Daily Current Affairs and GK | 13 October 2020

1. 2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences announced.

• The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 has been awarded jointly to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson.
• The two economists were awarded "for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats."
• Their discoveries have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers globally.
• The prize comes with a 10 million Swedish krona cash award and a gold medal.
• Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences were established in 1969.
• The 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

2. Harish Kotecha wins Sandra Neese Lifetime Achievement Award.

• Indian-origin philanthropist Harish Kotecha has won the prestigious Sandra Neese Lifetime Achievement Award.
• He has been awarded for his work in the US to meet the needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness.
• Mr. Kotecha is the founder and president of Hindu Charities for America.
• Sandra Neese Lifetime Achievement Award: This award is given annually to recognize the people who have tirelessly worked to provide safety, shelter, and a future to the children. 

3. Shai Evra will be conferred the 2020 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize.

• Shai Evra of Princeton University, US, will be awarded the 2020 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize.
• He will be awarded for his outstanding work on high dimensional expanders in combinatorial and geometric topology and on Golden Gates for 3-D unitary groups.
• SASTRA Ramanujan Prize is given annually for outstanding contributions by individuals of age less than 32 years in mathematics.
• The award is presented at an international conference in Number theory in December at SASTRA University in Kumbakonam.

4. Pakistan kept on ‘enhanced follow-up list’ by FATF.

• Pakistan has been kept on ‘enhanced follow-up list’ by FATF’s Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering.
• FATF’s APG on Money Laundering kept Pakistan on ‘enhanced follow-up list’ because Pakistan’s progress on the FATF’s technical recommendations to fight terror financing has been slow.
• Pakistan has requested for revision of its ratings related to targeted financial sanctions on terrorism and terrorist financing.
• But, APG said that the revision of ratings is not justified due to the slow progress of Pakistan on technical recommendations of the FATF to fight terror financing.  
• APG has said that Pakistan will stay on ‘enhanced follow-up list’ and report back on progress.
• Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering is one of eight FATF-style regional bodies (FSRBs). It was formed in 1997. It has 41 members. It is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
• FATF was formed in 1989. Its duties include monitoring of money laundering and terrorism financing. It also monitors measures adopted by countries to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. It is headquartered in Paris.  

5. New domestic airport to be developed at Hollongi in Arunachal Pradesh.

• A new domestic airport will be developed at Hollongi in Arunachal Pradesh.
• It will be a Greenfield airport to be developed at the cost of 650 crore rupees and located 15 kilometres from Itanagar.
• Hollogi Airport will be developed on an area of 4100 square metres and have the capacity to handle 200 passengers with eight check-in counters.
• The project is likely to be completed in November 2022.
• Arunachal Pradesh is the easternmost state of India. Its capital is Itanagar. Its Chief Minister is Pema Khandu and the governor is BD Mishra. Sela pass is located in Arunachal Pradesh.

(Source: News on AIR)

6. India and ADB sign loans to develop secondary towns of Rajasthan.

• The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a $300 million loan to develop 14 secondary towns of Rajasthan.
• The loan amount will be used to finance the development of infrastructure and services for inclusive and sustainable water supply and sanitation.
• The project is named as Rajasthan Secondary Towns Development Sector Project. It will improve water supply systems in at least eight project towns by 2027 and sanitation systems in at least 14 secondary towns.
• The Government of India and ADB has also signed a $270 million loan to improve urban services in 64 small cities of Madhya Pradesh.
• The loan is extra financing for the Madhya Pradesh Urban Services Improvement Project, which was approved in 2017.
• MP government’s vision is to improve urban infrastructure services with universal coverage of piped water supply in all urban local bodies by 2025. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support the project
• Asian Development Bank (ADB):
  • It is a regional development bank established in 1966. It is headquartered in Mandaluyong, Philippines.
  • Members: 68 countries (49 members are from Asia Pacific region)
  • Masatsugu Asakawa is the current president of ADB. Ashok Lavasa has recently become Vice-President of ADB by succeeding Diwakar Gupta. 
  • Achieving an Asia and Pacific region that is a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable and continuing effort to eradicate extreme poverty is the motto of ADB.

7. PM released autobiography of Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil and renamed the Pravara Rural Education Society.

• Prime minister renamed the Pravara Rural Education Society as ‘Loknete Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil Pravara Rural Education Society’ and also released the autobiography of Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil.
• His autobiography ‘Deh Vechwa Karani’ means ‘dedicating one’s life for a noble cause.
• He dedicated his entire life to the welfare of society in various fields, including agriculture and cooperatives.
• Pravara Rural Education Society:
  • It was established in 1964 at Loni in Ahmednagar district.
  • Its aim to provide a world-class education to the rural masses and empower the girl child.
  • Society is dedicated to the educational, social, economic, cultural, physical and psychological development of students.

• Balasaheb Vikhe Patil:
  • He was a member of the 14^th Lok Sabha of India from Kopargaon and Ahmednagar (South) constituency of Maharashtra.
  • He was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan award for his outstanding work in the field of Social Work.
  • He started Asia’s first Co-operative sugar factory in Maharashtra.
  • He was a former Union Minister of State (Finance) and Union Cabinet Minister (Heavy Industries), Government of India.

(Source: Loksatta)

8. “Tech for Tribals Initiative” launched by TRIFED in Collaboration with Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and IIT Kanpur.

• TRIFED, under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has collaborated with Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and IIT, Kanpur, for the launch of “Tech for Tribals initiative”.
• The initiative aims to provide advanced level training to the Vandhan tribal beneficiaries.
• Under the Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programs of TRIFED has collaborated with MSME for providing skill upgrading and entrepreneurial capacity-building support to the Van Dhan tribal beneficiaries.
• “Tech for Tribals” Initiative:
  • Its aim for the holistic development of tribals focuses on entrepreneurship development, soft skills, IT, and business development through SHGs operating through Van Dhan Kendras (VDVKs).
  • Under it, TRIFED has collaborated with many reputed national institutions for conducting Vandhan-ESDP Training Programs in the States of Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
  •  It will focus on bridging the gap between tribal entrepreneurs and urban market.
  • Under this initiative, beneficiaries will undergo a 30 days program over six weeks comprising 120 sessions.
  • The training modules are developed by IIT, Kanpur.
  • The training will also include onsite demos on best practices in manufacturing and information about Quality, Hygiene, and standards to be followed in the market.
• A skill development program for the youth of Chhattisgarh and Kerala will be launched by IIT Kanpur for helping in the commercialization of the products using MFPs.
• Three pillars of this initiative are:
  • Engagement
  • Capacity Building
  • Market linkages

• Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED):
  • It was established in 1987.
  • It works under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
  • Its objective is the socio-economic development of tribal people in the country by way of marketing development of tribal products.

9. Nihal Sarin wins Chess.com’s 2020 Junior Speed Online Championship.

• Nihal Sarin has won Chess.com’s 2020 Junior Speed Online Championship in Chennai.
• Nihal Sarin has defeated Russia’s world junior No. 6 Alexey Sarana in the final.
• By winning Chess.com’s 2020 Junior Speed Online Championship, Nihal Sarin has qualified for the 2020 Speed Chess Championship Final.
• Nihal Sarin is a former world Under-10 champion. He will be a member of the Indian men’s team participating in the Asian Online Nations (Regions) Cup Team Championship.

10. Five players from Indian Judo team to take part in Grand Slam 2020 Competition.

• Five players from Indian Judo team will take part in Grand Slam 2020 Competition in Budapest, Hungary, from 23^rd to 26^th October.
• Grand Slam 2020 Competition happening in Budapest is an event of the International Judo Federation.
• Out of the five players, two are women and three are men. Names of women players are Sushila Devi from Manipur and Tulika Mann of Delhi.
• Names of men players are former Olympian Avtar Singh, TOPS developmental group athlete Jasleen Singh Saini from Punjab and Vijay Yadav.
• Jiwan Sharma will accompany the players as coach.

(Source: News on AIR)

11. National Super Computing Mission: NIT Tiruchirappalli signs MoU with C-DAC Pune.

• An MoU has been signed between NIT Tiruchirappalli and C-DAC Pune for installing state of the art supercomputer under the National Super Computing Mission.
• National Super Computing Mission:
  • It was launched in 2015.
  • It is implemented by the Department of Science and Technology and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) through C-DAC and IISc Bangalore.
  • It was set up to provide the supercomputing infrastructure to meet the increased computational demands.
  • The target of the mission is to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few Tera Flops (TF) to Hundreds of Tera Flops (TF).
  • Many Centrally Funded Institutions have been inducted into NSM.

12. Carlton Chapman, former India football captain, passes away.

• Former Indian football captain Carlton Chapman passed away at the age of 49 due to a heart attack in Bengaluru.
•  He won 14 titles, including the first edition of the National Football League.
• He is remembered for scoring a hat trick for the Kolkata club against Al Zawra of Iraq in Asian Cup Winning Cup.
• He was a member of that team, which won the 1997 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup.
• He was trained at Tata Football Academy and later, he joined East Bengal Football Club in 1993.

(Source: Indian Express)

13. Under Bharatmala Pariyojana, a total of 322 projects in a length of 12,413 km have been awarded.

• According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, a total of 322 projects in a length of 12,413 km have been awarded under Bharatmala Pariyojana till August 2020.
• Further, 2921 Km has been added under the project till the same date.
• The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has given approval for the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase I Scheme for the development of about 34,800 km with an estimate of Rs 5,35,000 Crore.
• Bharatmala Pariyojana:
  • It was launched in 2015 under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
  • It is an umbrella program for the highways sector.
  • Its objective is to optimize the efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps.