Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
Plasmodium Ovale, a malaria causing parasite has been detected in the state of Kerala. This has been detected in a soldier who had come from Sudan.
Malaria is caused by plasmodium parasites, that are transmitted to humans by bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. There are five parasite species that cause malaria and two among them – Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are the greatest threats.

Notes:
The International Mountain Day is celebrated across the world on December 11 every year. The day aims to encourage sustainable development in mountains. The theme of this year’s International Mountain Day is ‘Mountain biodiversity’.
United Nations General Assembly designated the Mountain Day in the year 2003. The UN also declared 2002 as the UN International Year of Mountains.

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:
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) has stated that more than 5 million people of Yemen would head towards hunger in the year 2021.
Also, FAO has estimated that more than 50,000 people in the country would be living in famine conditions by next year. Yemen has been in a civil war since 2014 and the normal life of the Arab country has been severely hurt.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of health and Family welfare has recently issued guidelines on mass Covid-19 vaccination drive in the country.
The Ministry has stated that COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system would be used track the beneficiaries for COVID vaccination. In the first phase of vaccination, the Government has decided to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people.

Notes:
An indigenously built interceptor boat C-454 of the Indian Coast Guard was commissioned at Hazira port in Surat, Gujarat.
This Interceptor boat is built by L&T Jetty, Hazira and is capable of operating in shallow water with very high speed. The boat is fitted with advanced navigation and communication equipment.

Notes:
Maharashtra had tabled the Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2020, as well as Maharashtra Exclusive Special Court Law in the state legislature.
The government has accepted the demand of the Opposition and sent the bill to a joint committee of both houses of the state legislature. The bill seeks to provide strict punishments for crimes such as rape, acid attack, and derogatory material on social media against women and children.

Notes:
22 hatchlings of black softshell turtles that were reared at a temple in Assam have been released into the wetlands of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve recently.
These species of turtles are considered ‘Extinct in the wild’, as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A very few numbers of them are left in some temple ponds, mostly in Assam.

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.