Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
NASA has recently posted a picture of Abell 370, a massive cluster of galaxies, captured through its Hubble Space Telescope.
As per the statement of NASA, the massive gravity of the cluster makes the light to bend as it passes through. This phenomenon distorts the view of the galaxies behind Abell 370, which is located at 4.9 billion light-years away from the Earth.

Notes:
A team of archaeological experts have discovered tombs with the remains of two children claimed to have belonged to the Incan empire.
The tombs were discovered as part of excavations at the ‘Huaca de las Abejas’ complex in the Lambayeque city. The Incan Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The Inca civilization is said to have arisen from Peru in the early 13th century.

Notes:
The freight train named ‘Vasuki’ operated by South East Central Railway has created a new record for longest ever freight train. This train has been formed by amalgamation five rakes of goods trains as a single unit of around 3.5 km.
The train has covered a total distance of 224 km between Bhilai and Korba.

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:
‘National Girl Child Day’ has been celebrated in India on January 24 from the year 2008. To mark National Girl Child Day, the Indian Government organises awareness campaigns under Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme.
This Day is an initiative of the Ministry of women and child development. It aims to focus on solutions for gender bias and the challenges faced by girls in Indian society. It also aims to create awareness on girl education, health and nutrition of girls.

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:
The West Bengal Transport Corporation in association with a heritage book store has launched a Young Readers’ Boat Library.
Under the initiative, children can choose from a selection of 500 titles in English and Bengali on cruising on the waters of Hooghly river on a three-hour-long trip.

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.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has cleared and approved the Policy on privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs). The policy would lay a detailed road map for presence of government ownership in strategic and non-strategic sectors of the country.
The Government has proposed for the presence of 1 to 4 Government owned entities in strategic sectors and completely exit from non-strategic sectors.

Notes:
Every year, the 27th of January is observed as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a Memorial Day that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany, which took place between 1941 to 1945.
This date has been so chosen, because Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army on this date in 1945.