Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
The Rafale fighter jets of India and France are set to carry out wargames named SKYROS in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
The exercise is to be organised in the third week of January next year. This would be the first major wargame of the Indian Air Force involving the Rafale fighters which were inducted into the service in August 2020.

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:
The European Union and China have recently agreed to the long-awaited investment treaty, which aims to open up new corporate opportunities.
The accord was confirmed by China’s president Xi Jinping and EU leaders including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. This is also the most ambitious treaty China has ever agreed with a third country.

Notes:
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has announced that subscribers can now use online mode also to exit from the National Pension System (NPS).
The National Pension System (NPS) was implemented with effect from the 1st January, 2004. It was extended to all citizens of the country from 2009 on a voluntary basis. PFRDA regulates the National pension system (NPS) as well as the pension sector.

Notes:
As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zhong Shanshan’s net worth rose to USD 70.9 billion making him the richest man in Asia above both Mukesh Ambani and China’s Jack Ma.
Zhong Shanshan is the founder of ‘Nongfu Spring’, the largest beverage company in China. He is also the owner of the Chinese pharmaceutical giant ‘Wantai’.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi announced the annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.
In the best performing states category, Uttar Pradesh bagged the first place, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. In the North East region and Hilly states, Tripura bagged the first place. Vishakhapatnam was named the best performing Municipal Corporation.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has developed the Digital Payments Index (DPI), to record the expansion of digitisation of payments across the country.
The index has been constructed with March 2018 as the base period. As per the RBI, the DPI for March 2019 and March 2020 stand at 153.47 and 207.84 respectively. The index includes 5 parameters with the highest weightage for Payment Performance.

Notes:
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) releases the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS).

Notes:
Deepor Beel is the only Ramsar site of the state of Assam. It is located in the south-western edge of Guwahati.
The site, which houses of a variety of aquatic life forms along with 219 species of birds, was designated a Ramsar site in the year 2002. The District officials has banned Community fishing at the site.

Notes:
Dell Technologies announced that they have developed a new mobile application in collaboration with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Tata Trusts.
The application aims to support the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) at the government primary health centres (PHCs) across the country. It strengthens the NCD IT system, which is already existing.