Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
NITI Aayog and Quality Council of India has recently launched the ‘National Program and Project Management Policy Framework’ (NPMPF).
The report aims to bring radical reforms in the way infrastructure projects are executed in India. Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari also released the Indian Infrastructure Body of Knowledge (InBoK).

Notes:
Alphabet Inc’s Google has recently announced that it is set to launch a virtual private networks (VPN) service for its consumers.
The VPN service would be available for its Google One cloud storage services. VPN is used by individuals in countries where access to certain sites and services have been banned by governments.

Notes:
The apex judicial body, Supreme Court of India has extended the time line till December 31,2020 for implementation of its judgement on grant of permanent commission to women SSC officers in Indian Navy.
On March 17, 2020 the Supreme Court had cleared permanent commission for women in the Navy and asked the Centre to implement the same within three months.

Notes:
Antrix Corporation is the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It functions under the administrative control of the Department of Space.
Recently, a United States court has asked Antrix Corporation to pay compensation of USD 1.2 billion to a Bengaluru-based startup, Devas Multimedia, for cancelling a satellite deal in 2005.

Notes:
The Indian Air Force has successfully test-fired an air launched version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi fighter aircraft in the Bay of Bengal.
The aircraft belongs to the Thanjavur-based Tigersharks squadron. India has recently test fired a new version of the surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile BrahMos and an anti-radiation missile named Rudram-1.

Notes:
As per the CEO of NITI Aayog, the number of Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based transactions crossed the 2 billion mark in October 2020.
The UPI transactions grew 80 per cent from 1.14 billion transactions that were recorded in October 2019. This has signified that the digital mode of payments has been widely accepted by the people.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has notified draft rules for the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. This is expected to enhance the flexibility to employers to retrench workers.
It also mandates that Labour Unions should give a prior notice before a strike. The Government has aimed to implement the labour codes from April 1, 2021.

Notes:
BRICS Business Forum, which is an important annual event of the BRICS Business Council was hosted by Russia from October 20 to 28, 2020. President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia is the current Chairman of the BRICS Business Council.
BRICS Business Forum was held in via Video Conferencing under the title “BRICS Business Partnership: Common Vision for Sustainable Inclusive Development”.

Notes:
Priyanca Radhakrishnan became New Zealand’s first-ever Indian-origin minister after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced five new ministers into her executive.
The 41-year-old Member of Parliament belonging to the Labour Party, was born in India. In 2019, she was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Ethnic Communities. She has been advocating tights of women survivors of domestic violence and migrant workers.

Notes:
Two secure and flexible services have been created by the Interpol to facilitate cybercrime related communication among law enforcement agencies.
One of them is the Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange workspace and the other is Cybercrime Collaborative Platform-Operation. The former handles general, non-police information and is open to all relevant users whereas the latter is restricted to select few agencies only.