DAILY GK: 8 DEC 2020
1. PASSEX 2020
• Indian Navy Day i.e. December 4, 2020, a
two-day long Passage Exercise (PASSEX) 2020 between Russian Federation Navy
(RuFN) and Indian Navy (IN) was held from 4 to 5 December 2020 in the Eastern
Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• To enhance interoperability and
assimilation of best practices between both friendly navies.
2. UP RENAMES DANDUPUR RAILWAY
STATION
• The Government of India consented to
change the name of Dandupur railway station located between located between
Pratapgarh and Badshahpur on the Varanasi railway section, Uttar Pradesh(UP) as
“Maa Barahi Devi Dham”.
• The station is named after the “Maa Barahi
Devi” located in Parasrampur village, six kilometres from the railway station.
3. UN CND REMOVES CANNABIS FROM
“MOST DANGEROUS DRUG” CATEGORY
• In the Ongoing 63rd session of the United
Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UN-CND), Cannabis has been removed from
the “Most Dangerous Drug” category.
• CND voted to remove cannabis and cannabis
resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
• Cannabis is obtained from Cannabis Sativa
plant, popularly known by its Mexican name “Marijuana” referring to the leaves
or other parts of the plant.
• Indian state of Uttarakhand has legalised
the commercial cultivation of Cannabis.
4. ‘2020 WORLD ATHLETES OF THE
YEAR’
• Pole Vaulter Mondo Duplantis of Sweden was
named as the male World Athletes of the Year(2020) and Triple Jumper Yulimar
Rojas of Venezuela as the female World Athletes of the Year(2020) at the World
Athletics Awards 2020.
• Mondo Duplantis, who is 21 years old is
the youngest athlete ever to be named as the World Athlete of the Year.
• He is
also the first Swedish man or woman to win the award.
5. INDIGENOUS HOWITZER – ATAGS
• The Indigenous Howitzer (known as
Artillery Guns)- Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) developed by DRDO
underwent Trials at Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
• The Howitzer has a strike range of around
50 Kms. DRDO partnered with Armament Research and Development Establishment
(ARDE), and private companies Bharat Forge Limited, Mahindra Defence Naval
System, Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division and Ordnance Factory Board
(OFB) for the project.
6. ARMED FORCES FLAG DAY 2020 –
DECEMBER 7
• The Armed Forces Flag Day is annually
observed across India on 7th December to honour the martyrs and the men and
women in uniform who protect the honour of the country.
7. KANHARGAON BECOMES 50TH WLS OF
MAHARASHTRA
• Maharashtra’s 16th State Board of Wildlife
(SBWL) meeting headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray approved the
declaration of 10 new Conservation Reserves (CR) & 1 New Wildlife Sanctuary
(WLS) in Maharashtra.
• Kanhargaon in Chandrapur district was declared
a Wildlife Sanctuary making it Maharashtra’s 50th Wildlife Sanctuary.
8. 2020 ‘ASIAN OF THE YEAR’
• Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of Serum Institute of India (SII) was named as 2020 “Asians of the Year”
along with 5 others by The Straits Times, Singapore’s leading daily for their
contribution in fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• SII collaborated with University of Oxford
and AstraZeneca for making COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covidshield’ (under trials phase
in India).
