Daily Current Affairs 21st December, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 21 December 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Dharmendra Pradhan Dedicates Bengal’s First Oil and Gas Reserve to Nation
West Bengal found a place in the oil map of India as Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan dedicated an oil and gas producing field in North 24 Parganas district to the nation.

• The production from the petroleum reserve here, about 47 km from Kolkata, has started with extracted oil being sent to Haldia refinery of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
• The Ashoknagar field, which falls under the Mahanadi- Bengal-Andaman (MBA) basin, has been proved to be commercially viable.
• PSU major ONGC had spent Rs 3,381 crore for discovery of the Ashoknagar oilfield.

Skill India establishes first Centre of Excellence for Skill Development in Power Sector 
Skill India has established first Centre of Excellence for Skill Development in Power Sector in the campus of National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram, Haryana. The centre was inaugurated by Minister of State for Skill Development Raj Kumar Singh.

• The Centre of Excellence is an outcome of collaboration between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, along with the Ministry of National Education and Youth, Government of France and Schneider Electric.
• The Centre of Excellence will focus on creating a pool of highly skilled trainers and assessors for further training to increase employability of candidates in the field of Electricity, Automation and Solar Energy Sectors.

UP Govt launches ‘Varasat’ campaign to curb property & land-related disputes in rural areas
The Uttar Pradesh government has  launched  special campaign to curb property & land-related disputes in rural areas.

• This is a first of its kind campaign to end the nagging land-related issues in the rural areas. It is aimed at eradicating the exploitation of the villagers in the name of ‘Varasat’ of land and property.This special campaign will continue till 15 th February next year.
• The new initiative is expected to settle case pending for years in the around one lakh  revenue villages of the state.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

France Joins IORA as 23rd Member State
France was accepted as 23rd member state of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

• In the 20th IORA Council of Ministers virtual meeting, held in the UAE, France’s application was approved through consensus. Together with France, this inter-governmental ministerial forum, at present has 23 member states.
• It’s other nine dialogue partners are: China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Republic of Korea, UK and the USA.

BANKING & FINANCE

PayU ties up with Google Pay to introduce tokenised payments flow for merchants
Online payments solutions provider PayU has collaborated with Google Pay to introduce tokenised payments flow for merchants in India.

• Following this collaboration, Google Pay users will now get an option to pay a PayU merchant with their debit cards, credit cards, or Google Pay UPI.
• With the digital token linked to the phone and card information tokenised, Google Pay users can make repeat payments seamlessly and securely.

SPORTS

Govt approves inclusion of four indigenous sports in Khelo India Youth Games 2021
The Sports Ministry has approved the inclusion of four indigenous Games to be a part of Khelo India Youth Games 2021, scheduled to take place in Haryana.

• The games include, Gatka, Kalaripayattu, Thang-Ta and Mallakhamba. 

Indian pugilists bag nine medals including 3 golds in Cologne, Boxing World Cup championship
Indian pugilists bagged nine medals including three gold, two silver and four bronze at the Cologne Boxing World Cup held in Cologne, Germany.

• Amit Panghal won  gold in men’s category while Manisha Moun and Simranjit Kaur won gold  in Women’s category.
• Sakshi Choudhary ended her campaign with a silver.India’s super heavyweight (91kg) boxer Satish Kumar (+91kg) had to settle for a silver after an injury forced him to withdraw from the finals.
• Sonia Lather (57kg), Pooja Rani (75kg) Gaurav Solanki (57kg) and Mohamed Hussamudin (57kg) won bronze medals in their respective categories.

AWARDS

Amar Singh College Srinagar bags 2020-UNESCO Asia-Pacific award
Amar Singh College Srinagar has bagged a prestigious award of merit in the 2020 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific awards for cultural heritage conservation.

• The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) chapter in the union territory has been administering the conservation work at the 80-year-old building.
• Seven conservation projects have been awarded by an international panel of jury members, which reviewed 48 nominees from nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Singapore’s foodie “hawker” culture given UNESCO recognition
Singapore’s tradition of communal dining at hawker centres, open air food courts popularised by celebrity chefs and hit films such as ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, has been recognised by UNESCO for its cultural significance. 

• Singapore’s hawker centres were set up to house former street vendors, or “hawkers” in an effort to clean up the island in the 1970s and serve a variety of cheap, no-frills dishes to locals as well as providing a social setting.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Russia launches 36 UK telecom satellites into space 
Bharti Global and UK government said their joint venture OneWeb, a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications operator launched 36 satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia. The launch was the first and only one to take place from the cosmodrome this year.

• This takes the total in-orbit constellation to 110 satellites, part of OneWeb’s 648 LEO satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity.
• OneWeb plans for its global commercial internet service to be operational by 2022, supported by some 650 satellites.

ISRO sets up dedicated control centre for Space Situational Awareness AWS
A dedicated control centre for Space Situational Awareness (SSA) activities in the country, aimed at monitoring, tracking and protecting Indias space assets, has been set up.

• ISRO SSA Control Centre, ‘NETRA’, is set up within the ISTRAC campus at Peenya.The control centre is envisaged to function as a hub of all SSA activities within India.
• The Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM) engages in evolving improved operational mechanisms to protect Indian space assets through effective coordination amongst ISRO/DOS Centres, other space agencies and international bodies.

OBITUARIES

105-year-old Freedom Fighter Hariram Dhaka passes away
Hariram Dhaka, a 105-year-old freedom fighter from Churu district in Rajasthan, passed away.

• Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his predecessor Vasundhara Raje expressed their condolences on Dhaka’s demise.

Veteran politician Radhika Ranjan Pramanik passes away
Veteran politician and five-time MP Radhika Ranjan Pramanik died of age-related ailments
He was 88.

• He was elected to Lok Sabha five times from Mathurapur on a CPI(M) ticket, beginning 1989. Before that he represented Magrahat (East) assembly constituency.
• Pramanik left the CPI(M) to join the TMC during the later phase of his political career.

Noted Marathi musician Narendra Bhide passes away
Marathi music composer Narendra Bhide who is known for his passion for music passed away due to heart attack. He was 47.

• He is known for giving music to many Marathi films, dramas, and serials. He also worked as an actor in the 2018 film Mulshi Pattern. He was also the director at the Pune-based studio Dawn Infotainment.
• Some of his noteworthy work is included in films such as A Paying Ghost, Deool Band, Bioscope, Harishchandrachi Factory, Sane Guruji, and Pushpak Vimaan.
• Bhide contributed to the entertainment industry through his music in films, serials, plays and jingles.
• Bhide bagged many prestigious awards such as the State Drama Award and Zee Gaurav Puraskar for his plethora of work.He has also been honored with the Sahyadri Cine Award, V Shantaram Award, Shrikant Thackeray Award, M.A. Ta. Honors, State Film Awards, among others.

Kabul’s Deputy Governor killed in a blast in Afghanistan
A bomb attack in Afghanistan’s capital city killed the deputy governor of Kabul, adding a sticky bomb was attached to his car by unknown assailants.

• Mahboobullah Mohebi, the deputy governor was travelling with his security guards when the blast occurred. Two guards were injured in the blast.
• No militant group has made an immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Former Liverpool, France coach Gerard Houllier passes away 
Former Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain and France coach Gerard Houllier has passed away. He was 73.

• Houllier, who had a long association with the national team as a youth coach, an assistant and head coach between 1992 and 1993.He resigned after failing to take the team to the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
• He rebuilt his reputation at Liverpool, however, joining as co-manager with Roy Evans in 1998 before assuming full responsibility and leading the team to a treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001.
• He also had success back in France with Lyon, leading them to back-to-back Ligue 1 titles.He returned to management after taking a break in 2010.

RSS ideologue MG Vaidya passes away
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue and the organisation’s first spokesperson Madhav Govind Vaidya died after a brief illness, his family said. He was 97.

• Vaidya, who became a volunteer of the RSS almost two decades.
• He was the first RSS ‘pracharpramukh’ (spokesperson). He was also a former Akhil Bhartiya Bauudhik Pramukh of RSS. He had also been a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
• He wrote several books and also a column in Tarun Bharat for 25 years.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

VP M. Venkaiah Naidu releases book ‘Oh Mizoram’, a collection of English poems by Governor of Mizoram
Vice-President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu had virtually released Governor of Mizoram, Shri P S Sreedharan Pillai’s  125th book titled ‘Oh, Mizoram’ – a collection of English poems.

• ‘OH, Mizoram’ is his first poetry collection in English. It was published by the Indus Scrolls Press.

Jaishankar launches book by ANI Chairman Prem Prakash
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar launched ‘Reporting India’ in Delhi. The book is written by ANI Chairman Prem Prakash.

• The launch of the book was followed by a discussion in which the author took questions. The event was organised in association with Prabha Khaitan Foundation.
• The 225-page book has been published by Penguin India and is also available on Amazon and Flipkart.

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