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. Investment Promotion Award 2020
– The United Nations (UNCTAD) has declared Invest India- the National Investment Promotion Agency of India as a winner of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award.
– The award ceremony took place on 7th December 2020 at UNCTAD Headquarters in Geneva.
– The award recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements and best practices of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) across the globe.
– The evaluation was based on UNCTAD’s assessment of work undertaken by 180 Investment Promotion Agencies.
–Â In March 2020, UNCTAD constituted a team to monitor the response of IPAs to the COVID-19 pandemic.
– UNCTAD reported best practices from Investment Promotion Agencies in the IPA Observer publications in April and July 2020.
– UNCTAD highlighted good practices followed by Invest India, such as the Business Immunity Platform, Exclusive Investment Forum webinar series, its social media engagement and focus COVID response teams including business reconstruction, stakeholder outreach and supplier outreach created as a response to the pandemic, in its publications.
About United Nations Investment Promotion Award
– It is the most coveted award for Investment Promotion Agencies. UNCTAD is a central agency that monitors the performance of IPAs and identifies global best practices. Germany, South Korea and Singapore have been some of the past winners of the award.
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2. Air Pollution
– Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said that the Central Government has been taking all steps possible to combat air pollution in Delhi and North India and is working towards deploying all possible technological interventions towards that.
– Speaking at the 4th Roundtable Consultation on ‘Clearing the Air – Driving central and state-level actions’ jointly hosted by TERI and Air Quality Asia, an international air quality advocacy group, the Environment Minister stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put a firm resolve to improve the air quality of 100 cities in next 5 years.
– The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change through its National Clean Air Programme, which is a city-specific plan is working in that direction with a target to achieve 20 to 30 % reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations by 2024.
– Speaking on the peculiar nature of Air Pollution in Northern India especially Delhi-NCR the minister said that the crisis of air pollution can be attributed to primary factors like industrial emissions, vehicular emissions, dust from construction and demolition sites, stubble burning for around 50-60 days in a year, biomass burning and poor legacy waste management.
– The Minister highlighted a host of initiatives including scientific and technological interventions taken by the Central government to mitigate the menace of Air Pollution in the last few years.
3. Auction for Sale (Re-issue)
– The Government of India (GoI) has announced the Sale (Re-issue) of:
(i) ‘3.96% Government Security, 2022’ for a notified amount of Rs 2,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction,
(ii) ‘5.15% Government Security, 2025’ for a notified amount of Rs 11,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction,
(iii) ‘5.85% Government Security, 2030’ for a notified amount of Rs 9,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, and
(iv) ‘6.80% Government Security, 2060’ for a notified amount of Rs 6,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction.
– GoI will have the option to retain additional subscription up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the above securities.
– The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai on December 11, 2020 using multiple price method.
– Up to 5% of the notified amount of the sale of the Securities will be allotted to eligible individuals and Institutions as per the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities.
– Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on December 11, 2020.
– The result of the auctions will be announced on December 11, 2020 and payment by successful bidders will be on December 14, 2020.
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4. Two new Zoos one each in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh granted recognition
– At the 37th General Body meeting of Central Zoo Authority chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar two new zoos the Rajgir Zoo Safari in Nalanda, Bihar and Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh were granted recognition.
– The Environment Minister also applauded the good progress in developing a 10-year Vision Plan for the up-gradation of 15 select zoos in the country to global standards which is hoped to ‘twin’ top Indian and foreign zoos and also bring in the corporate sector to invest in modernization as part of this project.
– The Minister also said that early next year an investors summit will also happen to take this agenda forward.
About Rajgir Zoo Safari, Nalanda, Bihar
– Rajgir Zoo Safari, in the eastern state of Bihar, was granted recognition during the General Body meeting of the Central Zoo Authority on December 07, 2020.
– The zoo is established exclusively comprising on only safari enclosures which, on contrary to the conventional enclosure, offer larger space for captive animals.
– There are five safari enclosures and a walk-in proposed in the zoo. The zoo proposes to house Lion, Bear, Tiger, Leopard and a mixed safari of common herbivore species such as Spotted Deer, Sambar among others.
– The zoo is located close to the historically important Nalanda and is expected to have a high footfall.
– The zoo will display wild animals in naturalistic safari enclosures and promote awareness of towards wildlife conservation.
About Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan, Gorakhpur, U.P.
– Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan, Gorakhpur, U.P Bihar was granted recognition during the General Body meeting of the Central Zoo Authority on December 07, 2020.
– With this, the state of Uttar Pradesh has a total of 9 zoos. The establishment of the zoo is personally monitoring by the Chief Minister of the state.
– The zoo is situated in the spiritual land of Gorakhpur and has a high visitation. The zoo features enclosures for a range of birds, herbivores and carnivores.
– The zoo aims to create awareness through naturalistic enclosures and create long-lasting visitor experience through state-of-the-art visitor facilities like 4D Theatre, battery-operated train and accessibility to Divyangjan.
5. Senior Scientist Award 2020
– Dr. Samir Damare, Principal Scientist and Head Analytical Services Division, at CSIR-NIO, Goa has been selected for the Senior Scientist Award for the year 2020, by the Microbiologists Society, India.
– The award is presented annually to Microbiologists working in different fields.
– Dr. Damare has received this award in recognition of his research in the field of Microbiology, Extremophiles, Biotechnology & Molecular Biology. The award will be presented during the Annual Meeting of Society.
About Microbiologists Society, India
– It was established in March 1996. It has over 30 sub-units all over India and 6 units outside India, and over 70 plus Student Units in different Colleges and Universities across India. The Society has over 528 Life Members.
About Dr. Damare
– Dr. Damare has 33 publications in reputed national and international journals. He has successfully guided 3 PhD students and 23 students for Internship, Project Work and Dissertation. At present 4 students are registered for PhD with him at Goa University and AcSIR.
6. SJVN signs MoU with IREDA for Green Energy Projects
– SJVN Limited, a PSU under Ministry of Power has entered an MoU with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA). IREDA, a PSU under Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, will provide its services to SJVN for Green Energy projects.
– The MoU was signed by Nand Lal Sharma, CMD, SJVN and Pradip Kumar Das, CMD, IREDA in the presence of Akhileshwar Singh, Director (Finance), SJVN, Surinder Pal Bansal, Director (Civil), SJVN, Chintan Shah, Director (Technical), IREDA, and other senior officials through virtual mode.
– On the occasion Nand Lal Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director told that as per MoU, IREDA will undertake Techno-Financial due diligence of Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency & Conservation Projects for SJVN.
– Under the MoU, IREDA will also assist SJVN in developing an action plan to create and acquire Renewable Energy projects for the next 5 years.
– SJVN is committed to contribute in realizing the renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022 set by Hon’ble Prime Minister.
– The steps in this direction have already been taken and presently SJVN is developing 100 MW Dholera Solar Power Project & 100 MW Raghanseda Solar Power Project in Gujarat.
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