Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 05 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

A primary school teacher from Maharashtra won $1 million annual Global Teacher Prize 2020.
He was awarded in recognition of his efforts to promote girls' education and trigger a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India.
This annual prize was founded by the Varkey Foundation (global charitable foundation) in 2014 to recognise an exceptional teacher who has made outstanding contribution to the profession.

It was launched by Karnataka Government.
It is implemented in two ways: LMS-based digital learning and establishing 2500 ICT enabled classes covering government first grade colleges, polytechnics and engineering colleges.
It encourages digital learning and would improve the quality and Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education.
This would benefit students and teachers to make an impact on their learning and teaching, respectively, hence improving quality of higher education.

India has voted with the majority at the United Nations to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from the list of most dangerous substances from Schedule IV of 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
Convention allows for control over trafficking in narcotics, marijuana, cocaine and coca leaf.
India had signed and ratified the convention.
Now, the decision by UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) will lead to changes in the way cannabis is regulated internationally.
Under India's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, the production, manufacture, possession, sale, purchase, transport, and use of cannabis is a punishable offence.

The Muni Bonds are issued by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) listed on the BSE.
It raising Rs 200 crore for Uttar Pradesh's capital. It’s the ninth city in the country to raise capital through municipal bonds.
Chief Minister informed that it will be the next to issue a municipal issue and it will be followed by Pragyaraj, Varanasi, Agra and Kanpur.
LMC’s bond issuance, launched on November 13, offered coupon of 8.5 per cent and had tenure of 10 years.
The issuance had garnered 4.5 times subscription.

NASA has confirmed that the Near-Earth Object called 2020 SO is the rocket booster that helped lift the space agency’s Surveyor spacecraft toward the Moon in 1966.

About:

The Surveyor-2 spacecraft was supposed to make a soft landing on the Moon’s surface in September 1966, during which time one of the three thrusters failed to ignite as a result of which the spacecraft started spinning and crashed on the surface.
The aim of the mission was to reconnoiter the lunar surface ahead of the Apollo missions that led to the first lunar landing in 1969.
While the spacecraft crashed into the Moon’s surface, the rocket booster disappeared into an unknown orbit around the Sun.

Fluorosis is a crippling disease resulted from deposition of fluorides in the hard and soft tissues of body.
It is a public health problem caused by excess intake of fluoride through drinking water/food products/industrial pollutants over a long period.
Ingestion of excess fluoride, most commonly in drinking-water affects the teeth and bones.