India & USA signs MoU on Intellectual Property Cooperation

December 5, 2020

1. International Sand Art Festival & Konark Festival 2020 begins:-

The 9th edition of the International Sand Art Festival and the 31st edition of the Konark Festival has kicked-off in Odisha.
International Sand Art Festival is being held at the Chandrabhaga Beach of Konark in Puri district of Odisha.
About 70 artists from across the country are taking part in the festival. The world-renowned sand artist and Padmashree Awardee, Sudarsan Pattnaik, has been appointed as Chief Curator of the festival.
The festival is organised every year as part of the Konark Dance Festival, to provide a platform for both national and international sand artists to showcase their talent. However, in 2020 international artists are not participating due to the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic.

Srinagar born Wushu coach and the first Dronacharya Awardee from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Kuldeep Handoo is appointed as the Ambassador of Fit India movement.
He won 11 gold medals in National and 6 in International stage, is the Wushu coach of Team India.
Under his guidance Athletes have won two gold medals at the world championship and one at the World Cup. He also serves as Inspector of police in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Government of India and the United States of America (USA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Intellectual Property Cooperation.
As a part of this MoU, the two sides will develop Biennial Work Plan to implement the MoU which will include the detailed planning for carrying out of the co-operation activities including the scope of action. The Union Cabinet had approved the signing the MoU for the same on 19 February 2020.
The MoU was signed between Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, DPIIT and Mr Andrei Iancu, who represented the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Department of Commerce of the United States of America respectively.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das, has decided to maintain the status quo on policy rate amid sticky rate of inflation.
At this point, the repo rate or the rate at which RBI lends to banks stands unchanged at 4 per cent.
The reverse repo rate also stayed unchanged at 3.35 per cent. The MPC committee members voted unanimously in favour of the decision.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has topped the 2020 Fortune 500 list of Indian companies, released.
The revenue of RIL clocked Rs 615,854.00, accounting for 7% of cumulative revenues and 11 per cent profit of the companies.
The country’s biggest oil firm, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), bagged the second spot, followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at the third position.
The list was published by Fortune India, which is part of the Kolkata-based RP Sanjiv Goenka Group.

The Nongpok Sekmai Police Station in Manipur topped the list of best police stations in India, while Sooramangalam All Women Police Station at Salem, Tamil Nadu was adjudged the second best police station in the country.
The Kharsang PS, Arunachal Pradesh‘s Changlang district was adjudged the country’s third-best police station.

Dawid Malan of England has attained the highest-ever rating points for batsmen in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings.
The 33-year-old Malan has reached 915 points, and thus became the first player to cross the 900-point mark in the format.
Before him, Australia’s Aaron Finch reached exactly 900 points in July 2018.
Babar Azam (871) of Pakistan and Aaron Finch (835) of Australia is second and third in the list.
India’s KL Rahul is at fourth position, while Virat Kolhi’s rank has dropped to 9th in the list.

In India, December 4 is observed as the National Navy Day every year, to celebrate the achievements and role of the naval force to the country.
The theme of Navy Day 2020 is “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible & Cohesive”.
The day is marked in recognition of the launch of Operation Trident during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971.
During Operation Trident, on December 4 in 1971, the Indian Navy sank four Pakistani vessels and also killed over 500 Pakistani Navy personnel, meanwhile, the Indian side suffered no losses.
The Indian Navy is the marine branch of the Indian Armed Forces and is led by the President of India as Commander-in-Chief. The Maratha Emperor, Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhosle of the 17th century is considered as “Father of the Indian Navy”.

International Day of Banks is observed globally on the 4th of December.
On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 74/245, which designated 4 December as the International Day of Banks.
The day is celebrated to the recognition of the significant potential of multilateral development banks and other international development banks in financing sustainable development and providing know-how, and also in recognition of the vital role of the banking systems in the Member States in contributing to the improvement of the standard of living.

American decathlete and film actor, Rafer Johnson, who was 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, has passed away.
After he retired from athletics, Johnson turned to act and appeared in a number of films, including the James Bond film Licence to Kill in 1989.