Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
Recently, researchers have found the presence of animal products, such as the meat of pigs, cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat in the remains of Indus Valley Civilization.
This has been conformed from the Lipid residue analysis of ceramic vessels found in the urban and rural settlements of the civilization in North and western part of India.

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 Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) transaction was introduced in India in the year 2004. Presently, RTGS handles a transaction volume of Rs 4.17 lakh crore per day and it is used by 237 participant banks.
Recently, Reserve Bank of India has permitted for round the clock RTGS facility in India, which makes India one among the very few countries offering this service.

Notes:
India, Iran and Uzbekistan are on discussion about the joint use of Chabahar port, located in Iran. In this regard, a joint trilateral meeting would be held to deliberate regarding the same.
The trilateral meeting would be held in a virtual mode and is set to be chaired by the Dy. Minister of Iran, Dy. Minister of Uzbekistan and senior Foreign Ministry official from India.

Notes:
Researchers have discovered an ancient altar in Israel. It has been created to honouring the Greek god Pan who is the deity of flocks and shepherds.
The altar was lying on ground while excavating a Church. The altar dated back to 2nd – 3rd century AD, but has been placed in a Church that was built in the 5th century.

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:
The Indian Naval ship named Himgiri has been launched and commissioned into Indian Waters recently.’
The ship has been constructed as a part of Project 17A for the Indian Navy. It is the first of three stealth frigates being built under the Project at GRSE in Kolkata and at Mazagon Docks Limited in Mumbai.

Notes:
The State Bank of India in its recent Ecowrap report has lowered India’s GDP contraction for FY 21 from earlier 10.9% to 7.4%.
The report states that it would take nearly 7 quarters from Q4 for the current financial year, to reach the pre-COVID output and growth levels.

Notes:
The North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) was approved in 2014 as a Central Sector Scheme and is being funded with the assistance of World Bank fund.
It is being implemented through POWERGRID, a Public Sector Undertaking under Ministry of Power in association with six beneficiary North Eastern States namely, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. The Union Cabinet has approved the Revised Cost Estimate of the scheme at Rs 6700 crore.

Notes:
The United Nations Development Programme introduced a new measure named called the Planetary Pressures-adjusted HDI, or PHDI.
It assesses the impact caused by each country’s per-capita carbon emissions and its material footprint. While India stands at 131st rank in the Human Development Index, when this metric is considered, India is placed at 123rd rank in the list, which is topped by Ireland.