Daily GK 22 Oct. 2020
1. ‘CURED’ – WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION ON COVID-19
• Union Minister for Science & Technology, Harsh Vardhan
launched ‘CuRED’ or ‘CSIR Ushered Repurposed Drugs’ (Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research-CSIR) a website for providing information on Repurposed
Drugs for COVID-19.
• The website provides information regarding clinical trials of
diagnostics and devices in which CSIR is involved.
2. DDCS WILL BE CREATED IN
J&K
• Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended the Jammu and Kashmir
Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 by removing
a provision in Section 10 that requires payment of honorarium to panches and
sarpanches (village head) in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir
(J&K).
• The amendment also provides for the creation of District
Development Councils (DDCs) in each district of J&K which will have
jurisdiction over the entire district excluding areas designated as
municipality or Municipal Corporation.
• The term of the DDCs will be 5 years.
3. INDIA’S LONGEST BRTS
NETWORK
• Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani inaugurated the newly
expanded Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) route from Kumbhariya to Kadodara,
Surat virtually from Gandhinagar.
• With the opening of this BRTS corridor, Surat became the only
city in the country to have Longest BRTS network with 108 kms.
4. 6TH INDIA INTERNATIONAL
SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2020
• Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology at a
review meeting held in New Delhi announced that the 6th edition of India
International Science Festival (IISF) 2020 will be held from 22nd to 25th
December, 2020.
• IISF 2020 will be organized at a virtual platform and will be
spearheaded by Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with
support of all other concerned ministries and departments.
5. SOGA 2020 REPORT
• 3rd State of Global Air 2020 (SOGA 2020) report was released by
United States (US)-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) and Institute for
Health Metrics and Evaluation’s (IHME) Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Project
in which India recorded the highest annual average PM 2.5 concentration
exposure in the world in 2019 followed by Nepal (2nd), and Niger (3rd).
• India is also among the top ten countries with highest ozone
(O3) exposure in 2019.
• Qatar recorded the highest O3 exposure followed by Nepal and
India.
6. WEF REPORT
• According to the Third Edition of “The Future of Jobs Report
2020” released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), COVID-19 and Technological
Advances will disrupt around 85 Million Jobs by 2025.
• The WEF report is based on the Future of Jobs Survey, which is
based on projections of Senior Business Leaders from 300 Global firms who
together employ over a million workers.
7. LOWY INSTITUTE ASIA
POWER INDEX 2020 EDITION
• According to Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 2020 Edition
released by Sydney (Australia) based Lowy Institute, India with a score of 39.7
(out of 100) is the 4th most powerful country in Asia.
• United States Topped the index with a score of 81.6, followed
by China – 76.1 & Japan – 41.0. However, India has lost its status as
“Major Power” as its power came down to 39.7.
• The score is marginally shy of the Major Power threshold of 40
Points.
8. CENTRAL BANKING AWARDS
2020
• Central Banking organised a virtual award ceremony to honour
the winner of the Annual Central Banking Awards 2020.
• The 2020 awards mark the 7th edition of the Annual Central
Banking Awards.
• The award recognises the excellence in the central banking
community.
• The Bank of Ghana (BoG) received the Central Bank of the Year
Award 2020 and Ernest Addison, the governor of BoG received the award on behalf
of the bank.
