Today’s top news: 09 December, 2020 (GPN):

NATIONAL NEWS:

1. Bharat Bandh: Limited impact seen across India; markets open in most states : Markets open…transport on roads…life as usual across four metros of the country, the markets… Business in the Mandis was also near normal with virtually no visible impact of the Bharat Bandh call.
2. Talking of Mandis, in most of the states operations and trade remained normal. In fact, Farmers at the Nagpur mandi openly in favored the new agricultural laws. Kerela did not participate in the Bandh because of first phase of local body polls. Voting went off peacefully with a good participation by voters.
3. The crucial meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and 13 farmer leaders at the NASC in Pusa on Tuesday night failed to yield a positive outcome. The Centre is not ready to repeal agrarian laws; to submit written proposal to farmers today. All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah revealed that the Centre will send a written proposal regarding contentious points such as the APMC and the SDM’s powers. Reportedly, Shah asked the farmers’ representatives to mull over the proposal and get back to the Union government.
4. All India Kisan Sabha General Secretary Hannan Mollah on Tuesday asserted that the farmer leaders will not attend the consultations with the government on December 9 (Wednesday). The late-night development came after talks between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a select group of farmers’ representatives failed to make any breakthrough. Farmer leaders claimed their ‘Bharat Bandh’ against the new farm laws was “successful” and had an impact in 25 states.
5. Days after JD(S) Karnataka leader HD Kumaraswamy lashed out at Congress, his party helped BJP to get key legislation passed in the Karnataka Legislative Council. In the 75-member Upper House of the state legislature, the ruling BJP has only 31 seats while Congress and JD(S) have 29 and 14 MLCs respectively. The Karnataka Land Reforms (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 was tabled in the Legislative Council to replace an ordinance that was promulgated owing to the failure of the state government to get the legislation cleared in the Monsoon session.
6. Former union agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has reacted to claims that he had sought changes in the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and pitched for allowing the entry of the private sector in the field.
7. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that Delhi Police kept chief minister Arvind Kejriwal “virtually” under house arrest since he returned after meeting protesting farmers camped at the Singhu border on Monday afternoon. Police denied the contention, saying there was only “general deployment” outside the CM’s residence, and his movement was not barred in any way.
8. The senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi was elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar. The by-poll was necessary to fill the vacant post of late Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
9. PM Modi will lay the foundation stone of the New Parliament Building at Sansad Marg , New Delhi on Thursday (December 10).
10. Himachal road beyond Solang Nala to Atal Tunnel-North portal closed due to snowfall.
11. A mysterious disease in Eluru city of Andhra Pradesh has so far claimed one life and left more than 500 people sick. The disease saw people suddenly falling unconscious after suffering from fits and nausea since December 5 (Saturday) night. The health officials presented a report to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy , mysterious disease, citing a report prepared by the AIIMS experts says that the heavy metal content in drinking water and milk was primarily established as the root cause of the disease.
12. Three persons drowned as their boat capsized in Bhakra Lake in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district on Tuesday. Police did not immediately say as to what caused the boat to overturn.
13. Jet Airways Ltd, which collapsed in 2019, is likely to be back in the skies as early as the summer of next year (April-May 2021). The airline’s new promoters, Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital, plan to start domestic and international operations with all the slots that were available to the airline before it stopped operations.
14. Bollywood actor Dharmendra — who has turned 85 yesterday — Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), he acted at least in 176 movies.
15. Coronavirus Cases:
    9,731,586
    Deaths: 141,340
    Recovered: 9,208,081

✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Over 60 envoys to visit Hyderabad’s Covid Vaccine development centers : Ministry of External Affairs is organizing a visit for Foreign Heads of Missions to leading biotech companies in Hyderabad, Bharat Biotech, and Biological E today.
2. Earlier on November 6th, a briefing to the Head of missions was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs to apprise them on India’s management of COVID-19, its vaccine development programme, software, and related issues of vaccine delivery system and international cooperation.
3. After Canada, debt-ridden Pakistan has interfered in India’s internal matters as the country’s ‘Federal minister for science and technology’ Fawad Chaudhry commented on the farmers’ agitation on Monday. Taking to Twitter, the blundering minister wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We must speak up against injustice done to Punjabi farmers. Modi policies are a threat to the whole region.”
4. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently declared “Invest India” as the winner of the United Nations Investment Promotion Award, 2020 . The award recognizes outstanding achievements of investment promotion agencies spread all over the world. Around 180 such agencies were shortlisted for the award in 2020.
5. UK politician backs trust seeking to tow aircraft carrier Viraat from India : A former member of the European Parliament from Britain has backed the efforts of a trust to save the decommissioned Indian Navy aircraft carrier INS Viraat. On December 4, David Campbell Bannerman appealed to PM Modi.

🌎WORLD NEWS🌍

1. The United States on Monday designated Pakistan and China in its list of “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) for engaging in or tolerating “systematic and egregious violations of religious freedom”: Both Pakistan and China are among the 10 countries highlighted by the US State Department as CPCs for failing to uproot the persecution and discrimination of religious groups.
2. Solar Eclipse 2020: The last Solar Eclipse of the year 2020 is expected to take place on December 14. : There are three kinds of solar eclipses – total, partial, and annular along with a rare hybrid, which is a combination of an annular and a total eclipse. According to drikpanchang, this would be a Total Solar Eclipse of magnitude 1.02 which means that at the moment of greatest eclipse, the Sun would be completely hidden by the shadow of the Moon. The longest duration of totality would be 2 minutes and 10 seconds. This solar eclipse will start at 07:03 in the evening, and it will end at 12:23 pm. This means that this solar eclipse 2020 will last for around five hours.
3. China sends warplanes & personnel to Pakistan for joint military drills near India border :
   A batch of Chinese air force personnel left for Pakistan on Monday to participate in a joint exercise to deepen practical cooperation of the two sides
4. An 87-year-old Indian-origin man from England is set to become one of the first persons in the world to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 . He is to be inoculated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at a hospital in Newcastle on Tuesday.
5. The Indian-American doctor Vivek Murthy was named the Surgeon General to the US President Elect Joe Biden.
6. Nepal and China on Tuesday jointly announced that the revised height of the world’s highest peak Mount Everest was 8,848.86 metres, about 86 centimetres more than the previous measurement done by India in 1954.
7. A 90-year-old British grandmother, Margaret “Maggie” Keenan, on Tuesday became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/ BioNTech jab against COVID-19 as the United Kingdom kicked off its biggest-ever vaccine campaign in history
8. ‘America’s greatest pilot’: Chuck Yeager, 1st man to fly over speed of sound, dies, Chuck Yeager, an icon of aviation history, has died at the age of 97,
9. Coronavirus Cases :
   68,226,053
   view by country
   Deaths: 1,556,476
   Recovered: 47,236,216

🚣🚴🏇🏁🏊Sports:

1. Govt to start 1000 Khelo India centres across country to help retired sportspersons with employment: Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said.
2. Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) upcoming elections has been postponed. The decision to postpone the elections was taken after a majority of member state associations wrote to Returning Officer, Justice Rajesh Tandon requesting postponement of the elections due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Olympian Anju Bobby George, who secured a historic bronze medal in the 2003 World Athletics Championship in Paris, said she achieved success and reached the top with a single kidney. Anju Bobby George tweeted that she made it to the top of the world despite having many limitations.
4. Indian skipper Virat Kohli became the second Indian batsman after Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar to register 3,000 international runs in Australia.Kohli had achieved this feat during his splendid knock of 89 in the final match of the T20I series.
5. 3rd T20I Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Sydney 08 December 2020
   AUSTRALIA V INDIA
   India : 174/7 (20.0);
   Aus: 186/5 (20.0) Australia beat India by 12 runs

USD 73.69 💷GBP 98.40
In Dispur(Assam)
🥇Gold ₹49,405@10 gm 24 (Krt)
🥈 Silver ₹64,910@ Kg
⛽ Petrol ₹ 87.11
⛽ Diesel ₹ 80.11
₹ 693.00 /14.2 Kg
Lk

🇮🇳Facts about India🇮🇳

Raja Ravi Varma (29 April 1848 – 5 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist from the princely state of Travancore (presently in southern Kerala & some parts of Tamil Nadu) who achieved recognition for his paintings depicting scenes from Indian literature and
mythology including the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art
and his paintings are considered to be among the best examples of the
fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of European academic art.

😀 Thought of the day 

A negative thinker sees a difficulty in every opportunity… A positive thinker sees an opportunity in every difficulty.

 Joke of the day 

Pappu : U cheated me.
Shopkeeper : No, I sold a good radio to u.
Pappu : Radio label shows Made in Japan but radio says this is ‘All
India Radio! ‘

💁🏻‍♂️ GK TODAY

UNESCO – United Nations Education Scientific & Cultural Organisation

😳 Why ..❓❓
What causes hiccups?

A hiccup is a sudden, involuntary contraction (spasm) of the diaphragm muscle. Common causes of hiccups include eating too quickly, eating or drinking too much. Home remedies for hiccups include: holding your breath, drinking a glass of water quickly, pulling hard on your tongue, biting on a lemon, gargling with water, and using smelling salts.

LEARN Sanskrit🙏🏻

ध्यास : Concentration

🤔 How it works ⁉

How milk powder is made in factory

During milk powder production water is removed by boiling the milk under reduced pressure at low temperature in a process known as evaporation. The resulting concentrated milk is then sprayed in a fine mist into hot air to remove further moisture thus forming a powder

🛕 VEDIK GYAN

नैनं छिद्रन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावक: ।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुत ॥

आत्मा को न शस्त्र काट सकते हैं, न आग उसे जला सकती है। न पानी उसे भिगो सकता है, न हवा उसे सुखा सकती है। (यहां भगवान श्रीकृष्ण ने आत्मा के अजर-अमर और शाश्वत होने की बात की है।)

🧬 HEALTH CARE: HOME REMEDIES🩺
( Note : These home tips followed in villages/ancient traditions, it is up to you to use it or not🙏🏻)

Black Chana health benefits

It is an incredible source of vitamins like B6, C, folate, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin and minerals including manganese, phosphorus, iron and copper. The wealth of nutrients in Kala Chana is beneficial in boosting the immune system, promote muscle mass, regulates diabetes and enhance hair, skin and nail health

The carbohydrates in kala chana are digested slowly, which reduces the blood sugar levels. This contributes to insulin resistance, thereby reducing the risk of getting diabetes.

🙏PLZ FOLLOW GOVT. NORMS, MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE, KEEP YOURSELF & YOUR FAMILY SAFE🌼 ENDS