Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
British Racing Driver and World Champion Lewis Hamilton has clinched the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix title.
Another French driver Romain Grosjean survived a horrific collision with a barrier on the opening lap. With this victory, Lewis Hamilton has won his 95th Formula one title. This is also his 11th victory of the season.

Notes:
The Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded to 6 individuals each year to recognize their efforts to save and protect environment. The prize is selected by an international jury among nominations submitted by global environment organisations and individuals.
Leydy Pech, Kristal Ambrose, Paul Sein Twa, Lucie Pinson, Chibze Ezekiel, Nemonte Nenquimo are the six personalities chosen for this year’s award.

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:
China launched the ambitious ‘One Belt and One Road’ (OBOR) initiative in 2013, to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes.
During the 19th meeting of the Council of Heads of Governments of the SCO, all other member nations of SCO, except India reaffirmed their support to the OBOR project of China. India is critical of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of OBOR.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has created a new laboratory named Defence Geo Informatics Research Establishment.
It has been formed by merging two existing labs namely Manali-headquartered Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) and the Delhi-based Defence Terrain Research Establishment. The new lab will focus on research on the terrain along the borders with China and Pakistan.

Notes:
India and the United States attended the inaugural meeting of the Counter-narcotics Working Group (CNWG), in virtual mode.
Indian delegation was represented by the Deputy Director General of Narcotics Control Board, Ministry of Home Affairs. The two countries also agreed to improve their data sharing operations to fight the production, distribution, and export/import of drugs and related chemicals.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently directed HDFC Bank to temporarily halt all its digital launches and new sourcing of credit card customers.
The country’s largest private sector lender has been asked to stop the digital launches as the bank had faced technical glitches in the past two years. RBI also asked the bank’s board to examine the lapses and fix accountability.

Notes:
The Chardham highway project is a 900-km strategic projects, which aims to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns in the state of Uttarakhand- Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
Recently, the Supreme Court has asked the committee monitoring the Chardham highway project, to consider the Defence Ministry’s application to widen three highways in the Indo-China Border up to 7 metres.

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:
During the India-Oman virtual dialogue recently held, Oman announced to establish first-of-its-kind Oman-India Friendship Association.
This is the first such initiative in West Asia led by the Foreign Ministry. In December 2019, India and Oman signed a Maritime Transport Agreement during the visit of Foreign Minister Jaishankar to the country.