Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
The United Nations agencies namely the UNICEF, FAO, WFP and WHO jointly released the ‘Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition’ report.
It is the third annual report on progress of Sustainable Development Goals and World Health Assembly targets 2030 on nutrition in the Asia and Pacific region. 24 million in the Asia and Pacific region are likely to suffer food insecurity.

Notes:
The World Economic Forum released the 16th edition of the Global Risks Report 2021. It explores how countries and businesses can act on facing these risks.
‘Infectious Diseases’ is ranked as the ‘Top Risk by impact’, while ‘Extreme Weather’ is ranked as the ‘Top Risk by Livelihood’. Infectious diseases was placed at the 10th place in the last year’s report released in 2020.

Notes:
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award in India.
President has approved conferment of 119 Padma awards comprising 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri awards. Former Chief minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi and former union minister Ram Vilas Paswan have been awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Road transport and highways has approved a proposal to impose green tax on some category of vehicles that are old and causes pollution.
This move is seen as a means to phase out old and pollution causing vehicles from the country. The ministry has also approved a policy for deregistration and scrapping of vehicles owned by government departments which are more than 15 years old.

Notes:
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) released the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2021.
As per the report, India’s economy is projected to grow at 7.3 per cent in 2021 while it is estimated to contract by 9.6 per cent in 2020. According to the UN, the reasons for the contraction are the lockdown and the fallen domestic consumption.

Notes:
The United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order, which would impose rules on government procurement practices.
Dubbed as the ‘Buy American’ order, it aims to strengthen domestic manufacturing and ensure better access to small and midsize businesses. This is a part of the ‘Build Back Better recovery plan’ proposed by Joe Biden.

Notes:
NGC 4535 is a famous galaxy and is one of the largest of the Virgo constellation. It is also dubbed as the “The Lost Galaxy”.
Virgo Cluster is located about 50 million light-years from Earth. The Scientists at NASA have spotted the spiral galaxy through their Hubble Space Telescope and released its images. It is a vast swirl of stars containing a distinct bar structure at its center.

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:
India is set to despatch 500,000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Sri Lanka as grant assistance under its “Vaccine Maitri” initiative.
Under the initiative, India has already delivered nearly five million doses to seven countries in the neighbourhood including Maldives, Nepal, Mauritius among others. The Vaccine Maitri (Vaccine Friendship) initiative was launched on January 20.

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.