Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

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:
The Municipal Bonds issued by Lucknow Municipal Corporation has been listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The bonds amount to Rs.200 crore and offer 8.5 per cent interest per annum with a tenure of 10 years. Lucknow joins the 8 other smart cities whose Municipal Bonds have been listed in stock exchanges.

Notes:
As per the provisional 2020 State of the Global Climate report released by U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the last 6 years from 2015 to 2020 are the hottest years on record.
The report has stated that the average global temperature in 2020 would be 1.2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level

Notes:
As per the Union Ministry of Finance, the Indian Economy is registering a V Shaped recovery of GDP. This was expressed in the latest Monthly Economic Review.
The contraction of GDP in Q1 of current financial year was 23.9% where as the economy has contracted by 7.5 % in Q2. Maximum growth is registered by Agriculture sector followed by Construction.

Notes:
Recently, a NGR (negotiating group on rules) meeting on fisheries subsidies was organized by the World Trade Organization.
Indian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO has stated that member countries should cut down subsidies on unsustainable fishing which leads to the problem of over fishing. India also asked to reduce the role of dispute panels in fisheries management.

Notes:
Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) was launched in 2020 as India’s first automated national-level trading platform for physical delivery of natural gas.
IGX is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). Recently, IGX obtained all necessary approvals as per the provisions of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (Gas Exchange) Regulations, 2020. It becomes the first regulated Gas Exchange of the country.

Notes:
According to researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) is the global hot-spot of atmospheric ammonia (NH3).
This is due to concentrated agricultural activities and fertilizer production in the region. The satellite data of agricultural emissions show that atmospheric ammonia is related with total fertilizer consumption and temperature.

Notes:
The National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN) is located in the city of Pune. The present building of NIN is called the “Bapu Bhavan”. Gandhiji performed many Naturopathy experiments and organised various national and International activities while staying here.
The Ministry of Ayush has proposed to name the upcoming new campus of National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune as “Nisarg Gram”.

Notes:
The Indian Navy and Russia Navy have engaged in a 2-day passage exercise – PASSEX. The exercise is carried out in East Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The objective of the exercise is to enhance the interoperability between the two Navies and exchange the best Maritime practices between the two countries.