KERALA

State government moves ahead with Kerala Bank formation

With the high court dismissing the pending cases against the formation of Kerala Bank, the state government ordered the amalgamation of the Kerala State Cooperative Bank (KSCB) and 13 district cooperative banks (DCBs), and is hoping to complete all legal formalities for making the new bank before March 31, 2020.

There were 21 cases in the high court against the amendment of Section 14A of the Cooperative Act which was required for facilitating the merger of the cooperative banks, and the RBI had instructed to abide by the court’s final verdict while going ahead with the merger.

The earlier system consisted of primary agricultural credit societies and urban cooperative banks at the lowest level, district cooperative banks at the middle level, and state cooperative bank at the upper layer. With the amendments, district cooperative banks were done away with, resulting in the credit societies and urban cooperative banks dealing directly with state cooperative bank.

INTERNATIONAL

World Children’s Day: 20 November

Every year Universal Children’s Day is celebrated on November 20 each year to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide.

The United Nations’ (UN) Universal Children’s Day was established in 1954.
November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

ISRO to launch Cartosat 3, 13 nanosatellites from US

The Indian space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is to launch its cartography satellite Cartosat-3 and 13 commercial nanosatellites into sun-synchronous orbit on 25 November. ISRO’s rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL variant (PSLV-C47) will put into orbit Cartosat-3 and 13 commercial nanosatellites from the US on 25 November. PSLV-C47 is the 21st flight of PSLV in XL configuration. The satellite will be placed in an orbit of 509 km at an inclination of 97.5 degrees.

The 13 nanosatellites from the US is a part of the commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Ltd. NSIL is a new company that was set up recently under the Department of Space.

Cartosat-3 satellite is a third-generation agile, advanced satellite with high-resolution imaging capability. It is an earth observational or remote sensing satellite. It can produce images with one of the most high-resolution in the world, and certainly the highest of any satellites under ISRO’s umbrella.

the satellite has powerful capabilities in multiple different spectral characteristics, including:
♦ panchromatic – captures all visible colors of light
♦ multispectral – capture light within specific ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum
♦ hyperspectral – captures light from across the electromagnetic spectrum

NATIONAL

Indian Oil launches special winter-grade diesel for UT of Ladakh

State-run Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) launched a special winter-grade diesel that remains unfrozen up to minus 33 degree Celsius.

The fuel would help provide year-round access to snow-capped border regions and is part of India’s efforts to speed up strategic road connectivity.
This new fuel will help Indian security forces to stock up on crucial supplies and ammunition that gets cut off due to bad weather in winters.
Indian Oil’s winter-grade diesel meets BIS specifications and has been produced and certified by the company’s Panipat refinery.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Releases ‘Road Accidents in India-2018’

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has released the ‘Road Accidents in India, 2018’.

It is an annual publication brought out by the Transport Research Wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways which reports on accidents, related deaths and injuries.
A total of 4,67,044 road accidents have been reported by States and Union Territories (UTs) in the calendar year 2018, claiming 1,51,417 lives and causing injuries to 4,69,418 persons.
Road accidents in the country have increased marginally by 0.46 per cent during 2018.
India ranks 1st in the number of road accident deaths across the 199 countries reported in the World Road Statistics, 2018 followed by China and the US.

DRDO to double the range of ASTRA missile

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to extend the range of weather beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile ASTRA to nearly double to 160 km of its existing range. This will make it the most lethal BVR missile. It was announced by the DRDO Chief G Sateesh Reddy.
The ASTRA air-to-air-missile and the ballistic missile defence system has been designed to protect India against a nuclear attack. India is one of the few countries which has its own active and successful BMD programme.

ASTRA means weapon in Sanskrit. Astra is the first air-to-air missile that is developed by India. The range of the missile is more than 110 km with modern guidance and navigation techniques. The missile has been built in midcourse guidance and Radio Frequency (RF) seeker based terminal guidance on achieving target destruction with pinpoint accuracy.

Government add 6 states selected to promote pulses and oilseeds cultivation

The Government is to implement the National Food Security Mission (NFSM)–Oilseeds and Oil Palm (OS&OP) in six more States, namely Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has been included to bring additional area and production of pulses and oilseeds.

The Centre aims to increase the production of oilseeds and the domestic availability of edible oils. The also aims to expand the area under oil palm and TBOs cultivation.

Currently, the implementation of NFSM–(OS&OP) is being done in 29 States. It has three subcomponents, namely, Oilseeds, Oil palm, and Tree Borne Oilseeds (TBOs).

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