Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
India has recently signed reached landmark agreements on financial services, infrastructure and sustainable finance.
These were signed at the 10th Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) between the UK and India. It was jointly chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak. This is expected to boost jobs and investments in both countries.

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 Government of India has decided to extend the Income tax exemption available under leave travel concession (LTC) cash voucher scheme to non-central government employees also. This is aimed to boost the consumer spending.
Non-central government employees will include employees of state governments, public sector enterprises, banks and private sector.

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:
Kerala aims to start providing free, high-speed Internet to schools, public offices, and poor households in the state by December, this year.
Kerala is the first among all states to launch such project, which is similar to the Centre’s BharatNet project. The Kerala Fibre Optic Network Project or KFON has awarded the contract to a consortium led by public-sector company Bharat Electronics Limited.

Notes:
The Central government has extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) till November 30.
As per the Finance Ministry, Loans amounting Rs 2.03 lakh crore have been sanctioned under the ECLGS to over 60 lakh borrowers, where the target was fixed at Rs 3 lakh core. Out of the loans, an amount of Rs. 1.48 lakh crore has been disbursed.

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:
British Racing Driver Lewis Hamilton has recently won the Formula One Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Tournament.
Mercedes officially clinched the 2020 constructors’ championship. Another Racing Driver Max Verstappen came second while Valtteri Bottas came at the third spot. Hamilton won his third straight race.

Notes:
Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra has recently handed over a cheque of NPR 1 billion (around Rs 62 crore) to the Nepal government as reimbursement of Nepal Housing Reconstruction Project.
India has partnered with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), to provide funds to its neighbouring country.

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.