Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

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 Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India has recently signed a USD132.8 million loan to modernize the distribution network and improve the quality of power supplied in Meghalaya.
This project supports the state government’s initiative “24×7 Power for All” initiative. This will also help the state reduce its high technical and commercial losses. Meghalaya has achieved 100 per cent electrification while there were incidents of frequent power interruptions.

Notes:
As per the recent statement, India recorded the highest reduction in Malaria cases, in the South-East Asian region.
As per the ‘World Malaria Report 2020’, India reduced the number of cases from 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019. India also recorded a reduction in the number of deaths from malaria. Globally there were 229 malaria cases in 2019.

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:
The cyclone name “Burevi” was suggested by Maldives. The second cyclone approaching India from Bay of Bengal has been named as “Burevi” as per the guidelines of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
The storm commenced its course from South West Bay of Bengal and it is the fifth tropical cyclone system that has developed in the Norther Indian Ocean, this year.

Notes:
The International Day of Persons with Disability is observed on 3rd December of every year.
The theme for this year is “Building back better: towards an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 world by, for and with persons with disabilities”. UNESCO is organizing a global awareness camp named “Tell our stories, enable our rights” on this occasion.

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:
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made an announcement to construct a memorial for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims.
Nearly 3700 people were killed due to the leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas from Union Carbide factory at Bhopal on December 3, 1984.

Notes:
The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is one of the commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), headquartered at Vienna, Austria.
Recently, during a reconvened session of CND, 53 member states voted for removing Cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, where it was listed with deadly and addictive drugs. 27 members including India, voted for removing Cannabis from the convention.

Notes:
One of the two lesser florican birds that was tagged by the Gujarat forest department has flown all the way to the state of Telangana.
The bird was tagged at the Blackbuck National Park (BBNP), Velavadar, in Bhavnagar. This has confirmed a research finding that lesser florican birds migrate to peninsular India from the western part of India after their breeding season.