Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

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:
Tesla Chief Executive Officer the world’s richest person at present, Elon Musk announced that he has decided to give away USD 100 million as prize for the best carbon capture technology.
Carbon dioxide, released in electricity generation and industrial processes can be captured using various methods including post-combustion, pre-combustion and oxyfuel. The International Energy Agency also stated about the role of carbon capture technology in net-zero emissions recently.

Notes:
London approved the removal of the Statues of William Beckford and Sir John Cass from its iconic Guildhall home of statues.
After the Black Lives Matter protests, the city corporation set up a task force on tackling racism, which recommended removing the statues of the two figures. The city’s elected representatives voted for the decision.

Notes:
The first edition of the exercise Desert Knight-21 was organised at Jodhpur Air Force Station, Rajasthan, from January 20 to 24, 2021.
Four French Rafale fighters, Airbus A-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), A-400M Tactical Transport aircraft participated from the French side. Mirage 2000, Su-30 MKI, Rafale, IL-78 Flight Refuelling Aircraft, AWACS and AEW&C aircraft participated from the IAF.

Notes:
India is to host the Defence Ministers of the countries of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in Bengaluru city on February 4, 2021.
This conclave will be organised alongside the upcoming Aero India in Bengaluru. The theme of the conclave will be ‘Enhanced Peace, Security and Cooperation in the Indian Ocean’.

Notes:
The Ministry of Home Affairs has recently announced the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2021.
As per the notification, Rajendra Kumar Bhandari has been selected in the individual category of the award, while the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS) has been selected for the award in the institutional category.

Notes:
Reigning Olympic champion, Carolina Marin from Spain and former World Champion Viktor Axelsen from Denmark recently claimed their second Thailand Open badminton men’s and women’s singles titles respectively.
The 27-year-old Carolina Marin went into the final without losing a single game across both tournaments. The Badminton World Federation World Tour Finals will be contested by the top eight of each discipline.

Notes:
AMPEX 21 is India’s tri-service joint amphibious exercise which was conducted in the Andaman & Nicobar group of islands. It involved the participation of Naval vessels, Army’s amphibious troops and flying machines of the Air force.
The aim of conducting this exercise is to validate the security force’s capabilities to safeguard the territorial integrity and enhance interoperability among the three forces.

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 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has recently released an index named “’Asia-Pacific Personalised Health Index”.
India has ranked 10th out of 11 Asia Pacific countries in the index. This index measures the readiness of 11 countries – Australia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand in adopting personalised healthcare.