Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
Leading Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard.
Under the MoU, the bank is to offer customised services along with a several facilities to the account holders. The bank has also renewed its MoU with the Indian Army to offer customised banking services through ‘Baroda Military Salary Package’.

Notes:
India and Israel have recently signed an agreement to cooperate in the fields of health and medicine, replacing the old agreement signed in September 2003.
The two countries also agreed to share their expertise in building climate resilient infrastructure and support ‘Green healthcare’ or Climate resilient Hospital infrastructure. It will also promote cooperation in exchange and training of health professionals.

Notes:
In a recently published study in the ‘Endangered Species Research’ journal, Scientists analysed sound recordings from the Arabian Sea coast and found a blue whale song which had never been described.
Hence, they have confirmed that a previously undiscovered population of blue whales are living in the western Indian ocean.

Notes:
Tso Kar Wetland Complex located in Ladakh has been declared as India’s 42nd Ramsar site i.e as wetland of international importance. This is the highest number of such sites in South Asia.
The high-altitude wetland complex Changthang region is of two connected lakes, the freshwater Startsapuk Tso and the hypersaline Tso Kar, in Ladakh.

Notes:
The DGNCC Digital Forum was launched recently in New Delhi. This Forum will provide a platform to National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets across the country to share their experiences of various NCC activities.
Since April 2020, over one lakh NCC Cadets served as the frontline volunteers in the fight against Covid-19 across the country under Exercise NCC Yogdan.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation announced that it has released the first set of data from the Chandrayaan-2 mission, for the general public.
India’s second mission to the moon was launched on July 22, 2019 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The data has been released through the ‘PRADAN’ portal hosted by Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC), the nodal centre of data archive for ISRO missions.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently inaugurated India’s first-ever driverless train operations on Delhi Metro.
The Magenta Line (Janakpuri West – Botanical Garden) will have the first driverless operation. Fully operational National Common Mobility Card service was also launched on the Airport Express Line, under which anyone carrying a RuPay-Debit Card can travel on Airport Express Line using that card.

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:
The Navies of India and Vietnam has concluded the two-day naval passage exercise PASSEX in the South China Sea.
This exercise has been organised as part of efforts to boost maritime cooperation between the two countries. Indian Navy Ship (INS) Kiltan reached Vietnam under Mission Sagar-III with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) stores for flood-affected people of Central Vietnam.

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.