Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2021

Notes:
Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli became the first Asian celebrity to reach the 100 million followers-milestone on Instagram.
Portuguese star footballer Christiano Ronaldo tops the chart with 266 million followers, followed by singer Ariana Grande with 224 million followers and former WWE superstar Dwayne Johnson with 220 million followers. Footballers Messi and Neymar are also in the Top-5 list.

Notes:
Surya Prakash Committee is a panel appointed by the Rajya Sabha Chairman in consultation with the Lok Sabha Speaker to work out modalities regarding the two channels of the Parliament- RSTV and LSTV.
The committee had suggested that the Parliament have a single channel by merging the two. It also suggested the use of 2 platforms for broadcast in Hindi and English.

Notes:
ShadowPad is a malware that is alleged to be behind the October blackout in Mumbai. It has been linked to Chinese cyberattacks in the past too.
It was discovered in the year 2017. It was found injected into software updates by NetSarang, a legitimate software provider.

Notes:
The cybersecurity firm Kaspersky released the ‘State of Stalkerware 2020’ report. Stalkerware is a form of malicious app installed to secretly monitor their phone activities.
Russia was the most impacted country with 12,389 users, followed by Brazil (6,523) and US (4,745). India was the fourth most impacted nation targeted by stalkerware.

Notes:
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) releases the Food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar.
As per the recent January figure, the world food prices rose for a ninth consecutive month in February. The index hit its highest level since July 2014 and the rise is led by the rise in sugar and vegetable oils.

Notes:
In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021, only 12 Indian Institutions found place in the top-100 list.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA has retained its top position. Three Indian Institutes of Technology have entered the group of the top 100 engineering institutes. IIT-Bombay is placed at the 49th position in the engineering and technology category.

Notes:
Simlipal biosphere reserve comprises of the Simlipal national park cum tiger reserve along with its adjoining areas.
It is located in the eastern end of the Eastern Ghats, in Odisha. The name ‘Simlipal’ is derived from ‘Simul’ meaning silk cotton tree. Recently, there was a wildfire in the National Park and is raging for nearly a week.

Notes:
Bengaluru emerged as the best city according to the “Ease of Living Index-2020”, released by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
The rankings were announced for cities for which the assessment exercise was conducted in the year 2020. Around 111 cities participated in the assessment exercise. Shimla topped the category of cities with population of less than million.

Notes:
Kermadec Islands is a group of sub-tropical islands located in the southern part of Pacific Ocean. It is located in the north-east of New Zealand.
They are uninhabited and are under the administration of New Zealand. Three earthquakes recently hit the southern Pacific Ocean near the Kermadec Islands and New Zealand.

Notes:
Recently, UNCTAD named India as the ‘biggest overperformer’ with regards to frontier technologies than the country’s per capita GDP would suggest.
Frontier technology is any potentially disruptive technology that can be used to address a large-scale problem. It is considered as the next phase in the evolution of technology.