Daily Current Affairs and GK | 13 November 2020

1. India-Brazil bilateral meeting held virtually.

• A bilateral virtual meeting held between External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Brazilian counterpart Ernesto Araujo.
• Both countries discussed various issues, including strengthening the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership and cooperation in healthcare, supply chain resilience, cybersecurity, etc.
• They also discussed issues such as India’s upcoming membership of the UNSC, the role of G4, and India’s priorities in the UNSC.
• Both countries condemned terrorism in any form and reaffirmed their cooperation in dealing with such issues.
• Brazil:
  • It is the largest country in both South America and Latin America.
  • It is the fifth-largest country in the world by area and the fifth-most populous country.
  • Its capital is Brasilia and the currency is Brazilian Real.
  • India and Brazil are part of the BRICS organization.
  • The President of Brazil is Jair Bolsonaro.

2. World Pneumonia Day 2020: 12 November

• It is celebrated every year on 12 November to raise awareness about this deadly infectious disease from 2009.
• The Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia established World Pneumonia Day in 2009.
• According to the WHO reports, it is the world’s leading infectious killer of children under the age of 5.
• “Let’s increase access to medical oxygen” is the theme of World Pneumonia Day 2020.
• Pneumonia:
  • It is a contagious infection that inflames the air sacs present in the lungs with fluid or pus, which leads to cough, fever, chills, and difficulty in breathing.
  • It can be caused by organisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
  • It can be prevented by the proper vaccination against this disease.
  • Cough, High fever, Fast heartbeat, rusty phlegm coughed from lungs, shortness of breath are symptoms of the Pneumonia.

3. Jharkhand Assembly passed a resolution for separate identity code for tribals.

• Jharkhand legislative assembly has passed a resolution seeking Sarna’s inclusion as a separate religion in census 2021.
• Sarna followers believe in praying to nature and they pray to the trees and hills.
• In Jharkhand, there are 32 tribal groups in which many tribal groups follow Hindu and Christianity.
• In 2011 census, 50 lakh tribal had put their religion as ‘Sarna’ in the country although it was not a code, so this time many tribal groups have demanded to include ‘ Sarna’ as a separate religion in the Census 2021.
• Jharkhand:
  • It is a state of eastern India. It came into existence on 15 November 2000 as the 28th state of the Union.
  • The capital of Jharkhand is Ranchi.
  • The Governor of Jharkhand is Draupadi Murmu and Chief Minister is Hemant Soren.
  • The state animal of Jharkhand is an elephant, state bird is cuckoo, state tree is sal and state flower is Palash.
  • Jharkhand has 14 Lok Sabha and 81 assembly seats.

4. Government announced a stimulus package to boost the economy.

• Union Finance Minister has announced various measures to boost employment, credit and manufacturing in the country.
• Government has announced an “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana”. Under it, the government will give Employees contribution and employer’s contribution to EPF-registered organizations on recruiting new people.
• It will cover new employees whose monthly wages are less than Rs. 15000 and people who lost their jobs in the pandemic period from 1 March 2020 in an EPFO-registered establishment.
• The government will give an additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crore to boost rural employment under PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana.
• For stressed sector identified by Kamath Committee, the government has extended the Credit Line Guarantee Scheme and an additional credit of up to 20% of outstanding loans will be given.
• The government has announced a cut in performance security cut to 3% from 5% for the construction sector. It also allowed the sale of primary residential units of up to Rs 2 crore value below the circle rate.
• The government will infuse money in the Capital infrastructure development in green energy, road, ports, etc.  
• Fertilizer subsidy will be provided to farmers for adequate availability of fertilizers.

5. Indian Economy may enter technical recession for the first time in history.

• Indian Economy may enter the technical recession for the first time in history at the end of second quarter of 2020-21.
• RBI has released an article titled as State of the Economy. The article is a part of RBI’s monthly bulletin for November 2020.
• The article mentions a 23.9% decline in GDP in the first quarter of 2020-21 and says that its nowcasting assessment suggests ease in the speed of GDP contraction to 8.6% in the second quarter of 2020-21. 
• State of the economy article published by RBI in its monthly bulletin says that the situation for July-September quarter will be known after National Statistical Office (NSO) estimates will be released at the end of November 2020.
• RBI has said that economic growth will be positive in October-December quarter of 2020-21 and economic data for October 2020 is showing brightened prospects as well as making consumer and business confidence strong.   
• The article mentions unrelenting inflation, risks to the global economy from the second wave of COVID-19 and stress intensifying among households and corporations as three major downside risks.   
• Recession is technically defined as a negative GDP growth rate for two consecutive quarters or more. Nowcasting means prediction for the present or very near future.

6. India launched fifth Scorpene-class submarine ‘Vagir’.

• Indian Navy has launched its fifth Scorpene class submarine ‘Vagir’, built by the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) with technology transfer from France.
• It is part of Project 75I under which the six Kalvari-class submarines are being built in India.
• It is designed by French naval Defence and DCNS.
• It is named after the sandfish, a deadly deep-sea predator of the Indian Ocean.
• The first Vagir submarine was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 3, 1973.
• The other two submarine INS Kalvari and INS Khanderi were commissioned under project 75 into the Navy in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Karanj, Vela, Vagir and Vagsheer are other submarines of Project 75I.
• Under Project 75 India, six scorpene submarines are to be developed through the Strategic Partnership model at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL).

(Source: Times of India)

7. E-auction portal launched by the J&K government to promote GI-tagged, ‘Kashmir Saffron’.

• The J&K government has launched an e-Auction portal to promote trading of Kashmir Saffron across the country.
• Its main aim is to provide a platform to the buyers across the country for buying the quality ‘Kashmir Saffron’.
• It is created by the Jammu and Kashmir’s agriculture department under the aegis of India International Kashmir Saffron Trading Centre (IIKSTC) in collaboration with NSE-IT.
• Kashmir saffron:
  • It is cultivated in the karewa (highland) area of Jammu and Kashmir in the district of Pulwama, Budgam, Kishtwar and Srinagar.
  • It is a renowned spice used for cosmetics and medicinal purposes.
  • It is cultivated at a height of 1,600 m to 1,800 m above mean sea level.
  • It is mainly of three types- ‘Lachha Saffron’, ‘Mongra Saffron’ and ‘Guchhi Saffron’.

8. Indian Post Payment Bank launches doorstep service for submission of digital life certificates.

• A doorstep service has been launched by the India Post Payments Bank for submission of Digital Life Certificate through Postman.
• IPPB will utilize its wide network of Postmen, Post Offices, and Gramin Dak Sevaks to provide this Doorstep service.
• In 2014, Jeevan Pramaan Portal was launched by the Prime Minister to provide a convenient facility for submission of Life Certificate.
• It will help pensioners across the country in submitting their life certificate in a hassle-free manner.
• Features of Payment Bank:
  • The payments banks can accept deposits up to a maximum of Rs. 1 lakh from a customer.
  • It is authorised to open both savings and current accounts of their customers.
  • It can only issue ATM or debit cards to their customers.
  • It cannot provide loans or lending services to customers.

(Source: News on AIR)

9. IRCTC will launch Bharat Darshan Yatra from 12 December.

• IRCTC has planned to organize a Bharat Darshan–Dakshin Bharat Yatra from Hyderabad and Secunderabad from December 12 to 18.
• It will cover Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, Brihadeswara temple at Thanjavur, Arulmigu Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram, Meenakshi temple in Madurai and Kanyakumari.
• It is a six-night and seven-day tour.
• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC):
  • It is a Miniratna company of the government of India.
  • It is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways that handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations.
  • It has started India’s first private train “Tejas Express” between Lucknow-New Delhi.   

10. India provided food assistance to the people of Djibouti as part of Mission SAGAR-II.

• India has provided food assistance to Djibouti as part of Mission Sagar-II, in which it has provided 50 Metric Tons of food.
• Under Mission Sagar-II, INS Airavat will provide food assistance to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and natural calamities.
• Mission Sagar was launched on 10 May 2020 to deliver COVID-19 related assistance to the countries in the Indian Ocean region.
• Djibouti:
  • It is part of the Horn of Africa, located in the eastern part of Africa.
  • It serves as a gateway to the Suez Canal.
  • It shares a boundary with Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.
  • Djibouti City is the capital and the Djiboutian franc is the currency of Djibouti.
  • Ismail Omar Guelleh is the current President.
  • China opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti in 2017.
  • India has joined the Djibouti Code of Conduct/ Jeddah Amendment (DCOC/JA) as Observer.

11. PM Modi virtually unveils Swami Vivekananda's statue at JNU campus.

• PM Modi has virtually unveiled Swami Vivekananda's statue in JNU campus on 12 November.
• The event was attended by Union Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and JNU's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. M Jagadesh Kumar.
• JNU is ranked at second place among universities in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2020 released by government in June 2020. It overall ranking is 8^th in NIRF 2020.
• Swami Vivekananda:
  • He was born on 12 November 1863 and his birth anniversary is celebrated every year as National Youth Day since 1985.
  • He is remembered for setting up Ramakrishna Math in 1886 and Ramakrishna Mission in 1897. He is also remembered for his speech in Chicago in 1893.
  • Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya) was his guru. He died in 1902 at the age of 39.

(Source: News on AIR)