Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
Recently, the Strom Bella hit parts of France and United Kingdom and caused heavy rain and winds in Northern France.
The United Kingdom created a record of generating over 50 per cent of the country’s electricity generation from wind. This was generated from the heavy winds of speed up to 100 miles per hour. It also enabled the country to record the ‘Greenest year’.

Notes:
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan has been nominated by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) as a member on the GAVI Board.
The Minister is to succeed Mr. Myint Htwe of Myanmar and will represent the South East Area Regional Office (SEARO)/ Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) constituency from 1st January 2021 until 31st December 2023.

Notes:
Malayali is a tribal group from the Eastern Ghats residing in North Tamil Nadu. They also form the largest Scheduled tribes in that region, with over 3.5 lakh population.
Giant Rock Bee Honey sourced from the Tribes was recently added to Tribes India Collection, as per the press release by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Over 35 new organic tribal products have been listed in the Tribes India outlets and website under ‘From Our Home to your Home’ campaign.

Notes:
Private sector bank of India, IDBI Bank has completed the sale of 23 per cent stake in IDBI Federal Life Insurance Company Ltd (IFLI) to Ageas Insurance International.
With the deal amounting Rs 507 crore, Ageas will hold 49 per cent stake in the insurance company, while IDBI will hold 21 per cent. The company is now rebranded as Ageas Federal Life Insurance Company.

Notes:
Soma Mondal has recently taken charge as the new Chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). Prior to this, she was the Director (Commercial) of the Public Sector enterprise. She replaces the incumbent Chairman Anil Kumar Chaudhary
Soma Mandal also had served as the Director (Commercial) at another CPSE, the National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), before her venture in SAIL.

Notes:
The Indian Army has signed a deal with the state-run Goa Shipyard Ltd., for procurement of 12 high performance patrol boats.
This is aimed to secure and perform surveillance of large lakes like the Pangong lake in Ladakh. This comes in back drop of the tussle between the Indian Army and the Chinese counterpart at the eastern Ladakh.

Notes:
The Climate Research and Services (CRS) of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has released a Statement on Climate of India during 2020.
As per the statement, the annual mean land surface air temperature over India was above normal during the year 2020. The year 2020 was also named the eighth warmest year on record.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘National Atomic Timescale’, during the inauguration of the National Metrology Conclave.
With this move, the Indian Standard Time is aligned with the International Standard Time, only by less than 3 nano seconds. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of the ‘National Environmental Standards Laboratory’.

Notes:
The world’s 3rd largest rice exporter – Vietnam has started buying the grain from India, due to sudden surge in price of local rice.
The price rise of the grain has been the highest in 9 years in Vietnam. It is said that Indian rice is attractive in price and the huge price difference is making exports from India possible.

Notes:
India has recently commenced its 2-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
To mark this event, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador TS Tirumurti installed the tricolour at UNSC. Four other new incoming non-permanent members are Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway.