Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

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:
The Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) has been indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s research centre Imarat.
Recently, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) successfully test fired a Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from a Hawk-I aircraft, off the coast of Odisha. HAL deploys its Hawk-I platform for certification of systems and weapons.

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:
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 central Government has recently stated that, Geological Survey of India (GSI) is in the process of expediting some of its important national level surveys. The GSI has proposed to complete its National Geochemical Mapping (NGCM) programme by 2024.
The GSI has also commenced an initiative named National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR) for collecting all the geoscience data of the country.

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:
The Maharashtra government is launching a new initiative named Jail Tourism in the state.
As a part of the programme, jails where many freedom fighters were jailed will be developed as Tourism sites. From January 26, 2021 the state has launched the programme starting with the 150-year-old Yerawada Jail. It will also include Nagpur, Thane, and Ratnagiri Jails.

Notes:
Lt. Col. (Retd.) Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir and musicologist Sanjida Khatun, who belong to Bangladesh have been conferred with India’s Padma Shri award for the year 2021.
This is seen as a soft diplomatic move of the country. These awards were announced on the eve of Republic Day. This year, 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri awards have been conferred.

Notes:
Freedom fighter and late former Union home minister Govind Ballabh Pant’s statue was relocated from the Parliament complex, as the construction for the new building commenced.
The statue was later unveiled in New Delhi’s Pandit Pant Marg. He was also the first Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, from 1950 to 1954. He was also awarded with the highest honour of India, the Bharat Ratna.

Notes:
A recent research by University of Sao Paulo has revealed that Melatonin hormone secreted in the lungs of human beings act as an effective barrier against Covid-19 infection.
It has been identified that the hormone secretion inhibits the expression of genes that are entry points for the virus.