Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
India’s think tank “NITI Aayog” has recently released a book on “faecal sludge and septage management in urban areas”. This has been jointly developed by National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance.
The book is in the form of a report, that enlists 27 case studies on implementation of faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM) initiatives.

Notes:
The First Virtual Expo 2021 for R&D in processed food sector has been organized recently by the Union Ministry of Food Processing and Industries.
The expo is aimed to showcase the outcomes of projects supported by the Ministry through some of its leading food technology institutions. A portal displaying various researches undertaken in the food processing sector, was also launched during the expo.

Notes:
Namrup is a town located in the southeastern part of Assam state. Recently a meeting was held by the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers regarding the upcoming urea plant at Namrup.
The 12.7 lakh MMTPA capacity project is to be implemented jointly by the National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), Oil India Limited (OIL), Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF), Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL) and Assam government.

Notes:
Nikhil Srivastava, a young Indian mathematician, has been named winner of the prestigious 2021 Michael and Sheila Held Prize.
He has been named the co-winner of the USD 100,000 award, along with two others for solving long-standing questions on the Kadison-Singer problem and on Ramanujan graphs. The mathematician is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, at present.

Notes:
Department of Science and Technology has stated recently that the number of scientific publications from India has increased exponentially over the last 10 years and that India stands at 3rd position globally in number of scientific publications.
China and USA are ahead of India in the list. In the year 2017-18, 1,937 out of the total 13,045 patents were filed by Indians.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has collaborated with the American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer recently.
As per the deal, 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine will be distributed for poor and lower-middle income countries under its COVAX programme.

Notes:
The U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order which allows all qualified Americans to serve in the country’s military.
Former President Barack Obama allowed transgender people to serve in the Military while the previous President Donald Trump banned the process. Now, this new order would repeal the ban while also providing the necessary medical care to the persons.

Notes:
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) questioned 1.2 million people in 50 countries, conducting the biggest ever opinion poll on climate change.
As per the survey’s findings, two-thirds of the total people polled see a “global climate emergency”. The survey also revealed that in nations with fossil fuels as a major source of emissions, people strongly supported renewable energy.

Notes:
The West Bengal Transport Corporation in association with a heritage book store has launched a Young Readers’ Boat Library.
Under the initiative, children can choose from a selection of 500 titles in English and Bengali on cruising on the waters of Hooghly river on a three-hour-long trip.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has cleared and approved the Policy on privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs). The policy would lay a detailed road map for presence of government ownership in strategic and non-strategic sectors of the country.
The Government has proposed for the presence of 1 to 4 Government owned entities in strategic sectors and completely exit from non-strategic sectors.