Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
As per the Public Affairs Index-2020 released by the Public Affairs Centre, Kerala was adjudged the best governed State in the large States category.
States were ranked on governance performance based on a composite index in sustainable development. Kerala is followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Uttar Pradesh is ranked at the bottom of the list.

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly has designated the 31st of October as World Cities Day. This year the theme is ‘Valuing Our Communities and Cities’.
The Day aims to promote international community’s interest in global urbanization and contribute to sustainable urban development around the world. UN-Habitat launched Urban October in 2014, to highlight the urban challenges around the world.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated a seaplane service that connects Statue of Unity in Kevadia with Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The sea plane service is being operated by Spice jet. Earlier, he inaugurated a cruise service near the Statue of Unity. The 40-minute cruise will cover a distance of six kilometres.

Notes:
The people of New Zealand, in a recent referendum have voted to legalise euthanasia. Preliminary results of the referendum showed that 65.2% of voters supported the End of Life Choice Act coming into force as a new law.
The proposed law will permit terminally ill people with less than 6 months of life to choose assisted dying, if approved by 2 doctors.

Notes:
Sean Connery, the Scottish movie legend, who was the first actor to play James Bond on the big screen, has recently passed away.
His films include Dr. No in 1962, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever. The actor, who dominated the silver screen for four decades, died at the age of 90.

Notes:
Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru has entered into an MoU with R&D Centre of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL).
The partnership aims to develop biomass gasification-based hydrogen generation technology for producing fuel cell-grade hydrogen. The testing and development would take place in IOCL’s R&D Centre in Faridabad.

Notes:
E-commerce giant Flipkart has recently acquired mobile gaming start-up Mech Mocha, which runs the first live-social gaming platform, ‘Hello Play’.
After the acquisition, the intellectual property from the start-up and the skilled gaming team will also join Flipkart. This is a part of the Walmart-owned company’s initiatives to engage with users on its platform.

Notes:
TransUnion CIBIL in association with Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has launched the MSME Credit Health Index.
The index measures the growth and strength of the MSME sector in India. MSME Credit Health Index is built by TransUnion CIBIL using credit data furnished by lending institutions/ banks.

Notes:
The Business Expectation Survey is conducted by National Council for Applied Economic Research (NACER). As per the report of the survey, the Business Confidence Index (BCI) in India rose to 65.5 in the second quarter of FY 20 after recording a sharp drop to 46.4 in the first quarter.
NCAER is a non-profit think tank of economics based at New Delhi. Nandan Nilekani is president of the governing body and Dr Shekhar Shah is current director general of NCAER.

Notes:
A first of its kind in the country, a solar energy-driven miniature train has been inaugurated at the Veli Tourist Village in Thiruvananthapuram.
The miniature rail has all the features of a fully-equipped rail system like a tunnel, a station and a ticket office. The train has three compartments that can accommodate around 45 people at a time. This children attraction train was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan.