Current Affairs 03rd November 2020| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists

• The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists is a UN-recognized international day observed annually on 2 November.
• The day draws attention to the low global conviction rate for violent crimes against journalists and media workers, estimated at only one in every ten cases.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Mansar Lake Project in Jammu to attract 20 lakh tourists every year: Jitendra Singh

• Union minister Jitendra Singh inaugurated the Mansar Lake Project in Jammu which will attract 20 lakh tourists every year once completed.
• It is e-foundation stone laying ceremony of the Comprehensive Mansar Lake Rejuvenation/Development Plan.
• Mansar Rejuvenation Plan will lead to employment generation of about 1.15 crore man-days and will generate an income of more than Rs 800 crore per year.
• While Udhampur-Doda-Kathua is possibly the only Lok Sabha constituency in the country which has received three medical colleges in three years, Udhampur possibly the only district in the country which has on the lines of Namami Ganga and Ganga cleaning project received two similar rejuvenation and renovation projects for River Devika and Mansar Lake
• World’s highest railway bridge is coming up in Reasi, the work on a new national highway project from Sudhmahadev via Marmat to Khileni has also started.
• North India’s first biotech industrial park and the first ever seed processing plant are also coming up, which will generate job opportunities as well as sources of livelihood and research.

About J&K

• Capitals: Jammu (Winter), Srinagar (Summer)
• Governor: Manoj Sinha

TransUnion CIBIL, MoSPI launch MSME Credit Health Index 

• TransUnion CIBIL in partnership with Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has launched MSME Credit Health Index.
• The MSME Credit Health Index will provide government, policy makers, lenders and MSME market participants, a numeric indicator for benchmarking the health of the MSME sector.
• This measurement model will facilitate better MSME credit risk management, formulation of strategies and policies to support the revival and resurgence of the MSME sector and the economy.
• The MSME Credit Health Index is built using credit data submitted by lending institutions to TransUnion CIBIL. The index measures the credit health of India’s MSME industry on two parameters: growth and strength. Growth is measured by plotting increase in exposure value (outstanding balances) over time and strength is measured by decrease/increase in credit risk in terms of non-performing assets (NPA).

About MoSPI

• Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation: Rao Inderjit Singh
• Constituency: Gurgaon, Haryana

Centre releases Rs 2,200 cr as first installment to 15 states for improvement of air quality

• The Centre has released 2,200 crore rupees as the first installment to 15 states for the improvement of air quality measures in their million-plus cities. The amount has been released based on the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission.
• The states which have been given the amount include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
• Of the total amount, 5 crore rupees has been released to Maharashtra, 202.5 crore rupees to Gujarat, 357 crore rupees to Uttar Pradesh and 209.5 crore rupees to West Bengal.

Ganga Utsav-2020 begins virtually with COVID-19 precautions

• The much-awaited Ganga Utsav-2020 began virtually  amidst COVID-19 precautions. The festival will continue till 4th of November.
• Ministry of Jal Shakti stated that several programmes were also held in districts as a part of Ganga Utsav celebrations. Ganga Task Force conducted afforestation drive with NCC cadets and educational tour for youth in project area.

About Ministry of Jal Shakti:               

• Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Cabinet Minister
• Constituency: Jodhpur
• Rattan Lal Kataria, Minister of State

FIP organises virtual version of Delhi Book Fair this year

• The Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) has organised a virtual version of Delhi Book Fair this year in light of the Corona pandemic. The book fair organised in partnership with PragatiE is a two day online event. The organisers stated that arranging the book fair online was a challenging task but expressed satisfaction that the virtual module of the Delhi book fair 2020 has opened up new and future avenues of marketing books.
• Publications Division of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has also put up three virtual stalls in this 26th and unique edition of the Delhi Book Fair. Nearly 120 publications covering 12 wide categories including Gandhian literature, Art and Culture, Children literature and Speeches of Prime Minister and President among others have been put up for sale and displayed by the Publications Division.

30 Indian cities to face increasing ‘water risks’ by 2050: WWF report

• About 30 Indian cities will face increasing “water risks” in the next few decades according to a new report released by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
• According to the scenarios in the WWF Water Risk Filter report, nearly 30 Indian cities, including Jaipur, Indore, Amritsar, Pune, Srinagar, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kozhikode and Visakhapatnam will face acute “water risks.”
• Globally, the report estimates that “hundreds of millions of people in cities across the globe could face dramatically increased water risks.” 100 cities will witness a massive rise in water risks by 2050. The list also includes cities such as Beijing, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Mecca and Rio de Janeiro.
• Almost half of these cities are in China, with other hotspots in South Asia, Middle East, South America and Africa.
• These cities overall, are home to 350 million people. Globally, populations in areas of high-water risk could increase to 51 per cent by 2050.
• “India dominates both current and future lists of cities with the highest overall water risk,” WWF stated.
• The report suggests that the Smart Cities initiative in India could aid an integrated urban water management framework. It further suggests that a multi-stakeholder engagement and ownership involving local communities will play a key role in creating and conserving a sustainable water infrastructure and rejuvenating urban freshwater systems.
• Furthermore, cutting water consumption and nature-based solutions to conserve water will also help reduce water risks. Apart from this, private sector companies and financial institutions will also have a role to play working in tandem with cities.

About WWF:

• Headquarters: Gland, Switzerland
• President Emeritus: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

RBI to extend trading hours to 3:30 pm from 2 pm starting November 9

• The Reserve Bank announced phased restoration of trading hours for various debt as well as currency market from Nov. 9.
• The market opening time was revised to 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. for all segments. Closing timing too was revised to 2 p.m.
• From Nov. 9, 2020, the trading hours have been extended by 90 minutes till 3:30 p.m. for most of the segments. In case of ‘market repo in government securities’ the timing from next week will be 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and ‘tri-party repo in government securities’ 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Trading hours for ‘Commercial paper and Certificates of Deposit’, ‘Repo in Corporate Bonds’, ‘Government Securities’, ‘Foreign Currency/Indian Rupee Trades including Forex Derivatives’, ‘Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives’, and ‘Call/notice/term money’ will be 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. However, the market will continue to open at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.

About RBI

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
• Governor: Shaktikanta Das

RBI temporarily postpones circular on current account till December 15

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks time till 15 December to comply with its guidelines on opening of current accounts. The earlier deadline was 5 November.
• As part of its monetary policy on August 6, the central bank said no bank can open current account for a customer who has availed cash credit or overdraft facility from others in the banking system, and from now on, all transactions will now have to be routed through the cash credit, or overdraft account.
• The RBI said banks should not route withdrawal from term loans through current accounts. Instead, the funds should be remitted directly to the supplier of goods and services. Expenses incurred by the borrower for day to day operations should be routed through cash credit or overdraft account, if the borrower has one, otherwise current account can be opened.

ICICI Lombard gets CCI nod to acquire Bharti AXA’s non-life insurance business

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its nod for the merger of Bharti AXA’s non-life insurance business with ICICI Lombard General Insurance, paving the way for creating the country’s third-largest non-life insurance company.
• Now that the CCI had blessed the deal, both sides are expected to form an integration committee to take the merger process forward and obtain multiple regulatory approvals including SEBI, RBI, IRDA and NCLT among others, sources familiar with the development stated.
• It may be recalled that this deal was announced in August this year. The combined entity is expected to have a market share of 8.7 per cent on a pro forma basis.
• Under the deal, shareholders of Bharti AXA will receive two shares of ICICI Lombard for every 115 shares of Bharti AXA held by them as on the date on which the scheme of arrangement is approved by the Board of Directors of ICICI Lombard and Bharti AXA.

About ICICI Lombard Insurance company:

• CEO: Bhargav Dasgupta
• Headquarters: Mumbai

About Competition Commission of India:

• Headquarters New Delhi
• Ashok Gupta, Chairman
• P K Singh , Secretary

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Software Technology Parks of India to launch a VC fund to support start-ups

• Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an Autonomous Society set up by the Ministry of Electronics and InformationTechnology(MeitY), will float a venture capital fund to support startups & entrepreneurs from the tier II and III cities to launch new technology products.
• STPI has taken various initiatives including launching of six centers of excellence (CoEs) in emerging technologies and 10-15 more CoEs are in pipeline.
• These centers will focus on new age technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, autonomous connected electric shared (ACES) mobility, block chain, VR/AR, fintech, medtech, agritech among others.
• Through these centers, STPI shall act as single-window facilitation centres to extend requisite lab support, funding and mentoring to startups.
• This scheme will support around 300 start-ups for the next three years by offering Rs 25 lakh risk capital and Rs 10,000 internship per startup.

About STPI

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Director General: Omkar Rai

About MEITY

• Union Minister of the Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology and Communications: Ravi Shankar Prasad
• Constituency: Patna sahib, Bihar

L&T bags construction order of bullet train project

• L&T has bagged another construction package of the bullet train project for an estimated value of 7,000 crore.
• According to industry sources, L&T has emerged as the lowest bidder for the C6 package for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project (MAHSR), popularly referred to as the Bullet Train project from the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL).
• Recently, the EPC major emerged as the lowest bidder at 24,985 crore for constructing the 237.1 km under Package C4 of the 508.17 km MAHSR corridor.

About Larsen & Toubro:

• CEO: S N Subrahmanyan
• Headquarters: Mumbai

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATES

Telangana govt’s Rythu Vedika scheme to address farmers’ issues all set to be launched

• The Telangana government’s Rythu Vedika initiative to address the issues faced by farmers will be launched. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will inaugurate the Rythu Vedika at Kodakandla mandal headquarters town in Jangaon district.
• Rythu Vedika is an initiative to bring farmers under one platform and help them attain higher returns.
• The government plans to construct as many as 2,601 Rythu Vedikas in the state, of which 1,580 were completed.
• The government earmarked Rs 572.22 crores towards the total construction cost at Rs 22 lakh per Rythu Vedika. Of the total cost, Rs 12 lakh will be met by the agriculture department and the remaining Rs 10 lakh will be met from MNREGS funds.
• Rythu Vedikas will help in mobilising the farmers to organise themselves into groups for attaining their ultimate objective of getting remunerative prices, better marketing facilities, higher productivity and ultimately making agriculture profitable
• The platforms will help farmers meet frequently to discuss their problems and materialise their plans in selling their produce. It will also help farmers to organise themselves into a group for protecting their rights.
• It will facilitate the government to know the ground level problems and difficulties faced by the farmers, formulate new strategies and upgrade the existing system to make agriculture sustainable.
• The platforms will be used as skill imparting centres by the agriculture and allied departments.
• Mission Bhagiratha will provide tap water to Rythu Vedikas.

About Telangana

• Capital: Hyderabad
• Governor: Tamilisai Soundararajan
• Chief minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao

Maharashtra Schools to celebrate November 8 to 14 as Children’s week

• Ahead of Children’s Day on November 14, the Maharashtra state education department has asked schools in the state to celebrate Children’s week between November 8 and 14.
• As part of the initiative, schools have to conduct activities and upload photographs of celebrations conducted online.
• During the week, various competitions such as essay writing, elocution and video making will be organised for students by the schools. The education department has also announced prizes in each category for students between Classes 1 and 12.

About Maharashtra

• Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
• Capital: Mumbai
• Chief minister: Uddhav Thackeray

Chhattisgarh CM launches scheme for distribution of fortified rice

• Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel launched a scheme for distribution of fortified rice through Public distribution System (PDS) and other welfare initiatives for the people of Kondagaon district of the state on a pilot basis.
• The fortified rice is a mixture of iron, vitamin B-12 and folic acid enriched fortified rice kernel (FRK), which meet the nutritional requirements in the diet and thereby help in controlling malnutrition and anemia. It will be distributed through fair price shops.
• Two rice mills have been allotted the work of rice blending for fortification.
• The function to celebrate the statehood of Chhattisgarh, which came into existence on November 1, 2000 after being carved out of Madhya Pradesh.
• Baghel felicitated 30 individuals and three organisations with ”Rajya Alankaran Samman” (state awards) for their exemplary contribution in 24 different disciplines in the virtual presence of the governor.
• The CM later launched the fortified rice distribution scheme and virtually dedicated five newly-built tourist resorts as part of the Tribal Tourism Circuit in different districts.
• He performed e-bhoomi pujan (ground breaking ceremony) of development and beautification works at Rajim and Shivrinarayan under Ram Van Gaman Path tourism circuit project.
• Meanwhile, he also dedicated 132/33 KV Power Sub Station in Bijapur district and 87.5-km long 132 KV Barsur- Bijapur electricity line on the occasion, which will ensure electricity supply to 23 remote villages in the naxal-affected district.

About Chhattisgarh

• Governor: Anusuiya Uikey
• Chief minister: Bhupesh Baghel
• Capital: Raipur

From Waste to Art: In Kolkata, a park decked up with used tyres

• Kolkata is set to get a unique art installation – a park decked up with used tyres at Esplanade area of the city. The “Tyre Park’ has been conceived and developed by the West Bengal Transport Corporation.
• “The idea behind the park is that waste can be converted into art. Nothing is waste and can be art and that is a message with which a unique Tyre Park is coming up in Kolkata,” an official with the transport corporation stated.
• Workers and artists are working round the clock in the park to give finishing touches to the installation.Disposal of used tyres poses a major challenge and tyres usually pile up at bus depots in the state.

About West Bengal:

• Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee
• Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar
• Capital: Kolkata

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU

IREDA signs MoU with MNRE, setting key targets for year 2020-21

• Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), for setting key targets for the year 2020-21. The MOU was signed by MNRE Secretary, Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi and IREDA CMD, Pradip Kumar Das.
• The government has set a revenue target of 2,406 crore rupees under ‘Excellent’ rating along with various performance-related parameters such as Operating Profit as percentage of Revenue from Operation, PAT (profit after tax) as a percentage of Average Net worth, Loan disbursement, Overdue loan etc.
• IREDA as on today, has financed more than 2700 renewable energy projects in India with cumulative loan disbursements to the tune of 57,000 crore rupees, and has supported green power capacity addition of 17,259 MW in the country.

About MNRE: 

• Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge)
• Constituency: Arrah
• Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, IAS, Secretary

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Keralite Priyanca Radhakrishnan sworn in as New Zealand Minister

• Labour Party’s MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan has created history by becoming the first-ever Kiwi-Indian Minister in New Zealand government.
• Priyanca, a Keralite became the first Indian to be sworn in as a Minister in New Zealand as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern unveiled her new cabinet.
• The 41-year-old has been sworn in as the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector
• A two-time MP from Auckland, she reached New Zealand to pursue her higher studies, following which she a Kiwi national hailing from Christchurch and since 2004 she has been in active politics with the Labour Party.

About New Zealand

• Capital: Wellington
• Currency: New Zealand dollar

Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha to be next Chief Information Commissioner

• Former diplomat and Central Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha is tipped to be appointed as the country’s next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), two months after the position at the top transparency watchdog fell vacant, sources stated.
• Sinha is a retired officer of the Indian Foreign Service and has previously served as India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and to Sri Lanka. He was appointed as a member of the Central Information Commission in January 2019.
• The Commission is the highest appellate authority under the Right to Information Act, and consists of a Chief and up to ten Commissioners. It has been headless twice this year, due to a two month delay in appointing the last chief Bimal Julka, and another two month period since he retired at the end of August.

Duarte Pacheco of Portugal elected as new President of Inter Parliamentary Union

• Duarte Pacheco of Portugal has been elected as the new President of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) for the period 2020-2023.
• Earlier, the Governing Council of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva resumed its business during the 206th Session in virtual format. The election process to elect the new IPU President through remote electronic secret ballot, with a 24 hour window for casting votes came to a close at 1930 hrs.
• During the day, the election for filing up the vacancies in the IPU Executive Committee was also held. During the election, Laurence Fehlmann Rielle from Switzerland and Beatriz Argimon from Uruguay were unanimously elected to the IPU Executive Committee.
• The Secretary General of IPU presented the Report on the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (5WCSP) organised by IPU and Parliament of Austria in virtual format from 19 to 20 August 2020.

About Inter-Parliamentary Union:

• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
• President: Gabriela Cuevas Barron
• Founded: 1889

AK Gupta takes over as MD and CEO of ONGC Videsh

• AK Gupta, the new Managing Director and CEO of ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) took charge. Before this, Gupta was Director (Operations) of the company.
• OVL is the international petroleum company of India and the overseas arm of national oil and gas major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited. Gupta brings with him over three decades of experience in various capacities in domestic and overseas oil and gas exploration and production operations, a company statement stated.
• Gupta was also the Head of New businesses in Marketing in ONGC and Head Business development in ONGC Videsh, both for the domestic and international markets. He has handled commercial negotiations with alliance partners, regulators, customers and National Oil Companies.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

Writer Paul Zacharia selected for Ezhuthachan Puraskaram

• Noted Malayalam writer Paul Zacharia has been selected for this year’s Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the Kerala government’s highest literary honour.
• The award, named after Ezhuthachan, the father of the Malayalam language, carries a cash prize of Rs five lakh and a citation.A five-member jury, headed by Kerala Sahitya Akademi President Vyshakhan, selected him for the award.
• Born in 1945 at Kottayam, Zacharia had worked as a journalist with various national media organisations, a state government release stated.
• ‘Salam America’, ‘Oridath, ‘Aarkkariyam’, ‘Bhaskara patelarum ente jeevithavum’ are among his various literary works. Zacharia won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1979 and the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2004.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS AND AUTHORS

‘Till We Win’: Book on Covid-19 by AIIMS Director to hit stands this month

• A new book by AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria and two other doctors will give a definitive account of India’s fight against Covid-19 and how to deal with the pandemic in the days to come.
• The book, titled “Till We Win”, has been co-written by leading public policy and health systems expert Chandrakant Lahariya and renowned vaccine researcher and virologist Gagandeep Kang. It will hit the stands this month and Published by Penguin Random House India.

 Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy by Tamal Bandyopadhyay

• Tamal Bandyopadhyay has authored a book titled “Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy” .
• This book is a bird’s-eye view of Indian banking and also a fly-on-wall documentary.
• Published by Roli Books.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

IIT Madras students’ create online game to spread Coronavirus awareness

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) researchers have developed a digital game ‘IITM Covid Game’ to create awareness about Covid-19 virus among the general public, particularly children.
• This game is browser-based and can be played on any device including Personal Computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones, among others.
• Based on initial prototyping and feedback from different audiences, the students’ team translated the game to several Indian regional languages to improve its reach.
• Apart from English, the game is already available in 12 languages — Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.
• The game takes inspiration from the famous ‘Super Mario’ game and consists of a character who encounters various right things — like masks, washing hands and also encounters things to be avoided — like hugs, handshakes.
• It is available free of cost and can be played from the home page of letsplaytolearn.com’. It is also available on the website of IIT Madras.

First indigenous Petcoke-based high energy supercapacitor developed by ARCI would benefit EV industry

• The first indigenous Petcoke-based 1200 F supercapacitor device has been developed with the help of high performance porous activated carbon electrodes, a move that would be commercially attractive for Electric Vehicles (EVs) industry.
• In EVs, supercapacitors are useful in regenerative braking to recover the energy quickly during the application of brake, while in case of hybrid electric vehicles, they are used to improve the life and performance of Li-ion and lead-acid batteries. They are lithium free and safe and can deliver high power in minutes to enable fast charging of EV batteries, a critical requirement in fast-charging EV stations.
• The indigenous supercapacitor device developed by a team of scientists and engineers at International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt of India with petroleum coke (petcoke) from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is at par with a world-class commercial supercapacitors in performance.
• The ARCI team plans to scale-up the new technology with higher capacitance (<3000 F) to make modules from these supercapacitor devices for EV applications.

Rare metallic asteroid Psyche may be worth $10,000 quadrillion

• Hundreds and thousands of asteroids are floating in space, but there’s one unique metal asteroid, rich enough to fetch up to ten thousand times the global economy in 2019. It’s worth a whopping $10,000 quadrillion ($10,000,000,000,000,000,000), reports stated.
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a metal-rich asteroid ’16 Psyche’ which is orbiting the Sun, in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
• It is located roughly 370 million kilometres (230 million miles) from the Earth and measures 226 kilometres across (140 miles) — roughly about the size of West Virginia.
• Authors of the study stated that Psyche’s surface could be pure iron. They also suggested that the asteroid may be mostly made of iron and nickel. However, the exact composition of Psyche is still unclear.
• It has been hypothesized that a piece of iron of its size could be worth about $10,000 quadrillion — more than the entire economy on our planet stated. “Psyche’s composition may be consistent with mostly iron-nickel by mass,” the study stated.

About NASA:

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• NASA Administrator :Jim Bridenstine

IIT Bombay to launch website for students’ emotional needs

• IIT Bombay announced its plans to release a self-help website for students to elevate their emotional well-being. Titled ‘Bandhu’, the website will allow for self-exploration through quizzes, stories, and other elements, stated director Dr Shubhasis Chaudhuri. It will be inaugurated on November 1.
• “The website has various options, quizzes, stories of people, self-discovery tools to help [and ascertain] whether you can recover or you need to come back for more help,” he added.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE

First phase of four-nation Malabar naval exercise kicks off from Nov 3 to 6

• The 24th edition of the Malabar naval exercise is scheduled to be held in two phases in November 2020.
• Phase 1 of the exercise Malabar 20 involving participation by Indian Navy (IN), United States Navy (USN), Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF), and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is set to commence off Visakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal from 3-6 November, 2020
• Phase-1 of Malabar 20 will witness participation of Indian Navy units with United States Ship (USS) John S McCain (Guided-missile destroyer), Her Majesty’s Australian Ship (HMAS) Ballarat (long range frigates) with integral MH-60 helicopter, and Japan Maritime Self Defence Ship (JMSDF) Onami (Destroyer) with integral SH-60 helicopter.
• The Indian Navy participation in Phase 1 will be led by Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.
• Phase 2 of Malabar 20 is scheduled to be conducted in the Arabian Sea in mid-November 2020.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS

Shane Watson to announce retirement from all forms of cricket

• Shane Watson, the former Australia all-rounder and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
• He made the decision after CSK’s final IPL 2020 match against Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi.
• Watson, who was bought by CSK two years ago, had already retired from international cricket in 2015. He played a vital role in the Chennai-based franchise’s third IPL title win in 2018 with a century in the final.
• Before CSK, he had also turned out for Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore and had played a crucial role in the Royals’ maiden title win in the inaugural edition in 2008.
• Watson, who has played 59 Tests, 190 ODIs, and 58 T20s at the international level, has won the ICC World Cup with Australia twice, in 2007 and in 2015.
• In Tests, Watson scored 3731 runs and picked up 75 wickets, and scored 5757 runs and scalped 168 wickets in ODIs to finish his career as one of the leading all-rounders of his era.

About Australia

• Prime minister: Scott Morrison
• Capital: Canberra
• Currency: Australian dollar

Rublev Claims Fifth Title Of 2020 In Vienna

• The red-hot Russian Andrey Rublev beat Lorenzo Sonego to win the Erste Bank Open, lifting his ATP Tour-leading fifth title of the season.
• The 23-year-old is now tied with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic atop the 2020 match wins leaderboard with 39.
• With the Vienna title, Rublev has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. There is only one singles spot remaining at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November.
• Rublev is the first Russian to win five ATP Tour titles in the season since Nikolay Davydenko in 2009. Davydenko played 23 tournaments that year, finishing it off by lifting the trophy at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Erste Bank Open was Rublev’s 12th tournament of 2020. 020 ATP Tour Titles Leaderboard

Player	Titles
Andrey Rublev	5
Novak Djokovic	4
Cristian Garin	2
Ugo Humbert	2
Gael Monfils	2
Rafael Nadal	2
Alexander Zverev	2

 

Lewis Hamilton wins Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, earning Mercedes the Constructors’ Championship

• To the surprise of no one that follows Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton has won yet another race. Formula 1 returned to the Italian town of Imola to race at the Autodromo Internzionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. This race was added to the 2020 calendar in order to replace cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The podium at the end of this race was topped by Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas taking positions one and two, respectively.
• With this win from Hamilton, Mercedes has won its seventh consecutive Constructors’ Championship. The Formula One World Constructors’ Championship is awarded by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile to the Formula One chassis constructor that scored the most points during a season. Previously tied with Scuderia Ferrari at six wins each, Mercedes now also holds the longest consecutive streak of Constructors’ Championship wins. At seven wins, this now has Mercedes tied with the now defunct Team Lotus for fourth most wins overall.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY

Violin maestro TN Krishnan passes away at 92

• Legendary violinist T N Krishnan died in Chennai. He was 92.
• Born in 1928 in Tripunithura in Kerala, Krishnan started as a child prodigy and went on to perform with legends from several generations. He taught at the Chennai Music College and later held the position of Dean at the School of Music and Fine Arts of the University of Delhi.
• He was also honoured with many titles and awards, including Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

DAILY CA 1^st & 2^nd Nov

• World Vegan Day 2020- 1st November
• AYUSH Ministry and Invest India to jointly set up “Strategic Policy & Facilitation Bureau” for planned and systematic growth of Ayush sector
• 206th Session of Governing Council of the IPU to be held from 1st to 4th November
• Govt set to divest 10% in GIC Re, New India Assurance
• NITI Aayog, QCI Launch National Program and Project Management Policy Framework Initiative to Transform Infrastructure Sector in India
• India, Mexico Hold Joint Commission Meeting, Review Bilateral Cooperation
• HDFC ERGO implements AI enabled solution to automate motor claim settlements
• ICICI Lombard, FreePaycard offer bite-sized, convenient health insurance solutions
• RBI imposes monetary penalty on DCB Bank, Jio Payments Bank for rule violations
• Tech giant IBM, Indian Oil Corporation collaborate for digital services
• Walmart Vriddhi starts digitally enhanced learning process to train MSMEs
• 8000MW renewable park to light up India-Pak border areas in Rajasthan
• Chhattisgarh celebrates its foundation day
• MoU signed between SAI and Arunachal Pradesh government
• IISc, IOCL sign MoU for hydrogen-generation technology
• Harpreet A De Singh appointed CEO of Alliance Air; becomes first woman to head an Indian air carrier
• Former HDFC Bank CEO Aditya Puri to join private equity firm Carlyle as senior advisor
• Rajiv Jalota appointed chairman of Mumbai Port Trust
• Electronics Sector Skill Council of India appoints PVG Menon as CEO
• ISRO to launch Indian earth observation satellite EOS-01, nine international customer spacecraft on November 7
• PAC Report Finds Kerala, Goa Best Governed States, UP Ranks Lowest
• BCCI announces Jio as title sponsor of Women’s T20 Challenge 2020
• India Test-Fires Air-Launched Version Of BrahMos Missile
• Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister R. Duraikannu passes away at 72
• Sean Connery, James Bond actor, dies aged 90

DAILY CA 3^rd Nov

• International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists- 2^nd nov
• Mansar Lake Project in Jammu to attract 20 lakh tourists every year: Jitendra Singh
• TransUnion CIBIL, MoSPI launch MSME Credit Health Index
• Centre releases Rs 2,200 cr as first installment to 15 states for improvement of air quality
• Ganga Utsav-2020 begins virtually with COVID-19 precautions
• FIP organises virtual version of Delhi Book Fair this year
• 30 Indian cities to face increasing ‘water risks’ by 2050: WWF report
• RBI to extend trading hours to 3:30 pm from 2 pm starting November 9
• RBI temporarily postpones circular on current account till December 15
• ICICI Lombard gets CCI nod to acquire Bharti AXA’s non-life insurance business
• Software Technology Parks of India to launch a VC fund to support start-ups
• L&T bags construction order of bullet train project
• Telangana govt’s Rythu Vedika scheme to address farmers’ issues all set to be launched
• Maharashtra Schools to celebrate November 8 to 14 as Children’s week
• Chhattisgarh CM launches scheme for distribution of fortified rice
• From Waste to Art: In Kolkata, a park decked up with used tyres
• IREDA signs MoU with MNRE, setting key targets for year 2020-21
• Keralite Priyanca Radhakrishnan sworn in as New Zealand Minister
• Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha to be next Chief Information Commissioner
• Duarte Pacheco of Portugal elected as new President of Inter Parliamentary Union
• AK Gupta takes over as MD and CEO of ONGC Videsh
• Writer Paul Zacharia selected for Ezhuthachan Puraskaram
• Till We Win’: Book on Covid-19 by AIIMS Director to hit stands this month
• Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy by Tamal Bandyopadhyay
• IIT Madras students’ create online game to spread Coronavirus awareness
• First indigenous Petcoke-based high energy supercapacitor developed by ARCI would benefit EV industry
• Rare metallic asteroid Psyche may be worth $10,000 quadrillion
• IIT Bombay to launch website for students’ emotional needs
• First phase of four-nation Malabar naval exercise kicks off from Nov 3 to 6
• Shane Watson to announce retirement from all forms of cricket
• Rublev Claims Fifth Title Of 2020 In Vienna
• Lewis Hamilton wins Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, earning Mercedes the Constructors’ Championship
• Violin maestro TN Krishnan passes away at 92