Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
As per the recent announcement of the Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, women will be inducted as Pilots in the Army Aviation Corps from next year.
Prior to this, women were being allotted only ground duties in the Army Aviation Corps. Women pilots would fly helicopters and be part of operations at the borders.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India had recently released its Financial Stability Report. The report states that, as of September 2020, it took an average of 433 days for resolution of corporate insolvency, under the IBC.
As per Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) launched in 2019, the maximum time within which insolvency has to be resolved is 330 days.

Notes:
As per the ‘2020 Hurun Global 500’ list, Apple is the world’s most valuable company with a value of USD 2.1 trillion followed by Microsoft and Amazon with USD 1.6 trillion each.
The 2020 Hurun Global 500 is a list of 500 most valuable non-state-controlled companies in the world. 11 Indian firms are a part of the list, which is led by Reliance Industries worth USD 169 billion.

Notes:
Technology major Google has reviewed hundreds of personal loan apps in India that were flagged by users and government agencies.
It has also removed those apps which were found to violate its user safety policies. Earlier, the RBI had warned the public not to fall prey to the unauthorised digital lending platforms and mobile apps. Google mandates the developers of financial services app to disclose all key information.

Notes:
United States House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump after the riots at the Capitol building.
With this round of impeachment, the Donald Trump becomes the only US president to be impeached a second time. The House impeached him on the charge of incitement of insurrection for his role in the recent riot by his supporters, at the US Capitol.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has formed a 6-member working group headed by its Executive Director Jayant Kumar Dash, on regulation of digital lending space.
The committee would study digital lending in regulated as well as unregulated financial sector to devise a regulatory framework for the same.

Notes:
The Mars Digger probe named the ‘Mole’ was deployed on the Mars by NASA’s InSight Lander. The probe has been recently declared dead by the Scientists, as it failed to burrow deep into the Mars.
The heat probe was developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). It has been trying since 2019, to dig deep and find the internal temperature of the Mars. The InSight lander will continue working till 2022.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) is an autonomous organization and a subsidiary of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), under the Ministry of Agriculture, India.
It is engaged in agricultural research related to spices in India and is headquarters in Kozhikode, Kerala. Recently Principal Horticulture Scientist J Rema assumed charge as the new Director of Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR).

Notes:
India has planned to achieve 20% ethanol-blending with gasoline by the year 2025, which is 5 years ahead of its previous target. This is aimed to reduce India’s dependence on crude oil import and narrow down the Current Account Deficit (CAD).
India is the world’s third largest importer of oil, relying on foreign suppliers to meet more than 80% of its demand.

Notes:
Davos Agenda is the online event of World Economic Forum’s annual meeting held at Davos, Switzerland. The rich and powerful of the world are said to be the participants.
This year, the five-day meeting is scheduled to be held between January 25 and 29, in the virtual mode, on account of Covid pandemic. WEF’s ‘Great Reset Initiative’ is also to be launched during the meeting. Several Union Ministers and top businesspersons from India are to attend the event.