Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli belonging to the ruling communist party of Nepal, has been expelled from the party by leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and former PM Madhav Kumar.
This decision has been made by the party, after the PM P. Sharma Oli dissolved the Lower House of the Parliament called “Pratinidhi Sabha”.

Notes:
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017.
Recently, this first treaty came into force and in response, India announced that it does not support the treaty. None of the nine countries said to possess nuclear weapons and the NATO alliance supported the treaty.

Notes:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a revamped website, which provides information about gallantry awards in India and their recipients.
The portal has all the important information, which will be available throughout the day. The Minister also launched an e-magazine named ‘Shauryawaan’ and a gallantry award quiz competition.

Notes:
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has been re-elected as the President of Portugal. The right-wing President won the elections with 60.7 percent of the vote.
Although the Prime Minister Antonio Costa is a Socialist, the President has a prominent role in the nation’s polity with superior role in foreign policy and national security. President of Portugal has the power to dissolve the Parliament.

Notes:
Estonia’s two biggest political parties – the Reform Party and the Centre Party have agreed upon a deal to form a new government, which would be headed by Kaja Kallas.
If approved by the law makers, she would become the first women Prime Minster of Estonia. Earlier, the previous Government collapsed on charges of corruption scandal.

Notes:
The DRDO’s Integrated weapons system design centre has been inaugurated by the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex – Hyderabad.
This centre would set an all-new platform for enhanced design – development for surface to air missile (SAM) systems and ballistic missile defence (BMD) systems.

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:
Alphabet unions across the world have joined hands and created a global alliance called Alpha Global.
It has been created with the aid of UNI Global, a federation of unions representing over 20 million workers. As many as 13 different unions, from 10 different countries are part of Alpha Global alliance. Google labour union was formed recently in the United States.

Notes:
The report, titled ‘Ageing water infrastructure: An emerging global risk’ was compiled by United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
As per the report, over a thousand large dams in India will be almost 50 years old in 2025. It also warns about the threat posed by the aging structures across the world. As per the UN report, a large concrete dam begins to express signs of ageing at 50 years.

Notes:
Union Bank of India announced that it has raised Rs 1,000 crore by issuing Basel III-compliant bonds on a private placement basis.
The bank issued perpetual bonds in the nature of debentures, which qualify as the Additional Tier 1 Capital of the bank. The public sector bank also announced that it will raise Rs 205 crore by issuing Basel III compliant bonds later this week.