VISION

1)  International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

•International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is observed annually on 2nd December since 1986 by the United Nations General Assembly.

•The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

2)  National Pollution Control Day: 02 December

•In India, the National Pollution Control Day is observed every year on December 2 to commemorate the life of people lost in the unfortunate incident of Bhopal Gas Tragedy that occurred in the year 1984 on the night of 2–3 December.

•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.

3)  World Computer Literacy Day: 02 December

•The World Computer Literacy Day is observed annually on 2nd December to create awareness and drive digital literacy in underserved communities worldwide.

•The day promotes technological skills, especially in children and women.

•The World Computer Literacy Day controls the advanced gap that exists in the world today.

•The day was originally founded by the Indian computer company NIIT to mark its 20th anniversary in 2001. World Computer Literacy Day was first observed and held in the year 2001 on 2nd Dec.

4)  Arjun Munda e-launches “Virtual Aadi Mahotsav-Madhya Pradesh”

•The Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda has launched the first-ever virtual edition of Aadi Mahotsav – Madhya Pradesh.

•The event will showcase the tribal traditions of the various tribal communities by having their crafts and natural products on display.

•Videos showcasing different aspects of their culture – music, dance etc, will also be shared. In essence, it will still be a celebration of the tribes and their diverse, varied lifestyle but on a different platform.

•The 10-day long festival will begin from December 1, 2020. It is being hosted on the Tribes India website – www.tribesindia.com.

•The highlights of the virtual launch included a virtual tour of the artisans’ workplace and glimpses of the tribal dance and music from Madhya Pradesh. The main focus of the first virtual Aadi Mahotsav is on the tribal craft and culture of Madhya Pradesh.

•The next focus state of the programme would be Gujarat ( from 11th December 2020), followed by West Bengal from the 21st December 2020.

5)  West Bengal launches massive ‘Duare Sarkar’ outreach campaign

•West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee has launched a massive campaign titled ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at doorsteps) to aware people about the 11 state-run welfare schemes and help them avail its benefits.

•The two-month-long outreach programme has been launched keeping in view the 2021 state assembly elections which are due in April-May.

•The campaign will continue from December 1, 2020, to January 30, 2020, in four phases, with slogan ‘jar jekhane darkar, asche apnar duare sarkar’ (government will be at your doorsteps whenever you need it).

•The 11 schemes will be made available to the beneficiaries through camps set up for the purpose.

6)  OECD Projects India’s FY21 GDP at -9.9%

•The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has marginally raised its GDP forecast for India to a contraction of 9.9% in 2020-21 (FY21) from its earlier projection of (-)10.2% in September 2020.

•OECD expects the GDP to rebound to 8% in 2021-22 (FY22) and 5% in 2022-23 (FY23).

•In terms of the global economy, OECD expects the world GDP to contract 4.2% in 2020. This estimate was (-)4.5 per cent in September forecast.

•OECD has also projected the world economy to grow by 4.2 per cent in 2021 from an earlier forecast of 5 per cent. For 2022, Global GDP is projected at 3.7%.

7)  US Air Quality Index: Lahore is world’s most polluted city

•Lahore, the cultural capital Pakistan, has been ranked as the world’s most polluted city, according to air pollution data released by the US Air Quality Index (AQI).

•Lahore reported a particulate matter (PM) rating of 423. New Delhi stood second with a PM of 229, while Nepal’s capital Kathmandu ranked the third with a PM of 178.

•The Air Quality Index (AQI) is released by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to give people an idea of whether it’s safe to breathe the air.

•AQI is based on the levels of five major pollutants regulated by the EPA: ground-level ozone, particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.

•AQI measures air quality by placing it on a scale of 0-500, where air quality is regarded as satisfactory if the AQI is under 50.

8)  Indian Army successfully testfires Anti-Ship version of BrahMos missile

•India successfully test-fired the anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory.

•The test was conducted as part of the ongoing trials being conducted by the Indian Navy.

•The DRDO-developed BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with a strike range of 300 Km was launched from Indian Navy’s INS Ranvijay and it successfully hit its target ship near the Car Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal.

9)  Centre constitutes AIPA committee headed by Environment Secretary

•The Central Government has set up an Apex Committee for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (AIPA) for achieving its goals under the global deal.

•The 17-member committee comprised of members from 13 key ministries of the Union Government.

•The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) secretary R P Gupta will be the head of this committee and the additional secretary, MoEFCC, Ravi Shankar Prasad will be the vice-chairperson.

•The Environment ministry has enlisted as many as 16 functions for the APIA.

1)  India invites UK’s Johnson as 2021 Republic Day chief guest

•United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is expected to be the chief guest at 2021 Republic day with Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inviting him.

•Johnson, on his part, has invited PM Modi to the G-7 summit in the United Kingdom next year. The last British prime minister at the Republic Day parade was John Major in 1993.

2)  New Zealand declares climate emergency

•New Zealand has declared a “climate emergency” and promised to make its public sector carbon neutral by 2025.

•New Zealand now joins 32 other countries that have declared a climate emergency. They include Japan, Canada, France and the United Kingdom.

•Prime Minister of  New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern told legislators that the climate emergency declaration was “an acknowledgement of the next generation – an acknowledgement of the burden that they will carry if we do not get this right and do not take action now”.

3)  Karnataka’s 1st 11.5-megawatt power plant being set up at Bidadi

•In Karnataka, Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa laid the foundation stone for an 11.5-megawatt power plant based on municipal waste in Bidadi, Bengaluru.

•It is first of its kind power plant in the state being set up by the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) and will help in converting 600 tonnes of municipal waste into 11.5-megawatt energy.

•This power plant will add 80.59 million units of power to the existing power grid. The power plant project is being constructed at a cost of Rs. 260 crore and is likely to be operational by 2022.

4)  Yogi Adityanath rings the bell at BSE for listing bond of LMC

•Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath rang the bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), to mark the listing of bonds of Lucknow Municipal Corporation on the exchange.

•The bonds of LMC were launched on November 13, with a coupon rate of 8.5 per cent and had tenure of 10 years. The issuance had garnered 4.5 times subscription.

•Lucknow is the 9th city in India and first from UP, to have raised municipal bonds for fundraising. It is also the first city to issue municipal bond after the launch of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.

•Lucknow Municipal Corporation is the first civic body from North India to issue a bond on BSE.

•The funds raised through the bond will be invested in various infrastructure schemes, being implemented under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Scheme, in Lucknow.

•Ghaziabad will be the next city of the state to issue a municipal bond and it will be followed by Pragyaraj, Varanasi, Agra and Kanpur.

5)  RBI orders HDFC Bank to halt its digital launches

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued an order to HDFC Bank with regard to certain incidents of outages in the internet banking, mobile banking and payment utilities of the lender over the past 2 years, the private sector bank informed to the stock exchanges.

•The RBI also noted the recent outages in the HDFC Bank’s internet banking and payment system on November 21, 2020, owing to a power failure in the primary data centre.

•All launches of the Digital Business generating activities planned under its program ‐ Digital 2.0 (to be launched) and other proposed business generating IT applications and sourcing of new credit card customers.

•In addition to this, the order also states that HDFC Bank’s board should examine the lapses and fix accountability.

6)  Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary becomes new Director-General of BRO

•Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary has been appointed as the 27th Director General of Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

•His appointment is effective from 1st December 2020. Lt Gen Chaudhary succeeds Lt Gen Harpal Singh who has been appointed as the new Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

•The BRO is responsible for construction and maintenance of all border roads including those along the frontiers with China and Pakistan.

7)  India ranked 8th in Global Terrorism Index 2020

•In the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2020, India has been ranked at 8th spot globally in the list of countries most affected by terrorism in 2019.

•The GTI score of India is 7.353 out of 10. India recorded 277 Deaths, 439 Injuries & 558 Incidents due to Terrorism in 2019.

•With a score of 9.592, Afghanistan has topped the index as the worst terror impacted nation among the 163 countries.

•It is followed by Iraq (8.682) and Nigeria (8.314) at second and third place respectively.

•Qatar (0.014) took the 133rd Rank followed by Uzbekistan (0.010) in the 134th Rank and around 29 Countries (score of 0.000) took the 135th Rank which means they are Least Affected Countries or Face No Impact due to Terrorism.

8)  International Day of Persons with Disabilities: 03 December

•The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed annually on December 3.

•The IDPWD day was proclaimed in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly. The 2020 theme: ‘Not all Disabilities are Visible’.

•The day is celebrated to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

1)  Indian Navy Day: 04 December

•In India, December 4 is observed as the National Navy Day every year, to celebrate the achievements and role of the naval force to the country. The theme of Navy Day 2020 is “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible & Cohesive”.

2)  International Day of Banks: 4 December

•International Day of Banks is observed globally on the 4th of December. On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 74/245, which designated 4 December as the International Day of Banks.

•The day is celebrated to the recognition of the significant potential of multilateral development banks and other international development banks in financing sustainable development and providing know-how, and also in recognition of the vital role of the banking systems in the Member States in contributing to the improvement of the standard of living.

3)  India & USA signs MoU on Intellectual Property Cooperation

•The Government of India and the United States of America (USA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Intellectual Property Cooperation. As a part of this MoU, the two sides will develop Biennial Work Plan to implement the MoU which will include the detailed planning for carrying out of the co-operation activities including the scope of action. The Union Cabinet had approved the signing the MoU for the same on 19 February 2020.

•The MoU was signed between Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, DPIIT and Mr Andrei Iancu, who represented the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Department of Commerce of the United States of America respectively.

4)  International Sand Art Festival & Konark Festival 2020 begins

•The 9th edition of the International Sand Art Festival and the 31st edition of the Konark Festival has kicked-off in Odisha. International Sand Art Festival is being held at the Chandrabhaga Beach of Konark in Puri district of Odisha. About 70 artists from across the country are taking part in the festival. The world-renowned sand artist and Padmashree Awardee, Sudarsan Pattnaik, has been appointed as Chief Curator of the festival.

5)  RBI Monetary Policy: Policy Rate unchanged

•The six-member Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das, has decided to maintain the status quo on policy rate amid sticky rate of inflation. At this point, the repo rate or the rate at which RBI lends to banks stands unchanged at 4 per cent. The reverse repo rate also stayed unchanged at 3.35 per cent. The MPC committee members voted unanimously in favour of the decision.

The key decisions taken in the Monetary Policy Committee meeting are:

•The repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) has been kept unchanged at 4.00%.

•The reverse repo rate under the LAF has been kept unchanged at 3.35%.

•The marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate have been kept unchanged at 4.25%.

RBI Monetary Policy Highlights & Key Decisions:

•Governor Shaktikanta Das proposes to put in place criteria for NBFC dividend distribution, introduces risk-based audit in large NBFCs & co-op banks.

•RTGS will soon be made 24X7 in the next few days.

•The business sentiment of manufacturing firms is gradually improving.

•CPI inflation is seen at 6.8% for Q3 and 5.8% for Q4.

•Real GDP growth for FY21 is projected at -7.5%. Q3 FY-21 GDP is seen at +0.1% while Q4 FY-21 GDP is seen at +0.7%.

•Corporate bond spreads have narrowed to pre-covid levels.

•RBI proposes to enhance limits for contactless card payments from ₹2000 to ₹5000 from Jan 2021.

•On-tap Targeted Long Term Repo Operations (TLTRO) will be expanded to cover other stressed sectors in tandem with Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) scheme.

6)  HCL’s Roshni Nadar tops Kotak Wealth-Hurun wealthy women list 2020

•Chairperson of HCL Technologies, Roshni Nadar Malhotra has topped the list of wealthiest women in India, according to the second edition of ‘Kotak Wealth Hurun–Leading Wealthy Women’ report. The report is compiled by Kotak Wealth Management, a division of Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Hurun India.

•Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon and Leena Gandhi Tewari of USV are at the second and third rank respectively in the Kotak Wealth Hurun wealthy women list 2020. Shaw is also the wealthiest self-made woman on the list. 19 women from this list also feature in the Hurun India Rich List 2020, and 6 women have made it to the Hurun Global Rich List 2020.

7)  Kuldeep Handoo appointed as “Fit India” movement ambassador

•Srinagar born Wushu coach and the first Dronacharya Awardee from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Kuldeep Handoo is appointed as the Ambassador of Fit India movement. He won 11 gold medals in National and 6 in International stage, is the Wushu coach of Team India. Under his guidance Athletes have won two gold medals at the world championship and one at the World Cup. He also serves as Inspector of police in Jammu and Kashmir.

Handbook by National Commission for Scheduled Tribes

1)  International Volunteer Day: 05 December

•The International Volunteer Day (IVD), also called International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development is observed on 5 December every year. IVD 2020 Theme: “Together We Can Through Volunteering”. The IVD international observance was mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985.

•The purpose of the day to celebrate the efforts of volunteers and organizations and offer the opportunity to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and international levels.

2)  World Soil Day: 05 December

•The World Soil Day is celebrated every year on December 5 to raise awareness of the importance of soil quality for human well-being, food security and ecosystems. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) campaign “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity” aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being.

•The date of 5 December was chosen because it corresponds with the official birthday of the late H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, who was one of the main proponents of this initiative.

3)  Vice President releases a book on Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

•The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu has released the book titled “40 Years with Abdul Kalam- Untold Stories”, a book on the life of the former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The book was authored by Dr A.Sivathanu Pillai. The book is published by Pentagon Press LLP and the foreword was written by Pranab Mukherjee, former president of India.

4)  PASSEX conducted by Indian Navy and Russian Navy

•The Indian Navy (IN) and the Russian Federation Navy (RuFN) are undertaking Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The exercise will help in enhancing interoperability, improving understanding and imbibing best practices between both the friendly navies. It involves advanced surface and anti-submarine warfare exercises, weapon firings, seamanship exercises and helicopter operations.

•Indian Navy is being represented by indigenously constructed guided-missile frigate Shivalik and anti-submarine corvette Kadmatt along with integral helicopters. Russian Federation Navy includes guided-missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev and medium ocean tanker Pechenga. The PASSEX’s are conducted regularly by Indian Navy with units of friendly foreign navies.

5)  Ranjitsinh Disale becomes 1st Indian to win 2020 Global Teacher Prize

•Ranjitsinh Disale, a government teacher from Zilla Parishad Primary School, in Paritewadi village, Solapur district of Maharashtra, has won the 2020 Global Teacher Prize. He is the first Indian to win this award, which carries prize money of $1 million (Rs 7.4 crore).

•The 32-year-old has won the annual Global Teacher Prize 2020 in recognition of his efforts to promote girls’ education in his village and trigger a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India. He made efforts and added QR codes to textbooks of primary classes to provide links to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments. He also worked towards education for girls and teaching people about the ill-effects of teenage marriage and even helped to achieve 100% attendance of girls.

•Ranjitsinh has also created history by announcing to share half the prize money with the nine finalists from across the world for the award, where each one will receive about $55,000 each. He also becomes the first winner to share the prize money with the finalists.

6)  Majerhat Bridge named “Jai Hind” to Mark Netaji’s 125th Birth Anniversary

•West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee named the newly built “Majerhat bridge” in Kolkata as ‘Jai Hind’ bridge to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Subash Chandra Bose. The new bridge has been built in the place of an old one which collapsed in September 2018. It is 650-metres long and connects the Central part of Kolkata to the Southwestern suburbs of Behala and others.

7)  Gitanjali Rao becomes 1st-ever TIME’s “Kid Of The Year”

•The Indian-American young scientist and inventor, Gitanjali Rao, has been named as the first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’ by the iconic TIME magazine. This is the first time that the TIME magazine has launched the Kid of The Year” award.

📰 Farmers’ protest | India summons Canadian High Commissioner; issues demarche over Trudeau’s remarks

 Shankar IAS Monthly Mainstorming November 2020 PDF

 Shankar IAS Monthly Prestorming November 2020 PDF

Shankar IAS Monthly Current Affairs October 2020 PDF