Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
The entire Union Territory of Lakshadweep has been declared as fully organic region. It is the second region after the state of Sikkim to be declared as 100% organic.
The certification has been given by the Union Government under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (Organic cultivation development programme). The UT has not allowed any chemical inside the islands since 2005.

Notes:
India’s largest food delivery platform Swiggy has announced that it is set to onboard over 36000 street vendors under PM SVANidhi scheme.
The platform is to expand its Street Food Vendors programme to 125 cities. Earlier, Swiggy had partnered with Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), to onboard over 300 street vendors in select cities.

Notes:
Every year, December 9 is observed as the International Anti-Corruption Day. The day is observed since 2003 after the United Nations passed a resolution in this regard. The theme for this year’s day is ‘United Against Corruption’. ‘
This year’s theme gives a special focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and states that corruption as one of the biggest obstacles in achieving it.

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:
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:
India and Qatar have announced to set up a Task Force on Energy. This move aims to promote investments of Qatar in the Energy sector of India.
Earlier, Prime Minster of India has a discussion with the Qatar’s counterpart regarding FDIs in India. Both the countries have agreed to move beyond a buyer-seller relation to investment partnership.

Notes:
Two lawsuits have been filed by the United States Federal government and governments of 48 US states and territories accusing Facebook.
The Social media major has been accused of eliminating competition with the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The anti-competitive conduct, which adds to the monopoly of the company is accused.

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:
The state government of Maharashtra has launched a new set of rules governing the real estate development.
Called as the ‘Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR)’, the rules will be applicable to the entire state except Mumbai civic body and some authorities with their own rules. This will bring clarity in regulations and uniformity in the width and size of the projects etc.

Notes:
The Department of Posts and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) have launched a new digital payment application named ‘DakPay’.
It is a suite of digital banking services provided through their postal network, across the country. The features include Domestic Money Transfers – DMT, Virtual debit card, UPI payment, AePS and Bill payment.