• The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has launched a month-long mass awareness campaign 'SAKSHAM' to spread awareness about green and clean energy.

• The pan-India campaign will focus on the adoption of cleaner fuels.

• They include moving towards a gas-based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, greater reliance on domestic sources to drive biofuels and increased use of electric vehicles.

• Yes Bank has announced its partnership with Aditya Birla Wellness Private Limited to launch the ‘YES BANK Wellness’ and ‘YES BANK Wellness Plus’ Credit Cards – aimed at the holistic health, self-care and wellness of consumers.

• As consumers face new realities of home-schooling of children, working from home, and lack of physical contact with loved ones and colleagues, this is an innovative step to encourage and promote self-care, mental and physical well-being.

• Consumers can now enjoy the bouquet of complimentary health benefits by simply registering on the Aditya Birla Multiply App.

• The mobile app allows consumers to avail complementary benefits such as annual health check-up, round the clock doctor or counsellor helpline, in-studio or home based workout sessions, personalized diet plans, among others, right at their fingertips.

• ICICI Bank has tied up with Niyo, a new age fintech, to issue prepaid cards to workers of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

• MSMEs will now be able to get ‘ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card’ powered by Visa, for their blue-collar workers, who are mostly under-banked.

• With this, MSMEs can upload the salaries of their workers on the card, which the workers can then utilise as per their need in a seamless manner.

• The ‘ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card’ allows an individual to receive funds up to ₹1 lakh into the card account.

• It offers convenience and safety of digital banking to the blue-collar workforce while providing a state-of-the-art salary disbursement solution to the employers.

• The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) elected Fiji's ambassador as its 2021 president in an unprecedented secret ballot after a diplomatic standoff blocked the usual consensus decision.

• The island nation's ambassador in Geneva, Nazhat Shameem Khan, beat off competition from Bahrain and Uzbekistan to lead the only intergovernmental global body to promote and protect human rights worldwide.

• Khan, who served as the council's vice president in 2020 and is considered a rights champion, won with 29 out of 47 votes.

• Bahrain's ambassador and his Uzbek counterpart received 14 and four votes, respectively.

• India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation in the field of Information and Communications Technologies.

• The MoU was signed by Minister for Communications, Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Japanese Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Takeda Ryota.

• It was exchanged through a video conference today.

• The Department of Telecom and Japan's Ministry of Communications will enhance mutual cooperation in the field of 5G technologies, telecom security, submarine optical fiber cable system to islands of India, spectrum management, smart cities, high altitude platform for broadband in unconnected areas, disaster management and public safety etc.

• The Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) has appointed Sandeep Aggarwal as the new Chairman.

• Aggarwal, the Managing Director and Promoter of Delhi-based Paramount Communications, will take over from Shyamal Ghosh.

• TEPC is an independent body set up by the government to promote and develop the export of telecom equipment and services.

• Aggarwal is also the Chief Mentor of PHDCCI’s Telecom Committee, besides being the Chairman of Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) and President of Railway Cable Development Association.

• Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence (MoD) unveiled India’s first indigenously designed and developed ‘Driverless Metro Car’ during a function held at the Bharat Earth Movers Limited manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

• The ‘Driverless Metro Car’ are being manufactured by BEML for Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) MRS1 project.

• The project needs 576 cars which will be supplied by January 2024.

• In this regard, BEML recently opened its Depot office at Charkop Metro Depot, MMRDA, Mumbai for commissioning, testing and round-the- clock services for Driverless Metro cars.

• These metro cars will operate on 25 kV AC traction power and equipped with CCTV (Closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance and with the provision to carry passenger bi-cycles in the coaches.

• They are made up of stainless-steel body with a capacity of carrying 2280 passengers in 6 cars metro train-set.

• Union Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey launched the Third Phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 3.0) 2020-21 in 600 districts across India and made available around 300 Plus Skill Courses to the youth.

• The PMKVY 3.0 has been designed based on the learnings from the previous 2 editions PMKVY 1.0 (2015-16) & PMKVY 2.0 (2016-2020).

• PMKVY 3.0 aims to provide training to around 8 Lakh candidates during the period of 2020-21 with an outlay of INR 948.90 Crore.

• It will be implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and will focus on demand-driven skill development, digital technology & Industry 4.0 skills.

• PMKVY 3.0 is set to be trainee and learner-centric and will address the ambitions of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

• It will be demand-based & Decentralized in its approach as District Skill Committees (DSC) will be the focal point of implementation of PMKVY 3.0.

• According to a report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India generated 771, 215 tonnes of Electronic waste (e-waste) in 2018-19, of which only 10% were collected.

• In 2017-18, India generated 7, 08, 445 Tonnes of which only 3.5% was collected.

• Further the amount of e-waste generated increased by 32% to 1, 014, 961 tonnes in 2019-20.

• In September, 2020, CPCB had issued show-cause notices to 186 producers for not meeting collection targets for 2018-19.

• CPCB had extended EPR authorisation of 1, 630 producers as on November 26, 2020.

• 312 Dismantlers or recyclers were authorised with a capacity of processing 782, 080 tonnes of e-waste each year.

• The report also states that the volume of e-waste that a dismantler or recycler has increased over time, but the shed area of the unit remains the same.

• According to the ‘International Migration 2020’ report released by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), In 2020, 18 Million persons from India were living outside of their country of birth thus making it the World’s Largest Transnational Community. India is followed by Mexico & Russia (11 Million each), China (10 Million) & the Syrian Arab Republic (8 Million).

• The United Arab Emirates (3.5 Million), the United States of America (2.7 Million) and Saudi Arabia (2.5 Million) host the largest numbers of migrants from India.

• At the Global level, the number of International Migrants living outside their country of birth reached 281 Million in 2020. International Migrants represent about 3.6% of the World’s population.

• The Growth of International Migration has slowed by 27% or 2 Million due to COVID-19.