Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
After the coalition of the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu failed to pass a budget, the Parliament of the country dissolved.
This has triggered a fourth election in two years in the country, likely on March 23, next year. As per the three-year coalition deal, Netanyahu serves as Premier for 18 months, and Benny Gantz, the Alternate Prime Minister, was to take over in November 2021.

Notes:
Leading Tech company Microsoft along with other tech companies, security firms and non-profits have launched a new group, called the ‘Ransomware Task Force’ (RTF).
The task force, which also includes McAfee, will assess technical solutions to provide protections during a ransomware attack. It will create a comprehensive solution to work together across industries, to tackle ransomware.

Notes:
The UNICEF has recently launched a Covid-19 vaccine market dashboard. It is an interactive tool to display the developments of the coronavirus vaccine market.
It also showcases the global research and development overview, the projected production capacity and supply agreements. It will also provide details on status of procurement by the UNICEF and others participating in the COVAX Facility, in 2021.

Notes:
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Electronics and IT have jointly launched a contest to strengthen digital platform CoWIN.
The contest has been developed to invite solutions from IT companies and start-ups the platform, which will be used for rolling out COVID vaccine distribution across the country. The top 5 applicants will be provided CoWIN Application Programming Interface.

Notes:
China’s leading Multi-national company and tech-giant Alibaba, is being investigated by Chinese regulators on charges of monopolistic practices.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has started investigation on Alibaba Group for monopoly practices, including implementing an ‘exclusive dealing agreement’. In September, China announced new rules to regulate financial holding firms.

Notes:
The Jal Jeevan Mission and the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade have launched an Innovation challenge to develop Portable devices for water testing.
The challenge aims to develop a cost-effective solution that can be used at the household level to test the drinking water quality instantly. All individuals, Start-ups, MSMEs and corporates can participate in the challenge, under which the selected innovations will be hand-held for support.

Notes:
Botanists have discovered a new species of wild Sun Rose named ‘Portulaca laljii’, from the Eastern Ghats in India.
The species has been discovered in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. It is found to have unique features such as tuberous root, no hair in its leaf axils, reddish pink flower among others. Sun Roses are low-growing flowering plants in the rock rose family (Cistaceae).

Notes:
A 21-year-old CPI(M) leader Arya Rajendran was recently sworn-in as the youngest mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
The Corporation is the largest urban body in the state of Kerala. Arya Rajendran, who is pursuing her graduate course, began her political journey as a child activist in Balasangam, the children’s organisation affiliated to the CPI-M party.

Notes:
Bank of Baroda (BoB) has recently launched a Digital lending platform (DLP) to enable retail clients to get loans digitally through a paperless process.
Under the platform, ‘In Principle approval’ for Home Loans, Car loan and Personal Loans are granted in 30 minutes without human intervention. Micro personal loans are also offered to shop through partner channels and pay later in EMIs.

Notes:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has recently released draft ‘Guidelines on Standard Travel Insurance Policy’.
The norms are released to ensure uniformity in coverage and Terms of coverage for domestic and international travel. It has invited comments from the stakeholders and aims to make available a standard travel insurance product with common coverage and policy wordings.