1) ISRO will set up launch port for small satellite launch vehicles
•The ISRO Chairman announced that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will establish a 2nd launch port in Thoothukodi district in Tamil Nadu. This launch port will be used exclusively to launch small satellite launch vehicles. The launch port will be established in 2300 acres. He announced that the process of Astronaut selection is over for India’s 1st manned mission to outer space i.e. “Gaganyaan” to be launched by 2022.
•The ISRO Chairman also announced that the Government has approved the Chandrayaan–3 mission to the moon, comprising of a lander and a rover.
2) Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System launched by EC
•The Election Commission of India has launched a Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS). The system enables the applicants to track the status of the applications for the party registration. The Commission has also amended the guidelines for registration which came into force from 1st January 2020. Under the new guidelines, the applicants applying for the party registration from 1st of January 2020 will be able to track the progress of applications and will get the status through SMS and e-mail.
•An association seeking registration has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days from the date of its formation. This should be done as per the guidelines prescribed by the Commission in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 324 of the Constitution of India and Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
•The status can be tracked through the Commission’s portal “pprtms.eci“.
3) Bengaluru will host the 107th edition of the Indian Science Congress
•Bengaluru will host the 107th edition of the Indian Science Congress. It will be the ninth time the city will host the annual convention. University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru will host the event. The congress has chosen ‘science and technology: rural development’ as its theme for the 107th edition. A Farmer’s Science Congress will take part in it for the first time, hence providing a platform for innovative farmers.
•There will also be a ‘Women’s Science Congress’, ‘Children’s Science Congress’, ‘Science Communicator’s Meet’, and ‘Science Exhibition: Pride of India’. The convention will see the participation of over 15,000 delegates, including 8,000 students from across the country and 74 scientists from abroad.
4) Nepal launches ‘Visit Nepal Year 2020’ campaign
•President of Nepal launched the “Visit Nepal Year 2020” during the ceremony held at historic Dasaratha Rangashala in Kathmandu. Mythical creature Yeti has been selected as mascot of the campaign. The ambitious campaign is aimed to promote tourism in Nepal and to attract 2 million tourists in 2020. The Visit Nepal 2020 campaign was launched in all the seven provinces of Nepal.
•Nepal is one of the World’s fascinating tourist destination and the government has a goal of making tourism one of the key pillars of the Nepali economy.
5) Umaro Cissoko Embalo wins Guinea-Bissau presidential election
•Umaro Cissoko Embalo has won the Guinea-Bissau‘s presidential election. According to the National Electoral Commission of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro won the presidential election with 53.55% of votes. He will replace the incumbent President Jose Mario Vaz.
6) Palau becomes 1st nation to ban ‘reef toxic’ sun cream
•The Pacific nation of Palau has become the first country to ban sun cream which is harmful to corals and sea life. The ban prohibits sun cream containing any of the 10 ingredients which includes oxybenzone and octinoxate, that absorbs ultraviolet light. A lagoon in Palau’s Rock Islands is a Unesco World Heritage site. Palau is renowned for its marine life and is regarded as one of the world’s best diving destinations.
7) “MANI” to help visually challenged to identify currency notes
•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a mobile app “Mobile Aided Note Identifier (MANI)”. The visually challenged people can identify the denomination of a currency note by using the mobile app “MANI”. The application also works offline once installed. The application scans the currency notes using the camera of the mobile phone and also gives audio output in Hindi and English. The app does not authenticate a note as either genuine or counterfeit.
8) Indore tops national cleanliness rankings for first two quarters
•The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced the results of the 1st and 2nd quarters of the Swachh Survekshan 2020. Indore has topped the cleanliness charts for two consecutive quarters among cities with over 10 lakh population while Kolkata was the worst performer. Jamshedpur has topped the cleanliness charts for two consecutive quarters among cities with 1 lakh to 10 lakh population.
•The rankings were conducted in a league format for the first time and were split into three quarters (April to June, July to September and October to December 2019) and different categories based on the population of the city. The rankings were based on collection, transportation, processing and disposal of waste.
9) V K Yadav to lead Railway Board for 1 more year
•The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the re-employment of V K Yadav as the Chairman of Railway Board. The appointment has been done for a period of one year. He took over as Railway Board Chairman from Ashwani Lohani on January 1, 2019. He has also held the post of General Manager of South Central Railway (SCR).
•He is an electrical engineer and belongs to the 1980 batch of the Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers.
10) Lawn bowls & Cycling to be included in 3rd Khelo India Games
•Chief Executive Officer of “Khelo India Games” has announced that “Lawn bowls” and “cycling” will be included in the 3rd edition of Khelo India Games. The two games will be included in the event for the first time. The 3rd edition of the tournament will be held in Guwahati, Assam in January 2020. Athletes from all over the country will be coming to Guwahati for the Khelo India Youth Games.
