Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, has recently spotted a new species of Murainagrass.
Ischaemum is a genus of grass, widespread in tropical and semitropical regions. It is commonly called as Murainagrass. A new and tolerant species has been spotted in Goa in the Western Ghats. It was named Ischaemum janarthanamiiin honour of Goa University’s Botany Professor M. K. Janarthanam.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev participated in a virtual bilateral summit.
Both the countries signed 9 pacts and agreed to widen counter-terror partnership. They also decided to explore connectivity routes via International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

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:
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:
The Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has recently extended a USD 448-million line of credit (LOC) for various infrastructure projects in Uzbekistan.
Extended on behalf of the Indian government, the LoC would be used in various projects in transport, water and technology sectors in the country. EXIM Bank has so far extended 266 LOCs to various countries.

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:
Scientists have stated that the strongest meteor shower of the year – “Geminids meteor shower” would be active from December 4 to 20 this year. These meteors originate from 3200 Phaethon Asteroid and its diameter is about 5 Km. This meteor was discovered in the year 1983 and has been named after the Greek myth of Phaethon the son of Sun god Helios.

Notes:
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla released a book on occasion of 19th anniversary of the Indian Parliament attack.
The book titled ‘The Shaurya Unbound’ (English Version) and ‘Samundar Samawe Boond Mein’ (Hindi Version) were released on the 2001 incident. As many as 14 people including the five terrorists died during the incident.

Notes:
The Indian Coast Guard ship ‘Sujeet’ has been launched and commissioned to the Indian Coast Guard at Goa recently. It is second in series of 105 meter off-shore patrol vessels. It has been designed and built by the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL).
The ship is equipped with integrated platform management system, integrated bridge system, power management system and high power external fire-fighting technologies.

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.