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Top 20 Current Affairs of 5 January 2021
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
TRIFED to Promote Products of North–East in collaboration with DoNER & India Post
ii.This collaboration is on the lines of ‘Act East policy’ of the government to promote economic, strategic and cultural relations with Asia-Pacific region.
iii.It will also contribute towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Vocal for Local, and Buy Tribal initiative of the Government.
About Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED):
Establishment– 1987
Managing Director– Pravir Krishna
Headquarter– New Delhi
About Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER):
Minister of State (Independent Charge)– Dr. Jitendra Singh
Secretary– Dr. Inder Jit Singh
<<Read Full News>>
MoD signs Contract with BEL to Supply Indigenous 10 Lynx U2 Fire Control systems for Indian Navy
ii.The Lynx system has been designed and developed indigenously on the lines of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
iii.These will be delivered by BEL over the next five years.
About Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL):
Chairman & Managing Director (CMD)– M V Gowtama
Headquarter– Bengaluru, Karnataka
About Ministry of Defence (MoD):
Union Minister– Rajnath Singh
Minister of State (MoS)– Shripad Yesso Naik
<<Read Full News>>
Centre Notifies 0-1 km Area Around Boundary of Kerala’s Mathikettan Shola National Park as Eco-Sensitive Zone
ii.The area of the Eco-sensitive Zone is 17.5 square kilometres.
iii.The notification was issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Objective
To conserve the uniqueness of Shola forest in Mathikettan and its importance as an elephant corridor.
About Kerala:
Tiger Reserve– Periyar Tiger Reserve, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve
Bird Sanctuary– Thattekkad bird Sanctuary, Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary
<<Read Full News>>
Government Implementing Rs 320 cr project for 5 Ports to Enable Digital Ecosystem
ii.Also, a centralised web-based port community system (PCS) has been operationalised across all major ports to enable seamless data flow between various stakeholders through common interface.
About Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways:
Minister of State (MoS)– Mansukh Mandaviya
Secretary– Dr. Sanjeev Ranjan
<<Read Full News>>
Narendra Singh Tomar Inaugurated Virtual Agri India Hackathon 2020; 1st of its Kind & Largest Virtual Event in Indian Agriculture History
ii.This 2 month event is 1st of its kind and also the largest virtual event in Indian agriculture history.
iii.The hackathon is organised by Pusa Krishi, ICAR – Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) & Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.
About Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare:
Union Minister– Narendra Singh Tomar(Constituency- Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State– Parshottambhai Rupala, Kailash Choudhary
About ICAR-IARI:
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).
It is popularly known as Pusa Institute
Director– Ashok Kumar Singh
HeadQuarters– New Delhi, Delhi
<<Read Full News>>
Dr Harsh Vardhan Released report Action Agenda for AtmaNirbhar Bharat (AAAN) prepared by TIFAC
ii.It should be noted that earlier TIFAC prepared a report namely “Focused Interventions for ‘Make in India’: post COVID -19’ providing foresight towards the understanding of technology interventions in key sectors (Healthcare, Machinery, ICT, Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Electronics) for boosting the economy.
About Ministry of Science and Technology:
Union Minister Harsh Vardhan Constituency– Chandni Chowk, New Delhi
Departments under the ministry– Department of Science & Technology(DST), Department of Biotechnology(DBT), Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR)
About Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC):
It is an autonomous institution of DST
Chairperson– Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat
Headquarter– New Delhi
<<Read Full News>>
Karnataka’s Hubballi railway station to get World Longest Railway Platform 
About the project:
i.The construction of the platform is done with an expenditure of Rs. 90 crore for remodeling of wards, building work, signalling, third entrance construction, electrical and other related works.
ii.This project is a part of doubling between Hubbali and Bengaluru which is underway since November 2019.
Features:
i.Earlier the existing 440-meter-long platform number 1 was planned to be expanded to a length of 1400 meters. The South-Western Railway (SWR) has later decided to expand the length to 1,505 meters.– Increasing the length of the platform is a part of Rs.80 Lakh Project.
ii.As a part of this project in addition to the existing 5 platforms, 3 new platforms are being constructed.
Note:
The 1366-meter-long platform of Gorakhpur railway station, Uttar Pradesh, the headquarters of the North-Eastern Railway (NER), is the longest railway platform in the world, it was renovated in 2013.
Kerala to host 4th Global Ayurveda Festival 2021: March 12th to 19th
V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and the chairman of Global Ayurveda Festival announced that the 4th Global Ayurveda Festival 2021(GAF2021), world’s largest festival of Ayurveda community will be organised in a high end virtual space from 12th to 19th March 2021 in Kerala. The festival is organised by Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA), the Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI), the Ayurveda Hospital Management Association, in collaboration with various departments of the central and state government.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) is the festival partner and industry partner.
GAF2021:
i.The GAF2021 is aimed at a global discussion and development of Ayurveda.
ii.Focal Theme of International Ayurveda Seminar 2021 is Strengthening Host Defence System – Ayurveda A Potential Promise; International Delegate Assembly Theme 2021 is Globalizing Ayurveda – Scope, Challenges and Solutions; International Business Meet Theme 2021 is:Global Ayurveda Pharmacy – Practices, Possibilities and Policies.
iii.The exhibition will be organised virtually and have stalls of ayurveda companies from all over the world.
iv.This will focus on the relevance of Ayurveda in post COVID-19 world and its importance in enhancing immunity.
A 5 day ‘National Folk Dance Festival’ in Jammu was held from December 26 2020
A 5 day long ‘National Folk Dance Festival’ was held in Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory-JKUT) from December 26, 2020. It was organised by the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala (Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India) jointly with Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages. Of the 5 days, for the first 3 days, i.,e from December 26 to 28, 2020 the festival will be organised at Abhinav Theatre, Jammu. Artists from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab participate in it. The festival was inaugurated by Former Deputy CM, Kevinder Gupta, S D Singh Jamwal and senior Journalist Sohail Kazmi was also present on the occasion.
BANKING & FINANCE
RBI Launched Jan 2021 Round of “Consumer Confidence Survey” & “Inflation Expectations Survey of Households”
ii.It should be noted that both surveys will be conducted by the Mumbai (Maharashtra) based agency, M/s Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd., on behalf of the RBI surveys through face-to-face interviews as well as telephonically.
iii.These surveys are conducted on a regular basis.
iv.In accordance with RBI’s “Quarterly Basic Statistical Returns (BSR)-1: Outstanding Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), September 2020”, Bank credit growth on y-o-y basis stood at 5.4% in Q2FY21 compared to 5.7% growth in the Q1FY21.
About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Formation– 1 April 1935
Governor– Shaktikanta Das
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Deputy Governors– 4 (Bibhu Prasad Kanungo, Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, and M Rajeswar Rao)
<<Read Full News>>
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
India’s April-November Fiscal Deficit is 135.1% of full-year target
Key Points:
i.As per CGA data the total expenditure incurred by the government up to November rose 4.7% to Rs 19.06 lakh crore or 63% of BE.(i.e. Rs.16.6 lakh crore was on revenue account, ₹2.41 lakh crore was on Capital Account).
ii.As per BE the government had pegged the fiscal deficit at ₹7.96 lakh crore or 3.5% of the GDP in the Union Budget.
iii.Over ₹3.34 lakh crore were transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by the Government of India up to November 2020.
iv.The tax revenue collection was 42.1% of BE of 2020-21, compared with 45.5% of BE (2019-20). Non-tax revenue was 32.3% of BE compared with 74.3% of BE 2019-20.
v.Fiscal deficit had soared to seven-year high of 4.6% of the gross domestic product in 2019-20.
vi.Fiscal deficit means the gap between the expenditure and revenue, Fiscal deficit had breached the annual target or BE in July this year.
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APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS
Soma Mondal Becomes 1st Woman Chairman of SAIL; Succeeds Anil Kumar Chaudhary
- Prior to this appointment Soma Mondal was serving as the Director (Commercial) of SAIL.
About Soma Mondal
i.She started her career as the Graduate Engineer Trainee at National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) and was later elevated as the Director (Commercial).
ii.After her service with NALCO, she later joined SAIL in 2017 as the Director (Commercial)
iii.At SAIL, she was instrumental to introduce new marketing strategies and products.
SAIL launched niche branded products like NEX (Structural) and SAIL SeQR (TMT bars) under her leadership.
About Anil Kumar Chaudhary:
i.He assumed the position as the Chairman of SAIL on 22nd September, 2018. Besides being a chairman he also held the additional charge as director (Personnel).
ii.He has over 34 years of experience in the Iron & Steel Sector while working with SAIL.
iii.He has received many awards and honours including, the First Award for Excellence in Cost Management for the years 2014 and 2017.
About Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL):
i.It is one of the largest steel-making companies in India. It is the Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprises(CPSE).
ii.Indian govt owns about 75% of SAIL’s equity and retains voting control of the Company
Headquarters-New Delhi, Delhi
Chairman– Soma Mondal
UGC Set up a 7 Member Committee Headed by R P Tiwari for CET at UG level 
Aim of the Panel– To provide a single platform for admission.
Key Info:
i.If CET is implemented, the National Testing Agency(NTA) will be responsible to conduct this test and a common exam for a discipline at least twice a year for admission to Central universities.
ii.The report is expected to be submitted by January 2021 and the decision is likely to be submitted by March 2021.
Note
i.CET is the 1st step after the introduction of National Education Policy(NEP) 2020, to eliminate the unrealistic cut-off marks that colleges put up for admission to their UG courses.
ii.NEP 2020 advocates to reduce the number of entrance tests to eliminate the need to take coaching for these exams.
Number of Universities under MoE
i.The Ministry of Education runs 40-odd central universities.
ii.All of these universities have about 1 to 1.25 lakh seats across different disciplines at UG level.
iii.Currently of these 16 central universities that are set up under the government have CET for Bachelor’s courses.
About University Grants Commission(UGC):
It is set up by the Government of India in accordance with the UGC Act 1956 under the Ministry of Education.
Chairman– Prof. D P Singh.
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi.
Indian Army Creates a New Human Rights cell; Major General Gautam Chauhan Becomes 1st ADG, Human Rights
Indian Army has created a new human right cell at its headquarters(New Delhi). Major General Gautam Chauhan has been appointed as the 1st Additional Director General-ADG (Human Rights-HR). He will function under the Indian Army Vice Chief Lieutenant General SK Saini.
- This is the 1st time, Indian army has appointed a major general rank officer to examine the human rights issue and suggest means to better the track record of the force.
- This appointment is part of the ongoing restructuring of Indian Army headquarters.
Key Info
i.The ADG (HR) will have an Indian Police Service(IPS) officer of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP/Superintendent of Police(SP) rank on deputation in his branch to offer investigative expertise and facilitate necessary coordination with the home ministry and other organizations.
ii.As part of the current restructuring of headquarters of the Indian Army, ADG (Vigilance) will shortly be appointed.
About Human Rights cell
i.The nodal body will look into any rights violations.
ii.It helps Indian army to have a greater transparency and integrity in its functioning
About Major General Chauhan:
i.Major General Chauhan, an infantry officer from Gorkha Rifles, was serving as the brigadier Operations Logistics at Headquarters of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS)-New Delhi, before his appointment as ADG(human rights).
ii.He was the nodal man for Covid 19 related issues for tri-services.
iii.He has headed brigades in the NorthEast region and served in Directorate of Military Operations (MO).
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
IAF Chief Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria launched IAF e-Governance portal – “e-office”
On 31st December 2020, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria launched the “e-office”, Indian Air Force(IAF) E-governance portal over a virtual ceremony at the Air Headquarters, Vayu Bhavan, New Delhi. The portal is developed and implemented by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
This indigenously designed portal is customized to meet the filing system requirements of IAF. The project started in April 2020 with a proposed date of completion of 1st January 2021.
This is a part of the Digital India and e-governance initiative which aims to transform the IAF to paperless office workflow.
OBITUARY
Former Indian Hockey Player & Olympic Medalist Michael Kindo Passed Away at 73
Career Highlights of Michael Kindo:
i.Michael Kindo was a part of the Indian Hockey Team which won the Olympic bronze medal in the Munich Olympic 1972.
ii.He was also a part of the Indian team that won the 1975 Hockey World Cup held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was the only time that Team India won the World cup.
iii.Michael Kindo received the Arjuna award in 1972 and became the first sportsperson of tribal background to receive the Arjuna award.
iv.Kindo also played in 1971 World Cups held in Barcelona, Catalonia & 1973 World Cup held in Amstelveen, Netherlands & 1974 Tehran Asian Games.
Buta Singh, Senior Congress Leader, Former Home Minister & Governor of Bihar Passed Away at 86
- The 4 Prime Ministers for whom he served include, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh.
About Buta Singh:
Party
Before joining the congress, he was in the Shiromani Akali Dal party, earlier to which was a Communist.
Constituency
i.He was first elected to the 3rd Lok Sabha in 1962, from the Moga constituency(Punjab).
ii.He was subsequently elected to the 4th(1967) 5th(1971), 7th(1980) Lok Sabha from Ropar constituency(Punjab).
iii.He was elected to 8th(1984), 10th (1991), 12th(1998) and 13th(1999) lok sabhas from from Jalore constituency(Punjab)
Key Positions held
i.He has held many key positions including, Union Deputy Minister, Railways. Union Deputy Minister, Commerce.
ii.He also served as the national president of the Scheduled Caste Commission, Union Minister of State, Supply and Sports (Independent Charge) and Union Cabinet Minister, Parliamentary Affairs, Sports and Works and Housing among others.
iii.In 1981, he was made the Chairperson of the Organising Committee for Asian Games, the first major international games to come to India.
Col Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar, Ace Mountaineer Who Helped India to Secure Siachen Glacier Passed Away at 87
- In 1964, he was the first Indian to climb Mount Nanda Devi. He climbed Mount Everest in 1965, Mount Blanc( highest peak in the Alps), and later Mount Kangchenchanga.
About Col Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar:
i.Col Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar was one of the first officers to land the Siachen glacier as a part of a mountaineering expedition.
ii.He contributed in convincing the military and political leaders of India about the strategic importance of the Siachen glacier.
iii.His observations during his expeditions were published in “The Illustrated Weekly of India” in 1983. This was the first public acknowledgement of the situations in the Siachen glaciers.
iv.He was the deputy leader of the first successful Indian Mount Everest expedition in 1965.
Note:
The Indian Army launched the “Operation Meghdoot” in 1984 based on the maps and videos of Col Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar and secured the Siachen Glacier.
Awards and Honours:
i.The government of India honoured Col Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar with the Padma Shri in 1965
ii.The Indian Army honoured him with Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) distinction in all three services, an honour at the rank of a colonel.
iii.He also received the Kirti Chakra and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.
iv.In his honour, the Siachen Battalion headquarters at the Siachen Glacier base has been named “Kumar Base”.
v.He won Arjuna Award, in 1965 for the first Indian Everest Expedition of 1965.
IMPORTANT DAYS
3rd World Braille Day – 4th January 2021
ii.This year (2021) marks the 3rd edition of the World Braille Day.
iii.The day marks the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the French educator and the inventor of Braille language, a system of reading and writing for the visually impaired.
iv.The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/73/161 on 17th December 2018 and proclaimed the 4th January of every year as the Word Braille Day.
v.The first Word Braille Day was observed on 4th January 2019.
About UNICEF:
Executive Director– Henrietta Holsman Fore
Headquarters– New York, United States of America
<<Read Full News>>
STATE NEWS
NHPC, PDD & J&K Power Development Corporation Signs MoUs to Implement Mega Hydro Power Projects in J&K
ii.Mega hydro power projects include, 850 MW Ratle HydroElectric Power Project(HEP) and 930 MW Kirthai-II HEP, and executing the pending Sawalkot HEP (1856 MW), Uri-I (Stage-II) (240 MW) and Dulhasti (Stage-II) (258 MW).
iii.In addition to this, about 19 important projects of PDD were also inaugurated during the Mega inauguration ceremony.
Purpose of the MoUs– To make J&K a power surplus region in India.
About Jammu & Kashmir:
Dance Forms– Kud Dance, Dumhal Dance, Rouf Dance, Bachha Nagma, Hafiza Dance
Festivals– Jhiri Mela, Baisakhi, Purmandal Mela, Hemis Festival, Chaitre Chaudash.
<<Read Full News>>
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Current Affairs Today (AffairsCloud Today)
| S.no | Current Affairs 5 January 2021 |
|---|---|
| 1 | TRIFED to Promote Products of North–East in collaboration with DoNER & India Post |
| 2 | MoD signs Contract with BEL to Supply Indigenous 10 Lynx U2 Fire Control systems for Indian Navy |
| 3 | Centre Notifies 0-1 km Area Around Boundary of Kerala’s Mathikettan Shola National Park as Eco-Sensitive Zone |
| 4 | Government Implementing Rs 320 cr project for 5 Ports to Enable Digital Ecosystem |
| 5 | Narendra Singh Tomar Inaugurated Virtual Agri India Hackathon 2020; 1st of its Kind & Largest Virtual Event in Indian Agriculture History |
| 6 | Dr Harsh Vardhan Released report Action Agenda for AtmaNirbhar Bharat (AAAN) prepared by TIFAC |
| 7 | Karnataka’s Hubbali railway station to get World Longest Railway Platform |
| 8 | 4th Global Ayurveda Festival 2021: March 12th to 19th |
| 9 | A 5 day ‘National Folk Dance Festival’ in Jammu was held from December 26 2020 |
| 10 | RBI Launched Jan 2021 Round of “Consumer Confidence Survey” & “Inflation Expectations Survey of Households” |
| 11 | India’s April-November Fiscal Deficit is 135.1% of full-year target |
| 12 | Soma Mondal Becomes 1st Woman Chairman of SAIL; Succeeds Anil Kumar Chaudhary |
| 13 | UGC Set up a 7 Member Committee Headed by R P Tiwari for CET at UG level |
| 14 | Indian Army Creates a New Human Rights cell; Major General Gautam Chauhan Becomes 1st ADG, Human Rights |
| 15 | IAF Chief Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria launched IAF e-Governance portal – “e-office” |
| 16 | Former Indian Hockey Player & Olympic Medalist Michael Kindo Passed Away at 73 |
| 17 | Buta Singh, Senior Congress Leader, Former Home Minister & Governor of Bihar Passed Away at 86 |
| 18 | Col Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar, Ace Mountaineer Who Helped India to Secure Siachen Glacier Passed Away at 87 |
| 19 | 3rd World Braille Day – 4th January 2021 |
| 20 | NHPC, PDD & J&K Power Development Corporation Signs MoUs to Implement Mega Hydro Power Projects in J&K |
