Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States has recently issued new guidelines on Drones also called as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
As per the rules, small drones will be allowed to fly over people and at night in the United States. The Drone manufacturers and operators require a Remote ID, under the new rules. This will increase security by identification of the UAVs from the ground.

Notes:
Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has launched a web-based application for ocean data management.
Named ‘Digital Ocean’, the platform aims to share information on marine data and forecast services. The platform provides data for several sectors like research institutions, academic community, maritime industry and the public.

Notes:
Last week, around 22,000 ducks died in Kuttanad and upper Kuttanad, in the state of Kerala. The preliminary tests could not find the certain reason for the deaths.
Recently, the samples of affected birds are to be sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, to analyse and ascertain the reason.

Notes:
The first three sets of a 10-metre short-span bridge, designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), were inducted to the Indian Army.
The bridges are manufactured at the Larsen & Toubro facility at Talegaon in Pune. The bridges were developed by the Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), DRDO in Pune. The DRDO has also developed five metre and 15 metre types of the bridge.

Notes:
A wildfire has recently started in the Dzukou Valley, a popular trekking destination located on the Manipur-Nagaland border. It is said to have started three days ago from the Nagaland.
The Indian Air Force has deployed an Mi-17V5 helicopter to put off the massive wildfire in Dzukou Valley.

Notes:
CSIR- National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) has discovered an alternative technology to single-use plastics.
The NIIST scientists have developed a technology for manufacturing biodegradable cutleries from agricultural residues and by-products.

Notes:
The Parliament of Kazakhstan signed the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
It is a document which commits the signatories to abolish capital punishment. Life imprisonment was introduced in the country in 2004 as an alternative punishment. While ICCPR was adopted in 1966, the second optional protocol was adopted in 1989.

Notes:
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations, which regulate the world’s securities and futures markets.
International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), established by the Government of India in 2019, has become an associate member of the IOSCO. With this, IFSCA can exchange information at the global level, learn from the best practices of the other regulators.

Notes:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the inaugural issue of the National Police K-9 Journal in New Delhi.
It is the India’s first such publication on the subject of Police Service K9s, which is the name given for Police Dogs. A special Police K9 Cell was set up in November 2020. The biannual journal will be released in April and October, with sections in Hindi and English.

Notes:
The first hill-top Buddhist monastery of the Gangetic Valley has been found at Lal Pahari in Lakhisarai district of Bihar.
This is the first monastery located at the top of a hill. This is discovered during a joint collaboration of Bihar Heritage Development Society and the Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal. It was a Vihara, named as Srimaddharmaviharik aryabhiksusanghasya.