Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
India’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Manoj Mukund Naravane has undertaken a “historic” six-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
This is first such visit by the Indian Army Chief to the two Gulf countries. This visit aims to strengthen the strategic and defence cooperation between the two countries. Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth-largest trading partner.

Notes:
The Department of Integrative Medicine has been proposed to be set up by the Union Ministry of AYUSH in association with AIIMS. The department is to be set up at AIIMS.
Also, it has been decided to develop an protocol for “Study on Post COVID treatment” with Ayurveda and Yoga, by Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research – AIIMS.

Notes:
The companies of USA and China have dominated the global arms market in the year 2019, as per a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The arms industry of USA accounts for nearly 61% of the sales by top 25 arms manufacturers. Chinese firms account for 15.7% of the sales by top 25 arms manufacturers.

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:
The Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved an expenditure of Rs.22,810 crore, for providing a wage subsidy through the employee’s provident fund organization (EPFO).
This is a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana. This move is set to incentivize creation of new job opportunities during the Covid recovery phase of the economy.

Notes:
The ABTO (Association of Buddhist Tour Operators) International Convention is an event organised by ABTO in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism.
ABTO is a body consisting of over 1500 members in India and overseas. It has been organising the ABTO convention and International Buddhist Travel Mart (IBTM) since 2018, in Bodh Gaya in the state of Bihar.

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly created UNICEF on December 11, 1946, as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
The programme was originally initiated to provide assistance to improve the nutrition, education, and welfare of children after World War II. It was later renamed as United Nations Children’s Fund. UNICEF Day is observed every year on December 11.

Notes:
Indian Mountain Initiative (IMI) organized the 9th edition of Sustainable Mountain Development Summit in Dehradun. The summit has been organized in a Virtual Mode, on account of the COVID 19 pandemic.
It is a 4-day long summit where issues like migration, water security, climate resilience would be discussed by delegates.

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:
NITI Aayog has recently released a white paper titled ‘Vision 2035 – Public Health Surveillance in India’.
It describes India’s vision for public health surveillance via the integration of three-tiered public health system into Ayushman Bharat. The paper aims to make the public health surveillance system of the country, more responsive.