Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
The France headquartered energy major Total is set to acquire 20 % stake in Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), the renewable energy arm of Adani Group.
This would be the 3rd partnership of Adani group with Total. Earlier, Total acquired 37.4 % in Adani Gas and 50 % in Dhamra LNG project of Adani.

Notes:
Uttarakhand Government announced that the number of working days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will be increased from 100 to 150.
As per the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the entire cost will be borne by the state government. He also launched the ‘Uttarakhand Aajeevika App’ to help unemployed people in the state to search for job opportunities.

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information technology (MeitY) has recently asked WhatsApp to withdraw its new privacy policy.
The Ministry has termed the policy as unilateral, unfair and unacceptable and asked the firm to reconsider its approach to data privacy and data security. Detailed information about the data sharing protocols was also sought.

Notes:
The Start-up Advisory Council was notified in January 2020, which aims to advise the Government to nurture innovation and start-ups in the country. It is chaired by the Commerce and Industry Minister.
The Centre has recently nominated 28 non-official members for the Start-up Advisory Council notified last year, including the founders of top start-up firms in the country including Byju’s, Urban Company, Snapdeal and Ola Cabs.

Notes:
The Commerce Ministry is to work with the Housing and Urban affairs Ministry to focus on logistics planning in 50 cities.
The Ministries aim to promote the ease of doing business in the country. During the National Conference with States on Logistics, the Commerce Ministry announced that State-level coordination committees on logistics will be formed.

Notes:
The United States of America (USA) has rejoined the Paris Agreement on climate change. The new President Joe Biden reversed his predecessor Donald Trump’s order to exit the agreement.
The Paris Agreement on climate change is an international treaty under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), that came into effect in 2015

Notes:
The World Economic Forum released the 16th edition of the Global Risks Report 2021. It explores how countries and businesses can act on facing these risks.
‘Infectious Diseases’ is ranked as the ‘Top Risk by impact’, while ‘Extreme Weather’ is ranked as the ‘Top Risk by Livelihood’. Infectious diseases was placed at the 10th place in the last year’s report released in 2020.

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:
Recently, the Falcon 9 rocket of Space X set a record for carrying the maximum number of satellites in a single space mission. The rocket carried and deployed 143 spacecraft into their respective orbits successfully.
The rocket was launched from the Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. Falcon 9 rocket of Space X is a reusable in nature.

Notes:
The Davos Dialogue of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which generally takes place at Davos of Switzerland, was conducted this year in an “all virtual” format.
During the virtual meet, Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi appreciated India’s efforts to fight against the COVID pandemic. Also, he shared India’s efforts and endeavours in four pillars of Industry 4.0.