Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
The state Government of Madhya Pradesh government has issued a directive to form Matru Sahyogini Samiti’ or Mothers’ Cooperation Committees.
These committees will comprise 10 mothers at each anganwadi, to ensure better monitoring of services delivered at anganwadis. This is ultimately aimed to check malnutrition among children in the state.

Notes:
The International Olympic Committee has recently confirmed Breakdancing as an official Olympic sport, to be added at the 2024 Paris Games.
IOC executive board also confirmed three sports namely skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing at the Tokyo Games. The Olympic Games scheduled at Tokyo in 2020 was postponed to 2021.

Notes:
National poet Mahakavi ‘Subramaniya Bharati’ is a famous poet from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. He was an Indian independence activist, journalist and a pioneer in Tamil Literature.
International Bharati Festival is organized by the Vanavil Culture Centre in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to honour the poet. His 138th birth anniversary was observed on December 11, 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated and presented the Bharati Award to the writer Seeni Viswanathan.

Notes:
Russia has successfully test-launched its heavy lift Angara A5 space rocket for the second time, the first launch having undertaken in 2014.
As per the state space agency Rocosmos, these Angara rockets do not use aggressive and toxic propellants, thereby increasing environmental safety in the areas adjacent to the launch complex and in the drop zones.

Notes:
Asia’s oldest stock exchange, BSE Limited, has launched an electronic spot platform for agricultural commodities through its subsidiary BSE Investments.
The platform is named as BSE E-Agricultural Markets Ltd (BEAM). It is to function as a national level, electronic, commodity spot trading platform. Through this, farmers of one state will get access to markets in other states.

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:
Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who was undergoing treatment for coronavirus, has recently passed away. He is the first Prime Minister to die from the Covid pandemic.
Eswatini, which was earlier called as ‘Swaziland’ before official renaming in 2018, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is surrounded by Mozambique and South Africa. Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa.

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 Government of India and New Development Bank today signed a loan agreement for USD 1000 million.
The loan aims to provide support to Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan through MGNREG Scheme. This is expected to facilitate economic activity and employment generation to stimulate rural demand, which will in turn help the recovery of economy, hit by Covid-19.

Notes:
International Development Association (IDA) is member of the World Bank Group, headquartered in Washington, D.C. It offers concessional loans and grants to the poorest developing countries.
The IDA has signed a USD 400 million agreement with India, to support India’s efforts to provide social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, the World Bank group had approved a USD 750 million loan to India.