CURRENT AFFAIRS - 05.12.2021

India will have 9 nuclear reactors by 2024

India will have nine nuclear reactors by the year 2024. a new nuclear project, the first in northern India, will come up 150 kilometres away from Delhi, in Haryana's Gorakhpur. "By 2024 you will have nine nuclear reactors plus 12 new additional ones which were approved during the Covid times with a capacity of 9000 MW. Five new sites are also being identified in different parts of the country," the minister said. India is counting on its nuclear program to help meet its Paris climate commitments to reduce the emissions intensity of its economy by a third from 2005 levels by 2030.

UP Gets 2nd Earth Station For Doordarshan Kendra

UP gets 2nd earth station for Doordarshan kendra, 3 more FM relay stations

The Gorakhpur Doordarshan Kendra was on Friday equipped with an earth station, enabling it to directly telecast the locally generated programmes across the world through DTH.

The inauguration of an earth station at the Gorakhpur Doordarshan Kendra came as a boon for local Bhojpuri artists, who had been demanding it for long.

Following the inauguration of the earth station, Thakur also announced that Gorakhpur Doordarshan Kendra will soon start telecasting a one-hour-long programme in Bhojpuri directly from here, without taking the Lucknow’s help as earlier.

inaugurated by I&B Minister Anurag Thakur and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who also digitally inaugurated three FM relay centres of 10KW each at Etawah, Gadania in Lakhimpur Kheri and Nanpara in Bahraich districts.

OECD slashes India growth forecast to 9.4% for FY22

For FY23, the country is projected to grow at around 8.1 percent, with the rate slightly brought down to 5.5 percent for 2024

Bringing down its growth forecast from 9.7 percent to 9.4 percent for FY22, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) maintained that the economy is positively recovering and gaining traction, thanks to booming consumer sentiment and speedy vaccination coverage across the country.

Notably, the 38-member intergovernmental organisation earlier pared the country's FY22 growth projection to 9.7 percent from its earlier estimate of 9.9 percent, citing the persisting risks of the lingering after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“India has made remarkable progress over the past two decades in accelerating economic growth and making a dent in poverty. Improving social policy delivery and targeting it better are now fundamental challenges to heal the scars left by the pandemic,"

Federal Bank launches an exclusive feature-rich scheme for women

Private sector lender Federal Bank has launched a feature-rich savings bank product for women.

“The savings scheme is called Mahila Mitra Plus and provides a curated set of features, designed to make financial planning and investments easy for women,”

The special features include exclusive preferential interest rates on housing loans, processing fee waiver for home loans, complimentary and customised insurance cover.

"Women are also encouraged to open savings accounts in the names of their minor children through the provision of two zero balance savings accounts

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development 2021

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development is observed on December 5 every year. The day is also referred to as IVD and is mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985. To achieve goals at the local, national and international levels, the UN offers an opportunity to volunteer-involving organisations and individual volunteers to promote volunteerism.

HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE

The General Assembly invites Governments to observe IVD and urges people to take measures to heighten awareness about the important contribution of volunteer service encouraging people in volunteer services in both home and abroad. The UN in resolution 52/17 of November 20, 1997, proclaimed 2001 as the International Year of Volunteers.

In 2001, International Years of Volunteers, the General Assembly adopted a set of recommendations in ways for the Government and UN systems to support volunteering and also asked them to give wide dissemination. Later, in 2002, the General Assembly called upon UNV to ensure the potential of International Volunteer Day.

IVD is observed across 80 countries in the world. UNV coordinates campaigns to promote IVD every year to build impact on volunteers amongst communities nationally and globally for peace and development.

THEME OF INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER DAY 2021

Volunteer now for our common future.

Several countries focus on volunteer contributions to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, a set of time-bound targets to combat poverty, hunger, disease, health, environmental degradation and gender equality.

World Soil Day 2021

World Soil Day is observed every year on December 5 to raise awareness of the importance of soil to the sustenance of life on earth.

The day was chosen as December 5 to mark the birthday of Thailand’s king, HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who formally made this event happen. The day is celebrated to get peoples' attention to the importance of healthy soil.

World Soil Day 2021: Importance

Soil degradation leads to a poor quality of food production as it affects the crops and soil fertility. This results in affecting soil salinization and management.

World Soil Day 2021: Aim

The aim of this day is to halt soil salinization, boost soil productivity and raise awareness regarding the challenges faced in soil management and solving the soil salinization problem. The campaign takes place to improve soil health.

World Soil Day: History

The International of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in the year 2002 offered a global day to raise awareness of soil degradation effects and prevention. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) initiated the day under the leadership of the king of Thailand. Finally, in 2013, the United Nations General Assembly decided to dedicate a day and its first official day started on December 05,2014.

World Soil Day 2021: Theme

The theme for World Soil Day 2021 is “Halt soil salinization, enhance soil production”.

World Soil Day 2021: Significance

The significance of this day is to promote the importance of soil to maintain a healthy ecosystem for handling issues related to soil management and soil salinisation for better agricultural yields in specific regions.

International Day of Banks 2021

International Day of Banks is celebrated on December 4 to recognise the importance of multilateral and international development banks in financing sustainable developments. United Nations also observes the day in recognition of the vital role of banking systems in Member State in contributing to the improvement of the standard of living. India is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. From April to September 2020, India received the highest Foreign Direct Investment. As of now, there are around 46 Foreign banks that are operating in India in 2021.

Such Foreign Banks like: