Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 31 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO along with Indian Navy conducted the successful maiden test trial of SAHAYAK-NG India’s first indigenously designed and developed Air Dropped Container from IL 38SD aircraft of Indian Navy off the coast of Goa.
The trial was conducted by Indian Navy to enhance its operational logistics capabilities and provide critical engineering stores to ships which are deployed more than 2000 kilometres from the coast.
It reduces the requirement of ships to come close to the coast to collect spares and stores.
Two DRDO laboratories, NSTL, Visakhapatnam and ADRDE, Agra were involved in the development of SAHAYAK-NG container along the industry partner M/s Avantel for GPS integration. SAHAYAK-NG is an advanced version of SAHAYAK Mk
The newly developed GPS aided air dropped container is having the capability to carry a payload that weighs upto 50 kg and can be dropped from heavy aircraft.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 31-12-2020 chaired the 34th Pragati meeting and assessed projects worth around Rs1 lakh crore in 10 states and Union territories.
An official statement said two centrepiece government programmes, Ayushman Bharat and Jal Jeevan Mission, were also reviewed and grievances related to the consumer affairs ministry came up for discussion at the meeting. It added Modi directed officials to ensure and expedite comprehensive resolution of the grievances. He said all states should strive for 100% enrolment in Ayushman Bharat at the earliest.
Modi has been holding such meetings since he became the Prime Minister in 2014

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.
There will be 530,000 doses available from next week, and vaccination centres will now start inviting patients to come and get the job.
Priority groups for immunisation have already been identified, starting with care home residents, the over-80s, and health and care workers.
It comes as millions more in England are placed in tier four restrictions.
The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the new vaccine - enough to vaccinate 50 million people.
Eventually all over 50s and younger adults with health conditions will be offered a jab in the first phase of the rollout - more than 25 million people in total.
It is hoped that about two million patients a week could soon be vaccinated with two vaccines now approved.
On Tuesday 53,135 new Covid cases were recorded in the UK - the highest single day rise since mass testing began - as well as 414 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

The income tax return (ITR) filing deadline for FY 2019-20 has been further extended to December 31, 2020, for most individual taxpayers, from the earlier deadline of November 30, 2020. This the second time the tax return filing deadline for FY2019-20 has been extended.
As per the government’s press release issued on October 24, 2020, “In order to provide more time to taxpayers for furnishing of their ITR, it has been decided to further extend the due date for furnishing of Income-Tax Returns as under:
Due date for furnishing of income tax returns (ITR) for these individual taxpayers [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification dated June 24, 2020 as per the Act was 31st July, 2020] has been extended to 31st December, 2020.
The due date for furnishing of income tax returns for the taxpayers (including their partners) who are required to get their accounts audited [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification dated June 24, 2020) as per the Act is 31st October, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.

Zhong Shanshan is a private billionaire who’s rarely quoted in the press.
Now, after an improbable career spanning journalism, mushroom farming and health care, he’s become Asia’s richest person, eclipsing India’s Mukesh Ambani and a group of Chinese tech titans including Jack Ma.
Zhong’s net worth has surged $70.9 billion this year to $77.8 billion, making him the 11th-richest person on the planet, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It’s one of the fastest accumulations of wealth in history, and all the more remarkable considering that until this year he was little known outside of China.
He owes his success to two unrelated fields. He took vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. public in April, then months later Nongfu Spring Co., a maker of bottled water, became one of Hong Kong’s hottest listings.

A Japanese company and Kyoto University have joined forces to develop what they hope will be the world's first satellites made out of wood by 2023.
Sumitomo Forestry said it has started research on tree growth and the use of wood materials in space.
The partnership will begin experimenting with different types of wood in extreme environments on Earth.
Space junk is becoming an increasing problem as more satellites are launched into the atmosphere.
Wooden satellites would burn up without releasing harmful substances into the atmosphere or raining debris on the ground when they plunge back to Earth.
Orbiting space junk collision 'avoided'
Balloon 'taxi service' to take satellites to space
UK Space Agency funds tech for orbital awareness
As an astronaut he visited the International Space Station in March 2008.
During this mission, he became the first person to throw a boomerang in space that had been specifically designed for use in microgravity.

3-match ODI series between the Australian and Indian women’s teams originally scheduled for January 2021 will be postponed until next season, with plans to expand the tour to include an additional three Twenty20 Internationals.
Nick Hockley, CA’s Interim CEO, said the Australian women’s team looked forward to hosting India next season.