Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
Yoweri Museveni, has been re-elected as the President of Uganda, a land locked country in East Africa. He won almost 59% of the votes, while his main opponent Bobi Wine trailed with about 35% votes.
This makes Yoweri Museveni assume President’s office for the 6th term since 1986.

Notes:
As per the recent study by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Both the species of Panda, namely Himalayan red panda (Ailurus fulgens) and the Chinese red panda (Ailurus styani) are present in India.
It also revealed that the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh serves as the boundary by splitting the red panda into these two genetic species. As per another study, the Himalayan red panda was affected more during the Pleistocene glaciation.

Notes:
India’s senior oncologist and chairperson of the Adyar Cancer Institute Dr V Shanta passed away at the age of 93.
She was known for serving the poor and downtrodden at the institute during her 50 yearlong medical service career. The veteran was presented various awards Padma Shri, Magsaysay Award, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

Notes:
The White House has recently released the 1776 Commission report, which was initiated by former US President Donald Trump in September last year.
Trump signed an order to set up a National commission to promote patriotic education in the country, also called as the ‘1776 Commission’. This was seen as a counter to 1619 Project, The New York Times initiative, to mark the completion of 400 years since the enslaved Africans arrived.

Notes:
‘Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM)’ is a Not-for-Profit Association, which aims to facilitate the indigenous production in Indian Defence industry.
Recently, an MoU between the Indian Army & Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) was signed to boost use of indigenous spare parts. This took place on the occasion of the 25 years of partnership of the Indian Army with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Notes:
The Indian Government has approved the construction of over 1.68 lakh houses in urban areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban.
As per the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, the total number of houses sanctioned so far stands at 1.1 crore. Under PMAY-U, 41 lakh houses have been completed so far and over 70 lakh houses are under construction.

Notes:
The 7th Edition of ‘MASCRADE 2021’- Movement against Smuggled & Counterfeit Trade has been organised by FICCI Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE).
Union Minister of Health and Family welfare Harsh Vardhan has inaugurated the event, which aims to discuss innovative policy solutions to curb counterfeit and smuggled products.

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced to set up a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in association with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Through this step, the researchers in educational institutions or start-up ecosystem, will get access to quantum computing hardware, simulators, and programming tools through Amazon Braket service, at no cost.

Notes:
Google’s parent company Alphabet recently announced that it is to shut down the ambitious nine-year ‘Loon’ Internet balloon project.
The company aimed to deliver global internet access with a fleet of balloons floating on the edge of space. As per the company, the commercial viability of the project of the Google’s X lab, is considered risky and long.

Notes:
The 17th Ministerial Meeting of Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) was recently organised under the theme, “The New Normal and Safe and Healthy Tourism” virtually.
Riva Ganguly Das, Secretary of the Union Ministry of External Affairs represented India at the meeting. She highlighted about the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.