Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

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:
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:
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.

Notes:
The World Bank has recently approved four India projects worth over USD 800 million to support development schemes.
The projects include Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project (CHIRAAG), Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources Project in Nagaland and Second Dam Improvement and Rehabilitation Project (DRIP-2) across various states.

Notes:
Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad, recently received the ISO Certification, after an assessment from the UK-based accreditor ASCB.
The park became the first zoological park in India to acquire the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standards Certification. The standards followed in the Park in the area of sanitation, food processing, animal breeding, among others were assessed.

Notes:
A Coroner in the United Kingdom has delivered a landmark judgement, which stated that severe air pollution was the cause of the death of a 9-year-old child in the year 2013.
The child named Ella Kissi-Debrah died in a hospital due to acute respiratory failure, severe asthma and air pollution exposure.

Notes:
A new feature has been added in the RuPay cards that will allow offline contactless transactions even in areas with limited internet connectivity.
This has been introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Additionally, the facility of reloadable wallet facility has also be introduced to boost retail transactions.

Notes:
The CEO of Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar Vempati has been elected as the Vice President of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). ABU is one of the largest broadcasting associations in the world.
The election for the prestigious post was held virtually and Shashi Shekhar Vempati has been elected for a term of three years.

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:
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over three indigenously developed systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories, to Army, Navy and Air Force.
Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) was handed over to the Navy, ASTRA Mk-I Missile to the Air Force and Border Surveillance System (BOSS) to the Army, which was already deployed in in Ladakh.