TNPSC - CURRENT AFFAIRS 6 DECEMBER 2020

 

BITA (Banking Institute & TNPSC Academy)

TNPSC - CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. Hayabusa2 arrives after collecting samples from asteroid Ryugu

•   On December 6, 2020, Hayabusa2 returned to the earth after collecting samples from the Ryugu asteroid.

 2. Karnataka MLC disqualified

• The Karnataka High Court has held that Vishwanath stands disqualified under the anti-defection law and hence cannot be inducted into the state cabinet.
• Vishwanath has incurred disqualification under Article 164 (1B) and Article 361 (B) of the Indian Constitution.
•  Vishwanath had been appointed as the Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) despite the fact that Vishwanath had lost the bye-poll held for the State Legislative Assembly.
• Already he was disqualified as per the Supreme Court judgement in 2019.
• It was argued that a disqualified member can become eligible to hold the position of a minister only if they win the bye-elections from the same constituency.

3. Road Accidents in India

• With over 156 road accident cases per day, Tamil Nadu ranks first for the third year in India.
•   It was the data according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
•   It was followed by Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• With regards to deaths on National Highways, Tamil Nadu stood third, behind Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
• Under the mega cities, Chennai holds the second place in road accident deaths after Delhi.
•   The Union road transport ministry’s accident report 2019 placed three spots in Chennai as the country’s deadliest accident blackspots.

4.100 Octane Petrol

•  The Indian Oil Corporation recently launched the first 100 Octane petrol.
•  This is the first time 100 Octane fuel is being launched in the country.
• It is usually used in luxury vehicles that demand high-performance.
•   It is available only in six countries in the world namely Germany, United States, Greece, Malaysia, Indonesia and Israel.
• Octane ratings are the measure of fuel stability

5. Wolf Brigade 44

• Germany bans far-right 'Wolf Brigade 44'.
•  The Brigade 44 openly pledged allegiance to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
•  It seeks to end the democratic form of governance in Germany.
•  Number 44 here means Division Dirlewanger, named after Oskar Dirlewanger.
•  He was accused of ordering massacres against civilians in Belarus in the 1940s.

6. World Malaria Report, 2020

•    It was recently released by the World Health Organisation.
•   As per the report, India recorded the largest reduction in malaria cases in South East Asia.
• Around 88% of Malaria cases in the region are from India.
•  However, India has reduced the Malaria cases by 21% between 2018 and 2019.
• According to the report the highest Malaria burden countries were Cameron, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Mali, Ghana, India, Nigeria and United Republic of Tanzania.

7. Global Corruption Barometer – Asia

•  It was a survey released by global civil society ‘Transparency International’
•  India has highest corruption rate of 39% in Asia.
• India was followed by Cambodia and Indonesia for the highest rate of corruption in Asia.
•  Whereas Maldives and Japan topped the charts with lowest corruption rate followed by South Korea.

8. QS Asia University Rankings 2021

• The global higher education think-tank Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has released this.
• The National University of Singapore has come up as Asia’s best university for the third consecutive year.
• A total of 107 Indian institutes have been selected among the total 650 universities ranked.
• The top three Indian universities to feature on the Asia Rankings are IIT Bombay (Rank 47), IIT Delhi (Rank 50), and IIT Madras (Rank 56).

9. Zebrafish Gene

•  Scientists at Pune-based Agharkar Research Institute have identified Zebrafish’s genes that can promote heart regeneration.
•  It can regenerate almost all its organs, including the brain, heart, eye, spinal cord within a short time period.
•  This is why the zebrafish is used as a model organism.
• Zebrafish is a tiny freshwater fish found in the tropical and subtropical regions.

10. World’s smallest memory device

·         The scientists have reduced the size of the thinnest memory storage device.

·    It was done by shrinking the cross-section area down to just one single square nanometre.

·         This development may lead to the creation of faster, smaller and more energyefficient electronic chips for consumer electronics.

·         The researchers used the compound molybdenum di sulfide, also known as MoS2, as the primary nanomaterial in their study.

·          The research was published recently in a journal called ‘Nature Nanotechnology’.

·         The researchers belong to the University of Texas at Austin in the USA