Daily Current Affairs for Indian Government Jobs 20 – 21 October 2020

Daily Current Affairs for Indian Government Jobs

National News:

1. PicsIndia today participated in 18th meeting of Prosecutors General of SCO via video conference. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented India.
2. First ever G20 Youth 20 Global Summit Virtually held from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. India was represented by Union Minister of Youth and Sports Kiren Rijiju.
3. IIT Madras startup “Stellapps” has launched fully automated direct payment platform, “moopay”, for dairy farmers in Rajasthan.
4. The 6th edition of India International Science Festival (IISF) 2020 will be held from 22ndto 25th December, 2020.
5. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) established a Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help address societal challenges through digital innovation.
6. The Feluda test, a coronavirus detection test developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and to be commercialised by Tata Sons, will be commercially available soon. It uses CRISPR-Cas9 method.
7. According to the Indian Tourist Statistics report, Uttar Pradesh attracted the highest number of domestic tourists in the country.
8. IT Service Major Wipro Ltd. has won a five-year application Management and services integration & management contract from Fortum, a Finland based clean energy company.
9. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) signed an agreement with the Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Telangana along with Global Linker to support MSMEs of the state.
10. Siemens Healthineers, the Germany Headquartered medical technology company would invest Rs 1,300 crore to set up a new campus in Bommasandra, Bengaluru, which will be research and development (R&D) and manufacturing hub for medical technology solutions for emerging markets.
11. Punjab becomes the first state to formally bring in a legislative framework to negate the recently implemented Central farm laws.
12. The government has banned sale of natural gas and coal-bed methane (CBM) to self under its newly notified gas marketing freedom guidelines.
13. India has acquired the second rank and China secured first position in terms of the number of migrants going to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and acquiring the citizenship of those countries.
14. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has launched CuRED -CSIR Ushered Repurposed Drugs for COVID-19.
15. Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has Inaugurated Indian Oil’s compact reformer plant and launched trial run of Delhi’s buses on Hydrogen-blended CNG.
16. Ministry of Home Affairs has amended Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989,to facilitate the setting up of District Development Councils. It will replace District Planning and Development Boards in all districts

International News:

1. Japan and Vietnam have agreed to increase defense and security cooperation.
2. US files anti trust lawsuit against Google for illegally protecting its monopoly over search and search advertising.
3. Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos Rocket Company has launched its ‘New Shepherd’ suborbital rocket into the skies over West Texas.
4. Finnish Network giant Nokia was chosen by NASA as a partner to deploy the First LTE (4G) wireless communication system on the moon.
5. Sweden has banned Huawei and ZTE in its 5G network.

6. The 9th session of India-Oman joint commission meeting held Virtually on 19th October, 2020. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Hardeep Singh Puri represented India.
7. In order to boost water management partnership between India and Israel, Israel will have a first separate “Water Attache” in India from January 2021.
8. The India Vietnam Business Forum was held via video conference on October 20, 2020 in order to reaffirm the growing bilateral trade and the investment ties between both nations. The Business Forum between India and Vietnam was co-organized by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and India Chamber of Commerce.

State News:

1. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the electricity consumer service portal Mo Bidyut and Mobile App through video conference.

Books and Authors:

1. NK Singh, the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, launched his autobiography, “Portraits Of Power: Half A Century of Being at Ringside” in a virtual event.

Obituaries and Retirement:

1. Senior Communist leader Maruti Manpade has passed away recently.

Banking News (Domestic and International Banks):

1. Paytm users have to pay 2% charge on using credit cards to top up wallets.
2. Indian bank has unveiled “Ind spring Board”, an initiative for funding Start-ups, in collaboration with IIT Madras Incubation cell.
3. Bank of Baroda signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mahindra and Mahindra for tractor finance business.
4. Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited launched “Invest 4G” a unit linked individual Life Insurance savings plan.
5. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has constituted a Market Data Advisory Committee to set up data culture through Data Democratization the Indian Security Market. The committee is headed by Madhabi Puri Buch.

Sports:

1. Bahrain’s 400 metre world champion Salwa Naser has been cleared of committing an anti-doping rule violation after a World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal dismissed charges brought against her.
2. Indian Shooter Elavenil Valarivan won the Gold Medal in the Women’s event and Shahu Tushar Mane won the Silver medal in the Men’s event in the Sheikh Russell International Air Rifle Championship 2020, organized by Bangladesh Shooting Sport Federation. Naoya Okada from Japan has won the Gold Medal in the Men’s event of this Championship.
3. The 9th session of India-Oman joint commission meeting held Virtually on 19th October, 2020. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Hardeep Singh Puri represented India.

Important Days:

1. World Statistics Day is observed globally on 20th October.

Theme 2020- Connecting the world with data we can trust.

2. National Police Commemoration Day is observed on 21st October.
3. World Trauma day is observed annually on 17th October.
4. The World Osteoporosis Day is observed across the world on 20th October.
5. International Chefs day is celebrated on 20th October.