Current Affairs 18th November 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

• The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims takes place on the third Sunday in November every year. This year it falls on Nov 15th .
• The theme for WDoR in 2020 is “First Responders”, recognizing the selfless men and women who rescue, care for and support victims of road trauma

National Epilepsy Day :November 17

• Every year, the National Epilepsy Day is celebrated on November 17. The day is celebrated to create awareness about epilepsy.
• Epilepsy is a chronic brain disorder. It results in recurrent fits or seizures. The seizures occur due to sudden and excessive discharges occurring in brain cells or neurons. The disease can be diagnosed only after the person has had at least one seizure. Mostly epilepsy occurs in patients who are over the age of 65 and in children.
• According to the World Health Organization, around 50 million people in the world are suffering from epilepsy. Out of them 80% are from developing countries. The disease is curable. However, most of the epileptic patients in developing countries do not receive proper treatment. International Epilepsy Day: Every year 2nd Monday of February.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Govt disbursed over Rs 42,700 crore to 20.6 lakh ex-servicemen under OROP in 5 years

• The central government has disbursed more than Rs 42,700 crore to 6 lakh retired defence personnel under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, which was notified five years ago.
• Under the OROP scheme, uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.
• The yearly recurring expenditure on account of OROP is about Rs 7,123 crore and for about six years, starting from July 1, 2014, the total recurring expenditure worked out to approximately Rs 42,740 crore.
• The OROP was implemented to bridge the gap between the pensions of current and past ex-servicemen at periodic intervals.
• Before OROP, ex-servicemen used to get pensions as per the Pay Commission’s recommendations of the time when they had retired.
• The armed forces personnel who retired by June 30, 2014, are covered under the OROP scheme.

About OROP

• OROPimplies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.
• Implemented on: 07.11.2015

MoHFW launches three-month campaign to check childhood pneumonia deaths

• The Union Ministry of Family Welfare (MoHFW) launched a three-month campaign to focus on awareness generation and early intervention with regard to childhood pneumonia, enabling caregivers across the country to identify critical symptoms at earlier stages and trigger prompt care-seeking with qualified providers.
• The initiative targets to reduce less than five pneumonia deaths, per a 1000 live births, to less than three deaths by 2025 through the accelerated SAANS (Social Action and Awareness to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully) initiative.
• Launched last year, the SAANS campaign complements the national childhood pneumonia management guidelines through a three-pronged approach to protect, prevent and treat pneumonia among children.
• Save the Children, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) have also partnered with the MoHFW in order to accentuate efforts to alleviate the burden of pneumonia on the country.

About MoHFW

• Minister of Science and Technology, Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Earth Sciences: Harsh Vardhan
• Constituency: Chandni Chowk, New Delhi

Govt expands scope of PM-KUSUM for harnessing solar energy by farmers

• The selected renewable power generator (RPG) shall commission the solar power plant within twelve months from date of issuance of Letter of Award (LoA), it added.
• Moreover, there shall be no penalty on RPG for shortfall in solar power generation from minimum prescribed Capacity Utilization Factor.
• As per the amendments, now MNRE will retain 33% of eligible service charges for nationwide Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities.
• The order mentions that the Ministry may release 50% of eligible service charges for the sanctioned quantity after placement of LoA for preparatory activities.
• For solar pumps to be set up and used by water user associations/farmer producer organisations/primary agriculture credit societies or for cluster based irrigation system, the central financial assistance (CFA) will be allowed for solar pump capacity of higher than 7.5 HP considering up to 5 HP capacity for each individual in the group.
• During implementation it has been observed that these manufacturers lack workforce in the field and are dependent on local integrators for this purpose, which has caused delay in installation of solar pumps, the statement stated.
• The order further says that quantity equivalent to 10 per cent of total quantity under a particular category of pumps of a cluster will be allocated to the lowest bidder and balance will be kept on market mode for all selected bidders including the lowest bidder.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

Japan & Australia sign landmark defence deal to counter China’s growing influence in South China Sea

• Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison have signed a landmark defence deal in a bid to counter China’s growing influence in the South China Sea and over the Pacific island nations.
• Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) comes weeks after foreign ministers of the Quad alliance, which includes the US and India, met in Tokyo. The pact allows Japanese and Australian troops to visit each other’s countries and conduct training and joint operations. Australian Prime Minister stated that the treaty will strengthen their security ties and facilitate cooperation between defence forces.
• The joint statement stated, the two sides also agreed on the need for a framework to allow Japanese military to protect Australian forces if needed.

About Japan:

• Capital: Tokyo
• Currency: Japanese yen
• Prime minister: Yoshihide Suga

About Australia:

• Prime minister: Scott Morrison
• Capital: Canberra
• Currency: Australian dollar

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

Equitas Small Finance Bank Launches ‘EVA’ – a Unique Savings Account aimed at Women

• Equitas Small Finance Bank has launched a new product aimed at women, ‘Eva’, a unique savings account tries to address the well-being of Indian women in every aspect such as Health, Wealth and Prosperity.
• Along with 7% interest in savings account, it also offers Free Health Check-up and unlimited teleconsultation with women doctors, gynecologists and mental health experts.
• It offers PF waiver and discounted Gold Loan rates for women customers, along-with 25-50% discounts on lockers.
• Eva is available for all women – salaried / homemakers / businesswomen / senior citizens / transwomen as well as Non-resident women.
• The Product is based on the concept of Relationship Value, and customers will not be charged any non maintenance fees.
• Meanwhile Equitas Small Finance Bank announced Smriti Mandhana – Indian Woman cricketer as the new Brand Ambassador.

About Equitas Small Finance Bank

• Headquarters: Chennai
• Founded: 2007
• MD & CEO: PN Vasudevan

SBM Bank India set to launch a neo banking platform

• SBM Bank India, which is the wholly-owned subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius, is focussing on technology to reach out to customers and is set to launch a neo banking platform.
• They have tied up with afintech PayNearby and launched a service called Nivesh which is a recurring deposit platform.
• SBM Bank India was the first foreign bank in India to obtain a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a Wholly Owned Subsidiary in January 2019.

About SBM India

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• MD & CEO: Siddharth Rath

About PayNearby

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• MD & CEO: Anand Kumar Bharadwaj

RBL Bank selects Amazon Web Services to drive digital transformation

• RBL Bank has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud service to drive digital transformation.
• At present, around 40 per cent of the bank’s mission-critical applications are on the cloud
• The bank first migrated its corporate website to AWS cloud and with the experience gained initiated a 10-in-10 project (a complete migration of 10 applications in 10 days).

About RBL

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• MD & CEO: Vishwavir Ahuja

DIPAM inks agreement with World Bank

• Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, DIPAM signed an agreement with World Bank.
• Under the agreement, World Bank is to provide advisory services to DIPAM for asset monetization.
• DIPAM is mandated with facilitating monetization of non-core assets of government CPSEs under strategic disinvestment or closure and enemy property of value of 100 crore and above. DIPAM has a framework for monetizing non-core assets.
• The World Bank advisory project, approved by the Finance Minister, is aimed at analyzing public asset monetization in India and benchmarking its institutional and business models against international best practices as well as supporting development of operational guidelines and capacity building for their implementation.

About World Bank:

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• President: David Malpass

HDFC Bank Launches ‘Mooh Band Rakho’ Campaign To Create Awareness On Cyber Frauds

• HDFC Bank Ltd, announced the launch of “Mooh Band Rakho,” a campaign to increase awareness on cyber frauds and preventing them.
• The Bank will be conducting 1,000 workshops in the next 4 months across the country. Following simple steps such as not sharing card details, CVV, Expiry Date, OTP NetBanking/ MobileBanking Login ID & Password over Phone, SMS, email and social media can help general public keep their money safe. This campaign will talk about this and more. It supports the International Fraud Awareness Week 2020, the global movement to minimise the impact of fraud which is being held from November 15 – 21. This is the 2nd year HDFC Bank is participating in this.
• The “Mooh Band Rakho” campaign was initially launched by the Bank to fight COVID 19 and it has now been extended to fighting cyber fraud.

About HDFC:

• CEO: Aditya Puri
• Headquarters: Mumbai

RBI places LVB under moratorium until Dec 16

• With Lakshmi Vilas Bank’s efforts to raise capital reaching a dead-end, the Reserve Bank of India superseded the board of the loss-making lender, placed the bank under moratorium and announced a draft scheme for its amalgamation with DBS Bank India Ltd (DBIL).
• According to the RBI, the LVB board has been superseded for 30 days owing to serious deterioration in its financial position.
• According to the ‘order of moratorium’ issued by the Finance Ministry on an application by the RBI, deposit withdrawals have been capped at 25,000 per depositor during the moratorium period (up to December 16).
• Per the RBI’s “draft scheme of amalgamation”, DBIL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DBS Bank Ltd, Singapore, which in turn is a subsidiary of Asia’s leading financial services group, DBS Group Holdings Ltd, and has the advantage of a strong parentage. Although DBIL is well capitalised, it will bring in additional capital of 2,500-crore upfront to support credit growth of the merged entity, stated the RBI.

About Lakshmi Vilas Bank Limited:

• Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• (MD & CEO):Subramanian Sundar

RBI names 2 startups as a part of its regulatory sandbox programme

• Reserve Bank of India has announced the names of two startups that have been selected as a part of its regulatory sandbox programme. RBI stated, it has shortlisted six companies out of 32 entities that had applied for the ‘Test Phase’ of the first cohort.
• The two companies are Jaipur based Natural Support Consultancy Services Private Limited and New Delhi based Nucleus Software Exports Limited. While the former has named its product ‘eRupaya’, which will facilitate offline Person-to-Merchant transactions and offline digital payments in remote locations; the second company’s product ‘PaySe‘, proposes to help in digitisation of payments in rural areas, starting with Self Help Groups, through an offline payment solution and a digitised SHG-centered ecosystem.
• The regulatory sandbox is a protected environment within which the selected companies will operate. They will have to show their system’s preparedness while dealing with dummy data. Once they achieve success within the protected environment, the systems will be allowed to be tested in the live environment with actual banks and consumer data.

About RBI:

• Governor: Shaktikanta Das
• Deputy Governors: BP Kanungo, MK Jain, MD Patra and Rajeshwar Rao.
• Headquarters: Mumbai

Karnataka Bank launches CASA campaign

• Karnataka Bank launched CASA (current account, savings account) mobilisation campaign which will run from November 17 to March 4, 2021.
• The bank stated that it intends to mobilise over 4.10 lakh current and savings accounts with an accretion of 650 crore of business.
• Quoting Mahabaleshwara MS, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, the release stated that the campaign has twin objectives of enabling basic banking services to unbanked sections of society and also popularising digitally-powered CASA products of the bank for the next level of customers based on their requirements.
• He stated that the bank has been focussing more on cost-effective CASA funds.

About Karnataka bank:

• CEO: Mahabaleshwara M. S
• Headquarters: Mangalore

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

BASF-Bosch Joint Venture to Accelerate Digital Innovations in Agricultural Sector

• Bosch and BASF Digital Farming have signed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) agreement to globally market and sell smart farming solutions from a single source in the future. The JV agreement was signed on November 10, 2020 and will be followed by the founding of a new company based in Cologne, which will be established in the first quarter of 2021. The foundation is subject to the approval of the relevant anti-trust authorities. Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details.
• Bosch brings to the JV significant capability in hardware and software, as well as digital services. BASF Digital Farming with its xarvio Digital Farming Solutions provides an automated, real-time, field specific agronomic decision-making engine for weed management that is powered by the digital xarvio platform for crop optimization. It provides farmers with field zone specific advice on how to produce crops in the most sustainable way.

About Bosch:

• Headquarters: Gerlingen, Germany
• Volkmar Denner (CEO),
• Michael Bolle (CTO, CDO)

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATES

MP govt forms ‘cow cabinet’ for protection and promotion of cattle

• Madhya Pradesh government has announced the first of its kind cow cabinet for the protection of cows.
• The state government stated that Animal Husbandry, Forest, Panchayat and Rural Development, Revenue, Home and Farmers Welfare Department will be part of the cabinet.
• The amended law brought changes to the previous cow slaughter Act 2004 passed by the BJP government.
• The amendment had been made in order to curb the growing instances of violence in the name of protecting the cow, as per media reports.

About Madhya Pradesh:

• Capital: Bhopal
• Governor: Anandiben Patel(additional charge)
• Chief Minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

RPF starts awareness drive ‘Meri Saheli’ to provide better safety & security to women passengers in Madhya Pradesh

• Railway Protection Force (RPF) has started an intensive awareness drive called ‘Meri Saheli’ aiming to provide better safety and security to women passengers in Madhya Pradesh ‘Meri Saheli’ initiative was launched in order to boost the security of female passengers during their journey.
• To provide proactive security to female passengers, a team of Lady Constables led by an Inspector has been formed in most of the stations including Bhopal, Jabalpur and Itarsi.
• The passengers are also being informed about RPF Helpline No-182 for emergency and for instant help from RPF. The Mobile number of the Security Control of Bhopal division is too shared with the female passengers.
• Moreover, all the ladies including the other traveling passengers have been requested to wear masks properly to avoid spreading of COVID-19. The drive is part of an ongoing initiative to facilitate female passengers in an environment in which they feel safe, secure and comfortable during their journey.

About RPF:

• Headquarters:New Delhi, India
• Piyush Goyal,: Union Minister Railways
• Arun Kumar, IPS: Director General, RPF

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU

ISB inks MoU with Indian Council of World Affairs                                                                  

• The Indian School of Business (ISB) and Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
• As per the MoU, both will work together in the areas of diplomacy, culture, economy and trade, education, international relations, sciences, social sciences, communications, and media.
• The MoU is to promote and support activities that contribute to better understanding and relations between India and global partners; support exchange of visits by eminent persons; co-sponsoring of bilateral seminars, among other areas of cooperation.
• ICWA is a non-partisan organisation and is fully involved in research and dialogue on foreign policy and external relations. ICWA is an academic institution with strong policy focus. By an Act of Parliament in 2001, the Indian Council of World Affairs was declared an institution of national importance.

About Indian Council of World Affairs:

• Location: New Delhi, India
• T C A Raghavan: (Director General)

TASK to train 30,000 students in AI, ML

• The Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) has joined hands with Microsoft and NASSCOM FutureSkills to roll out the ‘March to Million’ initiative in the State.
• The Nasscom initiative is aimed at skilling 10 lakh youth nationally in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Data Science by 2021.
• The Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) will work with the TASK to reach out to at least 30,000 students in the State.
• Through the AI Classroom Series, the TASK will introduce students to the concepts of AI, ML and Data Science. “It helps students enhance their employability by acquiring the skills that the industry requires. The sessions will commence from November 23,” Shrikant Sinha, Chief Executive Officer of TASK, stated.

About Microsoft:

• CEO: Satya Nadella
• Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, United States

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Virat Kohli named brand ambassador for sanitation brand Vize

• India captain Virat Kohli is currently on tour of Australia and his brand team has signed new brand endorsement deal for the Indian captain.
• Kohli was unveiled as the brand ambassador for Vize, a new healthcare and sanitation product.
• At the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, the new venture aims to reiterate that practicing personal hygiene is essential in order to keep health hazards at bay.

Moldova election: Pro-EU candidate Maia Sandu wins presidency

• Maia Sandu has won Moldova’s presidential election after a run-off vote against the incumbent Igor Dodon.
• Ms Sandu has won 57.7% of the vote compared to Mr Dodon’s 42.2%.
• Ms Sandu, 48, is a former World Bank economist who favours closer ties with the European Union. Mr Dodon, meanwhile, is openly backed by Russia.

About Moldova

• Capital: Chișinău
• Currency: Moldovan leu

Nitish Kumar Takes Oath As Bihar CM For 7th Time

• Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the seventh time in two decades while Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi took oath as the deputy chief ministers.
• The oaths were administered at the Raj Bhavan by Governor Phagu Chauhan in a ceremony attended by top leaders of the NDA including Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda.

About Bihar:

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

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

Education Minister virtually launches AICTE’s Lilavati Award-2020

• Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” virtually launched Lilavati Award-2020: AICTE’s Innovative education program to empower women. With women empowerment as the theme, the objective of the award is to create awareness about issues like sanitation, hygiene, health, nutrition, literacy, and employment among women.
• The Minister emphasized on the necessity to impart quality education to girl child to make them self-reliant, confident and successful. He stated that the theme of the award -‘women empowerment’ has always been the top priority of the government.
• Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Government has launched several welfare schemes for the overall development of girl child and women such as Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, and CBSE Udaan Scheme.
• The Minister added that with the Lilavati Award-2020, AICTE has once again championed the cause of women empowerment and paved a way towards equality in education and innovation.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SpaceX and NASA successfully launch four astronauts to Space

• SpaceX successfully launched its first operational space taxi flight for NASA, Falcon 9 rocket took to the skies above Kennedy Space Center in
• The rocket carrying four astronauts in a Crew Dragon capsule to orbit, and then returned to Earth for a drone-ship landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
• SpaceX’s Crew-1 Dragon, called Resilience, is bound for the International Space Station (ISS), but instead of the traditional crew supplies and research experiments its cargo variant normally carries, this spacecraft carried a different type of cargo into space: three NASA astronauts, Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

About SpaceX

• CEO: Elon Musk
• Headquarters: California, United States

About NASA

• Administrator:Jim Bridenstine
• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States

IISc researchers discover 5 new species of vine snakes

• Researchers from the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, have discovered five new species of vine snakes, four from the Western Ghats alone.
• The researchers carried out studies across the country collecting morphological data, tissue samples and specimens to understand the patterns of distribution and diversification of the species.
• The researchers found four distinct small-bodied and short-nosed species: the Northern Western Ghats vine snake (ahaetulla borealis), Farnsworth’s vine snake (ahaetulla farnsworthi), Malabar vine snake (ahaetulla malabarica) and Wall’s vine snake (ahaetulla isabellina) in the Western Ghats’ forests.
• They also found the long-nosed vine snake (ahaetulla oxyrhyncha) in the lowlands and drier parts of peninsular India. This snake is much larger and is morphologically distinct.
• The research was conducted by Ashok Kumar Mallik, Achyuthan N Srikanthan, Saunak P Pal, Princia Margaret D’Souza, Kartik Shanker and Sumaithangi Rajagopalan Ganesh.
• While each species has been named by researchers based on the regions from where they have been found, in the case of ahaetulla farnsworthi, it has been named after famous scientist Dr Hubert Farnsworth.

First ever vaccine listed under WHO emergency use

• WHO listed the nOPV2 vaccine (Bio Farma, Indonesia) for emergency use to address the rising cases of a vaccine-derived polio strain in a number of African and East Mediterranean countries. Countries in WHO’s Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions are also affected by these outbreaks. The emergency use listing, or EUL, is the first of its kind for a vaccine and paves the way for potential listing of COVID-19 vaccines.
• The world has made incredible progress toward polio eradication, reducing polio cases by 9% in the last 30 years. But the last steps to ending this disease are proving the most difficult, particularly with continuing outbreaks of circulating vaccine-derived polio viruses (cVDPVs).
• cVDPVs are rare and occur if the weakened strain of the poliovirus contained in the oral polio vaccine (OPV) circulates among under-immunized populations for a long time. If not enough children are immunized against polio, the weakened virus can pass between individuals and over time genetically revert to a form that can cause paralysis. Type 2 cVDPVs are currently the most prevalent form of the vaccine-derived virus

IIT Kharagpur researchers develop eco-friendly food packaging material from cucumber peel

• Cellulose nanocrystals derived from peel can be used for making biodegradable food packaging material with low oxygen permeability
• According to the team of researchers, cucumber peels have greater cellulose content than other vegetable peel. Cellulose nanocrystals derived from these peels can be used for making food packaging material which is biodegradable and has low oxygen permeability.
• The study revealed that cucumber peels possessed greater cellulose content (18.22 pc) than other peel waste. It also provided better insights into their crystalline, thermal and colloidal properties of cucumber cellulose.
• Apart from the food packaging and beverage industries, the researchers are optimistic about its scope in various fields like thermo-reversible and tenable hydrogels making, paper making, coating additives, bio-composites, optically transparent films, and as stabilisers in oil-water emulsion.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE

Malabar Exercise 2020: Second phase begins

• The second phase of Malabar Exercise 2020 is scheduled to start November 17 in the Northern Arabian Sea.
• The exercise will conclude on November 20. The exercise will involve coordinated operations between the navies of India, the US, Australia and Japan.
• The second phase of Malabar Exercise 2020 will take forward the synergy achieved between the navies of the four countries in the recently concluded Phase 1 of Malabar Exercise. It may be recalled that first phase of the crucial exercise was conducted in the Bay of Bengal from November 3-6.
• Phase 2 of Malabar Exercise 2020 will witness joint operations, centred around the Vikramaditya Carrier Battle Group of the Indian Navy and Nimitz Carrier Strike Group of the US Navy.
• The Royal Australian Navy will be represented by frigate Ballarat along with its integral helicopter. JMSDF will also participate in the exercise.
• The Malabar series of exercises started as an annual bilateral naval exercise between India and the US in 1992.

Second flight test of QRSAM conducted successfully

• The second flight test of Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile System (QRSAM) was successfully conducted from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. The first in the series test of QRSAM took place on 13th of this month. The flight test was carried out against the high performance Jet Unmanned Aerial Target called Banshee, which simulates an aircraft.
• The Radars acquired the target from a long range and tracked it till the mission computer automatically launched the missile. Continuous guidance was provided through Radar data link. Missile entered the terminal active homing guidance and reached the target close enough for proximity operation of warhead activation.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS

Javier Mascherano announces retirement

• Former Barcelona and Argentina great Javier Mascherano announced his retirement from football.
• The 36-year-old centre back, who started his professional career with domestic giant River Plate in 2003, also played Brazil’s Corinthians, England’s Liverpool, and Spain’s FC Barcelona among other teams.
• Mascherano won one Argentine league title and one Brazilian league title, as well asmany trophies with Barcelona. At the Spanish club, he won five LaLiga Santander titles, five Copa del Rey titles, two Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, two Club World Cups and three Supercopa de Espana titles.

FIFA cancels Women’s Under-17 football World Cup; India to host 2022 edition

• The Women’s Under-17 football World Cup in India, which was initially postponed to next year due to COVID-19 pandemic, was cancelled by FIFA, but India was handed the hosting rights of the 2022 edition. The FIFA cancelled both the women’s U-17 World Cup and U-20 World Cup which were scheduled to be held in India and Costa Rica respectively but handed both the countries the hosting rights of the 2022 editions.
• All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel stated the local organising committee is ready to start afresh for hosting the 2022 edition.
• It has also announced that the FIFA Club World Cup, originally planned for next month, will now be held from February 1st to 11 next year in Doha. Two clubs have already qualified for the tournament. European champions Bayern Munich will be joined by Qatar Stars League winners Al Duhail who are the host nation’s representatives.

About FIFA:

• President: Gianni Infantino
• Headquarters: Zürich, Switzerland

ATP Finals: Dominic Thiem defeats 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal

• In tennis, Dominic Thiem defeated 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the ATP Finals in London. World number three Thiem of Austria clinched a victory over world number two Spaniard Nadal.
• Earlier, Thiem had beaten reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in his opening round-robin match and will qualify for the semi-finals if Tsitsipas beats Andrey Rublev later.
• Nadal, who beat Rublev in their opener, missed a chance to qualify with a match to spare and next will play Tsitsipas with a semifinal place at stake.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY

Former Navy Officer Vice Admiral John Thomas Goslin Pereira passed away in 97 Years

• Vice Admiral John Thomas Goslin Pereira(retd.), Indian Navy’s former Chief of Materials, passed away after a brief illness.
• The 97-year-old former officer was among the last surviving naval officers who served during the Second World War.
• He was also awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) for distinguished service during the war.

DAILY CA NOV 17TH

• International Day for Tolerance is marked on November 16.
• The Finance Ministry has given its first ever national database of migrant labour to provide a platform for workers and employers, and for the government to implement specific programmes for such labourers.
• The Lonar lake in Maharashtra and Sur Sarovar, also known as Keetham lake, in Agra, have been added to the list of recognised Ramsar sites. India has 41 wetlands, the highest in South Asia, with two more added to the list of recognised sites of international importance under the treaty of Ramsar Convention.
• The world’s first library for children on a tram would be launched in Kolkata on Children’s Day, which is celebrated to commemorate first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary.
• Aiming at safe and timely transportation of the COVID-19 patients to hospitals and healthcare facilities, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain launched Jeevan Seva app. The app was launched in collaboration with EVERA cab services.
• Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro has emerged as the lowest bidder for a Rs 3,200 crore project to build a road bridge over the Brahmaputra river.
• Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, Queen Mother of Bhutan, was announced as the individual laureate for the 2020 United Nations Population Award. HelpAge India was announced as the award’s institutional laureate.
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – Fifteen countries have formed the world’s largest trading bloc, covering nearly a third of the global economy.
• India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti represented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the G-77 Foreign Ministers.
• India and Nepal launched the construction of a Rs 147.12 crore integrated check post (ICP) at
• Jannik Sinner captured his maiden ATP Tour trophy at the Sofia Open in Bulgaria.
• Haryana’s first woman MP and former Puducherry Lt Governor Chandrawati passed away.
• Padma Shri awardee and sculptor Arjun Prajapati was among the 13 people who died of Covid-19 in the state of Rajasthan.
• Ghana’s former president Jerry Rawlings, a member of the radical and charismatic generation of figures who emerged in West Africa in the 1980s, passed away aged 73.
• Indian students contributed $7.6 billion to the US economy in the academic year 2019-20, even though there was a 4.4 per cent drop in the total number of Indian students, according to a report.
• State-run Punjab National Bank stated the RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on it for contravention of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act.
• Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank have been put in the so-called ‘red flag’ list, a system used for monitoring foreign portfolio investor (FPI) limits. A listed company enters the list when the available legroom for overseas investment is less than 3 per cent of the permissible limit.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated it has allocated $3 million aid to its developing member countries to access coronavirus vaccine and establish systems to enable equitable and efficient vaccine distribution.
• In Maharashtra, the first solar power-enabled Textile Mill in Asia is coming up in Parbhani district. The project, once functional, will provide jobs to many women in the district.
• Telangana Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao has launched the TS-bPASS initiative. TS-bPASS provides an instant approval for buildings in plots of above 75 sq yards and upto 600 sq yards, based on self certification.
• Reliance Retail has acquired a majority stake in furniture and decor platform Urban Ladder, making a broader push into e-commerce as the largest retail chain in India.
• The NSE Academy Limited, an arm of the National Stock Exchange, has acquired a majority stake of 51 per cent in the Hyderabad-based TalentSprint, a deep tech education firm.
• The Union government has extended the tenure of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra by a year after modifying his appointment order that was issued in 2018, officials stated.
• Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and former co-Chairman, Infosys, has been appointed as the first Chairperson of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub.
• Actor Sonu Sood has been appointed as state icon of Punjab by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The decision of honouring Sonu Sood with the title comes after he earned laurels for his humanitarian work during the lockdown.
• Navneet Munot, Chief Investment Officer of SBI Funds Management, has decided to quit the organisation and join HDFC Mutual Fund as Managing Director and CEO.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the 12th BRICS Summit hosted by Russia, under the theme Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth. The meeting will be held in a virtual format.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver an address at the Third Annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum.
• A research team of IIT Guwahati has formulated efficient “pincer” catalytic systems that transform biomass wastes into valuable chemicals. Tiny amounts of these “pincer catalysts” repeatedly convert large amounts of industrial waste such as glycerol into lactic acid and hydrogen.
• The BCCI formally announced MPL Sports apparel and accessories as the official kit sponsor and merchandise partner of both the national men’s and women’s sides as well as the U-19 team, replacing Nike.
• Bollywood actor Asif Basra allegedly died by suicide. He was 53.

DAILY CA NOV 18TH

• The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims takes place on the third Sunday in November every year. The theme for WDoR in 2020 is “First Responders”
• The central government has disbursed more than Rs 42,700 crore to 6 lakh retired defence personnel under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, which was notified five years ago.
• The Union Ministry of Family Welfare (MoHFW) launched a three-month campaign to focus on awareness generation and early intervention with regard to childhood pneumonia. The initiative targets to reduce less than five pneumonia deaths, per a 1000 live births, to less than three deaths by 2025 through the accelerated SAANS (Social Action and Awareness to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully) initiative.
• Equitas Small Finance Bank has launched a new product aimed at women, ‘Eva’, a unique savings account tries to address the well-being of Indian women. Meanwhile Equitas Small Finance Bank announced Smriti Mandhana – Indian Woman cricketer as the new Brand Ambassador.
• SBM Bank Indiawhich is the wholly-owned subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius, is focussing on technology to reach out to customers and is set to launch a neo banking platform.They have tied up with afintech PayNearby
• RBL Bank has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud service to drive digital transformation.
• India captain Virat Kohli unveiled as the brand ambassador for Vize, a new healthcare and sanitation product.
• Maia Sandu has won Moldova’s presidential election after a run-off vote against the incumbent Igor Dodon.
• Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the seventh time in two decades while Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi took oath as the deputy chief ministers.
• SpaceX successfully launched its first operational space taxi flight for NASA, Falcon 9 rocket took to the skies above Kennedy Space Center in Three NASA astronauts, Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
• Researchers from the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, have discovered five new species of vine snakes, four from the Western Ghats alone.
• The second phase of Malabar Exercise 2020 is scheduled to start in the Northern Arabian Sea.
• Former Barcelona and Argentina great Javier Mascherano announced his retirement from football.
• Vice Admiral John Thomas Goslin Pereira(retd.), Indian Navy’s former Chief of Materials, passed away after a brief illness.
• Every year, the National Epilepsy Day is celebrated on November 17. The day is celebrated to create awareness about epilepsy.
• The selected renewable power generator (RPG) shall commission the solar power plant within twelve months from date of issuance of Letter of Award (LoA), it added.
• Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison have signed a landmark defence deal in a bid to counter China’s growing influence in the South China Sea and over the Pacific island nations.
• Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, DIPAM signed an agreement with World Bank.
• HDFC Bank Ltd, announced the launch of “Mooh Band Rakho,” a campaign to increase awareness on cyber frauds and preventing them.
• With Lakshmi Vilas Bank’s efforts to raise capital reaching a dead-end, the Reserve Bank of India superseded the board of the loss-making lender, placed the bank under moratorium and announced a draft scheme for its amalgamation with DBS Bank India Ltd (DBIL).
• Reserve Bank of India has announced the names of two startups that have been selected as a part of its regulatory sandbox programme. RBI stated, it has shortlisted six companies out of 32 entities that had applied for the ‘Test Phase’ of the first cohort.
• Karnataka Bank launched CASA (current account, savings account) mobilisation campaign which will run from November 17 to March 4, 2021.
• Bosch and BASF Digital Farming have signed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) agreement to globally market and sell smart farming solutions from a single source in the future.
• The Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) has joined hands with Microsoft and NASSCOM FutureSkills to roll out the ‘March to Million’ initiative in the State.
• Madhya Pradesh government has announced the first of its kind cow cabinet for the protection of cows.
• Railway Protection Force (RPF) has started an intensive awareness drive called ‘Meri Saheli’ aiming to provide better safety and security to women passengers in Madhya Pradesh also
• The Indian School of Business (ISB) and Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
• Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” virtually launched Lilavati Award-2020: AICTE’s Innovative education program to empower women.
• WHO listed the nOPV2 vaccine (Bio Farma, Indonesia) for emergency use to address the rising cases of a vaccine-derived polio strain in a number of African and East Mediterranean countries.
• Cellulose nanocrystals derived from peel can be used for making biodegradable food packaging material with low oxygen permeability
• The second flight test of Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile System (QRSAM) was successfully conducted from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.
• The Women’s Under-17 football World Cup in India, which was initially postponed to next year due to COVID-19 pandemic, was cancelled by FIFA, but India was handed the hosting rights of the 2022 edition.
• In tennis, Dominic Thiem defeated 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the ATP Finals in London. World number three Thiem of Austria clinched a victory over world number two Spaniard Nadal.