VISION

GS SCORE Important Constitutional Articles In News 2020 PDF

 What is the issue?

• Taking cue from Andhra Pradesh’s Disha Bill of 2019, Maharashtra government recently proposed Maharashtra Shakti Act of 2020.
• The legislations gain attention given the provision of reduced period of investigation.

What is the Disha Bill?

1)  Cabinet approves export of indigenously-developed Akash Missile System

•The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the proposal to export indigenously-developed Akash Missile System. The Cabinet has also approved to set up of a committee for faster approvals of exports. The export version of Akash will be different from System currently deployed with Indian Armed Forces.

2)  Harsh Vardhan inaugurates India’s highest meteorological centre at Leh

•Union Minister of Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the meteorological centre (MC) of the India Meteorological Department at Leh in Ladakh via video conferencing. The centre would provide localised weather forecasts in the region, which would result in strengthening the weather-related early warning system for the region.

3)  Indian Railways’ new Vistadome coach successfully completes 180 kmph speed trial

•Indian Railways successfully completed the 180 km per hour speed trial of its new design Vistadome tourist coaches. These Vistadome coaches will make train journeys memorable for the passengers, as well as give a further boost to tourism.

4)  Harsh Vardhan nominated to the Board of ‘GAVI’, The Vaccine Alliance

•Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has been nominated as the board member of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). The seat is currently held by Myint Htwe of Myanmar. Dr Vardhan will represent the South East Area Regional Office (SEARO)/ Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) constituency on the GAVI Board.  Dr Vardhan will assume the charge with effect from January 1, 2021, and serve till December 31, 2023.

5)  V.K. Yadav chairman of railway board conferred with Eminent Engineer Award

•The chairman & CEO of Railway Board, Vinod Kumar Yadav has been conferred with the prestigious “Eminent Engineer Award for the Year 2020’. This award is given by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for his outstanding contribution towards modernization and reforms over Indian Railways.

•Every year Institution of Engineering and Technology, Delhi Local Network celebrates Engineers’ Day on the 15th of September to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya. On this occasion, besides technical activities, the Institution also presents the Eminent Engineer’s Award to distinguished Engineering personalities for their outstanding services in the field of Engineering and technology.

6)  Navy, DRDO conduct maiden trial of air dropped container ‘SAHAYAK-NG’

•Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with the Indian Navy conducted the successful maiden test trial of ‘SAHAYAK-NG’ India’s first indigenously designed and developed Air Dropped Container from IL 38SD aircraft (Indian Navy) off the coast of Goa. The trial was conducted by the Indian Navy to enhance its operational logistics capabilities and provide critical engineering stores to ships that are deployed more than 2000 kilometres from the coast.

7)  India’s first pollinator park opens in Uttarakhand

•The country’s first pollinator park with over 40 species of butterflies, honeybees, birds and insects has been developed over four acres at Haldwani, Uttarakhand. The objective behind developing the park is to conserve various pollinator species, create awareness among people in general about the importance of conservation of these species and to promote further research on various aspects of pollination, including a threat to habitat and impact of pollution on pollinators.

•There are at present 40 species of pollinators at the park, including common jezebel, common emigrant, red pierrot, common sailor, plain tiger, the common leopard, the common moron, common grass yellow, common blue bottle, common four-ring, peacock pansy, the painted lady, pioneer white, yellow-orange tip and lime butterfly.

8)  Pt Satish Vyas conferred Tansen Samman at the World Music Festival

•In Madhya Pradesh, 96th Tansen Music Festival began in Gwalior with strict COVID-19 guidelines in place. In the inaugural ceremony renowned santoor player, Pandit Satish Vyas was conferred upon the prestigious Tansen Samman.

•Bhopal-based institution Abhinav Kala Parishad was honoured with Raja Mansingh Tomar award. The festival pays tribute to Tansen, one of 9 gems in Akbar’s court.

1)  Harsh Vardhan launches India’s 1st indigenous pneumonia vaccine ‘Pneumosil’

•The Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan launched India’s first indigenously developed vaccine against pneumonia. The Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) named ‘Pneumosil’ has been developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and PATH, an international, nonprofit global health organization based in Seattle.

2)  INCOIS launches “Digital Ocean” app for information sharing

•The Union Minister of Earth Sciences, Science & Technology, Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually inaugurated the web-based application “Digital Ocean”. It has been developed by Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) an autonomous organization under M/o Earth sciences. Digital Ocean is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management.

3)  Kerala’s Arya Rajendran becomes India’s youngest mayor from Thiruvananthapuram

•The 21-year-old college student, Arya Rajendran has been elected the new mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, of Kerala. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, Arya is the youngest person in India to occupy the post of mayor anywhere in the country.

•Arya won 54 votes out of 99 votes cast in the civic body polls in Kerala. She is also the state president of Balasangam, the children’s wing of the CPI(M). Arya is a second-year student of Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) in Mathematics at the All Saints College.

4)  K. Veeramani honoured with Dr. Narendra Dabholkar Memorial Award

•The Dr Narendra Dabholkar Memorial Award for this year has been conferred upon Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani. The award was instituted in the memory of the Maharashtra-based rationalist Dabholkar.

•The U.S.-based Maharashtra Foundation had instituted the award in his memory, a release issued by the Dravidar Kazhagam. The award includes ₹1 lakh and a citation. Mr Veeramani has dedicated his whole life to propagate rationalism and served for the cause of social justice in society.

5)  Bihar wins Digital India award for transferring money in COVID time

•The Chief Minister Secretariat of Bihar, the Disaster Management Department besides the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the state have jointly been chosen as winners in the “pandemic category” Digital India Awards 2020. Bihar government’s initiative to transfer financial assistance directly to the accounts of beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic has made its departments winners of the Digital India Awards, instituted by the central government, this year for innovative steps in e-governance.

•More than 21 lakh stranded workers outside Bihar were provided financial assistance through the “Bihar Sahayata Mobile App”. The Digital India Awards, instituted under the aegis of the National Portal of India, serve the purpose of bringing to the fore innovative digital solutions and thereby inspiring emulation by all government entities.

6)  India’s 1st hot air balloon wildlife safari launched in Madhya Pradesh

•India’s first hot air balloon wildlife safari in a tiger reserve was launched in the world-famous Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve by Madhya Pradesh forest minister Vijay Shah. Now like Africa’s forests, tourists in India will also enjoy hot air balloon wildlife safari. The state was planning to introduce this service in Pench, Kanha and Panna tiger reserves as well.

•The activity will be restricted to the buffer area and people can watch tigers, leopards, Indian sloth bear and other wild animals from a height. It is the first in any tiger reserve in the country. The service is being operated by Jaipur-based Sky Waltz and company.

7)  AU Small Finance, ICICI Pru Life tie up to offer life insurance solutions

•AU Small Finance Bank has announced a strategic partnership with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance to offer life insurance solutions. The tie-up aims to deliver “paperless, secure, and hassle-free life insurance”. 

•Through the corporate agency arrangement, over 18 lakh customers of AU Bank across over 700 banking touchpoints in 13 states and 2 Union territories, will have easy access to the entire suite of customer-centric protection and long-term savings products of ICICI Prudential Life. AU Bank even claimed that these products will enable customers to provide financial security to themselves and their families and help them achieve their financial goals.

8)  Nitin Gadkari announces Multi-Model Logistics Park in Assam’s Silchar

•Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has announced that a multi-modal logistics park in Assam. It will be constructed in Silchar and the Balacherra-Harengajao section of the Silchar-Saurashtra Highway will be completed in March 2022. Mr Gadkari made this announcement at a public meeting at Zero Point on the East-West Corridor at Madhurmukh at Rangpur.

9)  Hemant Kumar Pandey gets DRDO’s “Scientist of the Year” award

•Senior scientist Hemant Kumar Pandey has been honoured with DRDO’s ”Scientist of the Year Award” for his contribution in developing several herbal medicines, including the popular drug Lukoskin meant for the treatment of leucoderma. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had recently facilitated the scientist at an event here with the prestigious award that comprises a certificate and cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.

•The scientist has developed six herbal drugs so far, Lukoskin used for treating leucoderma or Vitiligo, a condition in which white patches get developed on the skin, has been most widely appreciated and found huge acceptance in the market.

10)  Late Justice Rajindar Sachar’s Autobiography: ‘In Pursuit of Justice’

•The family of Late Justice Rajindar Sachar in association with The Indian Society of International Law and The Indian Law Institute is organizing the book launch “In Pursuit Of Justice: An Autobiography” written by Late Justice Rajindar Sachar. The book has been posthumously published.

📰 Union Cabinet gives approval for Akash missile export

📰 INCOIS launches ‘Digital Ocean’

UPSC has released the exam notification for National Defence Academy and Naval Academy (I) 2021. Last Date for Online Application is 19th January 2021.

GS Score December 2020 5th Week Current Affairs pdf

 Why in news?

Central Information Commission (CIC) has upheld the State Bank of India order of not disclosing any information about electoral bonds.

What is electoral bond scheme?

• It is a promissory note which can be bought by any Indian citizen or company incorporated in India from selected branches of SBI.
• They can purchase the bond digitally or through cheque & it is free of interest.
• The citizen or corporate can then donate the same to any eligible political party of his/her choice.

What is the issue with the scheme?

 What is the issue?

Isolating the indigenous people from their natural habitats in the Western Ghats to protect biodiversity is unproductive.

What are the conservation efforts?

• In 2012, 39 areas covering national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and reserved forests in the Western Ghats were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
  • Out of these, ten sites are in Karnataka.
• These sites are crucial for their biodiversity value.
• Earlier measures include the Forest Rights Act of 2006 in India and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in 2007 by the United Nations.

Who falls under these?