Current Affairs 10th November 2020| Current Affairs News

 CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

World Urbanism Day

• World Urbanism Day, also known asWorld Town Planning Day, is celebrated in more than 30 countries on four continents on November 8 every year.
• It aims to understand and promote the role of planning in creating livable communities.
• It was founded in 1949 by the late Professor Carlos Maria della Paolera

National Legal Services Day

• National Legal Services Day(NLSD) is celebrated on 9th November every year across India.
• This day was first observed in the country in the year The day was started by the Supreme Court of India 25 years ago.
• National Legal Services Daycommemorates the enactment of the Indian Legal Services Authorities Act 1987. 

Lung Cancer Awareness Month

• Lung Cancer Awareness Month, ​​​Lung canceris the most common cancer worldwide, and is observed during the entire month of November every year.
• ​​​ This November join LCFA to raise awareness of the need for more research and better community awareness of this disease.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Working On Aviation Fuel From Gadchiroli Bamboo Plan: Nitin Gadkari

• Union minister Nitin Gadkari was working on an idea to set up a refinery for the production of aviation fuel from bamboo grown in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district.
• Gadkari was speaking at the inauguration of an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” assistance office in
• Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aimed at making India a happy, progressive, prosperous nation.
• Gadkari asked public representatives to initiate small programs in Nagpur district to create self-employment chances for at least 10,000 people over the next two years.

About Maharashtra

• Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
• Capital: Mumbai
• Chief minister: Uddhav Thackeray

Govt approves 21 projects under Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition

• Government has approved 21 projects, leveraging investment worth 443 crore rupees supported with a grant of 189 crore rupees under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition. The approval in this regard was given during the inter-Ministerial Approval Committee meeting chaired by Minister for Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar.
• Mr Tomar stated that these projects will benefit farmers and consumers and urged the officers to expedite the implementation of approved projects. He stated, 21 projects are likely to generate employment for nearly 12 thousand 600 people and benefit over two lakh farmers.
• These projects are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Nagaland, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. The Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value addition infrastructure aims at arresting post-harvest losses of horticulture and non-horticulture produce & providing remunerative price to farmers.
• The objective of the scheme is to provide effective and seamless backward and forward integration for the processed food industry by plugging the gaps in the supply chain in terms of availability of raw material and linkages with the market.

About Minister of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare:

• Narendra Singh Tomar, (Cabinet Minister)
• Constituency: Morena, Madhya Pradesh
• Parsottambhai Rupala, (Minister of State)

MNRE scales up PM-KUSUM scheme goal to 30.8 GW of solar capacity by 2022

• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has issued an order for the scale-up and expansion of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme. The target now is to achieve enhanced solar capacity of 8 gigawatt (GW) by 2022 with revised Central financial support of Rs.34,035 crore.
• In February 2019, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approves the launch of the PM-KUSUM scheme. The scheme aims providing financial and water security to farmers. The scheme had aimed to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022. The total Central financial support then supposed to be provided under the scheme was Rs.34,422 crore.
• The scheme now consists of three components. The first is 10,000 MW of decentralised ground mounted grid connected renewable power plants up to 2 MW. The second is installation of 20 lakh (up from 17.50 lakh) stand-alone solar powered agriculture pumps. The third component is solarisation of 15 lakh (up from 10 lakh) grid-connected solar powered agriculture pumps.

About Ministry of New and Renewable Energy:

• Raj Kumar Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge)
• Constituency: Arrah

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

Joe Biden announces 12 member task force to deal with COVID-19; Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to co-chair group

• US President-elect Joe Biden has announced a 12-member coronavirus task force to mount an effective response to the pandemic that has infected millions and damaged the US economy.
• The task force will be co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health at Yale University. It will also include Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama administration health adviser. Mr Biden has promised a much more muscular response to the pandemic than President Donald Trump has made.
• The virus has infected 9.8 million people in the US and killed more than 2 lakh 37 thousand people as daily case counts continue to rise.

About USA:

• President: Donald Trump
• Capital: Washington, D.C.

Interpol creates cybercrime-related communication services

• The Interpol has created two secure and flexible services to facilitate cybercrime related communication among law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to ensure more effective and coordinated action based on timely intelligence.
• One of them is the Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange workspacethat handles general, non-police information and is open to all relevant users.
• It is open to law enforcement, governments, international organisations and cybersecurity industry experts to exchange non-police operational information on cybercrime.
• This unique workspace is a dynamic communication channel that enables users around the world to discuss the latest cybercrime trends, prevention strategies, detection technologies and investigation techniques with authorized colleagues globally
• The Cybercrime Collaborative Platform-Operation, assists in the law enforcement operations, with access restricted to the operational stakeholders only. The CBI is the nodal agency in the Interpol for India.
• “The international and private entities can request to join the CKE by contacting the Interpol Cybercrime Directorate.

About Interpol:

• Headquarters: Lyon, France
• Kim Jong Yang, President

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

SEBI introduces Flexi-Cap Fund category for MFs

• Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) introduced Flexi- Cap Fund category, providing relief to mutual funds after issuing new rules for Multi-Cap funds in September.
• Under the new category, the scheme should have a minimum investment of 65 percent of total assets in equity and equity-related instruments, while it is an open-ended dynamic equity scheme investing across large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap stocks.
• The AMC shall ensure that a suitable benchmark is adopted for the Flexi-Cap Fund.
• According to the new rule, multi cap funds will now have to invest at least 25% of their corpus in large-, mid- and small-cap stocks. Many fund houses raised concerns about the risk in investing 25% in mid and small cap stocks and had demanded the formation of a flexi cap category.
• Mutual Funds have the option to convert an existing scheme into a Flexi Cap Fund subject to compliance with the requirement for change in fundamental attributes of the scheme in terms of Regulation 18(15A) of SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996.

About SEBI

• Founded: 12 April 1992
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Ajay Tyagi (Chairperson)

KfW lends EUR 545 million to MMRDA for infra projects

• The German state-owned development bank KfW has extended two loans totaling over EUR 545 million or Rs 4,767 crore to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for infrastructure projects.
• The funds to be disbursed through an agreement with the Union Ministry of Finance will be utilised to support two key mass transit projects in Mumbai.
• These projects are Metro Line 4 from Wadala in central Mumbai to Kasarvadavli in Thane, and Metro Line 4A that extends to the connectivity from Kasarvadavli to Gaimukh in Thane.
• The fully elevated lines will have a total length of 34.82 km with 32 stations easing distress of millions of commuters each day and help provide a cleaner, less congested city.
• The credit package consists of a development loan of EUR 345 million and a promotional loan of EUR 200 million. The loans will have tenure ranging from 15 years to 20 years with a grace option of five years.
• MMRDA is also working for mitigation of climate change by executing Metro projects across Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Once Metro Line 4 and 4A have begun operations, it will help save up to 1,21,000 tonne greenhouse gases every year, besides ensuring reduction in air pollution.
• Of the EUR 345 million loan money approved, around EUR 255 million will be used on purchasing rolling stock and integrated ticketing systems, while EUR 90 million will be utilised on multimodal integration systems.
• The rate of interest for EUR 345 million is 0.29 percent and 0.07 percent, while for EUR 200 million debt the rate of interest is 0.82 percent.

About Kfw

• Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany
• CEO: Günther Bräunig

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

NPCI imposes 30% cap on transaction volumes of UPI payment apps

• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced a cap of 30 percent of total volume of transactions processed in UPI by a Third Party App Provider (TPAP).
• The cap will be calculated on the basis of total volume of UPI transactions during the preceding three months (on a rolling basis).
• This will help address the risks and protect the UPI ecosystem as it further scales up.
• The existing TPAPs exceeding the specified cap will have a period of two years from January 2021 to comply with the same in a phased manner.
• The move could impact payment apps like apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm that are leading the race as UPI is still primarily used for person-to-person fund transfers.

About NPCI

• Headquarters location: Mumbai
• Founded: 2008
• Managing DirectorAnd Chief Executive Officer: Dilip Asbe

MobiKwik partners Amex for ‘MobiKwik Blue American Express Card’

• MobiKwik, a leading fintech platform, has entered into a strategic partnership with American Express to launch “MobiKwik Blue American Express Card”, a digital prepaid Card.
• This launch makes MobiKwik the first non-bank issuer of Amex Cards in India. For Amex, which is an investor in MobiKwik, this marks its entry into the pre-paid Cards space through its network business. As a non-bank, MobiKwik cannot issue Credit Cards.
• MobiKwik Blue American Express Card is a digital-only pre-paid Card that can be generated out of MobiKwik App and the Card increases MobikWik’s ubiquity by allowing users to pay at all Amex merchants, including top e-commerce stores like Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, BigBasket, etc. This pre-paid Card is issued free of charge, with no activation fee attached to it. Its This pre-paid Card’s issuance is just one click and takes just a few seconds.

About MobiKwik:

• Headquarters: Gurugram, India
• CEO: Bipin Preet Singh

TCS to buy Postbank Systems from Deutsche Bank

• Tata Consultancy Services will acquire 100 per cent stake in Postbank Systems AG (PBS) from Deutsche Bank AG.
• PBS is the full-range captive IT service provider that provides project management, application management and infrastructure support services to Postbank and other subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank. PBS and its around 1,500 employees will become part of TCS.
• The transaction is subject to customary regulatory and governmental approvals.
• Postbank Systems is the full-range captive IT service provider that provides project management, application management, and infrastructure support services to Postbank and other subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank. The captive has close to 1,500 employees and post the acquisition they will become a part of TCS.

About Tata Consultancy Services:

• CEO: Rajesh Gopinathan
• Headquarters: Mumbai

About Deutsche Bank AG:

• CEO: Christian Sewing
• Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany

Tata Steel, Hindustan Zinc ink pact

• Tata Steel has decided to procure zinc required for its plant from the domestic market rather than importing it. The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to secure zinc from Anil Agarwal-owned Hindustan Zinc.
• As per the tie-up, Hindustan Zinc would supply about 45,000 tonnes of zinc and other value-added metals to Tata Steel. It will cater to both Tata Steel and Tata Steel BSL, a subsidiary of Tata Steel.
• Hindustan Zinc has implemented a vendor management inventory solution for Tata Steel. As a first VMI customer, Tata Steel’s inventory and stock will be closely monitored.
• Upon sensing a shortage on a real-time basis, the material shall be delivered on an impromptu basis from Hindustan Zinc warehouses with no risk to the operation. Besides, Hindustan Zinc will also keep safety stock at all their depots for Tata Group companies, he added.

About Tata Steel Ltd:

• CEO: T. V. Narendran
• Headquarters: Mumbai

NGI-TBI inks pact with KPIT Technologies for ‘KPIT Sparkle 2021’

• The Nehru Group of Institutions Technology Business Incubator (NGI-TBI) has joined hands with KPIT, Pune, to motivate young innovators to design and develop indigenous solutions for KPIT Sparkle 2021 in the mobility and energy space. (KPIT Sparkle is KPIT’s innovation platform)
• An agreement to explore incubation support to the top 100 teams of KPIT Sparkle 2021 across India was inked by NGI-TBI and KPIT Technologies, at a virtual ceremony recently.
• The objective of the MoU is to provide infrastructure and business support services such as mentoring, training, IPR services, technical and networking support to the selected teams.
• Student teams would get opportunities to build alternate career paths and get funding and incubation opportunities from NGI-TBI, apart from mentoring by industry leaders and academicians.
• KPIT Sparkle organises innovation contest, “I Innovate”, for connecting budding entrepreneurs to the incubation ecosystem.
• The finalists of KPIT Sparkle would be conferred Platinum Award (which comprises 10 lakh for the winner and Rs.25,000 for mentor), Gold Award (Rs.5 lakh, and Rs.15,000 for mentor), Silver Award (Rs.2.5 lakh each to two teams and Rs.10,000 for each mentor) and Most Popular Award of Rs.1 lakh.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATES

NTPC shuts four units in Bihar plant after ash-mixed water reaches farmland

• State-run power NTPC shut down four of the seven units of its plant in Bihar’s Kahalgaon as a preventive measure, after some problem in the system caused water mixed with ash to spread in nearby farmland.
• As a result, electricity generation at the super thermal power station reduced to around 400 MW from the current 1400-1500 MW.
• The incident, which occurred on the company’s 46th ‘Raising Day’, triggered protests from local villagers who put up a road blockade for some time, claiming that an embankment of an ash pond has breached and water mixed with ash that came out of it damaged standing Rabi crops on around 200 acre of land.
• ‘Ash ponds’ are used in coal-based power plants for disposal of ash produced during the burning of the fuel. Ash is mixed with water there to prevent its release in the atmosphere. The mixture flows to ash ponds from the plant through spillways.
• Two 500 MW units and two 210 MW units of the plant were shut down to prevent the possibility of any damage to machinery

Recent News

• Harley-Davidson has now officially confirmed that it is shutting down its India manufacturing facility in Gurgaon, Haryana.

About NTPC

• Headquarters: New Delhi, India
• Chairman And ManagingDirector: Gurdeep Singh

About Bihar

• Chief minister: Nitish Kumar
• Governor: Phagu Chauhan
• Capital: Patna

Manipur introduces award for civil servants to promote good governance

• Manipur introduced “Scheme for Chief Minister’s Award for Good Governance” to recognise and reward innovative and extraordinary work done by government officials that promotes good governance.
• Under the scheme, government servants will be rewarded for outstanding and exemplary performance and projects whose qualitative and quantitative outcomes are of a very high order and which have benefitted a large number of citizens and stakeholders.
• The award will be given every year to an individual or a team to the administrative secretaries, deputy commissioners, heads of department, heads of engineering departments (CEs or equivalent) and to any official or department. The award will include a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for the individual category and Rs 2 lakh for group category.

About Manipur

• Capital: Imphal
• Governor: Najma Heptulla
• Chief Minister: Biren Singh

Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival to be celebrated virtually amid pandemic

• The Nagaland government has decided to celebrate the popular Hornbill festival virtually this year, amid the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.
• The department of tourism stated the annual festival would be observed over audiovisual media channels and social media platforms this time, and people can enjoy the tribal dance performances sitting at home.
• The content for the online programme will be sourced from government archives, it stated.
• Hornbill Festival, held every year from December 1 to 10, showcases the culture, heritage, food and customs of Naga tribes at Kisama village.
• Sixteen tribes come together to celebrate their traditions with colourful dance performances. Tourists from across the globe attend the 10-day gala.

About Nagaland:

• Capital: Kohima
• Governor: RN Ravi
• Chief minister: Neiphiu Rio

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU

Dell, AIF and NSDC Collaborate to Launch ‘Project Future Ready’

• Sharing the vision to develop future workforce in India, Dell Technologies in partnership with American India Foundation (AIF), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and University of Mumbai has launched ‘Project Future Ready’ to equip the workforce with career skills.
• With AIF as an implementation partner and NSDC as the skilling partner, the project is set to impact over 100,000 students in Mumbai and Delhi NCR, of which 60% are female.
• This is in line with Dell Technologies’ goal that each year through 2030, 50% of the people empowered by our social and education initiatives will be girls, women or underrepresented groups.
• The project aims to provide skills development for these students through career mentoring, leveraging online skilling platforms and providing market aligned skills training for employability and inculcating entrepreneurial mind-set. On completion of the program, the students will receive a certification from NSDC and University of Mumbai.
• These students will also be trained by NSDC through its eskillindia.org platform, a digital skilling initiative, to develop employability skills through customized courses for interview preparedness, communication, soft skills, etc.
• NSDC’s wide repository of courses on eskill India platform will help young students acquire professional skills to enhance their employability.

About NSDC

• CEO: Manish Kumar
• Headquarters location: New Delhi
• Founded: 2008

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci resigns to face war crimes charges in The Hague

• Kosovo President Hashim Thaci resigned to face war crimes charges in The Hague, becoming a high-profile target of international efforts to bring justice to victims of the two-decade conflict that led to Kosovo’s independence.
• Vjosa Osmani, the head of Kosovo’s parliament, has taken over as acting president pending the election of a new leader.

About Kosovo

• Capital: Pristina
• Currency: Euro

IOC director A K Singh to head Petronet LNG

• Indian Oil Corp (IOC) director-pipelines Akshay Kumar Singh will be the new managing director and chief executive of the country”s biggest gas importer, Petronet LNG Ltd. Singh replaces Prabhat Singh who completed his five-year term on September 13.
• “The board of directors of PLL has selected Akshay Kumar Singh for the post of MD & CEO, PLL in its board meeting held on November 4, 2020,” Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) stated.
• The selection marks Singh”s return to the gas business. He was executive director at state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd before joining the IOC board in 2018.
• Petronet is a joint venture of IOC, GAIL, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and BPCL. The four state-owned firms hold 12.5 per cent stake each in the company whose chairman is the Oil Secretary.

About Petronet LNG:

• CEO: Prabhat Singh
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Aloke Singh takes charge as Air India Express new CEO

• Aloke Singh, the new Chief Executive Officer of Air India Express, has taken charge at the Airline’s Corporate Headquarters in Kochi.
• He brings three decades of diverse experience in air transport and travel, with leadership roles in Air India, Alliance Air and a Gulf-based national carrier. He was associated with an aviation advisory and consulting firm in New Delhi. He also co-founded a travel venture as an entrepreneur.
• He holds an MBA from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi and has attended London School of Economics on a Chevening Fellowship.

About Air India Express:

• Headquarters: Kochi, Kerala
• Rajiv Bansal (Chairman)
• Aloke Singh (CEO)

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONORS

Vidya Balan’s Short Film Natkhat Becomes Eligible for Oscar Nomination

• Natkhat, starring and co-produced by Vidya Balan, has won top prize at the third edition of Best Of India Short Film Festival 2020, which makes it eligible for Oscar nomination.
• The film also won a prize money of $2,500 (approximately Rs 1,85,497) and an opportunity for a television broadcast deal on ShortsTV.

Malayalam author S Hareesh wins the JCB Prize for Literature 2020

• The winner of the JCB Prize for Literature 2020 has been announced. And this year S Hareesh has won for his novel, Moustache which been translated into English by Jayasree Kalathil and published by HarperCollins India.
• The winner was announced by Lord Bamford, Chairman, in a virtual awards ceremony. The book was chosen among the five books in the shortlist which consisted of Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara, Chosen Spirits by Samit Basu, Prelude to a Riot by Annie Zaidi and These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light by Dharini Bhaskar.
• The JCB Prize for Literature is regarded as the richest literary prize in India. As per the norm, the Malayalam author will receive a 25 lakh cash prize and the translator will receive an additional Rs.10 lakh. In the past, the author has received several honours including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Thomas Mundassery Prize, and the VP Sivakumar Memorial Prize among others.

Marathi film Karkhanisanchi Waari only Indian entry at Tokyo International Film Festival

• Marathi film, Karkhanisanchi Waari (Ashes on a Road Trip), the 149-minute film tells the story of the Karkhanis, the last joint family of Pune. The movie was directed by Mangesh Joshi. The movie will have its world premiere at the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival. It is the only Indian entry at the festival.
• Karkhanisanchi Waari (Ashes on a Road Trip), a satirical comment on the Indian joint family starring veteran Mohan Agashe, Court and Sir actor Geetanjali Kulkarni and Sacred Games star Amey Wagh, was set for post-production when the coronavirus pandemic paralysed life in the country.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Anupam Kher unveils cover of his new book “Your Best Day Is Today!”

• Veteran actor Anupam Kher unveiled the cover of his latest book “Your Best Day Is Today!”.
• Kher had announced the book, in which he experiences during the coronavirus-induced countrywide lockdown
• The versatile actor”s previous two books are his biography “Lessons Life Taught Me Unknowingly” published last year and another is “The Best Thing About You is You!”, which released in 2011.

Vice President of India launches the book titled “Thavaasmi: Life and Skills through the lens of Ramayana”

• The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah NaiduLaunched the book titled “Thavaasmi: Life and Skills through the lens of Ramayana”
• He complimented the author of the books Shri Rallabandi Srirama Chakradhar, co-author, Amara Sarada Deepthi and the entire Team Thavaasmi for bringing out the excellent publication.
• The book “Thavaasmi” is in four volumes and is prepared by a team of young professionals after years of extensive research. It presents the story of Ramayana as a dialogue between a father and daughter with a number of exercises making it an interesting learning experience.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SUMMITS AND CONFERENCE

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar chairs ‘India CEO Forum on Climate Change’

• Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar virtually chaired “India CEO Forum on Climate Change”.
• A ‘Declaration of the Private Sector on Climate Change’ is slated to be signed and released during the high-level virtual event.
• Key industry leaders from the steel, cement, power, pharmaceuticals etc. sectors will deliver statements to reinforce their commitment to the cause of climate change and share their vision for climate action in the post-2020 period.
• India is a signatory to the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As part of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), India has three quantitative climate change goals viz. reduction in the emissions intensity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level, achieving about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 and creating an additional carbon sink of 5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• A coordinated response by the Government and private sector on climate change will help protect the country’s interests and ensure that India is on track towards meeting its climate change obligations under the Paris Agreement.

About MOEF&CC

• Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises: Prakash Javadekar
• Constituency: Maharashtra

FM Nirmala Sitharaman attends 1st BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 1st BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting under the Russian Chairmanship to discuss the BRICS Economic and Financial Cooperation agenda for 2020.
• Finance Ministry stated, Ms. Sitharaman talked about outcomes and initiatives of G-20 Saudi Arabia in 2020 on the Finance Track and highlighted role of BRICS members in reflecting Emerging Market Economies concerns in these initiatives.
• During the meeting, the Finance Minister also presented India’s views on discussions related to infrastructure investments and New Development Bank membership expansion.

About BRICS:

• BRICS is the acronym coined to associate five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The BRICS members are known for their significant influence on regional affairs. Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits.
• Founded: June 2006

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY

Filmmaker Sudarshan Rattan passes away due to COVID-19

• Filmmaker Sudarshan Rattan, who directed Madhuri Dixit in the 1986 release, Manav Hatya, reportedly succumbed to Covid-19.
• The late filmmaker had also written, directed and produced the 1996 action drama film Hahakaar, starring Sudhir Pandey, Shafi Inamdar, Neelima Azeem and Johny Lever and others.

DAILY CA 7th & 8th Nov

• National Cancer Awareness Day is observed on November 7.
• The International Day of Radiology is an annual event promoting the role of medical imaging in modern healthcare. It is celebrated on November 8 each year. IDoR 2020 Theme: ‘Radiologists and radiographers supporting patients during COVID-19‘.
• The Airports Authority of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an NTPC Ltd.,subsidiary to promote usage of electric vehicles and set up solar power plants at its airports.
• The Prime Minister stated, Government is changing the name of the Ministry of Shipping and it will be known as the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
• Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification making FASTags mandatory for all four wheel vehicles from 1st January 2021. This will apply to old vehicles as well as M and N category of motor vehicles sold before 1st December, 2017.
• The railways is set to go big with artificial intelligence and data analytics to improve its operational efficiency and has tied up with the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad to analyse the data generated by the national transporter,
• Vice President launches ‘International Satavadhanam’ event, a unique literary feat
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various development projects in Varanasi via video conferencing.The total cost implication of these projects is Rs. 614 crores.
• WhatsApp had partnered with five Indian banks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank, for the payments service.
• The market regulator, Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has increased the limits of overseas investment per fund house. This limit was enhanced from the existing USD 300 million to USD 600 million.
• Fitch Solutions revised its forecast for central government’s fiscal deficit for the financial year (FY) 2020-21 to 8 per cent from its earlier projection of 8.2 per cent.
• Karnataka Bank Ltd has launched National Common Mobility Debit Card. This Rupay card is a contactless debit-cum-prepaid and interoperable transport card.
• Airtel Payments Bank has partnered with Bharti AXA General Insurance to offer comprehensive car insurance to the payments bank’s customers.
• Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has sought a capital support of about Rs.1,000 crore from the government in order to create buffer for any exigency
• IFFCO Bazar, the e-commerce wing of IFFCO, announced its integration with the State Bank of India (SBI) YONO Krishi, a dedicated portal catering to farmer’s needs,
• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will invest Rs.9,555 crore for 2.04% in Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) retail unit, taking total investments into India’s largest retailer to about Rs.47,265 crore.
• India’s first solar-based Integrated Multi-Village Water Supply Project (IMVWSP) was dedicated to the people of Arunachal Pradesh by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
• A pioneering eco-sustainable programme Parivarthanam, to help the fishing community was launched, aiming to improve the livelihood skills of youngsters along the coastline and also enable socio-economic uplift of the fishermen community.
• The Elephant Rehabilitation Centre at Kottoor in Thiruvananthapuram is set to become the largest care and cure centre for elephants in the world.
• Axis Bank has acquired over 57,700 shares in CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd for Rs 36.38 crore, the lender stated.
• The iconic Indian superhero, Chacha Chaudhary, the man whose brain works faster than a computer has now has come forward to join hands with Namami Gange Programme,
• Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States. Kamala Harris will be the vice president and will be the first Indian-American woman to serve as Vice President of the USA.
• Manipur’s Gyanendro Ningombam was elected unopposed as the President of Hockey India while former President Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad is back in the Hockey India Executive Board after being Elected Unopposed for the Senior Vice President post.
• Indian diplomat Vidisha Maitra was elected to the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.
• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Sirius, Russia, launched ‘AIM-Sirius Innovation Programme 3.0’- a 14-day virtual programme for Indian and Russian schoolchildren.
• HIL (India) Limited, a PSU under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals recently to achieve the revenue target of Rs 451 crore in the current financial year ( 2020-21).
• Dinesh Katre, Senior Director & HOD at C-DAC Wins 2020 Emmett Leahy Award for his outstanding contributions Accomplishments that Have a Major Impact on the digital information and records management.
• The OPEC Secretariat hosted the 4th High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-India Dialogue via videoconference.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Virtual Global Investor Roundtable (VGIR) 2020 which will be attended by heads of 20 top institutional investors from the US, Europe, Canada, Korea, Japan, Middle East, Australia and Singapore.
• ISRO successfully launches EOS01, 9 customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota
• A Military exercise involving special forces was carried out in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between November 3 and 5 as the Army, Navy and Air Force got together for the war games amid the India-China standoff to test synergy in joint operations.
• A two-day joint coastal security exercise, “Sagar Kavach” was launched at Paradip Coast
• Daniil Medvedev defeats Alexander Zverev in Paris Masters final to clinch his 8th ATP title
• Veteran author and Gujarati columnist of Father Carlos Gonzalez Valles SJ, popularly known as Father Valles passed away.

DAILY CA 10TH NOV

• World Urbanism Day, also known asWorld Town Planning Day, is celebrated in more than 30 countries on four continents on November 8 every year.
• National Legal Services Day(NLSD) is celebrated on 9th November every year across India.
• Lung Cancer Awareness Month, ​​​Lung canceris the most common cancer worldwide, and is observed during the entire month of November every year.
• Union minister Nitin Gadkari was working on an idea to set up a refinery for the production of aviation fuel from bamboo grown in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district.
• NTPC shut down four of the seven units of its plant in Bihar’s Kahalgaon as a preventive measure, after some problem in the system caused water mixed with ash to spread in nearby farmland.
• Manipur introduced “Scheme for Chief Minister’s Award for Good Governance” to recognise and reward innovative and extraordinary work done by government officials that promotes good governance.
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) introduced Flexi- Cap Fund category, providing relief to mutual funds after issuing new rules for Multi-Cap funds in September.

Under the new category, the scheme should have a minimum investment of 65 percent of total assets in equity and equity-related instruments

• The German state-owned development bank KfW has extended two loans totaling over EUR 545 million or Rs 4,767 crore to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for infrastructure projects.
• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced a cap of 30 percent of total volume of transactions processed in UPI by a Third Party App Provider (TPAP).
• Kosovo President Hashim Thaci resigned to face war crimes charges in The Hague. Vjosa Osmani, the head of Kosovo’s parliament, has taken over as acting president.
• Natkhat, starring and co-produced by Vidya Balan, has won top prize at the third edition of Best Of India Short Film Festival 2020, which makes it eligible for Oscar nomination.
• Veteran actor Anupam Kher unveiled the cover of his latest book “Your Best Day Is Today!”.
• The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah NaiduLaunched the book titled “Thavaasmi: Life and Skills through the lens of Ramayana”
• Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar virtually chaired “India CEO Forum on Climate Change”.
• Dell Technologies in partnership with American India Foundation (AIF), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and University of Mumbai has launched ‘Project Future Ready’ to equip the workforce with career skills.
• Filmmaker Sudarshan Rattan has passed away due to COVID-19
• Government has approved 21 projects, leveraging investment worth 443 crore rupees supported with a grant of 189 crore rupees under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition.
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has issued an order for the scale-up and expansion of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme. The target now is to achieve enhanced solar capacity of 30.8 gigawatt (GW) by 2022
• US President-elect Joe Biden has announced a 12-member coronavirus task force to mount an effective response to the pandemic that has infected millions and damaged the US economy. The task force will be co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy,
• The Interpol has created two secure and flexible services.One of them is the Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange workspace and other is,The Cybercrime Collaborative Platform-Operation
• MobiKwik, a leading fintech platform, has entered into a strategic partnership with American Express to launch “MobiKwik Blue American Express Card”, a digital prepaid Card.
• Tata Consultancy Services will acquire 100 per cent stake in Postbank Systems AG (PBS) from Deutsche Bank AG.
• Tata Steel has decided to procure zinc required for its plant from the domestic market rather than importing it. The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to secure zinc from Anil Agarwal-owned Hindustan Zinc.
• The Nehru Group of Institutions Technology Business Incubator (NGI-TBI) has joined hands with KPIT, Pune, to motivate young innovators to design and develop indigenous solutions for KPIT Sparkle 2021 in the mobility and energy space. (KPIT Sparkle is KPIT’s innovation platform)
• The Nagaland government has decided to celebrate the popular Hornbill festival virtually this year, amid the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.
• Indian Oil Corp (IOC) director-pipelines Akshay Kumar Singh will be the new managing director and chief executive of the country”s biggest gas importer, Petronet LNG Ltd.
• Aloke Singh, the new Chief Executive Officer of Air India Express, has taken charge at the Airline’s Corporate Headquarters in Kochi.
• The winner of the JCB Prize for Literature 2020 has been announced. And this year S Hareesh has won for his novel, Moustache which been translated into English by Jayasree Kalathil and published by HarperCollins India.
• Marathi film, Karkhanisanchi Waari (Ashes on a Road Trip), the 149-minute film tells the story of the Karkhanis, the last joint family of Pune. The movie was directed by Mangesh Joshi. The movie will have its world premiere at the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival. It is the only Indian entry at the festival.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 1st BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting under the Russian Chairmanship to discuss the BRICS Economic and Financial Cooperation agenda for 2020.