Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted the invitation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations on 26 January, 2021 in New Delhi.
With this, Boris Johnson becomes the second UK prime minister to attend the celebrations after John Major in 1993. Moreover, UK Prime Minister has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the UK-hosted G7 summit next year.

Notes:
Veteran aerospace scientist and Padma Vibhushan awardee Roddam Narasimha has recently passed away at the age of 87.
He served at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), teaching Aerospace Engineering from 1962 to 1999. He also served as the director of the National Aerospace Laboratories. He was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2013.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to set up an Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC) in Jaipur.
The Centre would undertake all processes for receipt, storage and dispatch of currency notes. It would also process the banknotes received from currency chests and bank branches, and destroy soiled banknotes in an automated manner.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Gujarat and laid the foundation stones for various developmental projects.
The Hybrid Renewable Energy Park in the district of Kutch will be the country’s largest renewable energy generation park, when completed. Foundation stones were also laid for a fully automated milk processing and packing plant and a Desalination plant in Mandvi, Kutch.

Notes:
The Department of Posts and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) have launched a new digital payment application named ‘DakPay’.
It is a suite of digital banking services provided through their postal network, across the country. The features include Domestic Money Transfers – DMT, Virtual debit card, UPI payment, AePS and Bill payment.

Notes:
The Human Development Index for the year 2020 has been released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
As per the report, India has been ranked at 131 out of 189 countries. Last year, India was ranked at 130. HDI is measured with three parameters namely life expectancy, education and per capita income. This year’s index has incorporated new parameters namely CO2 emission and Material foot print and introduced Planetary pressures–adjusted Human Development Index (PHDI).

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has set up a dedicated control centre for Space Situational Awareness (SSA).
It has been named as Netra” and is aimed at monitoring, tracking and protecting India’s space assets. It is set up at ISTRAC campus at Peenya, Bangalore.

Notes:
The central Government has released a e-book named ‘Putting Farmers First’.
It is a 106-page book that portrays the success stories of farmers who have benefited from contract farming, after enactment of the three farm legislations / reforms. The book has been released in Hindi as well as in English.

Notes:
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over three indigenously developed systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories, to Army, Navy and Air Force.
Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) was handed over to the Navy, ASTRA Mk-I Missile to the Air Force and Border Surveillance System (BOSS) to the Army, which was already deployed in in Ladakh.

Notes:
The staple food of the North African region, Couscous has been included in the UNESCO list of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.
The rival countries Algeria and Morocco along with Tunisia and Mauritania had submitted the petition to add the dish in the UNESCO list, in March 2019. Couscous is also known as Seksu, Kusksi and Kseksu, in the North African region.