SWADHINATA SARAK
Bangladesh Foreign Minister has said that the ‘Swadhinata Sarak’ between Bangladesh and India will be opened on 26 March next year.
About:
- The road remains functional on the Indian side while it will be connected through Mujibnagar, Meherpur district in Bangladesh.
- Chilahati-Haldirbari rail link which was active till 1965 will be inaugurated during the summit meeting between the two Prime Ministers on December 17, 2020.
UNESCO AWARD FOR CREATIVE ECONOMY
The UNESCO has decided to launch an international prize in the field of ‘creative economy’ in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
About:
- Starting November 2021, the dollar 50 thousand award will be given away once in two years for global economic initiatives of the youth.
- The award will recognise exceptional initiatives taken by cultural workers and organizations in the development of the creative economy.
- Currently, there are 23 UNESCO International Awards in the name of international celebrities and organisations.
PLASMODIUM OVALE
A not very common type of malaria, Plasmodium ovale, has been identified in a soldier in Kerala. The soldier is believed to have contracted it during his posting in Sudan, from where he returned nearly a year ago, and where Plasmodium ovale is endemic.
Background:
- Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
- There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
Plasmodium ovale:
- P ovale rarely causes severe illness and there is no need for panic because of the case detected in Kerala.
- P ovale is very similar to P vivax, which is not a killer form. Symptoms include fever for 48 hours , headache and nausea, and the treatment modality is the same as it is for a person infected with P vivax. P ovale is no more dangerous than getting a viral infection.
- It is termed ovale as about 20% of the parasitised cells are oval in shape.
- P ovale malaria is endemic to tropical Western Africa. P ovale is relatively unusual outside of Africa.
MYRISTICA SWAMP TREEFROG
Myristica swamp treefrog, a rare arboreal species endemic to the Western Ghats has been recorded for the first time north of the Shencottah gap in the Vazhachal Reserve Forest in Kerala’s Thrissur district.
About:
- It’s scientific name is Mercurana myristicapalustris.
- These frogs are rare and elusive for the reason that they are arboreal and active only for a few weeks during their breeding season.
- During this season, there is a large aggregation of males that descend from the high canopy of the trees. The males vocalise in groups from the low perches in the swamps.
- They exhibit unique breeding behaviour. The breeding season, unlike for other frogs, starts in the pre-monsoon season (May) and ends before the monsoon becomes fully active in June.
WESTERN SAHARA DISPUTE
Morocco agreed to become the fourth Arab nation to normalise relations with Israel in as many months, as part of a deal in which the US agreed to recognise its claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.
About:
- A former Spanish colony, Western Sahara is a vast, arid region in northwest Africa.
- It is mineral rich: home to abundant reserves of phosphate, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of synthetic fertilisers. It has also lucrative fish resources and is believed to have off-shore oil.
Timeline:
- The region first came under Spanish control in 1884, and was made a province called ‘Spanish Sahara’ by the European country in 1934. Then in 1957, its northern neighbour Morocco, which had become independent from French rule just a year before, staked its claim over the entire territory, reasserting a centuries-old position.
- Then in 1975, ten years after the UN called for its decolonisation, Spain withdrew from Western Sahara, partitioning the region between Morocco, which received the region’s northern two-thirds, and Mauritania the remaining third in the south.
- Since then, Morocco has controlled around 80 per cent of Western Sahara, including its phosphate reserves.
VIDYAVACHASPATI BANNANJE GOVINDACHARYA
Sanskrit and Kannada scholar Vidyavachaspati Bannanje Govindacharya, 84, passed away due to age-related ailments.
About:
- Bannanje Govindacharya (1936 – 2020) was a Sanskrit scholar versed in Veda Bhashya, Upanishad Bhashya, Mahabharata, Puranas and Ramayana.
- He wrote Bhashyas or commentaries on Veda Suktas, Upanishads, ShataRudriya, BrahmaSutra Bhashya, Gita Bhashya and was an orator.
- He had done extensive research on Madhwa philosophy, besides authoring over 100 books and 4,000 pages in Sanskrit on the subject.
- He is probably the only scholar in recent years who had gone through the manuscripts of Ashta Mutts of Udupi for which he was called the ‘encyclopaedia of manuscripts’.
EXOTIC WILDLIFE SPECIES
The Supreme Court upheld an Allahabad High Court order granting immunity from investigation and prosecution if one declared illegal acquisition or possession of exotic wildlife species between June and December. This was under a new amnesty scheme announced by the Centre.
Government’s voluntary disclosure scheme:
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has come out with an advisory on a one-time voluntary disclosure scheme that allows owners of exotic live species that have been acquired illegally to declare their stock to the government between June and December 2020.
- With this scheme, the government aims to address the challenge of zoonotic diseases, develop an inventory of exotic live species for better compliance under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and regulate their import.
- In its current form, however, the amnesty scheme is just an advisory, not a law.
- The disclosure has to be done online through MoEFCC’s Parivesh portal.
SAN ISIDRO MOVEMENT
In Cuba, a country under an authoritarian communist regime for more than six decades, a campaign by artists and activists demanding greater freedom of expression is fast grabbing the limelight.
About:
- The Movimiento San Isidro, or the San Isidro Movement (MSI), started two years ago to protest state censorship of artistic works, and has now become a platform for Cuban dissidents both within and outside the Caribbean nation.
- The movement started in September 2018, when the Cuban government sought to enforce Decree 349, a law that would have given powers to the nation’s Culture Ministry to restrict cultural activity it did not approve of.
- To protest against the decree, artists, poets, journalists and activists gathered in San Isidro, a Black-majority locality that is among Havana’s poorest yet most culturally active wards, and which also forms part of the Old Havana UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- What gave crucial firepower to the movement was a landmark 2015 deal between Cuba and the US, one of whose provisions stipulated that the Cuban regime should allow its people greater internet freedoms in exchange for opening bilateral relations with Washington.
- Thus, the protesters managed to connect and amplify their message over the internet with relative ease, in a country where the government controls all modes of communication, and where no political opposition has been permitted.
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES CENTRES AUTHORITY (BULLION EXCHANGE) REGULATIONS, 2020
IFSCA has notified International Financial Services Centres Authority (Bullion Exchange) Regulations, 2020.
About:
- In the Union Budget 2020, Union Minister of Finance had made an announcement for setting up an International Bullion Exchange at the International Financial Services Centre in GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
- Subsequently, the Government of India had notified the bullion spot delivery contract and bullion depository receipt (with bullion as underlying) as Financial Products and related services as Financial Services under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) Act, 2019.
- IFSCA has been entrusted with the responsibility of operationalization of this Exchange.
- In this regard, International Financial Services Centres Authority (Bullion Exchange) Regulations 2020 were approved by the Authority in its meeting held on October 27,2020. The said regulations have been notified and published in the Gazette of India on December 11, 2020.
- The regulations inter alia cover the Bullion Exchange, Clearing Corporation, Depository and Vaults.
- The regulations are divided into the 16 chapters. First half of the regulation deals with the Exchange and Clearing Corporations while the second half pertains to the Vaults and Depositories and related provisions.
DIVERSITY REQUIREMENTS IN INDIAN COMPANIES
The NASDAQ stock exchange in the US may soon require all companies listed on the bourse to include at least one female board member as well as one member from a racial minority group or from the LGBTQ community on their board of directors.
About:
- There also are in place diversity requirements from Indian companies and their compliance with these rules.
- All public companies which are listed on stock exchanges and companies with either a paid-up capital of Rs 100 crore or annual turnover over Rs 300 crore are required to have at least one woman board member under the Companies Act.
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) further requires, since April 1, 2020, that the top 1000 listed companies by market capitalisation have a woman board member who is also an independent director.
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