Current Affairs in Short: 30 October 2020

TN Governor gives nod to bill to provide 7.5 % reservation for govt school students in medical admission

•Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has given his assent to a state bill that seeks to provide a 7.5 percent reservation to government school students in medical admission.
•The Governor gave his assent to the bill based on the legal opinion received from the Solicitor General of India. 
•The Tamil Nadu State Government had passed an order on October 30, 2020 to implement the reservation. 
•The reservation will be made applicable for the state quota undergraduate medical seats in the government and private colleges.

US economy registers record growth of 33 % in third quarter 

•The US economy has registered a record growth of 33 percent in the third quarter of the current Fiscal Year. This is its fastest pace amid the COVID-19 pandemic and shows that the nation has finally started to pull itself back together. 
•The third-quarter GDP expanded at a 33.1% annualized pace in the July-to-September period. The GDP is a measure of the total goods and services produced.
•Increased consumption along with solid gains in business and residential investment along with exports have fueled the third-quarter rebound.

Indian Army launches Secure Application for Internet 

•The Indian Army has developed a messaging application named the “Secure Application for Internet (SAI), which is simple and secure.
•The application will support end-to-end secure voice, text and video calling services for Android platforms over the internet. 
•The application is similar to commercially available messaging applications such as Whatsapp and Telegram. 
•The application comprises security features with local in-house servers and coding that can be tweaked as per requirements.

Cabinet approves MoU between India, Japan on cooperation in Information and Communication Technologies field

•The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on October 29, 2020 approved the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India and Japan to expand bilateral cooperation in the Information and Communication Technologies field. 
•The agreement will contribute in strengthening bilateral cooperation and understanding between the two nations in the field of communications.
•It will serve as a strategic initiative for India, as Japan is an important partner with “Special Strategic and Global Partnership” status.
•The agreement will help expand cooperation between the two nations in several areas including 5G network, telecom security, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Submarine cable and standard certification of communication equipment.

Kerala to set up post-COVID treatment clinic

•The Kerala State Health Department has decided to set up post-Covid treatment clinics across the state. The decision was taken after the number of people reporting other health problems after recovering from COVID increased.
•Almost 10 percent of the recovered COVID patients have reported serious health issues in the state. Hence, the state government has prepared a draft plan for opening special clinics to treat health issues in such recovered COVID patients.
•The post-COVID clinics will be opened in primary health centres and medical colleges. All cured patients have been asked to visit their nearest Primary Health Centre, Community Health Centre, or Family Health Centre for a check-up every month. 
•The treatment centre will be decided according to the intensity of their health issues.