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Important Current Affairs 18th November 2020

SPORTS

Novak Djokovic lifts ATP Year-end No. 1 Trophy for 6th time

• Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has given the ATP Tour No. 1 trophy on 15 November 2020, for finishing 2020 as the year-end No. 1 (world number one). With this, he has become the only second player in tennis history, after Pete Sampras, to receive the trophy sixth time.

• Earlier Djokovic had finished as world number one in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018. Before this, only Pete Sampras has managed to finish six years on top of the rankings which he did between 1993 and 1998.

OBITUARY

Japanese Nobel-prize-winning Masatoshi Koshiba passes away

• Physicist Masatoshi Koshiba, who shared 2002 Nobel prize for the detection of cosmic neutrinos, passed away. Koshiba’s most famous work involved detecting neutrinos from a distant supernova explosion using a vast detector based in a mine in central Japan. Koshiba, a distinguished professor at the University of Tokyo.

• Koshiba devised the construction of giant underground chambers to detect neutrinos, elusive particles that stream from the sun. Neutrinos offer a unique view of the sun’s inner workings because they are produced in its heart by the same process that causes the sun to shine. His student, Takaaki Kajita, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2015 for research at the Super-Kamiokande facility that found neutrinos have mass.

Former Pondicherry Lt Guv Chandrawati passes away

• Former Lt Governor of Pondicherry, Chandrawati passed away. She has a number of 1st to her credit as she was the 1st Member of Parliament (1977), the 1st MLA, 1st minister (1964-66 and 1972-74) & 1st leader of Opposition in the Haryana assembly (1982-85).

• Chandrawati had also served as the president of the Janata Party from 1977 to 1979.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

ED Director SK Mishra's tenure extended by one year

• The Union government has extended the tenure of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra by a year after modifying his appointment order that was issued in 2018. His tenure was to end next week as the ED director’s post comes with a fixed term of two years.

• As per an order issued by the Department of Revenue under the Union finance ministry on Friday, the 2018 order for appointment of Mishra has been modified. “The President of India is pleased to approve the modification in the earlier order dated November 19, 2018, appointing Shri Sanjay Kumar Mishra as director of enforcement in the Enforcement Directorate.

• The ED is a central investigative agency that enforces two central laws, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). These laws were enacted to curb money laundering, terror financing, black money and hawala or illegal financial transactions that have cross-border ramifications.

IMPORTANT DAYS

3rd Naturopathy Day is celebrated on 18 November

• The National Naturopathy Day is observed in India on 18 November every year, to promote positive mental and physical health through a drugless system of medicine, called as Naturopathy. The 48-day program of webinars will continue till the third National Naturopathy Day, which falls on 18 November 2020. The day was declared by the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy), Government of India, on November 18, 2018.

• As a part of the occasion, National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune under Ministry of AYUSH has organised a series of webinars on ‘Gandhian philosophy of Self Reliance through Self Health Reliance’ on Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations from 2nd Oct 2020. It was on this day in 1945 when Mahatma Gandhi became lifetime Chairman of the All India Nature Cure Foundation Trust and signed the deed with the object of making the benefits of Nature Cure available to all classes of people.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Dr Susanta Kar Honoured with Prof. A N Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award-2020

• Dr Susanta Kar, Senior Scientist, Molecular Parasitology and Immunology, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research- Central Drug Research Institute (CSIR-CDRI) was honoured with “Prof. A N Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award 2020” by Society of Biological Chemists (India), Bengaluru. The award is given to him for his contribution towards defining the survival tactics of Leishmania Donovani.

• Leishmania Donovani is a protozoan parasite that infects the macrophages and the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar).

BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI creates Reserve Bank Innovation Hub to boost financial inclusion

• The Reserve Bank of India has created a Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH). The aim of Innovation Hub is to promote innovation across the financial sector by leveraging on technology and creating an environment which would facilitate and foster innovation. RBIH will collaborate with financial sector institutions, technology industry and academic institutions and coordinate efforts for exchange of ideas and development of prototypes related to financial innovations.

• Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) would be managed by a Governing Council (GC) consisting of 10 members (including a chairperson). Shri Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and former co-Chairman, Infosys, has been appointed as the first Chairperson of the RBIH.

RBI puts Lakshmi Vilas Bank under moratorium

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed cash-strapped Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) under a moratorium for a period of one month and restricted withdrawals at Rs 25,000 for depositors, owing to a serious deterioration in the lender’s financial position. The central bank also superseded the board of directors of LVB for a period of 30 days owing to a serious deterioration in the financial position of the bank. The move was announced through an order by the Ministry of Finance.

• Reserve Bank has come to the conclusion that in the absence of a credible revival plan, with a view to protecting depositors’ interest and in the interest of financial and banking stability, there is no alternative but to apply to the Central Government for imposing a moratorium under section 45 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank to be merged with DBS:

• The RBI has also drafted a scheme of amalgamation for LVB with DBS Bank India Ltd. and aims to complete the merger process before the moratorium period ends.

• DBS Bank India Ltd (DBIL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DBS Bank Ltd, Singapore (“DBS”), which in turn is a subsidiary of Asia’s leading financial services group, DBS Group Holdings Limited.

• The bank invited suggestions and objections, if any, from members, depositors and other creditors of transferor bank (LVB) and transferee bank (DBIL), on the draft scheme.

• DBIL will bring in additional capital of ₹2,500 crore upfront, to support credit growth of the merged entity.

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