Daily Current Affairs, 20 October 2020

List of Noble Prize Winner 2020

1. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice in the field of Medicine for Discovering Hepatitis C Virus
2. Roger Penrose in the field of Physics for discovering the Black Hole formation. Also, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez were awarded for discovering the presence of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.
3. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna in the field of Chemistry for discovering the method for genome editing.
4. Louise Glück in the field of Literature for “the unmistakable poetic voice with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”
5. World Food Programme (WFP) for Peace “For the efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
6. Paul R. Milgrom, Robert B. Wilson in the field of Economics for the improvements made to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.

Related Questions from Exam Point of View

1. Who is the Noble Prize Named After? – Alfred Noble
2. In how many fields is the Noble Prize Awarded? – 6
3. When was the first Noble Prize Awarded?- 1901
4. Who is the oldest recipient of Noble Prize? –Leonid Hurwicz (at the age of 90).

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches AYUSHMAN SAHAKAR scheme

1. The scheme is a unique way to assist cooperatives play an important role in creation of healthcare infrastructure in the country. AYUSHMAN SAHAKAR scheme has been formulated by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
2. Mr. Tomar announced that NCDC would extend term loans to prospective cooperatives to the tune of 10 thousand crore in the coming years. He said that the ongoing pandemic has brought into focus the requirement of creation of more facilities.
3. NCDC’s scheme will be a step towards strengthening farmers welfare activities by the Central Government.

Related Questions from Exam Point of View

1. When was NCDC established? –1963
2. What was NCDC established for? –for the promotion and development of cooperatives.

Indian, Sri Lankan navies begin Slinex 2020 on 19th October, 2020

• This would be the 8th edition of Slinex exercise
• The exercise would will feature a series of complex drills, including surface and anti-air weapon firings and cross-deck flying operations, with an aim to further fine-tune the “high degree” of inter-operability between the two navies.
• Sri Lanka Navy will be represented by offshore patrol vessel Sayura and training ship Gajabahu. Both of which will be led by Rear Admiral Bandara Jayathilaka

(source: msn news)

Related Questions from Exam Point of View

1. What does SLINEX stand for? –Sri Lanka India Naval Exercise
2. What is SLINEX? –It is a  series of naval exercises between the Indian Navy and the Sri Lanka Navy.
3. When did the first SLINEX exercise conducted? –2005
4. What is the aim of 2020 SLINEX edition? to enhance inter-operability, improving mutual understanding and exchanging best practices and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations between both the navies.
5. What are various India-Sri Lanka Military to Military exercises? -Mitra Shakti, SLINEX

BrahMos successfully test fired from INS Chennai

The Naval version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired . The missile was test-fired from INS Chennai an indigenously built stealth destroyer of the Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea on October 18, 2020.

(source: Times of India, Oct 18,2020)

Related Questions from Exam Point of View

1. What is BrahMos? –is a supersonic cruise missile
2. BrahMos was developed by- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Russian Federation’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya
3. BrahMos is named after- two major rivers of India and Russia: Brahmaputra and Moskva

Lexpeeps Quick Fact:

BrahMos is the world’s fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation

CSIR-IHBT created history by introducing Heeng Cultivation in Indian Himalayan Region

• CSIR-IHBT has successfully planted the Heeng in the Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh.
• The institute plans to cover 750 hectares under the Heeng Cultivation
• is introduced to boost heeng production.
• The institute carried 6 categories of Heeng from Iran

Related Questions from Exam Point of View

1. What is the scientific name of Heeng? -Ferula assafoetida
2. Who is the current director of CSIR-IHBT? – Dr. Sanjay Kumar
3. Heeng is imported from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan
4. What are the medicinal uses of heeng?

Lexpeeps Quick Facts

1. India imports nearly 1200 tonnes of Heeng annually
2. Heeng was never grown in India
3. There are almost 130 species of asafoetida in the world, however, of all those Ferula Assafoetida is the only economically important species.
4. India consumes almost 40% of the Heeng’s produce worldwide.

Winners of Denmark Open held from 13th to 18th October

• Women’s Single

Nozomi Okuhara, Japanese Former World Champion won Women’s Single title by defeating Carolina Marin

• Men’s Single

Anders Antonsen from Denmark defeated Rasmus Gemke to won Men’s Single

• Mixed Doubles

Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich won by defeating Chris and Gabby Adcock of England. They became the first German mixed doubles players to win the event.

Related Questions from Exam Point of View

1. Denmark Open was formerly known as? Danish Open
2. Denmark Open is Organised by? Danmarks Badminton Forbund

Lexpeeps Quick Fact

P.V. Sindhu did not participate in the event.

Australia will participate in Malabar naval exercise

Australia will be participating in the Malabar Naval Exercise. The exercise would consist of U.S., Japan, India and Australia.