NATIONAL NEWS

Status of Leopards report released

• The Status of Leopards in India 2018 was released by the Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• Leopards are the vulnerable species in the IUCN Red list.
• The observations based on this report are:
  • Total strength of leopards in India has increased 60% in population to 12852 compared to 7910 in 2014.
  • Madhya Pradesh ranks first in the population of leopard with a strength of 3,421 followed by Karnataka (1,783) and (Maharashtra at 1,690)

Facts:

• Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change: Prakash Javadekar

Memorandum of Agreement signed between CGWB and CSIR-NGRI

• Memorandum of Agreement signed between Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and CSIR-NGRI for High-Resolution Aquifer Mapping & Management in Arid Region of North-Western India.
• The MoA aids for use of advanced heliborne geophysical survey and other scientific studies in parts of the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana under the Aquifer Mapping Programme.
• This is the first time Ministry of Jal Shakti has decided to use the state of the art technology for identification of aquifers in such a large arid/semi-arid area of the country.

Facts:

• Union Minister for Jal Shakthi: Gajendra Singh Sekhawat

Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020

• The Union Ministry of Power has issued the rules to protect the rights of power consumers in the country through Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020.
• Following key areas are covered in the Electricity (Rights of consumers) Rules:
  • Rights of consumers and Obligations of Distribution licensees
  • Release of new connection and modification in existing connection
  • Metering arrangement
  • Billing and Payment
  • Disconnection and Reconnection
  • Reliability of supply
  • Consumer as Prosumer
  • Standards of Performance of licensee
  • Compensation Mechanism
  • Call Centre for Consumer Services
  • Grievance redressal mechanism

Fact:

• Union Minister of Power: R.K.Singh

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India - Vietnam Virtual Summit

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi held a Virtual Summit with H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• A ‘Joint Vision for Peace, Prosperity and People’ document was adopted during the Summit, to guide the future development of the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
• Several MoUs were signed for utilising the technology and finance by India for betterment of Vietnam and also to strengthen the bilateral partnership.

Facts:

• Capital of Vietnam: Hanoi
• Currency: Vietnamese Dong

UN Human Development Index 2020

• The 2020 Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme released.
• According to the report India has dropped two ranks on the Human Development Index (HDI) to 131 among the 189 countries ranked.
• HDI is calculated as the Geometric Mean of life expectancy, education, and GNI per capita of a nation.
• Norway ranks first in HDI while Niger is place in the 189^th rank.

IMPORTANT DAYS

National Mathematics Day

• December 22^nd is observed as National Mathematics Day to celebrate the achievements of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
• The legendary mathematician was born on this day in 1887 in Tamil Nadu.
• The former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh declared December 22 as National Mathematics Day on February 26, 2012