Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2021

Notes:
The Governor of Georgia, Brian P. Kemp, has announced that November 1 will be observed as ‘Kannada Language and Rajyotsava Day’.
Georgia had become the first state in the U.S. to issue such a proclamation for Kannada. Karnataka is set to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava. Georgia houses one of the biggest Indian diaspora in the U.S. Kannada is one of the longest-surviving classical languages, with a rich literature and inscriptions dating back to 450 BCE.

Notes:
A new indigenous ship, named ‘Sarthak’ was recently commissioned and dedicated to the nation in Goa. ICGS Sarthak will be based at Porbandar in Gujarat and operate on India’s Western Seaboard.
It will be operated under the Operational and Administrative Control of the commander of Coast Guard Region (Northwest). ICGS Sarthak is fourth in the series of five Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) that are being built indigenously by Goa Shipyard Limited for the Indian Coast Guard.

Notes:
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was established in the year 1997 with its headquarters as Vienna, Austria.
The institution is in news recently, as it has launched Data Disclosure Framework (DDF) in association with the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. The DDF is a tool which describes the practices developed to handle and respond to the data requests from foreign criminal justice authorities for counter-terrorism investigations.

Notes:
According to a release issued by the Union Health Ministry of India, “Har Ghar Dastak” (Knock Every Door) campaign is scheduled to start soon in districts with low vaccination rates.
It aims to motivate people to get vaccinated. As per the Health Ministry, there were more than 10.34 crore people in the country who had missed the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine that they were due to take while more than 12 crore unutilised doses were available with the States.

Notes:
US wildlife researchers have discovered that two California condors, a critically endangered bird, have given birth without any male genetic DNA.
Virgin births are formally called parthenogenesis or asexual reproduction, are recorded in other bird species, also in lizards, snakes, sharks, rays and other fish. Around 500 California condors remain in the US south-west region and Mexico.

Notes:
The Meeting of Heads of National Statistical Offices of BRICS Countries was held in virtual format, chaired by India. The Chief Statistician of India and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) chaired the meeting.
During the meeting, the Joint Statistical Publication (JSP) 2021 and JSP-Snapshot 2021 for BRICS Countries were released. The theme of meeting was “NSOs efforts in monitoring Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.

Notes:
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet reappointed Shaktikanta Das, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years beyond 10.12.2021 or until further orders.
Shaktikanta Das, a retired Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, assumed charge as the 25th governor of the RBI effective December 12, 2018. He had also served as a member of the 15th Finance Commission for a year. Benegal Rama Rau served RBI Governor between July 1, 1949, and January 14, 1957 and that is the longest such tenure so far.

Notes:
The Odisha government announced full exemption of motor vehicles taxes and registration fees on electric vehicles (EVs) in the state.
The exemption, which was granted under the Odisha Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, is applicable till 2025. The incentives for the buyers, manufacturers, batteries and charging stations of electric vehicles were also extended under the Odisha Electric Vehicle Policy.

Notes:
According to a new NASA study published in the journal, Nature Food, climate change may affect the production of maize and wheat by 2030 under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario.
As per the study, Maize crop yields are projected to decline by 24%, while wheat could potentially see a growth of about 17%. This is due to increases in temperature, shifts in rainfall patterns, and elevated surface CO2 concentrations from greenhouse gas emissions.

Notes:
UK medicines regulator has recently approved the first antiviral pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid.
The tablet named Molnupiravir will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease. The pill which was originally developed to treat flu, is claimed to cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half.