GOA
Govt meets industry players to understand pain points
Stung by criticism and the industry’s complaints about corruption, the government has initiated steps to improve the business environment in the state. Chief minister Pramod Sawant has tasked IAS officer Ashok Kumar with holding comprehensive meetings with the industry and concerned departments to iron out differences.
Simultaneously, the directorate of industries, trade and commerce (DITC) held a meeting with consultants E&Y (Formerly Ernst & Young) to identify why Goa’s position on the ease of doing business ranking failed to improve, this despite completing 90% of the objectives specified in the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) prepared by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade.
Instead of making significant progress in the ease of doing business (EODB) rankings, which placed Goa at no. 19 in 2018, the state slipped five places to 24 in a year, as it failed to bring in much-needed reforms to improve the investment environment.
INTERNATIONAL
Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez wins 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.
One half of the award has been given to Roger Penrose for black hole discovery; and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez.
UK’s Roger Penrose has been awarded “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”
America’s Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez have jointly won “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.
Emmanuelle Charpentier & Jennifer A. Doudna win Nobel Prize in Chemistry 202
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing”.
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors.
Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision.
This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true.
Charpentier published her discovery in 2011. The same year, she initiated a collaboration with Jennifer Doudna, an experienced biochemist with vast knowledge of RNA.
Together, they succeeded in recreating the bacteria’s genetic scissors in a test tube and simplifying the scissors’ molecular components so they were easier to use.
American poet Louise Glück wins 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature
The 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to American poet Louise Glück.
A professor at Yale University, Glück made her debut in 1968 with her collection titled ‘Firstborn’.
She won the prize for “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”
She is seen as one of the most prominent poet and essayists in American contemporary literature.
She has received several prestigious awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize (1993) and the National Book Award (2014).
Nobel Prize in Economics goes to Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson for improvements to auction theory
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded jointly to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”
The award is officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020.
The laureates in economic sciences are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.
The Nobel prize, which consists of a gold medal, a diploma and a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million, 950,000 euros), will be shared equally between the Laureates.
World Mental Health Day: 10 October
October 10 is the second Saturday of 2020 and is celebrated as the World Mental Health Day.
The objective of this day is to spread awareness about mental health issues and taking efforts in supporting those.
It also emphasizes what more needs to be done to make sure that talking about mental health does not remain a taboo in society.
This day is organised by the World Federation for Mental Health.
It is also supported by WHO, the International Association for Suicide Prevention, and United for Global Mental Health.
NATIONAL
National Postal Week: 9-15 October
The Department of Posts is celebrating National Postal Week from 9-15 October 2020, to mark the occasion of the World Postal Day.
World Post Day is observed every year on October 9.
Every year, the National Postal week is organised to generate awareness of the role and activities of the postal services among the public and media on a national scale.
The online campaign will be organised to create awareness about new offerings and availability of citizen-centric services in Post Offices.
National Postal Day : 10 October
In India, the National Postal Day is celebrated annually on 10 October, as an extension of World Post Day, which is celebrated on 9 October.
The Day aims to commemorate the role played by the Indian postal department for the past 150 years, which was founded in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie.
The postal services in India have given the best performance despite the diversity in culture, tradition and difficult geographical terrains.
Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic to win his 13th French Open Men’s Singles title
Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic to win his 13th French Open and equal Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles.
For world number one Djokovic, the defeat ended his hopes of an 18th Slam and of becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four majors twice.
World number two Nadal claimed his 100th match win at Roland Garros against just two defeats since his 2005 debut.
In Women’s doubles, Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic retained their French Open title.
With this, Babos and Mladenovic, who were withdrawn from the US Open due to COVID-19 protocols, have now won four Grand Slam doubles title together.
Govt agrees to extend subsidy of 50 % on transportation of notified fruits & vegetables through Kisan Rail trains
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has agreed to extend a subsidy of 50 per cent on transportation of notified fruits and vegetables through Kisan Rail trains, under ‘Operation Greens – TOP to Total.’
The Ministry will initially provide ten crore rupees to operate the scheme, which will be deposited with South Central Railway.
Operation Green is being implemented as part of Atmanirbhar Abhiyan under the ageis of Union Ministry of Food Processing.
The first Kisan Rail train service on the Indian Railways network was launched on 7 August 2020. The train runs between Devlali in Maharashtra and Danapur in the state of Bihar.