China poses greatest threat to U.S., says intelligence chief

The outgoing Director of National Intelligence of the U.S asserted that China poses the greatest threat to America and the rest of the free world since the 2nd World War.

• He opines that Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically.
• He said that China follows the ‘rob, replicate and replace’ approach of economic espionage wherein it robs U.S. companies of their intellectual property, replicates the technology and then replaces the U.S. firms in the global marketplace.

Joe Biden, the 2020 President-elect agrees that China is not abiding by international trade rules, is giving unfair subsidies to Chinese companies and stealing American innovation.

China turns on ‘artificial sun’

• The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device.
• It is located in Sichuan province.
• It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius (approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun).
• It is often called an “artificial sun” on account of the enormous heat and power it produces.

In India, the regulatory authority is the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

PASSEX– India + Russia navies

Passex– Passing Exercise is an exercise done between two navies to ensure that the navies are able to communicate and cooperate in times of war or humanitarian relief.

SC had said that dissent could not be expressed by blocking public places and spaces

Ministry seeks proposals for technical textiles body

Ministry of Textiles has invited proposals to constitute a dedicated export promotion council for technical textiles.hol

In 2020, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CECA) gave its approval to set up a National Technical Textiles Mission.

 RBI tightens oversight of NBFCs, UCBs

• The RBI has announced the introduction of risk-based internal audit norms for large urban cooperative banks (UCBs) and NBFC= non-banking financial companies.
• The RBI also moved to harmonise the guidelines on appointment of statutory auditors for commercial banks, UCBs and NBFCs in order to improve the quality of financial reporting.
• Regional rural banks would be allowed to access the LAF= liquidity adjustment facility and MSF= marginal standing facility of the RBI, as also the call/notice money market, with a view to deepening financial markets.
• Also, to significantly improve the ecosystem of digital payment channels the RBI has proposed to issue Digital Payment Security Controls directions for the regulated entities.

RBI holds Repo rates @7.5%

Lakshwadeep

1. Ammandivi
2. Lakkadivi
3. Minicoy

BHASAN CHar island of Bangladesh for Rohingya refugees

2 homes in Bengaluru is India’s 1st home for transgenders

U.S. Senate clears Bill on immigrant visas

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act that eliminates the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrant visas and raises it for family-based visas.

Details:

• The legislation increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15%.
• It will hugely benefit hundreds of thousands of Indian professionals in America who have been waiting to get their green cards.

UN removes cannabis from ‘most dangerous drug’ category, 

 in India, the NDPS Act, 1985, illegalises any mixture with or without any neutral material, of any of the two forms of cannabis – charas and ganja — or any drink prepared from it.

Ongoing 63rd session, CND has chosen to affirm a World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation from 2019 to remove cannabis from its ‘most dangerous’ category.

United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

India

• Bhang, charas and ganja were regulated by the state excise departments and legally sold till 1985.
• In 1985 The Narcotic Drugs and Psychoactive Substances (NDPS) Act has been enacted central level commercial cultivation of cannabis by production, possession, sale/purchase, transportation, interstate import/export or any other forms is punishable. The Act has been amended three times – in 1988, 2001, and most recently in 2014.
• While CBD oil manufacturing is licenced under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 can be legally used and sold. Some Indian websites do sell. But to purchase it one needs a prescription and many even facilitate it.
• Similarly, Bhang, ganja and charas are enlisted in the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 for use in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani

Lottery, gambling and betting taxable under GST Act: SC

• The Supreme Court has held that lottery, gambling and betting are taxable under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.
• It asserted that lottery, gambling and betting were actionable claims and came within the definition of ‘goods’ under Section 2(52) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Cyclone Burevi is named by the Maldives

• It is said that Cyclone Burevi will not be as strong as Cyclone Nivar as it would have limited intensity due to upwelling caused by Cyclone Nivar.
• Upwelling is caused when two consecutive systems develop in the same region of the ocean.
• The preceding cyclonic system causes upwelling. This happens when the cooler water from the lower ocean surface is pushed upwards towards the upper ocean surface.
• Owing to the absence of warm sea surface conditions the succeeding cyclonic system would not be as strong as the preceding one.

Ranjitsinh Disale is a teacher in Maharashtra’s Solapur district wins Gobal Teacher Prize

Founded by the Varkey Foundation in 2014, the Global Teacher Prize was conceived upon research that revealed a drop in the teaching profession’s status.

Chang’e-5 Mission: China

China has launched an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the Moon in four decades.

• The Chang’e-5 mission, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, will seek to collect lunar material to help scientists understand more about the moon’s origins and formation.
• Launch: The Long March-5 Y5 rocket, carrying the Chang’e-5 spacecraft, was launched from Wenchang Space Launch Center (China).
• There will be an attempt to collect 2 kg of samples in a previously unvisited area in a massive lava plain known as Oceanus Procellarum, or “Ocean of Storms”.

• China’s Moon Missions:
  • China made its first lunar landing in 2013.
  • In January 2019, the Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon, the first by any nation’s space probe.
    • Chang’e is a series of lunar probes launched by China National Space administration.
• China’s Other Space Plans:
  • It aims to have a permanent manned space station in service by around 2022.
  • Within the next decade, China plans to establish a robotic base station to conduct unmanned exploration in the south polar region of the moon.

The Artemis program, NASA wishes to demonstrate new technologies, capabilities and business approaches that will ultimately be needed for the future exploration of Mars.

Artemis I is most likely to be launched 2021 and involves an uncrewed flight to test the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft.
 Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion (the spacecraft for lunar missions).

• Gateway (the lunar outpost around the Moon),
• Lunar landers (modern human landing systems),
• The astronauts going for the Artemis program will wear newly designed spacesuits, called Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU.

Hayabusa 2

Japan has retrieved a capsule of asteroid dust after a six-­year mission.

• Hayabusa 2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese space agency, JAXA.
• It follows on from the Hayabusa mission which returned asteroid samples in 2010.
• Hayabusa 2 was launched on 3 December 2014 and made its touchdown on near-Earth asteroid Ryugu.
• The mission of the Japanese spacecraft, Hayabusa 2, spotlights Asia’s growing role in space exploration.
• A helicopter flew the capsule from the unmanned craft from Australia’s desert to a domestic research facility in Japan.

OFSP for online fantasy sports

Government think tank Niti Aayog has pitched for setting up a single self-regulatory organisation for the online fantasy sports industry to be governed by the independent oversight board and also suggested restricting online fantasy games to users of 18 years and above. In a draft report titled ‘Guiding Principles for the Uniform National-Level Regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platforms in India‘, the Aayog said that there is a public interest in the fantasy sports industry receiving government recognition as an industry and having its own identity.

ICAR wins 2020 King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has won the prestigious International King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award for 2020. The award was presented annually by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The award was conferred to the ICAR on the occasion of World Soil Day, on December 5. ICAR India will officially receive the award by Her Royal Highness, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, during an event in Bangkok in January 2021.

MAINS

What Labour codes mean to the unorganized sector?

India has expressed its displeasure at the United Nations General Assembly with regards to the “selective” nature of the resolutions of the UN Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC) on the ‘Culture of Peace’.

DEC 6 articles

 Meghalaya village turns oasis in coal mine desert

A mining-ravaged area in Meghalaya – Moolamylliang has reaped the benefits of the National Green Tribunal order of a ban on rat-hole coal mining.

Details:

• There are about 60,000 coal mines across 360 villages in East Jaintia Hills district.
• Moolamylliang used to be one such village until the National Green Tribunal banned rat-hole mining in April 2014.
• Unregulated mining had contaminated its farmlands and turned the streams acidic.

Jehan Daruvala becomes first Indian to win Formula 2 race

Covaxin, Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine, gets DCGI approval to conduct phase 3 clinical trials

Navy wants to join IAF in jet shopping

• The Navy is looking to combine its tender to buy multirole carrier­-based fighter jets along with the Indian Air Force tender for 114 fighters that is underway.
• The idea follows a decision to cut down the number of jets to be procured as the Defence Research and Development Organisation has proposed indigenous development of aircraft.

‘Microwave energy likely made U.S. officials ill’

• The study is the latest attempt to find a cause for the mysterious illnesses that started to emerge in late 2016 among U.S. personnel in Havana.
• The study found that directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appeared to be the most reasonable explanation for symptoms that included intense head pressure, dizziness and cognitive difficulties.

US- 61% + China- 15.7%- dominates arms market

Report was published by SPIRI Institute

The sale rose by 8.5% to 361 billion USD by Top 25 manufacturers

Only organic farming allowed in Lakshwadeep

Produce ~10cr coconut– 3 cr is processed/

Raj Kamal Jha wins Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020 for The City and the Sea

Founded in 2018 by US-based publisher Peter Bundalo, the award serves as a platform to celebrate world peace, literature, art, education, and human rights

Founded in 2018 by US-based publisher Peter Bundalo, the award serves as a platform to celebrate world peace, literature, art, education, and human rights

TRIFED=  Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India

India is the country with the second-largest tribal population in the world. Almost one hundred million people of the country are a part of the tribal population

The two main regions of the tribal settlement are the country’s northeastern states bordering China and Burma, and the highlands and plains of its central and southern regions.

Minor Forest Produce (MFP) Development

• The non-wood forest products constructed by the tribal people are termed as Minor Forest Produce (MFP)
• These include all non-timber, forest produce of plant origin, including bamboo, canes, fodder, leaves, gums, waxes, dyes, resins and many forms of food including nuts, wild fruits, honey, lac, and tussar

Retail Marketing and Development

• TRIFED aims to create a business market for the tribal people where they can sell their self-created products
• Creating brands for selling tribal products is also done by this body
• It has been undertaking to source various handicraft, handloom and natural & food products 

Initiatives

• Empanelment of Tribal Producer/Tribal Artisans 
• Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY)
• Van Dhan Karyakram
  • This has been initiated by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
  • To set 50,000 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVK) in the tribal areas across the country to provide livelihood and empowerment of the tribal people

Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) celebrated its 33^rd Foundation Day on 6^th August 2020 and launched its own virtual office on the same day.

 Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has launched a transformational “Tech For Tribals” program in partnership with Institutes of National Importance (INIs) to develop Tribal entrepreneurship.

NSCN (IM) slams ‘divisive’ Nagaland Governor

The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, or NSCN (IM), has slammed Nagaland Governor R.N. Ravi for reflecting a ‘divisive’ agenda while commemorating the 58th Nagaland Statehood Day.

Background:

• Nagaland, once part of Assam, attained statehood on December 1, 1963.
• This followed the 16-Point Agreement signed in July 1960 between the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) and the Centre.
• A majority of extremists did not recognise it