Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

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 North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) was approved in 2014 as a Central Sector Scheme and is being funded with the assistance of World Bank fund.
It is being implemented through POWERGRID, a Public Sector Undertaking under Ministry of Power in association with six beneficiary North Eastern States namely, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. The Union Cabinet has approved the Revised Cost Estimate of the scheme at Rs 6700 crore.

Notes:
China and Russia have signed a protocol to extend an agreement between the two countries on notifications of launches of ballistic missiles and space missile carriers.
The validity of the agreement will be extended for another 10 years. The said agreement was signed by the two countries on October 13, 2009.

Notes:
The pre 1965 rail link between India and Bangladesh – Chilahati-Haldibari rail link has been inaugurated. In order to enhance the rail connectivity between the two countries, it was decided that six number of pre 1965 rail routes would be reopened.
With the Chilahati-Haldibari rail link declared opened, five out of the said six routes are operational between India and Bangladesh.

Notes:
As a part of SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region) – India’s doctrine of maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean region, India and Indonesia have engaged in the IND-INDO CORPAT exercise.
This is the 35th edition of Naval exercises between the two countries. From the Indian side, Naval Ship INS Kulish, along with P8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) has participated in the exercise.

Notes:
The central Government has released a e-book named ‘Putting Farmers First’.
It is a 106-page book that portrays the success stories of farmers who have benefited from contract farming, after enactment of the three farm legislations / reforms. The book has been released in Hindi as well as in English.

Notes:
The World Bank has recently released the corrected Doing Business rankings after review of data irregularities.
The World Bank corrected the rankings of China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan. China’s rank in 2018 would have been 85, a drop of 7 places. India holds the same place of 63 in the Doing Business 2020 report.

Notes:
The staple food of the North African region, Couscous has been included in the UNESCO list of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.
The rival countries Algeria and Morocco along with Tunisia and Mauritania had submitted the petition to add the dish in the UNESCO list, in March 2019. Couscous is also known as Seksu, Kusksi and Kseksu, in the North African region.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has recently announced opening of Second Cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox (RS) with ‘Cross Border Payments,’ as its theme.
The Test Phase under the First Cohort on “Retail Payment” has already commenced. RBI has also stated that “MSME Lending” would be the theme for the Third Cohort. A regulatory sandbox (RS) refers to live testing of products or services in a test regulatory environment.

Notes:
According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 would come into effect from the financial years commencing on or after April 1, 2021.
The CARO 2020, is the new format of the Companies Order, which requires the companies to comply with stricter disclosure requirements on various issues. This aims to promote transparency and due diligence in the financial affairs of the companies.