Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
Japan has been worst hit by a sudden outbreak of bird flu. The condition has worsened and the government has culled more than 2 million birds, fearing its transmission to human beings.
The flu has been spreading from Europe and in response, Japan has banned imports from seven European countries.

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:
The Indian Railways has recently launched Hospital Management Information System (HMIS). This aims to provide enhanced health care facilities to its employees.
The trial version of the project has been launched in South Central Railway. This is expected to improve the health care system of the Railways and improve the utilisation of resources.

Notes:
Google, Intel, Dell and Citrix along with other technology major in the industry have partnered to form Modern Computing Alliance. The alliance aims to address some of the greatest IT challenges faced by the players in the industry and would provide “cloud first” computing solutions.
The alliance would be creating a seamless, user-friendly experience across the web and devices.

Notes:
The USA’s Electoral College has ratified the results of the elections and has declared that Joe Biden would be next President of the country.
The Electoral College of USA is required to be formed once in 4 years, as per the us Constitution for the purpose of electing the President and Vice President.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has recently launched a project to set up 2,000 mini-clinics across the state.
They will be known as ‘Amma Mini Clinics’, after the former late Chief Minister J Jeyalalitha. The clinics aim to provide essential healthcare services to the poor and downtrodden. Minor ailments will be treated and this step will reduce the burden of Government hospitals.

Notes:
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has been awarded with the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for the year 2020 in the Steel Sector.
SAIL has been the winner of this prestigious award for successive two years. Steel Authority of India Limited is an Indian state-owned steel making company based in New Delhi. Various measures of the company to preserve environment have been recognised.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has set up a dedicated control centre for Space Situational Awareness (SSA).
It has been named as Netra” and is aimed at monitoring, tracking and protecting India’s space assets. It is set up at ISTRAC campus at Peenya, Bangalore.

Notes:
An Astronomical Conjunction, which is the closer appearance of the heavenly bodies from the Earth’s perspective, is to occur on the night of December 21.
The planets will appear extremely close to each other, making them look like one bright dot in the sky. However, the actual distance from each other will be around 735 million kms. The planets were seen very close only in 1623.

Notes:
The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) is a pan-India database of crimes and criminals that is implemented by the National Crime Records Bureau, under the National e-Governance Plan of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
This system is presently being used by 95 per cent of police stations in India. It has been reported that more than 93% of the police stations in the country are filing FIRs using this system.