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Current Affairs 17 December 2020
Daily Current Affairs 17 December 2020: This post contains the latest current affairs for 17 December 2020 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.
National
PM Modi inaugurates world’s largest, 30,000 MW renewable energy park in Kutch
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the 30,000 megawatt (MW) capacity hybrid renewable energy park in Kutch district of Gujarat on 15 December 2020.
- It will be the largest renewable energy park of its kind in the world.
- It is expected to play a major role in fulfilling India’s vision of generating 450 GW (4,50,000 mw) of power by 2030.
Key features of the renewable energy park
- The park is being constructed between Khawda and Vighakhot villages near India-Pakistan border
- The renewable park will have two dedicated zones, one each for the wind energy and solar energy.
- It will be spread over 72,600 hectares of waste land, including 49,600 hectares for solar project and 23,000 hectares of land for wind power.
ISRO sets up dedicated control centre ‘NETRA’ for Space Situational Awareness
- The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has set up a dedicated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre, at its ISTRAC campus at Peenya, Bangalore.
- The ISRO SSA Control Centre ‘NETRA’ was formally inaugurated by ISRO Chairman K Sivan on December 14.
What is Space Situational Awareness (SSA)?
- SSA is the science of tracking objects (man-made and natural) that are in orbit and also predicting what they would be at a given point in time.
- Only the US, Russia and Europe have similar facility in place to track space objects and share collision warnings.
What is NETRA?
- The “NEtwork for space object TRacking and Analysis (NETRA)” will monitor, track and protect India’s space assets. It will function as a hub of all SSA activities within India.
- It has been set up as a ‘Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM)’ aiming to protect high valued space assets from space debris close approaches and collisions.
- The state-of-the-art facility, dedicated to SSA activities, will also help to coordinate between Indian agencies, their foreign counterparts and international bodies.
- The main elements of NETRA would be a radar, an optical telescope facility, and a control centre.
Economy News
SBI Ecowrap Report Projects India GDP to contract 7.4% in FY21; 11% in FY22
- The SBI, in its research report ‘Ecowrap’ has revised the GDP growth of India at (-) 7.4 percent in FY21. Earlier this forecast was (-) 10.9 percent.
- The SBI research report has also forecast India’s GDP growth in FY22 at 11 percent.
Agreements
India and World Bank sign $400 million project to protect India’s poor and vulnerable from the impact of COVID-19
- The Government of India and the World Bank have signed a $400 million project to protect vulnerable groups in urban and peri-urban areas across the country impacted by COVID-19.
- Under this project World Bank will support India in its efforts at providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- This is the second such assistance in the series of two ‘Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Programme’
- Under the first operation, $750 million was approved by World Bank in May 2020.
- The programme will strengthen the capability of state and central governments in India to provide coordinated and adequate social protection to the poor and vulnerable from the shocks triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
India and NDB inks $1,000 million agreement to support India’s economic recovery from COVID-19
- The Government of India and the New Development Bank (NDB) have signed a loan agreement worth $1,000 million for ‘supporting India’s economic recovery from COVID-19’.
- Under the agreement, Shanghai-based NDB will lend financial support for:
- expenditures on rural infrastructure related to natural resource management (NRM) works, which will facilitate economic activity and
- rural employment generation under Government of India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to stimulate rural demand, to combat the decline in economic activity .
- The programme will support Indian Government in mitigating the adverse economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic and enable economic recovery in the rural areas.
Ranking
India Ranks 131 in Human Development Index 2020, Norway Tops
- India has dropped one spot to be ranked 131 among 189 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) for the year 2019, according to the Human Development Report (HDR) 2020 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 16 December 2020.
- India was at 130th spot in HDI 2018.
- The HDI score of India for 2019 is 0.645, which put the country in the medium human development category.
- The Human Development Index (HDI) measures the nation’s health, education, and standards of living.
- Norway has topped the index with score of 0.957, followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Iceland.
- Niger is the lowest ranked country at 189, placed among Low human development category, with a score of 0.394
Appointment
Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati elected as Vice President of ABU
- The CEO of Prasar Bharati, Shashi Shekhar Vempati has been elected as the Vice President of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) on 16 December 2020 for a period of three years.
- Prasar Bharati is India’s largest public broadcasting agency.
- The Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia–based Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), is one of the largest broadcasting associations in the world.
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