DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 05 JANUARY 2021

1. “UDYOG MANTHAN” is being organised by Department of promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) from January 4 to March 2 2021.

Facts

• Udyog Manthan is a marathon of focused sector-specific webinars for promoting Quality and productivity in Indian industry.
• This webinar marathon will have 45 sessions which will cover various major sectors in manufacturing and services. Each webinar will be a two-hour session involving discussions led by sectoral and industry experts in a particular sector.
• Participants of Udyog will include representatives from industry, testing and standardization bodies.
• DPIIT is a central government department under the ministry of commerce and industry.

2. Union minister “RAMESH POKHRIYAL” lays the foundation stone of the buildings for the school of Engineering and Atal Bihari Vajpayee school of management and Entrepreneurship at Jawaharlal Nehru University through a virtual program.

3. Government releases 10th instalment to states to meet the GST compensation shortfall.

• The centre has released the 10th instalment of rs 6000 crore to states as a back to back a loan to meet the GST shortfall, taking the total amount released so far through the special borrowing window to rs.60000 crore the finance ministry said.
• Of the total amount, Rs 5516.60 crore has been to 23 states and Rs 483.40 crore to Delhi and union territories of Jammu and Pondicherry.
• The states that do not have a gap on account of GST implementation are Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Mizoram.
• The interest rate = 4.1526%
• Work on Ayodhya Ram temple foundation to begin by January end says trust entrusted with construction. The study of the soil was still not complete even after seven months
• From the day construction starts the temple would be completed in 36 to 39 months said Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth kshetra.

5. Veteran Congressman and former Maharashtra Minister Vilas Patil Undalkar, a seven-time MLA  from Karad passed away following a brief illness in Satara in western Maharashtra.

• Mr Undalkar, affectionately known as ‘Vilaskaka’, had held the Cooperation and Law and Justice portfolio in erstwhile State Cabinets and was notable for his stronghold over the cooperative sector.

6. India’s Arctic Expedition To Resume In June.

• M Ravichandran, Director, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), said the annual expedition to the Arctic region will be held from June to October.
• He said about 150-200 crew from India would be participating in the expedition in the batches of 10 at a time.
• India embarked upon the Arctic research by launching a first scientific expedition to the Arctic in the first week of August 2007, using the international research facility in the Spitsbergen Island of Norway.
• Subsequently, India has been sending scientific teams every summer and winter for carrying out studies in the Arctic, primarily in the fields of glaciology, hydrochemistry, microbiology, and atmospheric sciences.
• Mr Ravichandran said the crew will embark on the mission by flight.

7. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar to interact with Sri Lanka leaders from January 5 to 7

• A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said the visit “signifies the priority both countries attach to strengthening their close and cordial relations in all spheres of mutual interest”.
• Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “Both sides are looking forward to strengthening the bilateral relationship in multiple areas of cooperation.”

8. India to use UNSC tenure to foster ‘human-centric’ solutions.

• India was approaching its two-year term on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with “a strong commitment to reformed multilateralism”, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, T.S. Tirumurti.
• The ambassador was speaking at a ceremony to install the national flags of countries who will be UNSC members for the 2021-22 period.
• India would be a voice for the developing world and use its tenure to foster “human-centric and inclusive” solutions to issues of peace and security.
• The new incoming members whose flags were installed this year are India, Ireland, Mexico, Kenya and Norway. The UNSC is comprised of its five permanent members: the UK, US, Russia, France and China. Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam are its other current non-permanent members.

9. The state of Georgia is holding run-off (re-race) elections on January 5 for its two seats in the U.S. Senate, a day after the 117th Congress was sworn in.

• The two seats were contested on Election Day, November 3 2020, but no candidate won more than the required 50% of the vote needed to win an election as per state law.
• The Georgia elections are especially significant this year as the outcome determines which party will control the U.S. Congress for the next two years.
• If Democrats win both races, they will control the Senate, because it will be split 50-50 and Democrats will also have (future) Vice President Kamala Harris’s deciding vote. Since Democrats already control the House of Representatives, winning the Senate will make it significantly easier for the Biden administration to advance its policies. Republicans just need to win one race to retain the Senate.

10. Vietnam buys Indian rice for the first time in decades.

• Vietnam, the world’s third-biggest exporter of rice, has started buying the grain from rival India for the first time in decades after local prices jumped to their highest in nine years amid limited domestic supplies.
• The huge price difference is making exports possible. Vietnam’s 5% broken rice is offered at about $500-$505 per tonne, compared to Indian prices of $381-$387.

11. The Exim Bank has started the New Year on a high note raising $1 billion through a dollar-bond sale to international investors, offering just 2.25 per cent for the ten-year money, setting a new low in pricing.