1) National Cancer Awareness Day 2020
•The National Cancer Awareness Day is observed annually in India on November 7, to spread awareness on cancer, its symptoms and treatment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. In 2018, approximately 18 million cases were there globally, of which, 1.5 million were in India alone. In 2018, there were around 0.8 million cancer deaths in India against 9.5 million globally.
2) ISRO launches PSLV C49 with 10 satellites
•The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched the 51st mission of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). This is the first mission by ISRO in 2020. The carrier vehicle PSLV C49 will deliver 10 satellites in all with EOS-01 as the primary one. It is the 51st mission of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The carrier was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
•The EOS-01, an earth observation satellite, was intended to provide agriculture, forestry and disaster management support. The nine customer satellites are from Lithuania (1), Luxembourg (4) and USA (4). The customer satellites were being launched under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), department of space.
3) India’s special forces conducted ‘Bull Strike’ triservice exercise
•Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) has conducted a three-day Tri-Service Combat Exercise code-named “Bull Strike” at Teressa Island in Nicobar Group of Islands. The exercise focussed on interoperability and synergy among three services – Army, Navy and Air Force to maximise combat potential.
4) Two-day joint coastal security exercise ‘Sagar Kavach’ begins
•A two-day joint coastal security exercise, “Sagar Kavach” was launched at Paradip Coast, Odisha. The exercise is being carried out by a joint effort of the state of Odisha and West Bengal governments.
5) PM Modi Chairs Virtual Global Investor Roundtable (VGIR) 2020
•Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi chaired the Virtual Global Investor Roundtable (VGIR) 2020 Conference, aimed at attracting investment in the country. It provided a platform for exclusive dialogue between leading global institutional investors, Indian business leaders and the highest decision-makers from the government of India and financial market regulators. The Indian side included business leaders, financial market regulators, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI governor Shaktikanta Das.
6) Dharmendra Pradhan co-chairs 4th Meeting of the OPEC-India Dialogue
•The 4th High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-India Dialogue was hosted by the OPEC Secretariat. The Meeting was co-chaired by HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary-General of OPEC and Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel.
7) India-Italy Virtual Bilateral Summit 2020
•The Bilateral Summit between India and Italy was held virtually on 6th November 2020. The Summit was attended by the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Italy Prof. Giuseppe Conte. The two leaders reviewed the broad framework of the bilateral relationship and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation against common global challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
•A wide range of issues was discussed including political, economic, scientific & technological, space and defence cooperation. 15 MoUs/Agreements were signed during the Summit in various sectors such as energy, fisheries, shipbuilding, design etc.
8) Manipur’s Gyanendro Ningombam becomes new president of Hockey India
•Manipur’s Gyanendro Ningombam was elected unopposed as the President of Hockey India, while former President Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad is back in the Hockey India Executive Board after being Elected Unopposed for the Senior Vice President post. Earlier, Gyanendro Ningombam has been serving as the Officiating President of Hockey India since July 2020.
9) AAI Signs MoU With NTPC Subsidiary, NVVN
•The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a subsidiary of NTPC Ltd, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), to promote usage of electric vehicles and set up solar power plants at the airports managed and operated by AAI.
10) SEBI increases Overseas Investment limits for Mutual Funds
•Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has enhanced the investment limits for Mutual Fund companies for overseas investments. Mutual Funds can make overseas investments subject to a maximum of US $ 600 million per Mutual Fund, within the overall industry limit of US $ 7 billion. Earlier it was USD 300 million.
•Mutual Funds can make investments in overseas Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) subject to a maximum of US $ 200 million per Mutual Fund, within the overall industry limit of US $ 1 billion. Earlier it was Rs 50 million.
11) Whatsapp Partners with 5 Banks for UPI Payment
•WhatsApp has partnered with five Indian banks to process its payment services. These are State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Jio Payments Bank. The Facebook-owned messaging platform, WhatsApp Inc., has received the approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based payments services in India, to let users send or receive money across the country.
•The service can however be expanded in a graded manner. It means that initially, Whatsapp can only roll out the payments service to only its 20 million users. The payment system will be rolled out in ten Indian regional languages in the latest version of WhatsApp app.
