HUMAN FREEDOM INDEX 2020
The Human Freedom Index 2020, a worldwide ranking of civil, economic and personal freedom, released recently placed India at the 111th spot out of 162 countries. India ranked 94 on the index in 2019.
About:
- India’s scored 6.30 out of 10 in personal freedom and 6.56 in economic freedom. The country’s overall human freedom score was 6.43.
- New Zealand, Switzerland and Hong Kong bagged the first three spots.
- The United States and United Kingdom are tied at the 17th spot on the index. War-torn Syria ranked the last on the list.
- The index put China at 129 rank, Bangladesh at 139 and Pakistan at 140.
- The index was published by American think tank Cato Institute and Fraser Institute in Canada. Fred McMahon and Ian Vásquez are the authors of the report.
- It takes into account 76 indicators of personal, civil, and economic freedoms to rank 162 countries from 2008 to 2018.
- The institutes noted that the world has seen a notable decline in personal freedom since 2008.
GREAT CONJUNCTION
After nearly 400 years, Saturn and Jupiter will be brought closest in the night sky by an astronomical event called the “great conjunction” and popularly referred to as the “Christmas Star”.
About:
- On December 21, almost all the viewers across the world will be able to see the two gas giants very close to each other, while they will still be hundreds of millions of miles apart in space.
- A conjunction is not unique to Saturn and Jupiter however, it is the name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from the Earth.
- Astronomers use the word “great” for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets’ sizes.
- The “Great Conjunction” happens once in about 20 years because of the time each of the planets take to orbit around the Sun. Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one lap around the Sun and Saturn takes 30 years.
- This year, however, the event is rare because the planets will come the closest to each other in nearly four centuries.
GalSafe PIGS
This week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a first-of-its-kind intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs referred to as GalSafe pigs.
About:
- Genetically modified (GM) pigs have been approved for food and medical use in the US, drawing mixed reactions. The pigs are only the second GM animal to be approved for food after GM salmon in 2015.
- The US FDA this week approved the GM pigs, which have been engineered to eliminate alpha-gal, a sugar found in pigs that can cause allergic reactions.
- The FDA said it was the first time it had approved a GM animal for human food and medical use.
- The FDA said it had determined that the food from the GM pigs, known as GalSafe pigs, is “safe for the general population to eat”, and suggested the meat might be sold by mail order.
R CLUSTER
Reliance Industries Ltd and BP (British Petroleum) have announced the start of gas production from the R cluster, the deepest off-shore gas field in Asia.
About:
- The field (R cluster) is located about 60 kilometers from the existing KG D6 Control & Riser Platform (CRP) off the Kakinada coast and comprises a subsea production system tied back to CRP via a subsea pipeline.
- The field is the first of three Deepwater gas projects in the KGD6 block jointly developed by RIL and BP to come onstream.
- RIL has a participating interest of 66.7% in the KG-D6 block and BP has a participating interest of 33.3% in the block.
SolarWinds Hack
The ‘SolarWinds hack’, a cyberattack recently discovered in the United States, has emerged as one of the biggest ever targeted against the US government, its agencies and several other private companies. In fact, it is likely a global cyberattack.
How did so many US government agencies and companies get attacked?
- This is being called a ‘Supply Chain’ attack: Instead of directly attacking the federal government or a private organisation’s network, the hackers target a third-party vendor, which supplies software to them.
- In this case, the target was an IT management software called Orion, supplied by the Texas-based company SolarWinds.
- Orion has been a dominant software from SolarWinds with clients, which include over 33,000 companies. SolarWinds says 18,000 of its clients have been impacted.
- The hackers gained “access to victims via trojanized updates to SolarWinds’ Orion IT monitoring and management software. Once installed, the malware gave a backdoor entry to the hackers to the systems and networks of SolarWinds’ customers.
E20 FUEL
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has published a draft notification dated 11th December 2020, seeking comments from the public for adoption of E20 fuel as an automotive fuel and for the adoption of mass emission standards for this fuel.
About:
- E20 fuel is blend of 20% of ethanol with gasoline.
- The notification facilitates the development of E20 compliant vehicles.
- It will also help in reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, etc. It will help reduce the oil import bill, thereby saving foreign exchange and boosting energy security.
- The compatibility of the vehicle to the percentage of ethanol in the blend of ethanol and gasoline shall be defined by the vehicle manufacturer and the same shall be displayed on the vehicle by putting a clearly visible sticker.
DRAFT NATIONAL RAIL PLAN
Indian Railways issued draft National Rail Plan.
About:
- The objective of the Plan is to create capacity ahead of demand by 2030, which in turn would cater to growth in demand right up to 2050 and also increase the modal share of Railways from 27% currently to 45% in freight by 2030.
- It aims to Reduce transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains from present 22Kmph to 50Kmph.
- Three Dedicated Freight Corridors, namely East Coast, East-West & North-South identified along with timelines. PETS survey already underway
- Assess Locomotive requirement to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) by December 2023 and also the increasing traffic right up to 2030 and beyond up to 2050.
- Several new High Speed Rail Corridors have also been identified. Survey on Delhi-Varanasi High Speed Rail already under way.
WORLD MINORITIES RIGHTS DAY
The National Commission for Minorities celebrated "World Minorities Rights Day" on December 18, 2020.
About:
- United Nations on December 18, 1992 adopted and broadcast the Statement on the individual's Rights belonging to religious or Linguistic National or Ethnic Minorities. The same year the National Commission for Minorities was set up by the Government of India.
- The Ministry of Minority Affairs was established in January 26, 2006. It was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
- The day is celebrated by the National Commission for Minorities in India which focuses on religious harmony, respect, and a better understanding of all minorities’ communities.
- The Constitution of India provides equal rights for all citizens and safeguards the rights of linguistic, ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. It also has provisions for economically or socially disadvantaged people, including the people of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes.
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF TUBERCULOSIS AND CHEST DISEASES (NATCON)
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare addressed the Platinum Jubilee of the National Conference of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases (NATCON).
About:
- The Tuberculosis Association of India (TAI) is one of the oldest and largest voluntary organizations having its affiliates all over the country.
- It was set up in February, 1939 as a registered society by incorporating the King Emperor's Anti-Tuberculosis Fund and King George Thanks-giving (Anti-Tuberculosis) Fund.
- Since the year 1939 the Association is organizing National Conference on Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases (NATCON), an annual conference wherein around 500 delegates from all over India assemble and exchange views on tuberculosis.
DRDO SYSTEMS
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh handed over three indigenously developed Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) systems to Army, Navy and Air Force at a function held in DRDO Bhawan.
About:
- Rajnath Singh handed over the Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) to the Chief of Naval Staff , ASTRA Mk-I Missile to Air Chief Marshal and Border Surveillance System (BOSS) to the Chief of Army Staff.
- BOSS is An all-weather electronic surveillance system successfully designed and developed by Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun. The system facilitates monitoring and surveillance by automatically detecting the intrusions in harsh high-altitude sub-zero temperature areas with remote operation capability.
- The IMSAS is high performance intelligent software system that provide Global Maritime Situational Picture, Marine planning tools and Analytical capabilities to Indian Navy. Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics (CAIR), Bengaluru and Indian Navy has jointly conceptualised and developed the product and the BEL, Bengaluru has implemented it.
- The ASTRA Mk-I is the indigenously developed first Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, which can be launched from Sukhoi-30, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Mig-29 and Mig-29K. it was developed by Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) Hyderabad.
PSLV-C50/CMS-01
India’s communication satellite CMS-01 was successfully launched by PSLV-C50 on December 17, 2020 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
About:
- CMS-01 is envisaged to provide services in the extended-C Band of the frequency spectrum that will cover the Indian mainland, the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands.
- It was India's 42nd communication satellite with a mission life of over seven years.
- The satellite will be placed in the specified slot in the geosynchronous orbit. Subsequently, it will function as the continuation of GSAT11 launched 11 years back.”
- PSLV-C50 is the 52nd flight of PSLV and 22nd flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with 6 strap-on motors).
INDIA-BANGLADESH VIRTUAL SUMMIT
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh held a Summit in virtual format on 17 December 2020.
About:
- The two sides jointly inaugurated the Bangabandhu-Bapu Digital Exhibition.
- The two sides jointly inaugurated a railway link between Haldibari in India and Chilahati in Bangladesh during the summit. Haldibari - Chilahati route will be beneficial for transit into Bangladesh from Assam and West Bengal.
- Both sides also agreed to hold an early meeting of the Joint Boundary Conference to prepare a new set of strip maps along the stretch of Icchamati, Kalindi, Raimongol and the Hariabhanga Rivers.
- Bangladesh requested India to name the historic road from Mujib Nagar to Nodia on Bangladesh-India border as "Shadhinota Shorok” commemorating the historic significance of the road during Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
- The following bilateral development partnership projects were also inaugurated:
- Beautification and city development project in Rajshahi City;
- Construction of Khalishpur Collegiate Girl’s School in Khulna.
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