Daily Current Affairs - 31 Oct 2020

Daily Current Affairs Capsule

31st October 2020

National

National Unity Day: 31 October

National Unity Day is celebrated in India on 31 October.

1. It was introduced by the Government of India in 2014.
2. The day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
3. In 2018, the Government Of India accomplished the task of building the tallest statue across the world.

Birth anniversary of Homi Jehangir Bhabha: 30 October

The birthday of the famous nuclear physicist, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, popularly known as the father of Indian Nuclear Programme is observed every year on 30 October.

1. Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha was an Indian nuclear physicist and founding director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
2. In 1939, when World War II broke out, Bhabha was in India for a vacation. Due to the war, he could not go back to complete his research at Cambridge.
3. In 1948, Nehru appointed Bhabha as the Director of Nuclear Programme and gave him a task to develop the nuclear weapons.
4. He envisioned India’s three-stage nuclear power programme and emphasized the use of India’s huge thorium reserve rather than its inadequate uranium reserves for power generation.
5. He won the Adams Prize (1942) and Padma Bhushan (1954). He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1951 and 1953-1956.

Union Cabinet approves Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of ICTs between India and Japan

The Union Cabinet has approved the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India and Japan on cooperation in the field of Information and Communication Technologies.

1. It aimed for cooperation in many fields like 5G network, Submarine cable, standard certification of communication equipment, utilization of latest Wireless Technologies and ICTs, ICTs capacity building, Artificial Intelligence (AI), etc.
2. It will help India strengthen ICTs infrastructure in the country and help boost connectivity of mainland India to remote areas.
3. India and Japan have also signed the Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of cybersecurity.

Cabinet approves Mechanism for procurement of ethanol by Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA approved Mechanism for procurement of ethanol by Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies under Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme.

1. Earlier, there used to be one rate for ethanol but now there will be different prices.
2. He said the new Price fixed for Ethanol produced from sugar will be Rs 62.65 per litre, ethanol manufactured from B heavy molasses will be Rs 57.61 per litre and ethanol manufactured from C heavy molasses will be Rs 45.69 per litre.
3. Government has been implementing Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme wherein OMCs sell petrol blended with ethanol up to 10 per cent.

U.K. to partner for developing GIFT City

The United Kingdom (UK) has entered into a strategic partnership to develop India’s GIFT City.

1. GIFT - Gujarat International Finance Tec-City is India’s first international financial services centre. It is located in Gandhinagar of Gujarat.
2. India and the U.K. also signed off on a new infrastructure finance and policy partnership to support India execute its National Infrastructure Pipeline that envisages investments worth $1.4 trillion.

Dr Harsh Vardhan launches DST initiative SERB – POWER for women scientists

Dr Harsh Vardha launched a Scheme titled “SERB-POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research)”, designed exclusively for women scientists, in a function on an e-platform.

1. The scheme targets women researchers of age 35 to 55 years.
2. SERB – POWER Scheme will have two components namely (i) SERB-POWER Fellowship (ii) SERB- POWER Research Grants.
3. It will provide 25 to 75 Fellowship per year. The selected candidates under the scheme will receive a Fellowship of 15000 rupees per month.
4. This is in addition to the regular income. Also, they will receive 10 lakh rupees per annum as a research grant and 90000 Rupees as overhead in their career.

Hyderabad Airport Begins E-Boarding for International Fliers

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is the first one in India to start paperless e-boarding.

1. This is the first step towards e-boarding facility for international flights.
2. The airport already provides this facility for end-to-end paperless e-boarding to their domestic passengers.
3. This service will give a safer option for international passengers.
4. IndiGo is the first airline to avail of the indigenously developed digital solution, ie, international e-boarding facility. Its Sharjah-bound passengers e-boarded themselves from Hyderabad.

IIT-Guwahati team develops tech to produce agri-based anti-ageing compounds

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, have developed a low-cost membrane technology to produce psychoactive drugs and anti-aging compounds.

1. It has been developed from a wide range of agricultural resources like citrus fruits and peels especially orange peels, berries, parsley, pulses, tea, sea buckthorn and onions.
2. The technology has been patented and does not use any organic solvents, which normally increases prices.
3. Commercially available techniques use various costly organic solvents like Chloroform, Acetone, Acetonitrile.

Awards

‘Gully Boy’ wins best original score at 14th Asian Film Awards

The 14th Asian Film Awards (“AFA14”) were announced on 28 October 2020 virtually by the Asian Film Awards Academy (“AFAA”).

1. Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt starrer Gully Boy bagged the award for the Best Original Score at the event.
2. The award went to Karsh Kale and The Salvage Audio Collective.

Books

UP Governor releases 'science toon' book on COVID-19 pandemic

Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel released the world's first scientoon book” – “Bye Bye Corona”.

1. The book has been written by ‘scientoonist’ Dr Pradeep Srivastava, former Senior Principal Scientist at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow.
2. The book contains information regarding the novel coronavirus, its symptoms and ways to prevent it. The book highlights the methods of dealing with the virus in day to day life.