Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
The entire Union Territory of Lakshadweep has been declared as fully organic region. It is the second region after the state of Sikkim to be declared as 100% organic.
The certification has been given by the Union Government under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (Organic cultivation development programme). The UT has not allowed any chemical inside the islands since 2005.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet headed the Prime Minster Narendra Modi has approved a scheme named PM-WANI, which stands for PM – Wi-Fi Access Network Interface.
The proposed scheme provides for free wireless internet in public spaces. It is expected to enhance the Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living in India.

Notes:
Recently, Japan has exempted import inspection for the Indian black tiger shrimps. Japan is the second largest market for Indian black tiger shrimps after the US.
This decision has been taken by the country after the export consignments were found totally free from any residue of synthetic anti-bacterial drug ‘Furazolidone’. This will enhance the farming and export of the shrimps from West Bengal and Kerala.

Notes:
The NASA is implementing a program for “Data sonification”, which involves the use of non-speech data to be translated into sound.
Recently, the Researchers at the Chandra X-ray center have used three important phenomenon of the universe and translated the frequencies of light into different pitches of sound. Crab Nebula, Bullet Cluster and Super nova are the three iconic images.

Notes:
Google launched a new health research app called the ‘Google Health Studies’. It enables the research institutions to connect with potential study participants.
Through this app, android users can take part in health studies by answering survey questions and providing relevant data. Its first study will focus on respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.

Notes:
India’s largest food delivery platform Swiggy has announced that it is set to onboard over 36000 street vendors under PM SVANidhi scheme.
The platform is to expand its Street Food Vendors programme to 125 cities. Earlier, Swiggy had partnered with Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), to onboard over 300 street vendors in select cities.

Notes:
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently lowered the expected contraction for India in the current fiscal to 8 per cent from 9 per cent.
After falling by 23.9 per cent in Q1 of fiscal year 2020, the Indian economy began to normalise with only 7.5 per cent in Q2. This was released in ADB’s latest ‘Asian Development Outlook 2020 Update’.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank has announced that the Real Time Gross Settlement System or the RTGS facility will be available round the clock, from December 14.
Last December, the RBI had made the NEFT service available 24×7. As per the RBI, RTGS can be used for both domestic payments in Indian financial markets and cross-border payments.

Notes:
Japan has been worst hit by a sudden outbreak of bird flu. The condition has worsened and the government has culled more than 2 million birds, fearing its transmission to human beings.
The flu has been spreading from Europe and in response, Japan has banned imports from seven European countries.

Notes:
The state of Maharashtra is set to launch an ambitious scheme for distribution of assistive devices to persons with disabilities.
Named as Maharashtra System for Health and Rehabilitation Assistance or ‘MahaSharad’, the Digital Platform is named after the NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The platform, which aims to lakhs of people, will be available by March 2021.