Top Best Current Affairs 20 October 2020

The 7th meeting of Ministers of (Law and) Justice of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States was virtually hosted by Indian Minister of Law & Justice, Communication and Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad. The Indian side urged the SCO Member States to promote the exchange of ideas, best practices and experiences in identified areas through the platform. He also mentioned initiating Pro Bono Legal Services to provide free legal aid to marginalized sections of the society.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the country's largest para-military force deployed for the internal security of the nation, has collaborated with IIT Delhi, Defence Research and Development Organisation, and Joint Advanced Technology Centre (JATC) -- DRDO and IIT Delhi joint initiative -- to augment its Research and Development capabilities. "The emerging challenges and engagement with technology in the everyday world entail that the force remains updated not just with most recent technologies and gadgets but also with the technical expertise required by its personnel. The force has made persistent efforts at keeping pace with the latest technologies by adopting them in its core functions," the CRPF said in a press release on Saturday.

India has successfully conducted the night trial of its nuclear-capable Prithvi-2 missile from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore, off Odisha coast. The user flight trial was carried out by the Strategic Forces Command of the armed force under the watch of DRDO scientists as part of a training exercise.

India's first multi-wavelength space-based observatory, Astrosat, completed five successful years of operation on September 28. The observatory has provided access to a number of young students and professors, apart from seasoned astronomers, to dig into scientific data for carrying out advanced research in this field.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 102nd meeting of the World Bank Development Committee Plenary through video conferencing on Friday and said the hard-fought gains in reducing the level of poverty, achieved over a number of years, are at great risk of being lost due to COVID-19. She said developing and developed countries continue to be impacted by COVID-19. An official release said Sitharaman told the meeting that the government has taken several measures to contain the spread of the pandemic and also to mitigate its social and economic impact. "COVID -19 pandemic which started before our last meeting in April continues to impact the developing and developed countries till date and the hard-fought gains in reducing the level of poverty, achieved over a number of years, are at great risk of being lost," she said.

UNICEF and India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA) have entered into a partnership to support research on gender representation in advertisements in India based on evidence and real-time validation. This is based on the understanding that marketing plays a powerful role in shaping gender roles and perceptions and advertising is an important tool that can influence women and girl empowerment. The changing and evolving landscape of advertisements have a huge potential to promote gender-equitable practices, especially among young people.

India successfully test-fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, from the Indian Navy's indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS Chennai with the weapon hitting a pre-designated target in the Arabian Sea. The missile hit the target in the Arabian Sea successfully with pinpoint accuracy after performing high-level and extremely complex manoeuvres.

The Managing Director and CEO of Union Bank of India, Rajkiran Rai G has been elected as the Chairman of Indian Bank Association (IBA) for the term 2020-21. He succeeds Rajnish Kumar as the IBA Chairman after Kumar recently retired as SBI Chief.