Top 5 Current Affairs: 11 September 2020

Prime Minister Modi addresses conclave on ‘school Education in 21st Century’

PM Narendra Modi on September 11, 2020, addressed a conclave on ‘School Education in 21st Century’ under the New Education Policy 2020. The two days conclave began on September 10 as part of Shiksha Parv. In his virtual address, Prime Minister Modi talked about various issues related to the school education system. He also emphasized the implementation of National Education Policy 2020 for which he invited cooperation from all over the country.

US Spacecraft named after Kalpana Chawla

A US-based global aerospace and defense technology company, Northop Grumman announced that its next Cygnus capsule will be named “S.S. Kalpana Chawla”. She was the first woman from Indian origin to enter space. The decision has been taken to acknowledge her key contributions to human spaceflights. Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana. She joined NASA in 1988 and after becoming US Citizen in 1991, she applied for the NASA astronauts corps. She lost her life in 2003 during a mission when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated while reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

Supreme Court seeks Centre’s stand on a plea seeking a lifetime ban on convicted MLAs/MPs contesting elections

The Supreme Court on September 10, 2020, sought Central Government’s stand on a plea seeking a lifetime ban on the convicted criminals contesting elections. The bench was headed by Justice NV Ramana. The plea has been filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay seeking a lifetime ban on the convicted and chargesheeted MPs/MLAs from contesting elections. The centre has been asked by the Supreme Court to respond to the plea within six weeks. The apex court had earlier passed several orders to fast-track the trials involving sitting MPs/MLAs facing charges.

India, China reaches five-point consensus after Jaishankar-Wang meet

India and China have reached a five-point consensus regarding the border standoff between the two countries. The consensus was reached after the detailed talks between the Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The decision to reach a consensus was informed through a joint statement on September 11, 2020. The meeting went on for about two hours and the two sides finally decided on a five-point plan to resolve the four-month-long border stand-off.

SC directs to not declare the loan to be NPA till the new order

Supreme Court has directed that the loans that had not been declared non-performing assets (NPA) by August 31, 2020, must continue to remain free of this classification until further orders. The Supreme Court has been hearing petitions related to the 6-months loan repayment moratorium that ended on August 31. It was a measure that was announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to help the burrowers hit by the pandemic which has affected the economy.