Daily Current Affairs: December 19, 2020

Daily Current Affairs (December 19, 2020) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK, and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness, and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

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Important Days

Goa Liberation Day – December 19:

• Goa Liberation Day is observed annually on December 19 in India, and it marks the day the Indian armed forces freed Goa in 1961 following 450 years of Portuguese rule. The 36-hour military operation conducted in 1961 was code-named ‘Operation Vijay.’

National News

Union MoRTH Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 33 highway projects in Karnataka:

• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 33 highway projects in Karnataka.
• The projects are worth ₹11,000 crores to build 1,200 kilometres of highways stretch in the state. These roads will enhance better connectivity, convenience, and economic growth in the state.

Karnataka Government signs an MoU with the British Council to strengthen education and research exchange:

• Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSCHE) and the British Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate English language proficiency among students. It is a first-of-its-kind three years MoU involving collaboration on leadership development in higher educational institutions.
• The MoU was signed in the presence of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, the UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab and other officials.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik launches “Pareshram portal” of the Labour Department:

• Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched “PAReSHRAM,” a new portal of the Labour and Employee State Insurance Department. Twenty-two online services were launched as part of the 5T governance of the state government through video-conferencing.
• The new portal and online services will help in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and contribute significantly to the state’s industrial development.

Skill India establishes the first centre of excellence for skill development in the power sector in Gurugram, Haryana:

• Skill India has established its 1^st Centre of Excellence for Skill Development in the power sector at the National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram Haryana. It will focus on creating a pool of highly skilled trainers & assessors for further training.
• The centre will design and deliver training for trainers, instructors, training of assessors, and other high-end programmes in the power and solar sector.
• The CoE is a collaboration between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship along with the Ministry of National Education and Youth, the Government of France, and Schneider Electric.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan addressed the 75^th National Conference of Tuberculosis and Chest diseases (NATCON):

• The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan virtually addressed the platinum jubilee of the National Conference of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases (NATCON).
• The Government is conducting the world’s largest National TB prevalence survey with a massive sample size of 5,00,000. The goal is to achieve a rapid decline in the burden of TB, mortality, and morbidity while working towards the elimination of TB in India by 2025.

India and ADB sign a 4.21-million-dollar PRF facility for the preparation of infrastructure development projects in Tripura:

• The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a 21-million-dollar Project Readiness Financing (PRF) facility to prepare infrastructure development projects to improve urban amenities and develop tourism infrastructure in Tripura.
• This is ADB’s first PRF facility for a state in the northeastern region of India.

National Infrastructure pipeline projects worth Rs. 44 lakh crores under implementation:

• The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, stated that the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) infrastructure projects worth ₹ 44 lakh crores are currently under implementation. The project has a 39% investment by the Central Government, a 40% investment by the respective states, and 21% investment by the private sector.
• While addressing the CII Partnership Summit 2020, the Union MoRTH minister stated that the national infrastructure pipeline encapsulates an investment of 111 lakh crores on infrastructure projects by the year 2024-2025.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu virtually inaugurates the 12^th GRIHA Summit:

• Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu virtually inaugurated the 12^th GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) Summit, organised by the GRIHA Council from Hyderabad. The Summit was held under the theme ‘Rejuvenating Resilient Habitats.’
• GRIHA is a national rating system for green buildings. It is an initiative of TERI (The Energy & Resources Institute, New Delhi) and developed by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

ADB and India signs $300 million loans to upgrade the power distribution network in the state of Uttar Pradesh:

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $300 million loan to upgrade the rural power distribution networks to provide reliable electricity supply to consumers in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
• The project envisages the conversion of 65,000 kilometres of rural low-voltage distribution lines from bare conductors to aerial bundle conductors (ABC) to create a robust distribution network that will benefit an estimated 70 million people in 46,000 villages.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath named Jewar Airport as ‘Noida International Greenfield Airport’:

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has approved the name, design and logo of the mega international airport which will be constructed in Noida’s Jewar by 2023-24.
• The upcoming Airport in Jewar will be one of the best airports in the world, stated by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

International News

The 35^th edition of India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) is to be held in December 2020:

• The 35^th edition of India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (IND-INDO CORPAT) between the Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy is to be conducted in December 2020.
• INS Kulish, an indigenously built missile corvette along with P8I maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), will undertake coordinated patrol with the Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Cut Nyak Dien, a Kapitan Pattimura (Parchim I) class corvette and an MPA of the Indonesian Navy.

India and Denmark agree to strengthen cooperation in maritime technology:

• The third meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on shipping between India and Denmark was held virtually. The JWG discussions focused on identifying areas of cooperation between the two countries.
• The Indian delegation was led by the Secretary of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), Sanjeev Ranjan, and Andreas Nordseth, the DG of Danish Maritime Authority was represented by the Denmark side.

Banking and Economy

ICRA revises India’s GDP to contract to 7.8 percent in FY21:

• The domestic rating agency ICRA Ratings has forecasted the GDP of India to contract to 8% from 11% in FY21. In the second quarter of the financial year 2021, GDP had contracted by 7.5 percent as against a decline of 23.9 percent in the April-June quarter.

Acquisitions and Mergers

IndiGrid collaborates with IBM for the digital transformation of critical power infrastructure:

• India’s leading infrastructure investment trust India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) announced a multi-year collaboration agreement with IBM to build artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled asset management platform.
• IndiGrid will deploy a hybrid cloud solution with the IBM Maximo application suite running on the secure and open IBM Cloud to optimise the quality & utilisation of its assets.

Snapdeal partners with NPCI to enable doorstep QR Code payments for orders:

• E-commerce major Snapdeal has partnered with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to allow shoppers to make QR-based digital payments at the time of accepting delivery of their orders.
• The facility is aimed especially at new or first-time users who are not comfortable in pre-paying for the goods at the time of purchase.

Appointments

NHAI chairman Sukhbir Singh Sandhu gets extension for six months:

• National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman Sukhbir Singh Sandhu has received a six-month extension in his central deputation. He had received the first extension of six months till January 21, 2021. His second extension term would be until July 21, 2021.
• Sandhu, a 1988-batch IAS officer from Uttarakhand cadre, took over as NHAI chief in 2019 replacing senior IAS officer Nagendra Nath Sinha who was elevated as the Secretary of the Department of Border Management.

Awards and Recognitions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented ‘ASSOCHAM Enterprise of the Century Award’ to Ratan Tata:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually delivered the keynote address at ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) Foundation Week 2020. Prime Minister also presented the ASSOCHAM Enterprise of the Century Award to Ratan Tata, who received the award on behalf of the TATA Group.
• ASSOCHAM was established in 1920 by promoter Chambers representing all regions of India. It has emerged as the fountainhead of Knowledge for the Indian industry.

Unilever, Tata Power, and Maruti win at Grant Thornton SABERA 2020 Awards:

• The Grant Thornton SABERA Awards acknowledge the inspiring stories of impact and development aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Hindustan Unilever & Tata Power won under the Category Responsible Business. Maruti won under Exemplary Business Adaptation Through COVID

Obituary News

The Einstein of homeopathy Prafull Vijayakar passes away at 68:

• Prafull Vijayakar, the famous homeopath who had discovered and practised a predictive form of homeopathy, passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Predictive homeopathy attempts to understand the basic constitution of the patient and uses the same as the basis for prescribing medicine. 

Sports News

Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Amir announces retirement from international cricket:

• Mohammad Amir has announced his retirement from international cricket. The 28-year-old Left-arm bowler played in 36 Tests, 61 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 50 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). He has claimed 119 Wickets in Tests, 81 Wickets in ODIs & 59 Wickets in T20Is.

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