MEITY and IBM India collaborate to upskill members of CSC ecosystem in Al & Cloud

• Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY) and IBM (International Business Machines) India have collaborated to establish an education & Skilling ecosystem through Common Services Centre (CSC) Academy (part of the Common Services Centre scheme) to upskill members of the CSC ecosystem in new age technologies like Artificial Intelligence & Cloud.

• It will focus on skill upgradation through experiential learning which are aimed at enhancing employability

• CSC Academy, IBM India along with implementation partners CSR Box, Uva Jagriti Sansthan and Jeevitam will focus on exposing village level entrepreneurs to new-age technologies like Al and cloud.

• The collaboration aims to provide access to employment to 4000 village level youth in identified rural areas.

• IBM India will provide content from its skilling programs - SkillsBuild and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) for Girls, which is currently being used for training services and in community development programs across 6000 CSC Academies.

CSC Academy:

• The Common Services Academy (CSC) Academy was set up in 2017 to provide access to professional learning for learners of diverse backgrounds and educational needs.

• It supports more than 3.7 lakh common service centres which includes 60, 000 Women only centres.

• It is planning to set up 6,000 CSC Academy centres across the country, out of which 5000 have already been set up

About Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY):

• Union Minister - Ravi Shankar Prasad
• Minister of State - Sanjay Dhotre

About IBM India:

• General Manager of IBM India, South Asia - Sandip Patel
• Headquarters - Bengaluru, Karnataka

Virtual National Conference on 'Empowering Through Zero- Shunya Se Sashaktikaran

• Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Union Minister of Education chaired and addressed a virtual national conference on 'Empowering Through Zero- Shunya Se Sashaktikaran'.

• It was organised by Sri Aurobindo Society.

• Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' honoured over 40 education officers and 26 teachers for their leadership role and innovative practices respectively during COVID-19 pandemic.

• He launched an e-book, 'Innovation and Leadership Casebook - Covid Edition'. It comprises the innovative efforts and work of the education officers and teachers.

• A research report that was prepared by Cambridge on 'Zero-Investment Innovations for Education Initiatives' (ZIIEI) was launched. ZIIEI is a nation-wide education programme of Sri Aurobindo Society and HDFC Bank.

About Zero-Investment Innovations for Education Initiatives(ZIIEI):

• Sri Aurobindo Society and HDFC Bank started ZIIEI, a mass-scale teacher outreach initiative in 2015.

• This initiative is part of Sri Aurobindo Society's nation-wide education transformation program, Rupantar.

• To discover the scattered, isolated and unrecognised, but effective solutions that are created by teachers at the grassroot.

• And to implement the solutions systematically to schools annually.

About Sri Aurobindo Society:

• Chairman-Pradeep Narang
• Head Office- Puducherry

Rajnath Singh Participated in India, Vietnam Virtual Defence Bilateral Talks

• India and Vietnam hold virtual Defence Ministers bilateral talks where India was represented by Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Vietnamese side was represented by General Ngo Xuan Lich, Minister of National Defence of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

• During the meet, various discussions were held regarding ongoing projects, collaboration in Defence Industry capability building, training and cooperation in United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Operations.

• In order to further deepen bilateral cooperation, both sides signed an implementing arrangement for cooperation in the field of Hydrography. It was signed between Dehradun (Uttarakhand) based National Hydrographic Office, India and Vietnam Hydrographic Office in the presence of the two Ministers.

• This arrangement will enable sharing of hydrographic data and assist in production of navigational charts by both sides

India Launches GRID for Inclusive Development at Community Level

• United Nations Development Program(UNDP) Accelerator lab in India launched a first of its kind Grassroot Innovation Database(GRID) to promote inclusive development at the community level.

• GRID is co-created by GIAN [Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network], Honey Bee Network Institution and UNDP Accelerator Lab-India.

• The database provides more than 1500 innovative solutions developed by grassroot communities, individuals, start-ups, students and other innovators from across the country & GRID works at 3 Levels

• To meet the needs of 21st century developmental challenges, UNDP launched Accelerator labs in India in 2019, initiated by UNDP, Germany and Qatar.

About UNDP, India:

• Resident Representative - Shoko Noda
• Headquarter - New Delhi.

About Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN):

• Founder-Anil K Gupta
• CEO-Anamika Dey
• Head Quarter - Ahmedabad, Gujarat

RXIL Initiates 1st Trade Credit Insurance Backed Transaction with Tata AIG General Insurance, ICICI Bank and YES Bank in Sandbox

• Receivables Exchange of India Limited (RXIL) has initiated a Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) backed transaction in the Sandbox environment. In this TCI backed transaction, RXIL has collaborated with TATA AIG as the insurer, ICICI bank and YES Bank as financiers. It is the 1st time a Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platform tested the effectiveness of TCI backed transactions. This improves the financier's ability to assign credit limits to corporates.

• After the regulatory approvals, TCI will be implemented. It will enable financiers to discount the invoices drawn on lower rated corporate buyers, by their MSME sellers and will improve the liquidity from lenders.

• The TCI on TREDS platform paves way for a complete digital credit insurance model & it is simple to buy credit insurance on TREDS

• TCI is an insurance policy and a risk management product that is provided to the business entities to protect their business from loss due to credit risks.

• It is to be noted that TCI on TREDS was one of the recommendations by the U.K Sinha Committee report on MSME credit.
• The testing in the Sandbox environment was introduced, on the review of guidelines of TCI by a working group constituted by IRDAI(Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India).

RXIL operates TReDS Platform as per the TREDS guideline issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 3, 2014.

• RXIL is the first entity to receive the approval from RBI on December 01, 2016 to launch India's First TREDS Exchange.

About Receivables Exchange of India Limited(RXIL):

• February 25, 2016 as a joint venture between Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) & National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE India) with State Bank, ICICI and Yes Bank as other stakeholders.

• Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Ketan Gaikwad HeadQuarters, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• Prakash Javadekar Launched 'India Climate Change Knowledge Portal' to Provide Information on Various Climate Change Initiatives

• Union Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change Mr. Prakash Javadekar has launched "India Climate Change Knowledge portal" to provide information about the Government initiatives towards climate change to the citizens.

• This will be the "Single Point Information Resource" updates initiatives by various Ministries Nationally and Internationally, towards the fight on climate change. The portal is built similar to the world bank's Climate Change Knowledge Portal.

8 Major Components of the Portal:

• India's Climate Profile

• National Policy Framework

• India's NDC goals

• Adaptation Actions

• Mitigation Actions

• Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation

• International Climate Negotiations

• Reports and Publications

Indian Navy inducts two 'MQ-9B Sea Guardian' American Predator drones on lease

• Indian Navy inducted two 'MQ-9B Sea Guardian' unarmed drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - UAV) procured from the United States (U.S.) on lease. MQ-9B Sea Guardian became the first defence hardware to be procured on lease under the new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

• The drones have been leased from an American firm, General Atomics for a period of 1 year for surveillance in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

• The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) i.e General Atomics will support the maintenance of the drones

• The drones will be based at Naval Air Station in Rajali, Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu.

• The drones can also be deployed for surveillance along India's land borders along China such as Ladakh.

MQ-9B Sea Guardian:

• MQ-9B Sea Guardian is a maritime variant of Predator MQ-9 UAV.

• It has a maximum endurance of 40 hours and a maximum flying altitude of 40, 000 feet.

About General Atomics:

• Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - Neal Blue
• Headquarters - San Diego, California, United States

• Australia to host Temporary Ground Station Tracking facilities for ISRO's Gaganyaan Mission

• Australian Space Agency (ASA), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are working together to set up Temporary ground station tracking facilities in Australia for ISRO's Gaganyaan Mission.

Gaganyaan Mission is an ambitious plan of ISRO to put an Indian in space by 2022.

• The collaboration between India & Australia in the Space sector is based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2012.

• ASA & ISRO will collaborate in 7 National Civil Space Priority Areas of Australia such as Position, Navigation and Timing, Earth Observation, Communications Technologies and services, space situational awareness and debris monitoring

• India's Gaganyaan Mission will make India just the 4th Nation to send a crew into space. United States(U.S.), Russia, China were the 3 nations which had already send Humans to space.

Tamil Nadu SOTTO has been awarded the Best State SOTTO Award

• National(Indian) Organ Donation Day is annually observed across India on 27th November to recognize the selfless contribution made by deceased donors to healthcare and mankind re-instill our faith in humanity.

• The day is observed by National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. 27th November 2020 marks the 11th National Organ Donation Day.

• NOTTO organised an event to mark the 11th National Organ Donation Day. The Central Reserve Police Force(CPRF) has conferred 79572 soldiers as "Angadan warrior", who have filled the pledge to donate their eyes, skin, lungs, heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, heart valves and intestines after death

• The Government has established 5 Regional Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisations (ROTTO) at regional level in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Guwahati.

• ROTTO West was awarded as the Best ROTTO in India.

• For the 6th consecutive year Tamil Nadu SOTTO has been awarded the Best State SOTTO in India with 295 transplants, in which 76 were lung transplants which were performed on people who suffered acute forms of COVID-19.

• PGIMER, Chandigarh was judged the "Best Hospital" category for its outstanding contribution towards the promotion of cadaver organ donation.

• Tamil Nadu has harvested 8245 organs from around 1392 donors and distributed them based on seniority.

• The state has also performed the first bilateral cadaveric hand transplant in the country.

• According to the WHO Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT) website, India ranks 3rd with 12666 organ transplants in 2019.

• About National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO):

• Director- Dr. Vasanthi Ramesh
• Headquarters- New Delhi

SIDBI Signs MoU with TamilNadu Govt to Develop MSMEs in the State

• Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TamilNadu(TN) government to develop the MSMES(Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) ecosystem in the state. Under the MoU, a Project Management Unit (PMU) will be set up by SIDBI in Tamil Nadu.

• SIDBI had also signed MoU with the Uttarakhand Government to develop MSMEs. The MoU was signed in the presence of Trivendra Singh Rawat, Chief Minister of Uttrakhand, Manoj Mittal, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI and other dignitaries.

• In regard to development MSMES, SIDBI has signed MoU with 5 states and plans to sign 4 more shortly. The 5 states include, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana.

BSE signs 4 MoUs with Mission Youth, Government of J&K to spread Financial Literacy

• BSE Limited (formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd) signed four Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with Mission Youth, Government of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) to spread financial awareness, support economic development, encourage sustainable livelihood in the Union Territory of J&K.

• Around 400 Youth will be trained in BFSI services in the first phase of the program.

• The collaboration will enable an easy transition of Youth and Women of J&K from classroom to workplace environment.

• The association will allow eligible candidates to attend financial awareness programmes, undergo skill courses in banking and financial markets and specialised programmes in mutual funds.

• It would also help candidates to enroll themselves in BSE Star Mutual Fund Platform.

AP CM, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy Launched Interest Free Loan scheme "Jagananna Thodu"

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy launched a flagship scheme "Jagananna Thodu" aimed to benefit several small traders and street vendors. The Scheme is allocated with a fund of 905 Crores to benefit 9.05 lakh street vendors and traders.

• To Provide Interest Free loan upto Rs 10,000 to street vendors and marginal traders.

• Around Rs 1,000 crore is lent to nearly 10 lakh people where the government pays interest upto 100 crore annually.

• QR based Smart ID cards will be provided to vendors to avail the benefits.

• Vendors can enroll in the scheme by dialling toll free number 1902.

• The scheme will be monitored by Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) & Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas(MEPMA) of of Andhra Pradesh government

• UP Governor Anandiben Patel gives assent to Ordinance on "Unlawful Conversions"

• Uttar Pradesh(UP) Governor Anandiben Patel gave assent to "Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020" (Uttar Pradesh Vidhi Viruddh Dharm Samparivartan Pratishedh Adhyadesh 2020) which aims to curb forcible or "dishonest" religious conversion including those for the sake of marriage.

• The main objective of the ordinance is to prohibit conversion of religion through misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, allurement or marriage.

• The ordinance states that a marriage will be declared "shunya" or null and void if the main intention of the marriage was to "change a girl's religion".

• It makes unlawful conversions a non-bailable offence and cognizable offence and Offenders will face jail terms of upto 10 years.

• If a minor, woman or person belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes were converted through unlawful means, it could invite a jail term of minimum of 3 years and could be extended to 10 years with a fine of INR 25, 000.

James David Wolfensohn, Former president of the World Bank Passed Away

• James David Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, who served as the President for around 10 years (from 1st June 1995 to 31st May 2005), passed away. He was born in Sydney, Australia.

• He was the 3rd President of the World Bank to serve two full terms

Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sudan's Last Democratically Elected Prime Minister Passed Away

• Sadiq al-Mahdi(also known as Sadiq as-Siddiq). Sudan's Last Democratically Elected Prime Minister(PM) passed away at the age of 84 in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates(UAE) due to COVID-19. He was the head of the National Umma Party. He was born on December 25, 1935 in Al-Abasya, Omdurman, Sudan.

• Sadiq al-Mahdi served as the PM twices, one in 1966-67 and another from 1986 until 1989 Sudanese coup d'état, a military coup, headed by Omar al-Bashir.

• He was the leader of Ansar or followers of the Mahdi, a Sufi religious movement in the Sudan whose followers are disciples of Muhammad Ahmad, who claimed to be the Mahdi, the messianic saviour of Islam.

• He authored books, namely The Southern Question (1964); Speeches in Exile (1976); Questions on Mahadism (1979); Legitimate Penalties and Their Position in the Islamic Social System (1987) among others.

About Sudan(Republic of the Sudan):

• Capital, Khartoum

• Currency- Sudanese pound

• Prime Minister(PM), Abdalla Hamdok