Global RE-INVEST Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo takes place

• The third Global RE-INVEST Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo 2020 organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) took place virtually. The event was virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• The Theme of RE-INVEST 2020 is 'Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition'.

• Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Maldives, the United Kingdom, European Union and United States agencies are Partner Countries

• Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are Partner States

• The meet was organized by MNRE in association with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

• India is now the 4th Largest renewable power capacity in the world. The Top 3 countries are China, United States & Brazil.

• At present, India's Renewable Energy capacity in India is 136 GigaWatts (GW) which is about 36% of the total capacity & By 2022, the share is expected to further increase to over 220 GW.

Global RE-INVEST Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo takes place

• The third Global RE-INVEST Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo 2020 organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) took place virtually. The event was virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• The Theme of RE-INVEST 2020 is 'Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition'.

• Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Maldives, the United Kingdom, European Union and United States agencies are Partner Countries

• Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are Partner States

• The meet was organized by MNRE in association with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

• India is now the 4th Largest renewable power capacity in the world. The Top 3 countries are China, United States & Brazil.

• At present, India's Renewable Energy capacity in India is 136 GigaWatts (GW) which is about 36% of the total capacity & By 2022, the share is expected to further increase to over 220 GW.

NSA Ajit Doval Visits Colombo to Participate in 4th NSA Level Meeting

• India's National Security Advisor(NSA) Ajit Doval visited Colombo, Sri Lanka for a two-day visit to participate in the 4th NSA Level Meeting on Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation between India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The meeting was hosted by Sri Lanka. The meeting is held after 6 years.

• Dinesh Gunawardena, Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka was the chief guest at the event.

• Along with him, Kamal Gunaratne, Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka and Mariya Didi, Defence Minister of Maldives participated

• The countries decided to hold Deputy NSA level working group meetings biannually for cooperation at the operational level.

• Sri Lanka, India and Maldives launched the Trilateral Cooperation in Maritime Security in October 2011. 3 meetings- 1st meeting took place in October 2011 in Maldives, 2nd meeting took place in Colombo in July 2013 and third(last) in March 2014 in New Delhi, India

• This is NSA Ajit Doval's 2nd visit to Sri Lanka.

• The former prime minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 19 November 1998 established NSC.

• The National Security Advisor(NSA) presides over the NSC. The first NSA is Brajesh Mishra.

• It is the apex body of the three-tiered structure of the national security management system in India.

• The three tiers are the Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board and a secretariat from the Joint Intelligence Committee

• It is an executive government agency to advise the Prime Minister's Office on matters of national security and strategic interest.

About Sri Lanka:

• President - Gotabaya Rajapaksa

• Capital - Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

• Currency - Sri Lankan Rupee

A Viable Vaccine for COVID-19 will not Halt the Spread of Economic damage: UNCTAD's Report

• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report titled 'The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development: Transitioning to a New Normal'. The report states that a viable novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine will not halt the spread of economic damage.

Highlights of the Report:

• The global economy will contract by 4.3%(-4.3%) in 2020 due to the pandemic.

• The crisis has the potential to send additional 130 million people into extreme poverty.

• It is prepared by an extended interdivisional UNCTAD team led by Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General, Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary-General, and Daniel Owoko, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Secretary-General.

About United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD):

• Head Quarter- Geneva, Switzerland

• Established, In 1964, by the United Nations General Assembly

• Secretary-General- Mukhisa Kituyi of Kenya

Rajasthan CM inaugurates India's first "Organ donor Memorial"

• On the occasion of 11th National Organ Donation Day celebration at Jaipur, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot inaugurated virtually the first of its kind "Organ Donor Memorial" in the country.

• The organ donor memorial has been built near SMS Hospital by the Mohan Foundation Jaipur Citizens Forum and the Jaipur Municipal Corporation.

• The memorial is inspired by the famous Jantar Mantar of Jaipur and it was designed by Sameer Wheaton.

• The first organ donation in the state was done by 6-year-old Mohit from the Alwar district in 2015. Since then, 38 families have come forward to donate organs of their kin who have been declared brain dead.

• The organ donors' memorial will keep encouraging people on the theme of 'ek khamoshi-anek muskaan, aao karein angdaan', for organ donation,"

 21st edition of Hornbill festival 2020 celebrated virtually First time in Nagaland

• Nagaland started celebrating the 21st edition of Hornbill festival 2020 from 1st-5th of December organised virtually for the first time due to the pandemic.

• Hornbill festival known as "Festival of Festivals" is organised by the state tourism of arts and culture department of Nagaland at the Naga Heritage Village of Kisama, Kohima.lt is a 10-day event.

• Mixture of dances, performances, crafts, parades, games, sports, food fairs and religious ceremonies Started in 2000, the festival is conducted every year from December 1-10 in line with the Nagaland State Foundation day on 1st December.

Lachit Divas 2020 Celebrated Across Assam to Remember Lachit Borphukan, Legendary Ahom General

• The Lachit Divas is annually celebrated across the state of Assam in India to remember the valor of Chao Lachit Borphukan, an army general of Ahom Kingdom (now Guwahati, Assam).Lachit Divas is celebrated across India since 2017.

• The day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of the state Hero Lachit Borphukan.

About Lachit Borphukan:

• Chao Lachit served as the army general, the Commander of Ahom Kingdom during the 17th century,

• In the Battle of Saraighat in 1671 against Mughal, He fought against the expansion of Mughal Empire in Assam and he contributed to the reversal of Mughal Territorial gains in the Assam region.

• He died from natural causes in April 1672 following the year after the Battle of Saraighat.

• As a part of the celebration of Lachit Divas, the state pays tribute to Chao Lachit at his statues across the State. To pay tribute to the State's hero, The State government has announced that an initiative will be taken to introduce a chapter on Lachit Borphukan in school textbooks.

19th session of the SCO CHG hosted by India; 1st SCO Online International Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage Held

• India virtually hosted the 19th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO) Council of Heads of Government (SCO CHG) which was chaired by Vice President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu from New Delhi.

• This was the first Summit-level Meeting held under India's Chairmanship, since it gained full -membership of the organization in 2017. This is an annual summit at the level of Prime Ministers of SCO and deals primarily with the trade and economic agenda of the organization.

• It should be noted that India assumed the Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on 2 November 2019 as per rotation from the previous Chair Uzbekistan. Now with this meeting it completed its year long tenure.

• Turkmenistan has been invited as a Special Guest of India

• On the lines of the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Bishkek Summit at the SCO Heads of State in 2019, Venkaiah Naidu launched the first ever SCO Online 3D Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage, during the meeting.

• The first-of-its-kind SCO online International exhibition was developed and curated by National Museum, New Delhi, in active collaboration with SCO member countries.

• The participating institutions were National Museum (New Delhi), Indian Museum (Kolkata), National Museum of Kazakhstan, Dun Huang Academy (China), National Historical Museum of the Kyrgyz Republic, Museums of Pakistan, State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow (Russia), National Museum and National Museum of Antiquities, Tajikistan and renowned archaeological sites of Uzbekistan

• India has also organized the virtual format of the first-ever SCO Young Scientists Conclave(YSC) in which more than 200 young scientists participated. It was aimed at harnessing the lateral thinking, ideology and innovative caliber of the young minds. It was held on the theme "Shaping SCO-STI Partnership: Young Scientists Perspectives".

• India has also proposed to host the SCO Food Festival in 2021 in Delhi to commemorate the 20th anniversary of SCO

• SCO Business Council Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has proposed to organize an annual SCO MSME Bazaar and to establish a digital SCO MSME Center.

About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO):

• The SCO is a regional grouping of eight member states, India, Russia, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It also has four observer States Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia

• Secretary General - Vladimir Norov

• Headquarters - Beijing, China

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju launches 2nd Edition of "Fit India School Week" program

• Minister of State (Mos) (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju virtually launched the 2nd Edition of "Fit India School Week" program on November 25, 2020.

• Fit India Mission Director, Ekta Vishnoi, Manoj Ahuba Chairman of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Dr. G. Immanuel, Chairman of Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) were present during the launch

• To encourage kids to incorporate physical activity and sports in their daily routine, emphasis is given on schools as they are the first place where habits are formed.

• The schools which want to participate in the Fit India Program have to register themselves on 'https://fitindia.gov.in/fit-india- school-week' after which they will choose any 1 week in December 2020 to celebrate Fit India School Week. The Initiative will be taken in all schools under the Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE).

• The Fit India School Week will help in ranking schools based on their performances of students, teachers, infrastructure facility and their participation in activities.

• Activities which have been planned for the 2020 Fit India School Week program are Aerobics, Painting, Quiz/Debates,Dance, Step-Up challenge and others.

• The program was launched in November, 2019,

• Around 15,000 across the country participated in the Program in 2019.

• Fit India was founded by Shri Suparno Satpathy in year 1993 and it was incorporated as a company in year 2000.

Stadium in West Bengal's Barasat named after Late Diego Maradona:

• A Stadium near Barasat, Kolkata, West Bengal has been named after Late Argentinian Footballer, Diego Maradona. It was at this stadium that Diego Maradona had conducted a Football clinic for school students in December, 2017.

About Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports:

• Minister of State(Independent Charge) - Kiren Rijiju
• Headquarters - New Delhi

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Launched 'Sahakar Pragya' to Train Farmers in Primary Cooperatives in Rural Areas

• Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister for agriculture and farmers welfare launched 'Sahakar Pragya', an initiative of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). The 45 new training modules of Sahakar Pragya of NCDC will impart training to primary cooperative societies in rural areas of India along with Lakshmanrao Inamdar National Cooperative Research and Development Academy(LINAC).

• Sahakar Pragya enhances the NCDC's training capacity through a network of 18 Regional Training Centres across India by LINAC. LINAC is set up and fully funded by NCDC.

• Sahakar Pragya is the latest in the series of farmer focused steps by NCDC.

India Tops Asia in Bribery, Use of Personal Connections to Access Public Services: 10th GCB Asia 2020

• In accordance with the 10th edition of the report titled "Global Corruption Barometer (GCB)-Asia 2020" by corruption watchdog Transparency International, India has the highest bribery rate of 39% in Asia and the highest rate of people (46%) who use personal connections to access public services.

• Nearly 50% people who paid bribes were asked to while 32% of those who used personal connections said they would not receive the service otherwise.

• This report is based upon the fieldwork conducted in 17 countries covering nearly 20,000 citizens in June- September 2020 seeking their perception of and experiences with corruption in the past twelve months.

• It covered 6 key public services viz: police, courts, public hospitals, procurement of identity documents and utilities.

• In bribery rate India is followed by Cambodia (37%), Indonesia (30%) while the Maldives and Japan have the lowest overall bribery rate (2%), followed by South Korea (10%) and Nepal (12%).

• Nearly one in five people (19%) or 836 million people paid bribe while accessing public services in the preceding year.

• Vote-buying was the highest in Thailand and the Philippines where 28% were offered a bribe in return for a vote, followed by Indonesia at 26%, India came fourth in the line with a rate of 18%

About Transparency International:

• Interim Managing Director (MD)- Daniel Eriksson
• Headquarter- Berlin, Germany

India Recorded Largest Reductions in Malaria cases in South-East Asia between 2000-2019

• In accordance with the "World Malaria Report 2020" released by World Health Organisation (WHO), India recorded the largest reduction of malaria cases in South-East Asia from 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.

• On the global front, there were about 229 million malaria cases in 2019 and claimed about 409,000 lives, compared to 411,000 in 2018.

• India showed a reduction in cases and deaths of 18% and 20% respectively, over the last 2 years.

• India also recorded a decrease in the number of deaths from malaria between 2000 and 2019 i.e. it declined from about 29,500 in 2000 to about 7700 in 2019.

QS Asia University Rankings 2021: 3 IITs in top 50; National University of Singapore topped

• The global higher education think-tank, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has released the QS Asia University Rankings 2021 in association with King Abdulaziz University (KAU),Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) for the Asia's best higher education institutions in 2021. The ranking has been topped by National University of Singapore (NUS) for the 3rd consecutive year. On Indian front, three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have made it to the top 50 viz. IIT-Bombay (37), IIT- Delhi (47) and IIT-Madras (50) but no Indian university got placed in top-10 list.

• This ranking compared 650 Asian institutions from 18 locations based on 11 key parameters making it the QS's biggest Asia Ranking that ever published.

• Out of the 650 institutions 124 were from Mainland China, followed by 107 from India, 105 from Japan, 88 from South Korea, 43 from Taiwan, 40 from Pakistan, 35 from Malaysia, and 30 from Indonesia

About QS Asia University Rankings:

• Published annually since 2009, the QS Asia University Rankings highlights the top universities in Asia on the basis of 11 parameters viz: Academic reputation, Employer reputation, Faculty/student ratio, Faculty/student ratio, Citations per paper (10%) and papers per faculty (5%), Staff with a PhD, Proportion of international faculty and proportion of international students, Proportion of inbound exchange students and proportion of outbound exchange students (2.5%).

About Quacquarelli Symonds (QS):

• Headquarter- London, United Kingdom (UK)

Legendary Senegal footballer, Papa Bouba Diop dies at 42

• The legendary footballer Senegalese footballer Papa Bouba Diop died. Diop, the midfielder was the hero when Senegal shocked the world by defending 1-0 against the reigning world champion, France in the opening game of 2002 FIFA World cup held in Japan and South Korea.

• For his tall (6 foot 5inches), Diop is nicknamed "Wardrobe".

• His career lasted for 8 years from 2001-2008.

• Diop Scored his first goal in FIFA world cup in his debut match against France in 2002, to defeat the defending champions in a 1-0 win.

MDH owner Mahashay Dharampal Gulati dies at 97

• Popularly known as the "Spice King", Mahashay Dharampal Gulati died due to sudden cardiac arrest in New Delhi. Born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan) in 1923, he moved to India after the Partition and set up his business in Delhi. The spice company, 'Mahashian Di Hatti' (MDH) was initially found by his late father Mahashay Chunni Lal Gulati.

• Gulati became the highest-paid FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) CEO in India in 2017.

• He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian award, in 2019. Most recently, he supported the fight against the novel coronavirus by donating PPE kits and an undisclosed amount to the Delhi CM Relief Fund.

• Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took to Twitter to share the news that he had donated 7,500 PPE kits for healthcare workers in Delhi.