Top Current Affairs 21 December 2020
Top Current Affairs 21 December 2020: This post contains the latest current affairs for 21 December 2020 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.
National
India’s first Centre of Excellence for Skill Development in Power Sector inaugurated in Gurugram
- The Minister of State for Skill Development, Raj Kumar Singh, inaugurated the first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for ‘skill development in the power sector’ in Gurugram.
- The CoE has been established in the campus of National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram, Haryana.
- This new centre has been set up by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education and Youth, Government of France and Schneider Electric.
- It has high-end modern labs designed keeping in mind the future technology, which will further strengthen India and France’s relationship in energy sector.
- The centre will design and deliver Training for Trainers, Instructors, Training of Assessors and other high-end programme in the power and solar sector.
‘Varasat’ campaign launched in Uttar Pradesh to curb property & land-related disputes in rural areas
- The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a special campaign ‘Varasat’ (natural succession) to curb property & land-related disputes in rural areas.
- This is a first of its kind campaign in the state which aims to put an end the land-related issues in the rural areas and eradicate the exploitation of the villagers over succession rights by land mafias, who generally target disputed properties..
- The two-month-long special drive will continue till 15th February 2020.
Key Feature of Varasat scheme
- Under the arrangements, the villagers will get both online and offline facilities for registering their ‘Varasat’.
- For the people who have land in the village but they are living at some other place, a special counter will be opened at the Tehsil-level where they can apply for the same.
Benefits
- People will get proper paper documents of their land property.
- They can even avail loans from banks.
- It would be helpful in minimising disputes and animosity within families and relatives.
- Villagers would also get rid of facing law suits, that sometimes trail for generations.
- All the information related to such land will be uploaded on the website of the revenue board based on which the progress of the scheme will be reviewed.
International
Singapore’s ‘Hawker’ Culture serving as ‘Community Dining Room’ Gets UNESCO Recognition
- The Hawker Culture of street food in Singapore, has been inducted by UNESCO in its prestigious ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’.
- The Hawker Culture is a popular Singaporean style of street dining and culinary practices in a multicultural urban environment.
- Hawker centers are naturally-ventilated premises with stalls selling food from various cultures like Chinese, Malay, Indian, among others.
- The Hawkers of Singapore are known to master a variety of cuisines which they serve at the ‘community dining rooms’ where people from across all walks of life gather and share their unique experiences.
Conference
20th IORA Council of Ministers Meeting Held in UAE
- The 20th edition of the IORA Council of Ministers (COM) Meeting was on December 17 via video conferencing under the Chairmanship of United Arab Emirates (UAE).
- The theme of the meeting was “Promoting a Shared Destiny and Path to Prosperity in the Indian Ocean”.
- The COM-20 was inaugurated by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the UAE.
- The UAE assumed the position of the IORA Chair in November 2019 during the 19th COM, for the period 2019-2021.
- The Indian delegation was led by Shri V. Muraleedharan, MoS, Ministry of External Affairs.
- All 22 Member States and 10 Dialogue Partners participated in the virtual meeting to discuss ways in coordinating efforts to achieve IORA’s vision for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indian Ocean region as outlined in the Jakarta Concord and IORA Action Plan.
- During the 2020 COM, France was inducted as the 23rd member state of IORA.
- Sri Lanka has assumed the charge of Vice Chair of IORA for the period 2021-23.
About Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
- The IORA is an inter-governmental organisation which was established on March 7, 1997. Headquarter : Ebene, Mauritius
- IORA’s apex body is the Council of Foreign Ministers (COM) which meets annually, with the aim of promoting regional cooperation, prosperity, and growth in the Indian Ocean region.
- It comprise of 22 Member states and 10 Dialogue partners.
- The 22 member states are: Australia, Iran, Bangladesh, the Comoros, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
- IORA has ten dialogue partners: China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Dr. S. Jaishankar addresses 5th Annual Global Technology Summit
- The 5th edition of the annual Global Technology Summit (GTS) was organised virtually from December 14 to 18, 2020, by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India in collaboration with Carnegie India (CI).
- The theme of the 2020 GTS was “The Geopolitics of Technology”.
- The speakers from included the External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, and Dr. K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India.
- The industry experts, policymakers, and scholars from all over the world participated in the five day event to deliberate on five comprehensive sub-themes, which included:
- Geopolitics of Technology,
- Data: Linking the World,
- Digital Payments: The Future of Global Financial Highways,
- Digital Inclusion: Taking the Local to the Global, and
- Transforming Healthcare for a Post-COVID World.
- GTS is one of the four flagship annual conferences organised by MEA. The other three conferences are the Raisina Dialogue, the Geo-economic dialogue, and the Indian Ocean Conference.
Defence
Defence minister Rajnath Singh hands over 3 DRDO high-tech systems to chiefs of 3 armed forces
- The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently handed over three indigenously developed high technology systems to chiefs of the three armed forces: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.
- The three systems namely, Border Surveillance System (BOSS), Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) and ASTRA Mk-I Missile, have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Border Surveillance System (BOSS)
- BOSS is an all-weather electronic surveillance system. It was handed over to Army Chief General M M Naravane.
- BOSS has already been deployed in Ladakh against the Chinese troops for day and night surveillance.
- It has been designed and developed by Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun and is being produced by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Machlipatnam.
- The system facilitates monitoring and surveillance by automatically detecting the intrusions in harsh high-altitude sub-zero temperature areas with remote operation capability.
Indian maritime situational awareness system (IMSAS)
- It was handed to Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh.
- The IMSAS is state-of-the-art high performance intelligent software system that provide Global Maritime Situational Picture, Marine planning tools and Analytical capabilities to Indian Navy.
- The product is jointly conceptualised and developed by Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics (CAIR), Bengaluru and Indian Navy, while it is being produced by BEL, Bengaluru.
Astra Mk-1 missile system
- It was handed over to Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria.
- This missile is the first indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) missile that can be launched from Sukhoi-30, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Mig-29 and Mig-29K.
- ASTRA weapon system has been developed by Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) and production by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) Hyderabad.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates advanced Hypersonic Wind Tunnel test facility in Hyderabad
- The Union Minister of Defence Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the advanced Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (HWT) test facility of the DRDO in Hyderabad on 19 December 2020.
- The state-of-the-art HWT Test facility has made India as the only third country in the world, after the US and Russia, to have such a huge facility in size and capability.
- The indigenously developed HWT Test facility is pressure vacuum driven enclosed free jet facility having nozzle exit diameter of 1 metre. This will simulate Mach No 5 to 12 (Mach represents the multiplication factor to the speed of sound)”
- The facility has the capability to simulate hypersonic flow over a wide spectrum and will play a major role in the realization of highly complex futuristic aerospace and defence systems
