Home » Current Affairs Date: 08 November 2020

Current Affairs Date: 08 November 2020

National:
  • Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Shri Sanjay Dhotre on 02 November 2020 released the Special Cover of Department of Posts for commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Department of Science &Technology (DST) at a function in New Delhi. Department of Science & Technology is celebrating its 50th anniversary from May 03, 2020 to May 03, 2021.
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the investment of Rs 1810.56 crore for 210 MW Luhri Stage-I Hydro Electric Project on 04 November 2020. The Hydro Electric Project is located on river Satluj which is situated in Shimla & Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh. This project will generate 758.20 million units of electricity annually.
13th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference-2020:
  • The 13th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference-2020 is being organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 9th November 2020. The day-long Conference will be inaugurated by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs.
    The main theme of this year’s event is “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility”. The Conference will be focused on innovative measures taken at national and international level to address the challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic to provide accessible and convenient transport to the people.
COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge:
  • Six women led startups have won ‘COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge’ organized by MyGov in collaboration with UN Women. It was launched in April 2020.
    The Challenge was implemented in two stages: Ideation stage and Proof of Concept (PoC) Stage.
Top 3 winners are:
  1. Dr P Gayatri Hela is the founder of Bengaluru-based Resada Lifesciences Private Limited
  2. Romita Ghosh, a cancer survivor, is the founder of Shimla-based iHeal HealthTech Private Limited
  3. Dr Anjana Ramkumar and Dr Anushka Ashokan are the product manager and co-founder of Kerala based Thanmatra Innovations Private Limited
Top 3 Startups identified as ‘Promising Solutions’ are:
  1. Vasanthi Palanivel, is the CEO & Co-Founder of Bengaluru-based Seragen BioTherapeutics Private Limited
  2. Shivi Kapil is the cofounder of Bengaluru-based Empathy Design Labs
  3. Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar – a mother daughter duo are the founder and co-founder of STREAM Minds, and ed-tech company
Appointment:
  • The Centre has set up the commission for air quality management in Delhi-NCR and adjacent areas, under the provisions of the ordinance issued with the concurrence of the Supreme Court. Former Delhi chief secretary MM Kutty will be the first chairperson of Air Quality Commission. A 1985-batch IAS officer, MM Kutty is also ex-secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas.
International:
International Virtual Election Visitors Programme 2020:
  • The Election Commission of India has organized an International Virtual Election Visitors Programme 2020 (IEVP) for foreign Election Management Bodies (EMBs)/Organisations from 05 to 07 Nov 2020, in the context of the ongoing Bihar Legislative Assembly Elections.
    In the IEVP 2020, Delegates from over 40 countries across the world including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Maldives, Mongolia, Mauritius, Nepal, Uzbekistan and Zambia etc. and 3 international organizations (International IDEA, International Foundation of Electoral Systems, and Association of World Election Bodies) was participated.
    The Programme for IEVP 2020 was comprised an online briefing session, unique overview of the Commission’s flagship programme for voter awareness – SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation), and a virtual tour of polling stations in Bihar.
Business:
  • WhatsApp Pay received the approval to operate the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments from the National Payments Council of India (NPCI). WhatsApp Pay went live on the Unified Payments Interface, on 06 November, 2020. It will initially be restricted both in terms of features and accessibility, with a cap of 20 million users.
    The top four banks on the UPI network – ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank – and debutant Jio Payments Bank have enabled its backend infrastructure and will facilitate transfer of funds for its users.
Sports:
  • All-India YSCA Trophy cricket tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time in its 51 years of existence. Its promoter M S Gurumurthy is contemplating conducting the tournament in May next year.
Death:
  • Senior Yakshagana artiste M R Vasudeva Samaga died near Udupi, on 07 November, 2020. He was 72.