International
VAIBHAV Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit on 2 October 2020 through video conference. The Summit is a global virtual summit of overseas and resident Indian researchers and academicians. Over 3000 overseas Indian origin academicians and scientists from 55 countries and more than 10000 resident academicians and scientists are taking part in this summit. It will conclude on 31 October 2020. The summit aims to bring Indian
origin luminaries in academic institutes and Research and Development organizations across the world and resident counterparts on a single platform to debate upon collaboration mechanisms to strengthen academic and Science and Technology based in India for global development.
Global Climate Summit
United Nations and Britain will co-host a global climate summit on 12 December 2020. National governments will be invited to present more ambitious and highquality climate plans at the summit, which would involve government leaders as well as the private sector and civil society. The December summit is intended to increase momentum ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 26) to be held in Glasgow in November 2021.
PM address in UNGA
On 26 September 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually addressed the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in Hindi. He focused on reforming the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). In his pre-recorded video statement PM questioned for how long will India, the world’s largest democracy and home to 130 crore people, be kept out of the decision-making structures of the United Nations, asserting that reform in the responses, processes and the very character of the global body is the “need of the hour”.
The event was held under the theme “The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism”. ‘Declaration on the Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations' was adopted at the high-level meeting of the 193-member Assembly.
25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani participated in the 25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women virtually and said that India recognises the centrality of gender equality and women's empowerment in all aspects in the developmental agenda. On this eve, the UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka called for big and bold steps to accelerate progress towards gender equality.
G4 Nations meeting
On the eve of 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Foreign Ministers of the G4 countries India, Brazil, Japan, and Germany met virtually and highlighted the urgency of reforming the United Nations and updating its main decision-making bodies to better reflect contemporary realities. Broader membership of the Security Council will allow it to preserve its credibility and create the political backing needed for the peaceful resolution of today’s international crises.
National
Ghar Tak Fibre
On 21 September 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated nine highway projects and the ‘Ghar Tak Fibre’ scheme via video-conference in Bihar. ‘Ghar Tak Fibre’ scheme will connect all 45,945 villages of Bihar through optical fibre internet service brings a “digital revolution” to reach the state’s remotest corner”. The project will include setting up of Wi-Fi and free connections at government institutions such as primary schools, Anganwadi centres, Aasha workers, Jeevika Didi. The highway projects inaugurated cover a road length of about 350 kilometres and will be completed at a cost of Rs. 14,258 crore.
Ambedkar Social Innovation Incubation Mission
Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot launched a programme named ‘Ambedkar Social Innovation Incubation Mission’ (ASIIM) on 30 September 2020, to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste (SC) students in the higher education campuses. The programme helps the SC techies refine a raw startup idea in the best technological facilities and take it to commercial launch, to create 1,000 SC startups over three years. ASIIM will run for 3 years with a total budget of Rs. 308.8 crore. The funds will be routed through the social justice ministry’s “Venture Capital Fund for SCs” which is managed by the IFCI Venture Capital Fund Limited.
Atal Tunnel
On 3 October 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the strategically important, all-weather Atal Tunnel at Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh. It connects Manali to the Lahaul-Spiti valley and reduces travel time to Leh in the Union Territory of Ladakh by five hours. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) completed the construction of the tunnel within its estimated cost of construction. The tunnel is built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) from the Mean Sea Level (MSL). The 9.02 km-long longest highway tunnel in the world is a horseshoeshaped built at a cost of about Rs. 3,300 crore. The tunnel has a telephone facility at every 150 metre, a fire hydrant every 60 metre, emergency exits every 500 metre, a turning cavern every 2.2 km, air quality monitors every 1 km, broadcasting system and automatic incident detection system with CCTV cameras every 250 metre. The central government decided to name the Rohtang Tunnel as Atal Tunnel in December 2019.
Others
Swachh Bharat Awards-2020
On 2 October 2020, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat conferred the Swachh Bharat Awards2020 to States, Districts, Blocks and Village Panchayats. The awards were given particularly under the drinking water and cleanliness categories. The government of India had earlier launched three missions under Swachh Sundar Samudayik Shouchalaya, Samudayik Shouchalaya Abhiyan and Gandagi Mukth Bharat. Under the Swachh Sundar Samudayik Shouchalaya category, Gujarat bagged the first position at state level whereas Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu got the award for cleanliness at District Level. Khachrod block in Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh was awarded the first position and Chinnanur Village in Tamil Nadu bagged the top slot at Gram Panchayat level. Under the Samudayik Shouchalaya Abhiyan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh were awarded as the best performing states whereas Prayagraj and Bareilly got it for being the best performing districts. Under the Gandagi Mukth Bharat Mission, Haryana and Telangana were awarded the top slot.
SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award
Veteran actor Sonu Sood was conferred with the prestigious SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 28 September 2020 during a virtual ceremony. He tirelessly worked to help stranded migrant workers get to their homes during the lockdown and often dubbed as the “messiah of migrants”.
Model Questions
1. Who is appointed as the first Chairman of the National Medical Commission?
1) Randeep Guleria 2) Balram Bhargava 3) Suresh Chandra Sharma 4) Soumya Swaminathan 5) Lav Agarwal
2. Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah became the emir of ….
1) UAE 2) Saudi Arabia 3) Qatar 4) Kuwait 5) Oman
3. Who is appointed as the new chief of National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO)?
1) Usha Padhee 2) Aveek Sarkar 3) Anil Dhasmana 4) Subhash Kamath 5) Rajat Sud
4. 'Ganga Avalokan', the first museum on Ganga aimed at showcasing the culture, biodiversity and rejuvenation activities done in the river inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in …
1) UP 2) Uttarakhand 3) West Bengal 4) Bihar 5) Jharkhand
5. What is the theme of the International Day of Peace 2020 that observed on 21 September?
1) Peace from Carona 2) Peace for SDG 3) Shaping Peace Together 4) Peace for 21st Century 5) Achieving the Peace
6. Which company won the contract to build new parliament building for Rs. 861.9 crores?
1) L & T 2) Lodha Group 3) TATA projects 4) Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd 5) GMR Group
7. Rashtriya Raksha University will be established in…
1) Rajasthan 2) Gujrat 3) Telangana 4) Odisha 5) Kerala
8. Russian Grand Prix 2020 won by..
1) Lewis Hamilton 2) Max Verstappen 3) Valtteri Bottas 4) Daniel Ricciardo 5) Charles Leclerc
9. ‘Jeevani’, a health drink aimed at enhancing the immunity levels of people launched by which state Agriculture University?
1) Andhra Pradesh 2) Telangana 3) Karnataka 4) Bihar 5) Kerala
Key: 1-3; 2-4; 3-3; 4-2; 5-3; 6-3; 7-2; 8-3; 9-5.
