is expected to benefit 5 crore sugarcane farmers and 5 lakh workers employed in the sugar mills.

• The Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister has recently approved the next round of auctioning of the telecommunication spectrum. A total of 2251.25 MHz is being offered for auction valued at Rs.3,92,332.70 crore. The most recent Spectrum auction in India was held in the year 2016, with the government raising Rs 65,789.12 crore in revenue.

• The Human Development Index for the year 2020 has been released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As per the report, India has been ranked at 131 out of 189 countries. Last year, India was ranked at 130.

• The Himalayan serow has been spotted for the first time in the Himalayan cold desert region, in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. These are herbivores animals and are found between 2000 m and 4000 m altitude. They have an appearance similar to that of a goat, but with long ears. They have a habit of standing with fore legs stretched.

• The Young Champions of the Earth prize is given every year by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to seven scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers and activists, who have contributed ideas for sustainable environment change. Every prize awardee would receive a prize amount of $10,000 as seed fund for development and incubation of their ideas.

• The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi lit the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ at the National War Memorial in Delhi. This has kick started the 50th anniversary celebrations of the 1971 India–Pakistan war. In December 1971, the Indian Armed Forces won a battle against the Pakistan counterpart, which resulted n creation of a new nation called Bangladesh.

• Captain of the Poland National Football Team, Robert Lewandowski won The FIFA Best Men’s Player Award 2020. This Poland player beat the previous winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who were in the short–list. He was also named the 2019–20 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year in October. English footballer Lucy Bronze won the Best Women’s player award.

• The North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) was approved in 2014 as a Central Sector Scheme and is being funded with the assistance of World Bank fund. It is being implemented through POWERGRID, a Public Sector Undertaking under Ministry of Power in association with six beneficiary North Eastern States namely, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. The Union Cabinet has approved the Revised Cost Estimate of the scheme at Rs 6700 crore.

• The Ministry of External Affairs has recently launched an Economic diplomacy website, to project ‘Brand India’ to global investors. It is managed by the Economic Diplomacy Division of the Ministry. The website will also showcase India’s economic, regional and state–wise trends, the economic and policy profiles of state/ UTs. It connects the Indian businesses and the interested investors through agencies like APEDA.

• Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad, recently received the ISO Certification, after an assessment from the UK–based accreditor ASCB. The park became the first zoological park in India to acquire the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standards Certification. The standards followed in the Park in the area of sanitation, food processing, animal breeding, among others were assessed.

• The United Nations Development Programme introduced a new measure named called the Planetary Pressures–adjusted HDI, or PHDI. It assesses the impact caused by each country’s per–capita carbon emissions and its material footprint. While India stands at 131st rank in the Human Development Index, when this metric is considered, India is placed at 123rd rank in the list, which is topped by Ireland.

• The pre 1965 rail link between India and Bangladesh – Chilahati–Haldibari rail link has been inaugurated. In order to enhance the rail connectivity between the two countries, it was decided that six number of pre 1965 rail routes would be reopened. With the Chilahati–Haldibari rail link declared opened, five out of the said six routes are operational between India and Bangladesh.

• The Human Freedom Index 2020 is released by the Cato Institute in the United States and Fraser Institute in Canada, which measures the state of Human Freedom in the world. Out of 162 countries that were ranked in the index, India has been placed at 111th rank. India was ranked 110 in terms of personal freedom and 105 on economic freedom. An overall score of 6.43 out of 10 was given to India, with the global average score being 6.93.

• India’s communication satellite CMS–01 was successfully launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The satellite was launched aboard the launch vehicle, PSLV–C50, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The vehicle injected the satellite into its planned orbit. PSLV–C50 is the 52nd flight of PSLV and this was the 77th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR.

• Chinese spacecraft Chang’e 5 probe has returned to Earth with the first samples of rock and debris from the moon. The modules of the probe landed on the moon and collected about 2 kilograms of samples by drilling the surface of the moon. After Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976, only this probe brought fresh samples of lunar rocks.

• The Government of India has recently offered official recognition to Yoga as a competitive sport, as a push to make it a part of the Olympic Games. Recently, India established the National Yogasana Sport Federation of India (NYSFI) for the development of yoga as a competitive sport. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Ministry of AYUSH are collaborating in this regard.

• An Astronomical Conjunction, which is the closer appearance of the heavenly bodies from the Earth’s perspective, is to occur on the night of December 21. The planets will appear extremely close to each other, making them look like one bright dot in the sky. However, the actual distance from each other will be around 735 million kms. The planets were seen very close only in 1623.