Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
The Central Government has decided to forego interest on eight specified categories of loans paid up to Rs two crore, on account of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Supreme Court of India has directed the government again to take steps to forego the interest in eight categories of loans, namely MSME, Education, Housing, Consumer durable, Credit card, Automobile, Personal and Consumption.

Notes:
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the Dry Swab RT-PCR for COVID-19 testing, which was developed by CSIR’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.
In this simple and fast method, nasal swab is collected and transported in dry state, as against the using the viral transport medium used in conventional testing. It does not require RNA isolation from the sample.

Notes:
The insurance sector regulator – Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has accorded “in principle” approval for merger of Bharti AXA General Insurance with ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company.
On successful merger, the consolidated entity would have a market share of 8.7% in non-life business. Bharti Enterprises own 51% share in Bharti AXA General Insurance and the remaining 49% is owned by French insurer AXA.

Notes:
The Petrodava Dacian Fortress is the oldest historical monument located in Piatra Neamt city, Romania. The fort was built around 82 BC and AD 106 by the Dacian people in ancient Europe.
Days after the first mysterious metal monolith disappeared in a remote, uninhabited desert in Utah, USA, a second similar structure has been spotted in Romania, a few metres away from the fortress. The monolith which disappeared and appeared again was a triangular, shiny pillar.

Notes:
The birth anniversary of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak is celebrated as the Guru Nanak Dev Gurpurab, commonly called as ‘Gurupurab’.
On this occasion, a book titled ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Government’s Special Relationship with Sikhs’ was launched. It is published by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and was released in English, Hindi and Punjabi languages with the messages of Guru Nanak.

Notes:
West Bengal state government has recently launched a massive outreach programme named “Duare Sarkar” or “Government at your doorstep”.
Under the programme, people can avail the benefit of over 11 schemes of the state including Kanyashree, Khadya Sathi and Sikshashree. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced to set up ‘Duare Sarkar’ camps in the state for redressing grievances of people.

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:
BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture company set up by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Mashinostroyenia of Russia.
Recently, Indian Navy test-fired the naval version of BrahMos missile in the Bay of Bengal. The missile was test-fired from a Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranvijay, hitting a decommissioned target ship. Earlier, the Indian Army and Air Force test-fired the missile.

Notes:
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman delivered a Keynote Address at the 20th Edition of Sri Lanka Economic Summit (SLES) 2020 in virtual format.
SLES is annually organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC). The theme for this year’s event is “Roadmap for Take-off: Driving a People –Centric Economic Revival”.

Notes:
December 2 is observed as National Pollution Control Day every year, in the memory of those who lost their lives in the Bhopal Gas tragedy and to create awareness on environment pollution.
Bhopal Gas tragedy, one of the biggest industrial pollution disasters of the country, occurred on the night of December 2nd and 3rd, 1984. Many people died due to the leakage of the poisonous gas Methyl Isocyanate.