16072020 Quiz Key + Notes

1. Malini Parthasarathy has been appointed Chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing Pvt Ltd . She succeeds after whom?

1. Shekhar Gupta

2. Prannoy Roy

3. Barkha Dutt

4. N Ram 

Malini Parthasarathy has been unanimously appointed Chairperson of the Board of Directors of The Hindu Group Publications after N. Ram stepped down on attaining the age of 75. 

THG is owned by Kasturi & Sons Limited.

Narasimhan Ram - Padma Bhushan by India & Sri Lanka Ratna by SL govt.

 Started as weekly in 1878 & became a daily in 1889 in Chennai (Madras).

The Hindu was the first newspaper in India to have a website, launched in 1995.

2. Which is the latest tech company to acquire 7.7% stake in Jio Platforms for Rs.33,737 cr?

1. Apple 

2. Microsoft

3. Facebook

4. Google

Google is the latest company that has invested $4.5 billion for the 7.73% stake in Reliance Jio.

Other noted investors : Facebook 9.9% ($5.7bn), Qualcomm 0.15% ($97mn), Intel 0.39% ($253mn) 

Microsoft partners with RIL in the foray into cloud services

3. Which Indian company has announced its own developed from scratch 5G technology to be deployed in India by next year 2021? 

1. Vodafone Idea

2. Bharti Airtel

3. Reliance Jio

4. BSNL

Jio has created a complete 5G solution from scratch using 100 per cent homegrown technologies and solutions at Reliance’s  43rd annual general meeting (AGM). 

4. Which Indian state has been affected by floods due to Brahmaputra flowing  above the Danger mark ?

1. Assam

2. Arunachal Pradesh

3. Manipur

4. Nagaland

the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA)

Assam Chief Minister~ Sarbananda Sonowal (Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee award 2020 for Politics)

5. Which group of Nations has committed to the framework for strategic cooperation till 2025, and vowed to cooperate on the response to the pandemic and at UNSC?

1. OPEC

2. G7

3. BIMSTEC

4. EU

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen via videoconference 

India and the 27-member European Union (EU) will hold the 15th India-EU summit at a gap of more than two years.  Trade and investment issues will be the main focus

EU is India’s largest trading partner.

Talks on Free Trade Agreement, FTA, officially called broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) was proposed in 2007 but suspended in 2013.

EU noted that India was more ‘protectionist’, with “Make in India” & “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”

6. Which State is planting saplings and has included medicinal plants on 16 July 2020 this year for the Celebrations of Harela 2020  ? 

1. Uttar Pradesh

2. Uttarakhand 

3. Jharkhand

4. Bihar

Harela is a Hindu festival celebrated basically in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand state of India and some regions of Himachal Pradesh, celebrated thrice a year. 

Shravan Harela  is celebrated on July 16, marks onset of Shravan or Monsoon.

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand- Trivendra Singh Rawat

7. India is planning to enhance its surveillance capabilities and firepower by placing orders for Heron surveillance drones and Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM)from which country ? 

1. US

2. France

3. Israel 

4. UAE

DAC has approved the Army‘s decision to place repeat orders for 72,400 SIG-716 assault rifles from Sig Sauer of the U.S. and 12 launchers and around 250 missiles of Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from Israel.

Army is also looking to procure additional Heron Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV) and portable air defence systems

Indian Army could also acquire close quarter battle (CQB) carbines, manufactured by a UAE firm Caracal International, as L1 bidder 

8. The Indian Air Force is working to upgrade and equip its fleet of Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with missiles under a top secret and classified programme code named

1. Project Platina

2. Project Cheetah

3. Smiling Buddha

4. Operation Shakti

Project Cheetah - inducting an armed version of the UAV spearheaded by Indian air force 

Project Platina - Maharashtra Govt’s plasma therapy trial for COVID-19 patients

Smiling Buddha -assigned code name of India's first successful nuclear bomb test on 18 May 1974(Pokhran 1)

Operation Shakti -conducted in 1998 was also called Pokhran II ,was a series of 5 tests of nuclear bombs, led by APJ Abdul Kalam

9. Which of the following dates is celebrated as World Youth skill day, celebrated to develop skilled youth, and tackling rising youth unemployment? 

1. 15th July

2. 14th July

3. 13th July

4. 16th July

WYSD is an event recognized by the United Nations and is celebrated on July 15 every year. It was designated by the General Assembly (UNGA) in 2014.

‘Skill, re-skill, upskill’: PM Modi addressed on 5th anniversary of Skill India Mission to stay relevant on World Youth Skills Day

10. Under “Skill India Mission”, 723  model and aspirational skill centres known as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK) have been established in the country till January 2020, by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. This comes under 

1. PM KISAN

2. PM SVAnidhi

3. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

4. Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana.

The Union government had in 2016 approved ₹12,000 crore for PMKVY with a target to train 10 million people by 31 March 2020. Skill ministry claims that 9.2 million people have been trained. 

Under guidelines of PMKVY 2016-20, there are provisions for involvement/consultation of public representatives including MLAs/MPs for skill activities such as kaushal melas, rozgar melas, RPL’s camp inauguration, etc.

Union minister of skill development and entrepreneurship, Mahendra Nath Pandey said Next phase of India’s skill programme to focus on quality, states’ role

11.Which medical journal report  for India, projects a peak population of 1.6 billion in 2048, up from 1.38 billion in 2017 and by 2100, and it  is projected to decline by 32% to 1.09 billion?

1. British Medical Journal 

2. The National Medical Journal of India

3. The Lancet

4. Journal  Of American Medical Association (JAMA)

The study, led by a team of researchers at University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), analyzed population trends in 195 countries. 

It used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 to model future population in various scenarios as a function of fertility, migration, and mortality rates.

12. A video message  was sent to 2.5 million cell phones in rural West Bengal containing the 2.5­minute clip, delivered by Nobel Laureate, on prevention of COVID­19, which encouraged reporting symptoms to frontline health workers, not to leave villages and improve hygiene. Who was the person in the video clip?

1. Amartya Sen

2. Abhijit Banerjee

3. Malala Y

4. Barack Obama 

A video message by Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on prevention of COVID­19 has generated a positive response,are the findings of a working paper by Professor Banerjee, economist EstherDuflo (who shared the 2019 Economics Nobel with him)and others published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, an American nonprofit research organization

13. Which annual flagship report jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO says that the world is not on track to meet the goal of zero hunger by 2030? 

1. State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2020

2. The Lancet

3. The Global Report on Food Crises

4. 2020 Global Food Policy.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 (SOFI 2020) report presents the most recent and authoritative estimates of the extent of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition around the world. This year, the report includes a special focus on transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets.

14. Which country is projected, by The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in The Lancet, to have continued population growth through 2100 and was expected to be the second most populous country by then .

1. US

2. Pakistan 

3. Nigeria

4. India

According to the new Lancet study, the population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to treble in size to more than three billion people by 2100.

Nigeria will become the world's second most populous country, with 791 million people, it says.

15. Which country is the first to complete early phase human trials of a potential new vaccine to stop Covid-19, developed by Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology?

1. Brazil

2. India

3. Russia

4. China 

Russia has become the first nation to complete clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine on humans, and the results have proven the medication's effectiveness.

Russia had allowed clinical trials of two forms of a potential Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology on June 18.

Chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk, Head of the  Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University, told that the human trials for the vaccine have been completed at the university,

July 15 - Current affairs ~Notes

India’s 2nd Voluntary National review (VNR) at UN- HLPF

-NITI Aayog addressed the  second Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the United Nations high-level political forum (HLPF) on sustainable development, 2020, 

-themed as  ‘Accelerated Action and Transformative Pathways: Realizing the Decade of Action and Delivery for Sustainable Development’

-The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) sectors would need an additional annual spending of 6.2 % of GDP until 2030, the report said, collaborative study done by NITI Ayog & International Monetary Fund.

-realisation of the 2030 Agenda needs an updated statistical and monitoring system

- as the  National Indicator Framework (NIF), which monitors SDGs at the national level, did not include indicators for 36 out of the 169 targets, pointed the report. 

-HLPF shows a review of progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

-47 member states are set to present their VNRs between July 10-16, 2020.

-HLPF meets in July every year for eight days, under the support of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN.

-NITI Ayog Chairman - Prime Minister Narenda Modi

 NITI Aayog vice chairman -Dr. Rajiv Kumar, 

 NITI Aayog CEO -Amitabh Kant

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NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission launches ATL App Development Module 

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission today launched the ATL App Development Module for school children across the country.

Through six project-based learning modules and online mentoring sessions, young innovators can learn to build mobile apps in various Indian languages and showcase their talent.

The course ‘ATL App Development Module’ has been launched in collaboration with Indian homegrown startup Plezmo.

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Gadkari lays foundation stone for 11 highway projects in Haryana 

-Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari Inaugurated and laid foundation stone for 11 highway projects worth Rs. 20,027 crore in Haryana virtually.

Mr. Gadkari said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would spend Rs 2 lakh crore on the construction of new roads in Haryana in the next two years. 

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BSE signs MOU with IIT Alumni council 

-BSE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing culture for startups and develop a ‘high investor depth’ startups platform

-To ensure entity transparency, governance improvement, market discovery of share price, provide liquidity for PE investors and enable retail participation.

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Chhattisgarh's CM Darpan Portal and mobile app gets "Elites Excellence Awards-2020" at the national level

The state of Chhattisgarh has been awarded this honour by the country's prestigious IT institution Elites Technomedia under the 'Digital India initiative'.

A 3 virtual conference is being organised from July 10 to 12.by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

Darpan - website and the mobile application have been developed by Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS)

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ISRO chief Dr Kailasavadivoo Sivan to be conferred 2020 von Karma Award 

ISRO chief Dr Kailasavadivoo Sivan has been named as the recipient of the 2020 von Karma Award of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and will be conferred with the award in 2021 in Paris.

is given annually to recognize outstanding lifetime achievements in any branch of science without limit of nationality or gender

Prior Indian winners were  Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan and U.R. Rao  have been recipients of the award.

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INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM (IFS)

The Kerala Agriculture Department is promoting the concept of integrated farming systems (IFS) that could help small and marginal farmers in the State use their land and resources better.

Jaivagriham’ project under the Rebuild Kerala Initiative (RKI), envisaging an integrated system of agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry, apiculture and aquaculture for maximum utilisation of land, time and energy.

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ROKO TOKO CAMPAIGN

-Madhya Pradesh government will run a Roko -Toko campaign for those who do not wear masks. As the Use of masks is mandatory in all public places in the state. 

-voluntary organizations will provide masks to the people who do not wear masks in public places and will charge an amount of Rs 20 per mask from the concerned.

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CYCLES4CHANGE

- The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) opened registration for India Cycles4Change Challenge on July 10.

-challenge is open to all cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities of states/union territories and all cities with more than 5 lakh population, from July 10 to 21.

-was launched on June 25, 2020, by Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri.

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15072020 ~ Daily Current Affairs Quiz Key +Notes

1. The Union HRD Minister has released advisory guidelines prepared by NCERT for Digital Education. What is the name of the guidelines?

1. Learning through E-Resources Made Accessible for Delhi (LEAD)

2. PRAGYATA

3. DIKSHA

4. Distance Education Program 

PRAGYATA : 

- Union HRD Ministry has released the guidelines for Digital Education, recommending a cap on the screen time for students.

-  As per the Pragyata guidelines for digital education, online classes for pre-primary students should not be for more than 30 minutes: two online sessions of up to 30-45 minutes each should be conducted for classes 1 to 8 and four sessions for classes 9 to 12.

-8 steps of online education that is, Plan, Review, Arrange, Guide, Yak(talk), Assign, Track & Appreciate

-HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 

- Prepared by  National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

LEAD 

-Delhi Government’s comprehensive e-learning portal- LEAD (Learning through E-Resources Made Accessible for Delhi). 

-More than 10,000 instructional materials and course content have been made available for classes I to XII.

-Delhi govt. is sharing its teaching-learning material on the digital platform- DIKSHA. 

- Launched by Delhi Education Minister-  Manish Sisodia

DIKSHA 

-Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing which is the National Platform for School Education,

- an initiative of the GoI, and is accessible online at https://diksha.gov.in, through the DIKSHA android application and through the DIKSHA desktop application,

- aims to serve as National Digital Infrastructure for Teachers with teacher training courses, lesson plans, worksheets and assessment of teachers with scope of improvement

DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM 

- on April 15 2020, the Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched the CM 'Distance Education Programme'. 

- Under this programme, the state government also entered into an agreement with Reliance Jio TV to make EDUSAT available free of cost on the Jio platform.

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2. Which company  has tied up with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to train over 1 million teachers across 22,000 schools by the end of 2020 to deliver blended education?

1. Apple 

2. Microsoft

3. Facebook

4. Google

-Google India announced a partnership with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at the sixth edition of Google for India.

- Sapna Chadha, Senior Country Marketing Director, Southeast Asia and India said it will train over 1 million teachers across 22,000 schools by the end of 2020 to deliver blended education.

- Google.org announced a $1 million grant to Kaivalya Education Foundation as part of the Distance Learning Fund, to train 700,000 teachers in India to deliver virtual education for students through TV and radio where smartphones are not available.

-This is apart from the $10 billion “The Google for India Digitization Fund” announced by Sundar Pichai, CEO Alphabet & Google to speed up India’s digital economy.

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3.Which department under the Union Ministry of Health &Family Welfare has been directed by Delhi High Court  to submit a report and analysis of the serological survey that was conducted in the national capital between Jun27- July 5 to understand the spread of Covid 19?

1. Vector Control Research Center(VCRC)

2. Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR)

3. National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)

4. Ministry of Ayush 

Delhi High Court directed the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to submit a report and analysis of the serological survey that was conducted in the national capital  between June 27-­July 5 to understand the spread of COVID­19.

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4. Which Indian Company has entered the videoconferencing space by partnering with Verizon to bring it’s Blue Jeans Service in India?

1. Vodafone Idea

2. Reliance Jio

3. Bharti Airtel

4. BSNL

- Airtel has announced its own video conferencing app called BlueJeans in India.

-It has partnered with US-based Verizon-owned BlueJeans to make its video conferencing app available to the users in India

-listed on the company’s website and is currently available for free trial in India

5. Apple CEO Tim Cook and  IBM Chair Ginni Rommetty joined along with White House to launch a campaign that will encourage Americans to retrain or seek new jobs. What is the name of the campaign?

1. Find Something new

2. Make America Great Again

3. Yes We can 

4. None of the above 

-Ivanka Trump (President’s daughter and White house advisor)  urged out-of-work Americans to “find something new” as part of a new jobs initiative designed to tout the benefits of skills training and career paths that don’t require a college degree in a virtual roundtable featuring Apple CEO Tim Cook and IBM chair Ginni Rometty

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6. Which US defense contractor has been hit by sanctions from China as after approval of a $620million deal to supply missile parts to Taiwan ? 

1. Boeing

2. SpaceX

3. Lockheed Martin

4. BAE systems 

China said it plans to sanction Lockheed Martin Corp. over its role in a $620 million U.S. arms package for Taiwan, Beijing’s latest retaliatory gesture amid growing pressure from Washington.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian announced. 

The U.S. is also officially rejecting China’s claims of sovereignty in most of the South China Sea

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July Current Affairs Notes

 PM inaugurates 750-MW solar power project in Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh

-PM  inaugurated the 750-MW solar power project in Rewa district via video conferencing

-The Rewa solar project, Asia’s largest solar project, is the first solar project in the country to break the grid parity barrier.

-Delhi Metro will use 24% of the electricity produced from it & rest for MP

- Govt organisations which buy solar cells & modules will buy made in India only.

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KUAIZHOU 11 

-China’s 19th launch of 2020, the Kuaizhou-11 rocket failed and both the satellites it was carrying were lost.

-Kuaizhou, meaning “fast ship” in Chinese, known as KZ-1

-Both satellites were built by Changguang Satellite Co. Ltd

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APACHE AH-64E ATTACK HELICOPTERS

-Boeing has handed over the last of the five AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF), completing the contract for 22 Apaches.

- Apaches were deployed at the Leh air base

-In March, Boeing handed over the last five of the 15 CH-47F(I) Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to the IAF.

-Boeing’s joint venture in Hyderabad, Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited, has been producing aero-structures for the AH-64 Apache helicopter for both the U.S. Army and international customers.

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ASEEM ( AtmaNirbhar Skilled Employee-Employer Mapping)

- Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has launched the artificial intelligence (AI)-based AtmaNirbhar Skilled Employee-Employer Mapping or ASEEM portal

- portal was launched by Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

- 20 lakhs migrant workers under the GKRA (Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana)plus 1.2 crore candidates trained under PMKVY 2.0(Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana) to the portal

-  aims at accelerating India’s journey towards recovery by mapping skilled workforce and connecting them with relevant livelihood opportunities

-developed by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)along with Better Place

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Labour Ministry notifies draft on minimum wages

-The Union Labour and Employment Ministry published the draft rules framed for the implementation of the Code on Wages Act, 2019

- guarantees minimum wages to all, defines how the wages will be calculated and prescribes a national floor wage for all States.

-The Draft Code on Wages Central Rules, 2019 was placed on the website of the labour ministry on November 1 for public consultation

-government has asked stakeholders to raise objections and offer suggestions within a period of 45 days.

- Net intake of 2,700 calories per day, 66 meters cloth per year per family, housing rent expenditure as 10% of food & clothing expenditure are some of the factors that would determine the fixation of the national minimum wage.

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Chhattisgarh organises India's first e-Lok Adalat

- e-Lok Adalat is being held in Chhattisgarh on Saturday to ensure the administration of justice continues via virtual hearings conducted through video conferencing.

-Chief Justice P R Rajendra Menon and State Legal services Authority chairman Justice Prashant K Mishra conceptualized and the former inaugurated it 

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Jharkhand govt signs MoU with HDFC Bank for digital payment solutions

- HDFC bank will provide digital payment solutions to the transport department of Jharkhand. 

- The traffic police will be equipped with POS machines to collect traffic- related penalties

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UP startup policy aims 100 incubators and 10,000 startups

-UP cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the Uttar Pradesh Startup Policy 2020

-chaired by UP Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath

- expected to generate 150,000 employment and self employment opportunities

-New Startup Policy, which will be applicable for five years from date of notification, to corporatize more than 10,000 startups at an incubation hub in Lucknow.

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Avg global temperature can rise by 1.5°C in next 5 years: WMO

-World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is based in Geneva, Switzerland

-WMO in its report “Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update for 2020-24”,  said the annual global temperature is likely to be at least 1 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels

-Countries under 2015 Paris Agreement had agreed to try and limit average global temperature rise to below 2°C by the end of the century

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WHO sets up panel to probe Coronavirus response

-launched an independent panel to review its response to the pandemic

-”Independent panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response”

- will be headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, jointly with 2 others  "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."

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Country of origin tag a must : Paswan to e-tailers

-Consumer Affairs Minister Shri Ram Vilas Paswan

- consumers to know “country of origin” for informed choice while pushing “Made in India”

-The dept. for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) held a second meeting on the matter attended by close to 30 e-commerce players.

-Ministry in its reminder invoked the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.

-Under the rules make it mandatory for all manufacturers to declare the package name & address of the manufacturer, common & generic name of commodity, net quantity, month & year of manufacturing, MRP and consumer care details.

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Chennai to come up with ‘plasma bank’, after Delhi

-Chennai will soon have the country’s second ‘plasma bank’ at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH)

-establish the facility at a cost of ₹2 crore.

-State govt obtained approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)

- to take up the trial of convalescent plasma therapy for patients with moderate COVID-19

-TN Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar

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Iran drops India from Chabahar rail project, cites funding delay

-Iran inaugurated the track laying process for the 628 km Chabahar-Zahedan line, which will be extended to Zaranj across the border to Afghanistan. 

-IRCON(Indian Railways Construction Ltd) had signed MoU with Iranian Railways in 2016, as a part of a Trilateral agreement between Iran, Afghanistan and India.

- China is likely to ink the deal for 25years

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Navy Completes Operation Samudra Setu

- Indian Navy said it has completed Operation Samudra Setu, which began on May 5,2020 by bringing nearly 4,000 Indians back home from three countries

-5repatriation trips were done by ships to Male in Maldives,

2 were done to Bandar Abbas in Iran and 1 went to Colombo in Sri Lanka under the operation

-Indian Naval Ships Jalashwa (Landing Platform Dock), and Airavat, Shardul and Magar (Landing Ship Tanks) participated in this operation which lasted over 55 days.