Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
This year’s Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention will be held in a virtual mode, on account of COVID 19 pandemic movement restrictions.
The virtual convention will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is observed on 9th January of every year that commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa.

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:
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 state Government of Karnataka has recently passed “Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020”.
This bill bans cow slaughter and proposes stringent punishment for violation of the law. This is a revised form of a bill that has been already passed in the state in 2010.

Notes:
Malana Cream is a type of hash, which comes from the Malana Valley in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. The Charas is the resin obtained from a species of the cannabis plant, which grows in the valley.
The Narcotics Control Bureau has recently claimed that it has seized the smuggled ‘Malana Cream’. Charas was banned in India in 1986 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

Notes:
Google, Intel, Dell and Citrix along with other technology major in the industry have partnered to form Modern Computing Alliance. The alliance aims to address some of the greatest IT challenges faced by the players in the industry and would provide “cloud first” computing solutions.
The alliance would be creating a seamless, user-friendly experience across the web and devices.

Notes:
The researchers at Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS) – Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have revealed that more than half of the droughts that have occurred in India has occurred due to atmospheric disturbances from the North Atlantic region.
Since, Indian agriculture and water needs are predominantly rain dependent, any shortfall in annual rain fall has drastic impact. Till date, the usual suspect for such droughts has been the El Nino.

Notes:
Two lawsuits have been filed by the United States Federal government and governments of 48 US states and territories accusing Facebook.
The Social media major has been accused of eliminating competition with the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The anti-competitive conduct, which adds to the monopoly of the company is accused.

Notes:
The state government of Maharashtra has launched a new set of rules governing the real estate development.
Called as the ‘Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR)’, the rules will be applicable to the entire state except Mumbai civic body and some authorities with their own rules. This will bring clarity in regulations and uniformity in the width and size of the projects etc.

Notes:
Social media major Facebook has launched a new iOS app called Collab, which lets users create collaborative musical videos.
Launched as a rival to the Chinese short-video making platform TikTok, this experimental app is now available on the App Store in the United States. Facebook had earlier launched Reels feature on Instagram and another app Lasso.