Important Current Affairs 8th November 2020

INTERNATIONAL

Joe Biden wins the US presidential election

• Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has defeated Donald Trump to become the 46th U.S. president. Biden will become the oldest president-elect in U.S. history and the first to oust a sitting commander-in-chief after one term since Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush in 1992. Biden’s electoral college vote to 290, surpassing the 270 needed to win the White House. Biden’s running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, becomes the first Black and Indian-American woman to serve as vice president.

• Biden Jr. was born November 20, 1942, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, Biden previously served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 and United States Senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009.

NATIONAL

India-Italy Virtual Bilateral Summit 2020

• The Bilateral Summit between India and Italy was held virtually on 6th November 2020. The Summit was attended by the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Italy Prof. Giuseppe Conte. The two leaders reviewed the broad framework of the bilateral relationship and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation against common global challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

• A wide range of issues was discussed including political, economic, scientific & technological, space and defence cooperation. 15 MoUs/Agreements were signed during the Summit in various sectors such as energy, fisheries, shipbuilding, design etc.

ISRO launches PSLV C49 with 10 satellites

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  has launched the 51st mission of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). This is the first mission by ISRO in 2020. The carrier vehicle PSLV C49 will deliver 10 satellites in all with EOS-01 as the primary one. It is the 51st mission of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The carrier was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

• The EOS-01, an earth observation satellite, was intended to provide agriculture, forestry and disaster management support. The nine customer satellites are from Lithuania (1), Luxembourg (4) and USA (4). The customer satellites were being launched under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), department of space.Two-day joint coastal security exercise ‘Sagar Kavach’ begins

• A two-day joint coastal security exercise, “Sagar Kavach” was launched at Paradip Coast, Odisha. The exercise is being carried out by a joint effort of the state of Odisha and West Bengal governments.

• The main purpose of the exercise is to carry out the exercise on the coast of Paradip this year, just like every year after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The exercise is being carried out to prevent a repeat of the Mumbai attacks by sea.

• More than 10 such departments, including the Indian Navy, the Indian Coast Guard, the

Odisha Police, the local fishermen, the forest department, and the port marine department, have joined the joint exercise.

It will run for two days, with red and green forces being formed to infiltrate and prevent attacks. This year for coastal security the exercise was named “Sagar Kavach”.

PM Modi Chairs Virtual Global Investor Roundtable (VGIR) 2020

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi chaired the Virtual Global Investor Roundtable (VGIR) 2020 Conference, aimed at attracting investment in the country. It provided a platform for exclusive dialogue between leading global institutional investors, Indian business leaders and the highest decision-makers from the government of India and financial market regulators. The Indian side included business leaders, financial market regulators, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI governor Shaktikanta Das.

• The conference focused on discussions around India’s economic and investment outlook, structural reforms and the government’s vision for making the country a $5 trillion economy.

• The Virtual Global Investor Roundtable (VGIR) was organised by the Ministry of Finance and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.

• The roundtable witnessed participation from 20 of the world’s largest pension and sovereign wealth funds with total assets under management of about USD 6 trillion.

• These global institutional investors represent key regions including the US, Europe, Canada, Korea, Japan, Middle East, Australia, and Singapore.

Manipur’s Gyanendro Ningombam becomes new president of Hockey India

• Manipur’s Gyanendro Ningombam was elected unopposed as the President of Hockey India, while former President Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad is back in the Hockey India Executive Board after being Elected Unopposed for the Senior Vice President post.

• Earlier, Gyanendro Ningombam has been serving as the Officiating President of Hockey India since July 2020.

SUMMITS AND MOU’S

Dharmendra Pradhan co-chairs 4th Meeting of the OPEC-India Dialogue

• The 4th High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-India Dialogue was hosted by the OPEC Secretariat. The Meeting was co-chaired by HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary-General of OPEC and Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel.

• Key matters discussed at the meeting included rapidly changing global energy landscape, overcoming energy challenges, global oil price mechanisms, measures being taken by OPEC and its partners for balancing oil markets, and on ensuring oil supply security for India.

• This was the first time that the meeting of this Institutional Dialogue was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• The virtual meeting was joined by OPEC Member countries, Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India and CMD & MDs of India’s oil and gas industry from both the public and the private sector.

• The first such dialogue was held in 2015. It was informed that the next High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-India Dialogue will be held in 2021, and if possible in person, in New Delhi.

Whatsapp Partners with 5 Banks for UPI Payment

• WhatsApp has partnered with five Indian banks to process its payment services. These are State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Jio Payments Bank. The Facebook-owned messaging platform, WhatsApp Inc., has received the approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based payments services in India, to let users send or receive money across the country.

• The service can however be expanded in a graded manner. It means that initially, Whatsapp can only roll out the payments service to only its 20 million users. The payment system will be rolled out in ten Indian regional languages in the latest version of WhatsApp app.

AAI Signs MoU With NTPC Subsidiary, NVVN

• The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a subsidiary of NTPC Ltd, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), to promote usage of electric vehicles and set up solar power plants at the airports managed and operated by AAI.

• NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) will be provided adequate land and rooftop space by AAI, free of cost, at identified AAI airports to set up solar power plants.

• Initially, NVVN will begin working on the projects at airports in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

• The solar capacity required at airports in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan is around 55 MW and 8 MW, respectively to become 100% solar-powered airports.

• Apart from this, AAI and NVVN will jointly work towards supporting the government of India’s initiatives for the adoption of electric vehicles by the creation of public charging infrastructure and promoting the usage of electric vehicles at airports.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

SEBI increases Overseas Investment limits for Mutual Funds

• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has enhanced the investment limits for Mutual Fund companies for overseas investments. Mutual Funds can make overseas investments subject to a maximum of US $ 600 million per Mutual Fund, within the overall industry limit of US $ 7 billion. Earlier it was USD 300 million.

• Mutual Funds can make investments in overseas Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) subject to a maximum of US $ 200 million per Mutual Fund, within the overall industry limit of US $ 1 billion. Earlier it was Rs 50 million.