Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
A unicorn is a term, which is used to indicate a private start-up company, who market value is at over USD 1 billion.
Recently, India’s Ambassador to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu said that according to a recent report, Indian start-ups raised USD 9.3 billion until mid-December, during this year. India is the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world with 21 unicorns valued at USD 73.2 billion.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh-based Shivalik Mercantile Co-operative Bank (SMCB) has received a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a Small Finance Bank (SFB).
With this, SMCB became the first Urban Cooperative Bank (UCB) in the country to make a transition to a Small Finance Bank, under the voluntary transition scheme. The Shivalik Small Finance Bank is set to commence business by April 2021.

Notes:
The Ministry of Economy of Brazil has announced that it had defaulted on its capital instalment to the New Development Bank (NDB).
When the bloc was started by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2015, Brazil agreed to contribute in capitalising the bank in 7 instalments. Now, the country has defaulted two outstanding instalments totalling USD 350 million.

Notes:
The country’s second largest public sector bank, Punjab National Bank has partnered with IIT Kanpur and FIRST (Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology), to establish Fintech Innovation Centre (FIC).
The Innovation centre will be set up at the IIT campus, which will facilitate research and development in technological solutions used in the Banking and Finance Sector.

Notes:
The Embassy of Israel in India has appointed Joyshree Das Verma as Honorary Consul in the North-eastern region.
With an aim to increase the collaboration with India, the country’s embassy has made this appointment, with jurisdiction over eight states, namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim.

Notes:
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to raise Rs 1 lakh crore through asset monetisation.
As per the Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, NHAI would monetise highways under the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) mode in the next five years, for the process.

Notes:
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inagurated 25 pink buses for free and dedicated service to women and senior citizens.
Named as the ‘Bhraman Sarathi’ scheme, this free transport service has been introduced by the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC), for the first time in Guwahati.

Notes:
The U.S space agency NASA is set to ignite the most powerful rocket it’s ever built on January 17, 2021.
This is also the first test-fire of the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket ship to be used for non-commercial human space flight. It is the core system of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land a man-woman duo on the moon. The SLS can carry over 27 tons to the moon.

Notes:
The Indian Navy is undertaking a two-day military exercise, also claimed to be India’s largest coastal defence drill.
The exercise is to cover India’s coastline spanning over 7500 kilometers, involving 13 coastal States and Union Territories. The second edition of the exercise aims to enhance maritime security and surveillance.

Notes:
Bangladesh is to be the focus country at the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled from January 16 to 24, this year.
Four films from Bangladesh have been included in the focus section, to recognise the cinematic contribution of the country. On account of the Covid pandemic, the event is being organised in a hybrid format.