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 9th of December is observed every year as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide, by the United Nations.
This year marks the 72nd anniversary and a convention in this regard was held in the year 1948. It was at this convention the first Human Rights Treaty was adopted by the United Nations.

Notes:
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has recently inaugurated the Koilwar bridge over Sone river in Bihar.
This 1.5 km long bridge has been laid in parallel to the 138-year-old two lane rail-road bridge. A six-lane bridge is being constructed with the outlay of Rs 266 crore. The three-lane carriageway has been opened for public.

Notes:
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has circulated a draft of Indian Ports Bill 2020 for public consultation. The bill seeks to repeal and replace the Indian Ports Act, 1908.
This bill aims to enable the growth and sustainable development of ports and attract investments in the Port sector. Maritime Port Regulatory Authority, National Port policy and National Port plan are some of the new initiatives described in the bill.

Notes:
The state of Maharashtra is set to launch an ambitious scheme for distribution of assistive devices to persons with disabilities.
Named as Maharashtra System for Health and Rehabilitation Assistance or ‘MahaSharad’, the Digital Platform is named after the NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The platform, which aims to lakhs of people, will be available by March 2021.

Notes:
A start-up company incubated by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) – Riafy Technologies has been conferred with four awards at a contest conducted by the smartphone manufacturer Huawei.
The firm was formed seven years ago and emerged as a winner under the best app and the most popular app categories of the contest. It has become the only Indian firm to be in the list of winners.

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 United Stated of America (USA) has imposed sanctions on Turkey under the Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
This has been done in response to Turkey’s purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia. The sanctions have been imposed on Turkey’s defence procurement agency.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister has recently approved the next round of auctioning of the telecommunication spectrum. A total of 2251.25 MHz is being offered for auction valued at Rs.3,92,332.70 crore.
The most recent Spectrum auction in India was held in the year 2016, with the government raising Rs 65,789.12 crore in revenue.

Notes:
The vaccine maker Serum Institute of India is set to achieve “Net Zero State” by cutting down all forms of emission and harmful release in to the environment to zero.
A start-up firm incubated at IIT-SINE named h2e Power Systems and backed by SII would be joining hands to transform SII into a company that runs on renewable and green energy.