Daily Current Affairs: October 20, 2020

Daily Current Affairs (October 20, 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

World Osteoporosis Day- 20 October:

• World Osteoporosis Day (WOD) is observed on October 20 annually. The day aims to raise global awareness of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. The Day is organized by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), by launch of a year-long campaign with a specific theme.
• Theme: “THAT’S OSTEOPOROSIS”

World Statistics Day: October 20

• World Statistics Day is celebrated on October 20. United Nation’s The Day is celebrated at an interval of every five years. World Statistics Day is a global collaborative endeavour, organized under the guidance of the United Nations Statistical Commission.

• Theme: “Connecting the world with data we can trust”

National News

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari lays the foundation stone for Rs 694 crore first-ever multi modal logistic park in Assam:

• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will lay the foundation stone for India’s first multi-modal logistics park in Assam to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 694 crore. The multi-modal logistic park will be developed under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojna. Park will provide direct connectivity through air, road, rail, and waterways to people.
• The event was attended by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of the State Dr. Jitendra Singh, General (Retd.) Rameshwar Teli and V.K. Singh and several other ministers of Assam.

Assam:

• Capital: Dispur
• Chief Minister: SarbanandaSonowal
• Governor: Jagdish Mukhi
• National Parks: Orang National Park, Manas National Park or Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, Kaziranga National Park, Nameri National Park, Dehing Patkai Wls.

Assam Celebrates “Kati Bihu” Festival:

• Kati Bihu festival is held at this time of the year since the granaries of the farmers usually remain empty and therefore it is known as Kongali (poor) Bihu.
• On the occasion of Kati Bihu, women, both in Urban and Rural Areas, try to ward off evil and pray for a rich harvest by lighting earthen lamps.

Finance Minister Holds 4th Review Meeting On CAPEX of Central Public Sector Enterprises:

• Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman held a video conference with secretaries of the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Coal, along with the chairman cum managing directors of 14 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) belonging to these ministries, to review the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) in this financial year.
• This was 4th in the ongoing series of meetings that the Finance Minister is having with various stakeholders to accelerate the economic growth in the background of COVID-19 pandemic.

Government launches ‘Ayushman Sahakar’ scheme to fund cooperative healthcare facilities:

• Union Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala launched the scheme, under which the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) would extend term loans of Rs 10,000 crore to cooperatives for creating healthcare infrastructure in rural India.

• The scheme aims to bring transformation in rural areas, to revolutionize comprehensive health care services, through co-operatives, due to their strong presence in rural areas. NCDC is the Apex Autonomous Development finance institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Virtually Attends Youth-20 (Y20) Summit:

• Union Minister of Youth and Sports Kiren Rijiju attended the Youth-20 (Y20) Summit being held virtually in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Summit held under the theme of the Summit is ‘Government – Youth dialogue on post-COVID-19 opportunities’.

• The Summit concluded with the drafting of the Y20 Communique under the three overarching priority areas viz. Future Fit; Youth Empowerment; and Global Citizenship.

FSSAI to expand food safety compliance Online platform across India:

• FSSAI has announced to extend its Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) across the entire country from November 1, 2020. The system is operational in nine States/UTs (Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, Chandigarh, Goa, Manipur, Puducherry and Ladakh) since June 2020. 
• FoSCoS is a cloud-based, upgraded new food safety compliance online platform of FSSAI. It can be accessed at https://foscos.fssai.gov.in. It will replace the existing online FLRS (Food Licensing and Registration System), which is operational in all the states since 2011 for licensing and registration.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI):

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairperson: Rita Teotia

Fino Payments Bank will add another 300 points to BPCL stores in Tamil Nadu:

• Fino Payments Bank plans to add another 300 points at BPCL outlets to its existing 1,075 in Tamil Nadu to help truck drivers recharge fleet cards by paying equal cash.
• Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) SmartFleet cards used to pay for fuel has been a challenge for truck drivers for some time, and to alleviate this inconvenience, Fino has started such facilities with BPCL.

Tamil Nadu:

• Capital: Chennai
• Chief Minister: Edappadi K. Palaniswami
• Governor: Banwarilal Purohit.
• National Park: Mukurthi NP, Guindy NP,Gulf of Mannar Marine NP, Indira Gandhi (Annamalai) NP, Mudumalai NP.

Fino Payments Bank:

• Headquarters: Mumbai.
• CEO: Rishi Gupta.
• Tagline: “Qadar Aapki Mehnat Ki”

Telangana government signs MoU with BSE, GlobalLinker to help MSMEs in raising equity funds:

• Telangana government along with GlobalLinker has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in raising equity funds. 
• BSE will provide intellectual and manpower support to create awareness about the importance and benefits of listing on stock exchanges.

Telangana:

• Capital: Hyderabad
• Chief Minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao
• Governor: Tamilisai Soundararajan
• National Parks(NP): KasuBrahmananda Reddy NP, Mahaveer Harina NP, Mrugavani NP.

India takes up first-ever cultivation of Heeng in Himachal Pradesh:

• CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur has started cultivating heeng for the first time in the state as well as in the country. The first seedling of the spice was planted at a farmer’s field in Kwaring village of Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh. India imports about 1200 tonnes of raw asafoetida annually.

Himachal Pradesh:

• Capital: Shimla
• Chief Minister: Jai Ram Thakur
• Governor: Bandaru Dattatreya
• National Parks: Inderkila National Park, Simbalbara National Park, Great Himalayan National Park, Pin Valley National Park, Khirganga National Park.

International News

Australia to join India, US, Japan in large naval exercises:

• Australia will join 3-way naval exercises involving US, Japan & India. India, holds annual drills called Malabar with the U.S. & Japanese navies each year, agreed to invite Australia for exercise in Bay of Bengal in a sign of co-operation between Quad countries.

• The participation of Australia means that all four members of the so-called Quad will be participating in the exercises for the first time since 2007.

Singapore Becomes First Country to Use Facial Recognition to Pay Taxes:

• Singapore became the World’s First Country to attach Facial verification in the National Identification Database.
• This technology is being rolled out to the city-state’s SingPass digital identity scheme, offering access to no less than 400 online services, including tax declarations and public housing applications. 
• Facial recognition is also increasingly being used to access other online services.

Singapore:

• Capital: Singapore City
• Currency: Singapore Dollar
• President: Halimah Yacob
• Prime Minister: Lee Hsien Loong
• Deputy Prime Minister: Heng Swee Keat

9th Session of India-Oman Joint Commission Virtual Meeting held to improve Trade & Investment:

• 9th Session of the India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting was held virtually. It was co-chaired by Hardeep Singh Puri and Qais bin Mohammed of Oman.
• The meeting was attended by representatives of various government departments/ministries from both sides.
• Both sides agreed to cooperate in areas of Agriculture & Food Security, Standards & Metrology, Tourism, Information Technology, Health & Pharmaceuticals, MSMEs, Space, Civil Aviation, Energy including renewable energy, Culture, Mining, and Higher Education.

Oman:

• Capital: Muscat
• Currency: Omani rial

Banking and Economy

Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance Launches New “INVEST 4G” Plan for Individual Life Insurance Savings Plan:

• Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance announces launch of new “INVEST4G” – A Unit Linked Individual Life Insurance Savings Plan which can be customized as per the goals and changing requirements of the customer.
• New “Invest4G” offers three options to the customers: Life Option, Care Option and Century Option. 
• Life option ensures financial protection to a family in case of the customer’s unfortunate demise. 
• Care Option provides life coverage along with Premium Funding Benefit. 
• Century Option is a whole life option available for the policyholder till the age of 100 years.

Bank of Baroda inks pact with Mahindra & Mahindra for tractor finance:

• State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) has entered into a pact with Mahindra and Mahindra for tractor finance business. The lender, through its over 5,000 rural and semi-urban branch network, will provide Tractor Loan Facility to customers of Mahindra and Mahindra.
• The MoU will give a boost to agri business and will help farmers in availing hassle-free credit facilities for buying tractors.

Science and Technology

India successfully test-fires naval version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from INS Chennai:

• India successfully test fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Indian Navy’s indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS Chennai. 
• The missile was fired from INS Chennai, a stealth destroyer, and it hit the target in the Arabian Sea with pin-point accuracy after performing “Extremely Complex” manoeuvres. The highly versatile BrahMos has been jointly designed, developed and produced by India and Russia under the joint venture, BrahMos Aerospace.

India successfully test-fires SANT missile with ‘Lock-on After Launch’ & ‘Lock-on Before Launch’ capabilities:

• India test-fired the Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) missile off the coast of Odisha. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing the missile for the Indian Air Force and it will have both “Lock-on After Launch” and “Lock-on Before Launch” capabilities.
• The missile hit the target with Pin-Point Accuracy and also performed “Extremely Complex” manoeuvres.

Appointments

Government extends Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s tenure till August 22, 2021:

• Government approved extension in service of home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in the same post beyond the date of his superannuation on November 30, 2020 until August 22, 2021.
• He is a 1984 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was appointed as Home Secretary in August 2019.

Awards and Recognitions

ISA Confers First-ever ISA Solar Awards at Third Assembly:

• Solar Awards were presented during the third Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to the countries of the region as well as institutions working for solar.

List of Winners:

• Visvesvaraya award: Japan for the Asia Pacific region and the Netherlands for Europe and Others region.
• Kalpana Chawla awards: Dr Bhim Singh from IIT Delhi (India) and Dr Aaesha Alnuaimi from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (United Arab Emirates).
• Diwakar award: Arpan Institute (Haryana) and Arushi Society.

Three categories of awards were conferred:

• Diwakar award recognizes organisations & institutions that have been working for the benefit of differently-abled people and have maximised the use of solar energy in the host country.
• Kalpana Chawla awards recognise the outstanding contribution of scientists and engineers working in the field of solar energy.
• Visvesvaraya award recognises the countries with a maximum floating solar capacity in each of the four regions of ISA.

Founder of The Social Corporate Sana Hazari wins Young Achievers Award 2020:

• Sana Hazari, who founded The Social Corporate (TSC) a new-age Digital platform that partners with SMEs, NGOs, Impact Funds, and Social Enterprises (both for-profit and non-profit) across India, Nigeria and Ghana to offer Consultancy & Staffing Solutions.
• Indian Achievers Award, presented to only 4 individuals in India each year under the ‘Young Achievers’ category, is one of most coveted Awards across the country recognizing individuals with proven track-record of trailblazing efforts in a particular sector.

Rankings

India 4th most powerful country in Asia Power Index 2020; US Topped:

• India has been ranked at 4th position (39.7 out of 100) in Asia Power Index 2020, released by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute.
• The United States has retained its position as the most powerful country influencing the Asia-Pacific with a score of 81.6. It is followed by China (76.1) and Japan (41) at second and third spot respectively.

Obituary News

Bihar Minister Kapil Dev Kamat passes away at 69:

• Prominent Janata Dal-United leader Kapil Dev Kamat, Minister of Panchayati Raj, passed away.
• Before joining the JD-U, he was in the Congress party where he became a convenor in 1990 when Jagannath Mishra was the Chief Minister of Bihar.

Sports News

Indian Shooters Elavenil and Shahu Mane wins’ gold, silver in Sheikh Russel International Air Rifle Championship:

• World number one Indian Elavenil Valarivan won a gold medal and Shahu Tushar Mane bagged a silver in the Sheikh Russel International Air Rifle Championship, held virtually.
• The championship was organised by Bangladesh Shooting Sport Federation (BSSF).

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