Daily Gist of 'The Hindu', 'PIB', 'Indian Express' and Other Newspapers: 23 November, 2020

Daily Important News will speed up the preparation for the Civil Services Examination and it also plays a crucial role to grasp the current affairs topic comprehensively. Here we have covered most of the topics related to various categories including National, International, Sports, Science and Technology, and so on.

1. Boston Centre for Excellence in Health and Human Development

– Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare digitally addressed the Boston Center of Excellence for Health and Human Development through Video Conference.

– Dr. Harsh Vardhan on COVID-19: “We are living in a phase of a Silent War”.

– Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Yoga and Ayurveda: “The Time has come for Modern Medicine and India’s Traditional System to go together with an Integrative Approach to impact our lives and much better Disease Outcomes “.

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2. Innovative Technology infusion for better implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission

– A multi-disciplinary Technical Committee in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti has recommended five technologies specifically three technologies for drinking water and two technologies for sanitation as innovative technologies out of the ten technologies considered by it and these technologies would now be listed in the innovation portal of the Department.

– The Five technologies that have been recommended are:

i) Grundfos AQpure, a solar energy-based water treatment plant based on ultrafiltration

ii) Janajal Water on Wheel, an IoT based electric vehicle based on GPS location to enable the delivery of safe water to the doorstep of households

iii) Presto Online Chlorinator, a non-electricity dependent online chlorinator for disinfection of water for removal of bacterial contamination

iv) Johkasou technology – an inbuilt packaged black (sewage) and greywater (Kitchen and bath water) treatment system having an advanced anaerobic-aerobic configuration that can be installed underground

v) FBTec, a site assembled decentralised sewage treatment system using fixed filter media. The Committee has requested the other five applicants to carry out accreditation process/ pilots/ share field data before they can be reconsidered.

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3. 15th G20 Leaders’ Summit

– Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, participated in the 15th G20 Summit convened by Saudi Arabia in virtual format.

– The agenda of the second day of the G 20 summit focused a session on building an inclusive, sustainable and resilient future and a side event on safeguarding the planet.

– The Prime Minister in his speech underscored that for an inclusive, resilient and sustainable recovery in a Post COVID world, effective global governance is required and reformed multilateralism through improvement in character, governance and processes of multilateral institutions is the need of the hour.

– The Prime Minister further underscored the importance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ‘leaving no one behind’.

– He further said that India is following the same principle in the ‘Reform-Perform-Transform’ strategy to move forward and inclusive development efforts that are participative.

– It was decided that the G20 Presidency will be held by Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024.

Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 21 November, 2020

4. SIMBEX-20 in the Andaman Sea

– Indian Navy (IN) is scheduled to host the 27th edition of India – Singapore Bilateral Maritime Exercise SIMBEX-20 from 23 to 25 November 2020 in the Andaman Sea.

– The SIMBEX series of exercises between IN and Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), being conducted annually since 1994.

– It aimed at enhancing mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices from each other. The scope and complexity of these exercises have increased steadily over the past two decades to include advanced naval drills covering a wide spectrum of maritime operations.

– The 2020 edition of SIMBEX will witness participation by Indian Navy ships including destroyer Rana with integral Chetak helicopter and indigenously built corvettes Kamorta and Karmuk.

– In addition, IN submarine Sindhuraj and P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft will also participate in the exercise.

– RSN will be represented by the ‘Formidable’ Class frigates ‘Intrepid’ and ‘Steadfast’ with integral S70B helicopter and ‘Endurance’ Class Landing Ship Tank ‘Endeavour’ in the exercise.

– The exercise, being conducted as a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ exercise in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 20 November, 2020

5. Khadi Exhibition in Varanasi

– KVIC Inaugurates Khadi Exhibition in Varanasi.

– A range of exquisite Khadi products including the premium High Altitude Honey from Jammu & Kashmir, handcrafted silk, cotton and woollen clothes and herbal medicines have been put to display at the state level Khadi Exhibition in Varanasi organized by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

– The exhibition was inaugurated today by KVIC Chairman Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena.

– Hundreds of empowered Khadi artisans from 8 States namely Uttar Pradesh, J&K, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Punjab have set up 90 stalls in the exhibition. It is the second such event which is organized by KVIC since the Covid-19 lockdown.

– The exhibition will continue for 15 days, i.e. from November 22 to December 7. In October this year, the first Khadi exhibition after the lockdown was organized in Lucknow.

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6. Rural drinking water supply projects

– The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, laid the foundation stone of rural drinking water supply projects in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts of Vindhyachal region of Uttar Pradesh.

– It will provide household tap water connections in all rural households of 2,995 villages and will benefit about 42 lakh population of these districts.

– Village Water and Sanitation Committees/ Paani Samiti have been constituted in all these villages, who will shoulder the responsibility of operation and maintenance.

– The total estimated cost of the projects is Rs 5,555.38 Crore. The projects are planned to be completed in 24 months.

Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 19 November, 2020

7. APEC Virtual Meet

– A virtual meeting of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was held.

– The meeting was hosted by Malaysia. Due to the pandemic, New Zealand will also host next year’s APEC meetings virtually.

– In the Asia-Pacific region, the growth is expected to decline by 2.7% this year, from a 3.6% growth in 2019. The focus of APEC’s was on accelerating economic recovery and developing an affordable vaccine.

– The main focus areas are Trade and investment, Digital Economy and Technology, Structural Reform, Economic and Technical Cooperation and Thematic and institutional matters.

– The Putrajaya Vision 2040 was adopted by the APEC leaders. It is a new 20-year growth vision to replace the Bogor Goals named after the Indonesian town where leaders agreed in 1994 to free and open trade and investment.

– The Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) agenda and the APEC Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap (AIDER) were discussed.

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