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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 November 2020

::NATIONAL::

Recently Jharkhand Assembly passed resolution on Sarna Code which seeks the inclusion of Sarna as a separatereligion in Census, 2021.
The resolution will now be sent to the centre for approval.

Sarna followers are nature worshippers who do not consider themselves Hindus and have been fighting for aseparate religious identity for decades.
Tribal leaders across Jharkhand had been demanding the implementation of Sarna Code in census surveys.
So far, the census surveys have included them as "others"in the religion column.

Sri Lanka signed a memorandum of cooperation with India and Japan to jointly upgrade the strategic EastContainer Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port.
The objective was to enhance Sri Lanka’s status as a maritime hub.
However, the project could not move forward owing to resistance against foreign involvement innational assets.

India’s interest in the project has well-known commercial and strategic motives.
The ECT adjoins the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), the SLPA’s joint venture with China Merchants Port Holdings Company that holds an 85% stake.
A deep-water container terminal, the CICT is the busiest at the Colombo Port.

The first commercial shipment came from Bangladesh to Karimganj, Assam on the Protocol for Inland WaterTrade and Transit (PIWTT) route.
It is an economical, greener and safe mode for two-way flow of exports between India-Bangladesh.
PIWTT was first signed in 1972 and renewed in 2015 which allows making mutual arrangements for using thewaterways of both the countries for commerce.

Each year November 14 marked as World Diabetes Day.
It is because the day marks the birth anniversary of scientist and Nobel laureate Frederick Banting who discovered insulin (in 1922).
The theme for World Diabetes Day 2020 is The Nurse and Diabetes.
The campaign aims to raise awareness around the crucial role that nurses play in supporting people living with diabetes.

On 14th November, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying a crew of four people to the International Space Station (ISS) on a six-month-long mission.

The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, whose objective is to make access to space easier in terms of its cost, so that cargo and crew can be easily transported to and from the ISS, enabling greater scientific research.
The Crew-1 mission will launch the agency’s team with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission team from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. At the ISS, the crew will join the members of Expedition 64, the space station crew currently in residence at the ISS.
Another experiment aboard the Crew Dragon is a student-designed experiment titled, “Genes in Space-7” that aims to understand how spaceflight affects brain function.