Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
‘International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People’ is observed every year on November 29, across the world.
The day was established in the year 1977 and it marks the day in 1947 when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution partitioning Palestine into an Arab State and a Jewish State. The UN Chief called on Israel and Palestine to achieve a two-State solution.

Notes:
US based- Merriam-Webster, known for its dictionaries, has recently announced ‘pandemic’ as its 2020 word of the year.
As per the company, when the World Health Organisation declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, the searches on the site for ‘pandemic’ rose hugely. The word has roots in Latin and Greek. It is a combination of pan, meaning all, and demos, meaning people.

Notes:
US President-elect Joe Biden has recently appointed the country’s first all-female White House communications team.
He also appointed Jen Psaki, who earlier served as the spokesperson in Barack Obama administration, as the White House Press Secretary. Six other women who had held important positions, were appointed in the official Press Team.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar has recently launched a portal named India Climate Change Knowledge Portal.
The portal would contain all major initiatives taken by the Government of India address the climate change and environment related issues. The portal is expected to be a single point of information regarding climate change initiatives.

Notes:
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has recently launched an asset restructuring web module for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
The module named ARM-MSME would assist MSMEs to get benefitted from RBI’s MSME restructuring guideline. MSMEs will be able to prepare restructuring proposals by inputting only the most essential data. This service is being offered by SIDBI at no cost to the MSMEs.

Notes:
Avian Influenza, commonly called as the Bird flu, has been detected in a fourth region in Japan. This can be the country’s worst outbreak in over 4 years.
Avian influenza was discovered at a poultry farm in Hyuga city in Honshu island in southwestern Japan. However, the country announced that there is no possibility that humans will contract bird flu from eating poultry or eggs. It has also decided to cull over 1.8 million chickens.

Notes:
Manila-based Asian Development Bank has signed a USD 50-million policy-based loan for the West Bengal Public Finance Management Investment Programme.
The loan aims to improve financial management and operational efficiencies of the state. A centre for fiscal policy and public finance will be established along with a web-based grievance redressal system for transport corporations and urban local bodies.

Notes:
CLMV countries are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. They are also the members of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN).
During the Inaugural Session of the 6th India – CLMV Business Conclave 2020, India invited the CLMV countries to join the International Solar Alliance and the Resilient Supply Chain Initiative by India.

Notes:
In response to the August 4 Ammonium Nitrate explosions that occurred in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, a new framework named Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF) has been announced by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The plan has been prepared jointly by World Bank, the European Union (EU) and the UN.

Notes:
Mamit district of the state of Mizoram has topped the rankings of aspirational districts by Niti Aayog for October.
Banka of Bihar and Dhenkanal of Odisha have been placed at the second and third positions, respectively. Niti Aayog assesses the incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas.