VISION

Saturday, December 05, 2020

Daily Current Affairs, 05th December 2020

1) International Volunteer Day: 05 December

•The International Volunteer Day (IVD), also called International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development is observed on 5 December every year. IVD 2020 Theme: “Together We Can Through Volunteering”. The IVD international observance was mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985.

•The purpose of the day to celebrate the efforts of volunteers and organizations and offer the opportunity to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and international levels.

2) World Soil Day: 05 December

•The World Soil Day is celebrated every year on December 5 to raise awareness of the importance of soil quality for human well-being, food security and ecosystems. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) campaign “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity” aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being.

•The date of 5 December was chosen because it corresponds with the official birthday of the late H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, who was one of the main proponents of this initiative.

3) Vice President releases a book on Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

•The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu has released the book titled “40 Years with Abdul Kalam- Untold Stories”, a book on the life of the former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The book was authored by Dr A.Sivathanu Pillai. The book is published by Pentagon Press LLP and the foreword was written by Pranab Mukherjee, former president of India.

4) PASSEX conducted by Indian Navy and Russian Navy

•The Indian Navy (IN) and the Russian Federation Navy (RuFN) are undertaking Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The exercise will help in enhancing interoperability, improving understanding and imbibing best practices between both the friendly navies. It involves advanced surface and anti-submarine warfare exercises, weapon firings, seamanship exercises and helicopter operations.

•Indian Navy is being represented by indigenously constructed guided-missile frigate Shivalik and anti-submarine corvette Kadmatt along with integral helicopters. Russian Federation Navy includes guided-missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev and medium ocean tanker Pechenga. The PASSEX’s are conducted regularly by Indian Navy with units of friendly foreign navies.

5) Ranjitsinh Disale becomes 1st Indian to win 2020 Global Teacher Prize

•Ranjitsinh Disale, a government teacher from Zilla Parishad Primary School, in Paritewadi village, Solapur district of Maharashtra, has won the 2020 Global Teacher Prize. He is the first Indian to win this award, which carries prize money of $1 million (Rs 7.4 crore).

•The 32-year-old has won the annual Global Teacher Prize 2020 in recognition of his efforts to promote girls’ education in his village and trigger a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India. He made efforts and added QR codes to textbooks of primary classes to provide links to audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments. He also worked towards education for girls and teaching people about the ill-effects of teenage marriage and even helped to achieve 100% attendance of girls.

•Ranjitsinh has also created history by announcing to share half the prize money with the nine finalists from across the world for the award, where each one will receive about $55,000 each. He also becomes the first winner to share the prize money with the finalists.

6) Majerhat Bridge named “Jai Hind” to Mark Netaji’s 125th Birth Anniversary

•West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee named the newly built “Majerhat bridge” in Kolkata as ‘Jai Hind’ bridge to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Subash Chandra Bose. The new bridge has been built in the place of an old one which collapsed in September 2018. It is 650-metres long and connects the Central part of Kolkata to the Southwestern suburbs of Behala and others.

7) Gitanjali Rao becomes 1st-ever TIME’s “Kid Of The Year”

•The Indian-American young scientist and inventor, Gitanjali Rao, has been named as the first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’ by the iconic TIME magazine. This is the first time that the TIME magazine has launched the Kid of The Year” award.

The HINDU Notes – 05th December 2020

the hindu notes

vision cse 16:51

📰 Farmers’ protest | India summons Canadian High Commissioner; issues demarche over Trudeau’s remarks

External Affairs Ministry told that such actions, if continued, would have a “seriously damaging” impact on the bilateral ties.

•Comments from the leadership and other members of the Canadian government regarding the ongoing farmers agitation is “unacceptable interference” in India's affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday. This message was conveyed to the Canadian High Commissioner Nadir Patel by senior Indian diplomats after he was formally summoned to the ministry and handed over a demarche in this regard.

•“The Canadian High Commissioner was ..informed that comments by the Canadian Prime Minister, some Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament on issues relating to Indian farmers constitute an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs. Such actions, if continued, would have a seriously damaging impact on ties between India and Canada," said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement that summed up the contents of the demarche issued to the Canadian High Commissioner.

•Friday's comment is tougher compared to the previous official statement issued on December 1 when India had avoided naming Prime Minister of Canada even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had expressed concern about the condition of the farmers in his Gurupurav message.

•Mr Trudeau's coalition partner Jagmeet Singh of New Democratic Party has made several public comments about the farmers agitation. In his message he had praised the farmers saying they are opposing “privatisation”. “As millions of farmers walk towards the Indian capital, they walk with this spirit (of Guru Nanak)”, Mr Singh had said on November 30. Another MP Jack Harris had criticised India's handling of the protests and said “We are shocked” during the police action against the farmers.

•The December 1 statement from the MEA had merely described the Canadian messages as “ill-informed”. However Friday's demarche says the comments from the Canadian authorities “have encouraged gatherings of extremist activities in front of our High Commission and Consulates in Canada that raise issues of safety and security.”

•The farmers agitation in India have found a strong echo among the Indo-Canadian community many of whom came from the north Indian plains. Various cities in Canada have witnessed drive by protests and gatherings by Indo-Canadians against the police action on the farmers near Delhi.

•“We expect the Canadian Government to ensure the fullest security of Indian diplomatic personnel and its political leaders to refrain from pronouncements that legitimise extremist activism,” said the MEA in its statement.