Today’s top news: 17 December, 2020 (GPN):

NATIONAL NEWS:

1. The countdown for the launch of communication satellite CMS-01 onboard launch vehicle Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C50) commenced on Wednesday , The polar satellite launch vehicle’s 52nd mission is scheduled for lift-off at 3.41 pm on December 17 (Thursday) from the second launch pad at the spaceport of Sriharikota ‘subject to weather conditions’.
2. “DakPay” is an application launched by India post payment Bank as a part of its ongoing initiatives to provide digital financial inclusion to the country . The application was launched by the Union Minister for communications, law and Justice and electronics and information technology Sri Ravi Shankar Prasad. The application provides online services to postal products and banking.
3. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan mohan Reddy recently launched the YSR free Crop Insurance Scheme . Under the scheme 1,252 crores of rupees has been credited into the bank accounts of 9.48 lacs of farmers as crop insurance.
4. India is to establish a regional climate centre in the Himalayan mountain region . The centre will provide weather related services to India and also to its neighbours. Similar centre is being built by China on its side of the Himalayas.
5. The Union Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman recently chaired the 23rd meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council. At the meet, the minister reviewed the financial stability issues, policy measures taken by the government of India.
6. The Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 16, agreed to consider forming a uniform code in matters of divorce laws to remove the anomalies in different personal laws and implement a uniform system.
7. The Supreme Court on Wednesday impleaded 8 farmer unions as respondents in the petitions seeking the removal of protestors from the borders at the national capital. They are as follows- Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rakesh Tikait), BKU- Sidhupur, BKU- Rajewal, BKU- Lakhowal, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, BKU- Dakaunda, BKU- Doaba and Kul Hind Kisan Federation.
8. Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani walked out of the Taloja jail on Wednesday evening after he was granted bail by a Mumbai court.
9. Cooking gas LPG price on Wednesday was increased by Rs 50 per cylinder, the second hike in rate this month following firming of international prices. Also, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was raised by a steep 6.3%. Non-subsidised LPG price was increased to Rs 694 per 14.2-kg cylinder from Rs 644 earlier, according to a price notification of state fuel marketing companies.
10. Rebel Trinamool Congress leader Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday submitted his resignation as an MLA to the West Bengal assembly secretary. The MLA of Nandigram constituency in Purba Medinipur district, resigned from the state cabinet last month.
11. Sikh preacher supporting the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s agriculture laws allegedly committed suicide near the Singhu border in Delhi on Wednesday, police said. A handwritten note in Punjabi, purportedly left behind by the deceased, says he was unable to bear the “pain of farmers”.
12. The ruling CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala on Wednesday appeared set for a sweep in the local body polls in the state, while the BJP seemed to have made some gains, leading in Pandalam, the centre of protestsagainst women’s entry into Sabarimala, among others. The Left Democratic Front was leading in 514 of the 941 grama panchayats, five of the six city corporations and 11 of the 14 district panchayats.
13. Ayodhya pilgrims to get ropeway connecting airport, bus stand, rail station are set to have an easier access to the Ram Mandir that is currently under construction.
14. Ballistic missile submarine Arighat in final stages of trials, to be commissioned early 2021, Arighat, the second of the indigenous Arihant class nuclear-powered ballistic missile carrying submarine (SSBN), is in the final stages of sea trials
15. Mutual trust between India, China evaporated post Galwan incident: Eastern Command
    While addressing the media in West Bengal’s Kolkata on December 16, GoC-in-C of the Eastern Command, Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan spoke on occasion of Vijay Diwas 2020.
16. Indian Army kills two Pakistani soldiers along LoC opposite Jammu and Kashmir’s Naushera in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district,
17. Resuming international flights | Centre to meet airlines and discuss options: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) may explore the option of resuming international flights during the COVID-19 pandemic, after the US, UK and Canada begin vaccination programmes.
18. The online application window for the All India Sainik School Exam (AISSEE) 2021 for class 6th and 9th admission will close on December 18. Candidates who have not yet applied for the exam can apply online at aissee.nta.nic.in.The National Testing Agency will conduct AISSEE on February 7, 2021.
19. Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ announced that the JEE-Main exams will be held four times a year–February, March, April, and May. The first examination will be held between February 23-26 2021 .
20. No Provision To Allow Transgenders Into National Cadet Corps (NCC) & Armed Forces: Central Govt. Tells Kerala High Court. This affidavit has been filed in a petition moved by a trans-woman (Hina Hanifa), challenging Section 6 of the National Cadet Corps Act, 1948 as illegal and ultra vires of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution to the extent that it excludes the transgender community from enrolment with the National Cadet Corps.
21. Singer Diljit Dosanjh fired back at bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut after she claimed that he disappeared after tweeting in support of the farmers protesting against the new farm bills. He also questioned who made her the authority to decide who is a patriot and who is an anti-national
22. Coronavirus Cases:
    9,954,769
    Deaths: 144,353
    Recovered: 9,481,360

✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. India and Bangladesh celebrates “VIJAY DIWAS” to mark historic joint victory during Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, it is celebrated on Dec 16th of every year to mark historic joint victory during Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, which led to the liberation of Bangladesh.
2. PM Modi lights up ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ on Wednesday and begin 50th anniversary celebrations of Indo-Pak War. Inaugural event was held at the National War Memorial (NWM) in New Delhi.
3. PM Modi will be holding a virtual Summit with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Thursday. The summit is taking place after the visit of PM Modi to Bangladesh in March this year had to be postponed in the wake of the sudden onset of COVID-19.
4. Bangladesh is commemorating the year 2020 as Mujib Borsho – the birth centenary of the father of the nation of Bangladesh – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman popularly known as Bangabandhu. In honor of this great leader, both Prime Ministers will jointly inaugurate a commemorative stamp on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahma. Both Prime Ministers will also jointly inaugurate a Bangabandhu-Bapu Digital Exhibition.
5. India and Bangladesh are going to reopen the Chilahati-Haldibari rail link after it was cut off during the 1965 war, nearly 55 years ago
6. What is the S-400 deal? Why is India cautious as US sanctions Turkey?
   The United States has imposed sanctions on Turkey on Monday over Ankara’s acquisition of Russian S-400 air defence systems. Ankara acquired the Russian S-400 ground-to-air defenses in mid-2019 and says they pose no threat to NATO allies. Washington has long been threatening sanctions on Turkey and had removed the country from an F-35 jet program last year.
7. Why India need S-400 air defence missile system?

The S-400 Triumf, (NATO calls it SA-21 Growler), is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM) designed by Russia. It is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM (MLR SAM) in the world, considered much ahead of the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD). The system can engage all types of aerial targets including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV and ballistic and cruise missiles within the range of 400km, at an altitude of up to 30km.

8. Pakistani lawyer cites India’s Supreme Court verdict to support argument on Daniel Pearl’s killer : A lawyer representing the parents of slain US journalist Daniel Pearl informed Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday that the mastermind behind the murder is an international terrorist and cited a judgment by India’s apex court to support his arguments.
9. Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheaded while he was in Pakistan investigating a story in 2002 on the links between the country’s spy agency ISI and al-Qaeda. British-born al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides were convicted and sentenced in the abduction and murder case of Pearl.
10. India on Wednesday signed a pact worth 400 million dollar with the World Bank in a bid to aid the poor and vulnerable reeling under the coronavirus crisis.

🌎WORLD NEWS🌍

1. Bangladesh is celebrating ‘Bijoy Dibosh’, Victory Day to mark the day it attained liberation from Pakistan and became an independent nation in 1971 under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
2. China and Russia have signed a Protocol to extend an agreement between the two countries on notifications of launches of ballistic missiles and space missile carriers
3. A Chinese lunar spacecraft capsule has returned to Earth with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years. The capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe landed in the Siziwang district of the Inner Mongolia region
4. A French court convicted 14 people on Wednesday for the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre. In a series of terror attacks that shook the nation, 17 people were murdered in an extremist attack on the French satirical newspaper’s office in Paris. Charlie Hebdo lost 9 employees in the attacks that took place over three days. All three assailants were killed in police shootouts and accomplices were arrested.
5. An international mission led by the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to go to China in the first week of January to investigate the origins of the CORONA virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic

Coronavirus Cases:
74,120,034
Death; 1,647,983
Recovered: 52,084,244

🚣🚴🏇🏁🏊Sports:

1. Dec 17, Thursday
   Australia vs India 1st Test series
   at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
   09:30 IST / 04:00 GMT
   The match will be played under the lights and will be India’s first pink-ball overseas Test .
2. The foundation stone for 6 squash courts at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium was laid on 16th December in the presence of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. Squash has been one of India’s most successful sports at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, with the likes of Sourav Ghosal, Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa winning laurels for the country.
3. India are in third place in ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings with 114 rating points , whilst Australia top the rankings with 116.46 rating points. New Zealand follow closely in second with 116.37 rating points.

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🇮🇳Facts about India🇮🇳

India commemorated its victory over Pakistan in the war of 1971. India fought against Pakistan helping Bangladesh obtain its freedom and won the war. On the very same day, Bangladesh celebrates its independence.

😀 Thought of the day 

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.

 Joke of the day 

Pappu 14th floor se niche gir gaya,
Girte waqt usne apni ghar ki khidki se
apni biwi ko roti banate huye dekha aur
wo zor se chilaya “Mere liye mat banana…”

🕵 Today Special 😴

17-December-1971 Ceasefire between India & Pakistan in Kashmir and end of Indo-Pak war.

😳Why❓❓❓

Why we will see image of any bright thing even after closing our eyes

Closed-eye hallucinations are related to a scientific process called phosphenes. These occur as a result of the constant activity between neurons in the brain and your vision. Even when your eyes are closed, you can experience phosphenes. At rest, your retina still continues to produce these electrical charges.

Closed eye visualisation or photopsias or phosphenes is an entoptic phenomenon in which bursts of bright colours appear all across field of vision when eyes are closed or when one is in a dark room. Phosphenes come in 15 categories such as triangles, stars, spirals, spots, amorphous blobs, etc.

LEARN Sanskrit🙏🏻

अङ्गार : Coal

🤔 How it works ⁉

How the Radium is made.

Radium is present in all uranium ores, and could be extracted as a by-product of uranium refining. Uranium ores from DR Congo and Canada are richest in radium. Today radium is extracted from spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors. In 1954, the total worldwide supply of purified radium amounted to about 5 pounds (2.3 kg) and it is still in this range today, while the annual production of pure radium compounds is only about 100 g in total today. Radium’s main practical use has been in medicine, u tr radon gas from radium chloride to be used in radiotherapy for cancer.

Pure radium was isolated in 1902 by electrolysis by Marie Curie and Andre Debierne, a French chemist, according to New World Encyclopedia. Radium E, known to be bismuth-210, was the first synthetic radioactive element that was created synthetically by scientists at the University of California.

Radium is classified as an “Alkaline Earth Metals” which are located in Group 2 elements of the Periodic Table. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather than oxygen) on exposure to air,

💁🏻‍♂️ GK TODAY

National Reptile (INDIA) : King Cobra

National Heritage Animal : Indian Elephant

National Vegetable Pumpkin

National Aquatic Animal : Ganges River Dolphin

National River Ganga

National Calendar : Saka calendar

🛕 VEDIC GYAN

apuryamanam acala-pratistham
samudram apah pravisanti yadvat
tadvat kama yam pravisanti sarve
sa santim apnoti na kama-kami

apuryamanam—always filled; acala-pratistham—steadily situated; samudram—the ocean; apah—water; pravisanti—enter; yadvat—as; tadvat—so; kamah—desires; yam—unto one; pravisanti—enter; sarve—all; sah—that person; santim—peace; apnoti—achieves; na—not; kama-kami—one who desires to fulfill desires.

TRANSLATION
A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

PURPORT

Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is always, especially during the rainy season, being filled with much more water. But the ocean remains the same—steady; it is not agitated, nor does it cross beyond the limit of its brink. That is also true of a person fixed in Krsna consciousness. As long as one has the material body, the demands of the body for sense gratification will continue. The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires because of his fullness

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

Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning
it’s best to start your day by re-hydrating with a full glass of water. Hydrating first thing in the morning helps to aid digestion, enhance skin health and boost energy.

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