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:
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:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently made a successful demonstration of Quantum communications between two of its labs.
The communication was made using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology which is a highly secure way to share encryption keys. In this method, the encryption keys are communicated in the form of qubits in a fibre optic cable, which is highly secure.

Notes:
The 5th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) has recently commenced with a focus on Arth Ganga – river conservation synchronised development.
The theme of the summit is comprehensive analysis and holistic management of rivers and water bodies. It is being organised virtually by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga).

Notes:
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the stone for the new Parliamentary Building, thus kick starting its construction. Tata Group has won the bid for constructing the triangular shaped Parliamentary Building.
The building is being constructed as a part of Central Vista redevelopment project, and is expected to be completed by 2022 at an estimated cost of Rs.971 crore.

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:
Researchers have discovered an ancient altar in Israel. It has been created to honouring the Greek god Pan who is the deity of flocks and shepherds.
The altar was lying on ground while excavating a Church. The altar dated back to 2nd – 3rd century AD, but has been placed in a Church that was built in the 5th century.

Notes:
NITI Aayog has recently released a white paper titled ‘Vision 2035 – Public Health Surveillance in India’.
It describes India’s vision for public health surveillance via the integration of three-tiered public health system into Ayushman Bharat. The paper aims to make the public health surveillance system of the country, more responsive.

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.