VISION

 Geography Mains Previous Year’s Question 2013-2019 PDF

1) World Arthritis Day: 12 October

•World Arthritis Day is observed globally on 12th October every year. The day is celebrated to raise awareness about arthritis, an inflammatory condition which causes pain and stiffness in joints which can worsen with age.

2) International Day of the Girl Child: 11 October

•International Day of the Girl Child is observed globally on 11 October every year since 2012. The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.

•The theme for 2020 International Day of the Girl Child is “My voice, our equal future”.

3) Goa becomes first ‘Har Ghar Jal’ State across the nation

•According to the data provided by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Goa has become the first “Har Ghar Jal” State in the country by providing tap water connection to every rural household. The state provided tap water connection to 2 lakh 30 thousand rural households in all the 191 Gram Panchayats of the state.

•North Goa with 1,65,000 rural households and South Goa with 98,000 rural households are fully saturated with assured piped water supply through tap connections. Goa’s achievement is an example for other States to emulate and ensure every rural home gets tap connection and especially in these times of Covid-19 pandemic.

4) SVAMITVA Scheme: PM Modi launches physical distribution of Property Cards

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the programme of physical distribution of Property Cards under the SVAMITVA scheme through video conferencing. The Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) is a Central Sector Scheme, which was launched in April 2020 to provide the ‘record of rights to document the residential properties’ to village household owners in rural areas and issue Property Cards.

5) Andhra Pradesh CM launches “Jagananna Vidya Kanuka” scheme

•Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched a new scheme named the ‘Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ scheme to distribute school kits among the poor children of the state. The state shall spend around Rs 650 crore towards the scheme. 42,34,322 kits will be distributed across the state under the scheme.

•Under this scheme, the government school students from classes 1 to 10 across the state will set the school kits or Vidya Kanuka, which will contain three pairs of uniform, one pair of shoes, two pairs of socks, a belt, one set of textbooks and notebooks and one school bag.

6) Aava Murto becomes Finland’s PM post for a day

•As part of the United Nations International Day of Girl Child (11th October 2020), a 16-year old Aava Murto assumed the post of Finland’s Prime Minister for one day on 7th October 2020 to raise awareness about gender equality. It was done as part of the “Girls Takeover” Program. Murto hails from the small village of Vaaksy in Southern Finland.

7) Delhi govt approves tree transplantation policy

•Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal has passed a first-of-its-kind in India ‘Tree Transplantation Policy’ to preserve trees for clean and green Delhi. As per this policy, the trees which needs be felled due to any circumstances, like for constructions and other development projects, would not be cut but instead uprooted and transplanted somewhere else.

8) Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2020 announced

•The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank  (Sweden’s central bank) Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”.

9) FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced LTC cash voucher scheme

•Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced leave travel concession (LTC) cash voucher scheme and special festival advance scheme for government employees with an aim to increase consumer spending. She announced proposals regarding consumer spending and capital expenditure. Under consumer spending, she announced proposals within two components: LTC cash voucher scheme and special festival advance scheme.

 Property Card SVAMITVA Scheme : Prime Minister Narendra Modi Launched physical distribution of property cards under the SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages And Mapping With Improvised Technology In Village Areas) scheme.

Property Card under SVAMITVA Scheme

Central government's SVAMITVA scheme aims to provide 'record of rights' to village property owners.

 Vision IAS Weekly Focus Informal Economy in India and Covid 19 PDF

1) National Postal Day is celebrated on 10 October

•In India, the National Postal Day is celebrated annually on 10 October, as an extension of World Post Day, which is celebrated on 9 October. The Day aims to commemorate the role played by the Indian postal department for the past 150 years, which was founded in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie.

2)  World Mental Health Day: 10 October

•World Mental Health Day is observed globally on 10th October every year. The day is celebrated with an objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing the efforts in support of mental health. World Mental Health Day is organized by the World Federation for Mental Health.

•This year’s theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health is ‘mental health for all’.

3)  World Migratory Bird Day: 10 October

•World Migratory Bird Day is observed globally on 9 May or 10th October. The Day will celebrate the biannual migration. The aim of the day is to raise awareness of migratory birds and the importance of international cooperation to conserve them.

•This time the theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2020 is “Birds Connect Our World”. The theme highlights the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural cycles that are essential for the survival and well-being of migratory birds.

•This day is organized by a collaborative partnership among two UN treaties the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and the Colorado-based non-profit organization, Environment for the Americas (EFTA). This day is a global campaign dedicated to raising awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.

4)  Piyush Goyal gets additional charge of Ministry of Consumer Affairs

•The Union Minister Piyush Goyal has been assigned the additional charge of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in addition to his existing portfolios, following the death of union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Goyal is currently serving as the Union Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and Industry.

5)  Uttarakhand Govt launches “Mukhya Mantri Saur Swarojgar Yojana”

•Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat has launched the “Mukhya Mantri Saur Swarojgar Yojana” at the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Auditorium in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The scheme is aimed at promoting self-employment of the youth and promoting the production of Green Energy. The targeted beneficiaries include youths and migrant workers, who returned home after leaving jobs in various parts of the country due to pandemic.

6)  DRDO successfully test-fires anti-radiation missile “Rudram”

•The DRDO has successfully flight-tested a new generation Anti-Radiation Missile (RUDRAM-1) at the Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. The missile was launched from SU-30 Mk1 fighter aircraft. The missile, having a speed of Mach two or twice the speed of sound, is capable of bringing down a wide-range of enemy radar systems, communication networks and air defence systems within a range of up to 250 kilometres.

7)  Coastal security exercise “Sagar Kavach” concludes

•A two-day Coastal Security Exercise namely ‘Sagar Kavach’ conducted by the Indian Navy along with Indian Coast Guard and all stakeholders involved in Coastal Security from the coast of Kerala. The exercise was monitored from Joint Operations Centre, Kochi. Sagar Kavach is a half-yearly exercise with an objective to check the Coastal Security mechanism and validate Standard Operating Procedures. The exercise conducted along the coastal areas of Kerala, Karnataka and Lakshadweep assumes significance in the backdrop of the prevailing security situation in the country.

•Apart from Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, Coastal Police, Coastal District Administration, Cochin Port, Fisheries Department, Customs, Marine Enforcement Wing (MEW), Central Industrial Security force (CISF), Intelligence Bureau (IB), LightHouse Department and fishermen community participated in the exercise.

8)  Mukesh Ambani tops the Forbes India Rich List 2020

•The Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani, has topped the Forbes India Rich list for 2020. He has retained his position as the wealthiest Indian for the 13th consecutive year on Forbes India list. The tycoon added $37.3 billion to his net worth, to bring his total fortune to $88.7 billion, a rise of 73% over the previous year.

•The second spot has been retained by Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, with a net worth of $25.2 billion. Tech tycoon Shiv Nadar acquired the third spot with a net worth of $20.4 billion.