Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
The Goa state Cabinet recently cleared the Goa Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill to make retired High Court Judges also eligible for the post of Lokayukta.
After Justice PK Mishra retired in September last year, the position remained vacant. As per the Lokayukta law, only a retired Supreme Court Judge or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court are eligible for the post.

Notes:
The new US administration headed by Joe Biden has announced its plans to halt temporarily its oil and gas leasing in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The preceding administration headed by Trump had issued leases in this region which is considered sacred by Indigenous Gwich’in.
Gwichʼin are an Athabaskan language speaking people of Canada and Alaska. They live in the northwestern part of North America close to the Arctic circle.

Notes:
‘Exercise Kavach’ is a large and joint military exercise that would involve technical, electronic and human intelligence and assets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard.
This exercise is conducted under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), which is the only Joint Forces Command of the country.

Notes:
The domestic capital market, denoted by SENSEX has touched a new height of 50,000 mark for the first time ever.
The Sensex was launched in 1986 as the country’s first equity index. The index commenced operations with 124 points. It reached 1000 points in 1990 and has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 15.9% to reach 50,000 points in 2021.

Notes:
The report titled “The Inequality Virus” has been released recently by Oxfam International. The report has found that the Covid pandemic has deepened the existing inequalities.
The report has made a comparison that during the national lockdown in India its top 100 billionaires saw their fortunes increase by Rs 12.97 trillion while 70,000 people lost their jobs every hour in the month of April 2020.

Notes:
Rajasthan state has launched the new M-Sand Policy-2020 recently. The state Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the state government aims to meet the quantity of sand needed for construction work in the state.
This would encourage the production of manufactured sand or M-sand and reduce the dependence on traditional sand.

Notes:
The Union Health Ministry released the National Non-communicable Disease Monitoring Survey (NNMS).
In the survey conducted during 2017-18, it was revealed that two in five adults in India have three or more risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCD). The Health Minister also launched a framework on use of telemedicine for cancer, diabetes, heart diseases and stroke in India.

Notes:
As per the Science Magazine, Scientists have discovered a rare Martian Mineral named ‘Jarosite’ in the Antarctic ice.
After boring more than a mile deep in the Antarctic region, the yellow-brown mineral which is rarely seen on Earth but found more on Mars was spotted. Mars is believed to be a dusty place and this discovery may be used to explain this theory.

Notes:
The second edition of the International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE-II) is to be hosted in February, 2021, at the Gender Park Campus, Kozhikode, Kerala.
The Chief Minister is also set to inaugurate a Gender Park at Kozhikode. It was established in 2013 under the Department of Women and Child Development. It has partnerships with various global organisations like UN Women.

Notes:
The report titled “World Gold Demand Trends” has been released by the World Gold Council. As per the report, Gold purchase by central banks of various countries declined sharply in 2020 and fell by nearly 60% to 272.9 tonnes.
The decline in purchase was most particular in Q2 of the FY 2020-21.