Current Affairs in Short: 17 November 2020

Delhi Government declares November 20th as public holiday 

•The Delhi government on November 17, 2020 declared November 20th as a public holiday on the account of Chhath Puja. 
•The announcement comes almost a week after the Delhi government authorities prohibited celebration of Chhath Puja in public places and water bodies. 
•The DDMA has given strict instructions to the officials to ensure that Chhath Puja is not performed this year at any public place including river banks and temples in Delhi in the wake of steep rise in COVID cases. 

Second Phase of Malabar Exercise begins

•The second phase of Malabar Exercise 2020 began between the navies of India, Australia, Japan and the United States  in the Northern Arabian Sea on November 17, 2020.
•The phase two of the exercise will be centered around the Indian Navy’s Vikramaditya Carrier Battle Group and US Navy’s Nimitz Carrier Strike Group along with other ships, aircraft and submarines of participating navies.
•The phase two will involve high intensity naval operations spread across four days including cross-deck flying and advanced air defence exercises by the fighters on both sides.

15th Finance Commission presents report to FM Nirmala Sitharaman

•The Fifteenth Finance Commission on November 17, 2020 submitted a copy of its report to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 
•The report titled 'Finance Commission in COVID Times’ deals with the ratio in which taxes are to be divided between the Centre and States in the next five years. The report will be tabled in the Parliament by the Finance Minister along with the government’s Action Taken Report. 
•The 15th Finance Commission Chairman and Members had submitted the report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 16. The Commission had earlier submitted its report to President Ram Nath Kovind on November 9, 2020. 

First session of new Bihar assembly to be held on November 23

•The first session of the newly-elected 17th Bihar Legislative Assembly will convene from November 23, 2020. The session will conclude on November 27, 2020.
•The decision was taken during the first meeting of the newly-constituted State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on November 17, 2020.
•All the other 14 members of the Council of Ministers were present during the Cabinet meeting. The meeting also saw key portfolio allocation. While Nitish Kumar kept Home Department, General Administration and Vigilance, Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad got Finance, Urban Development and the other Deputy CM Renu Devi got Panchayati Raj, Backward cast upliftment and Industry. 

Digital media outlets must bring down FDI to 26 percent by October 2021: Centre

•The central government on November 16, 2020 asked the digital news media outlets to comply with conditions that make them eligible for 26 percent FDI approved by the Union Cabinet in 2019.
•The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a public notice in this regard to help eligible entities to comply with centre’s decision on September 18, 2020. The Ministry has laid out detailed actions that are to be undertaken by the eligible entities within a month. 
•The entities with FDI below 26 percent will have to intimate the ministry within the next month with details of the shareholding pattern such as names of directors and promoters.