Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
The 15th Finance Commission (FFC) has announced that it is set to submit its report to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on 9 November, this year.
The report will have recommendations for next five years beginning the financial year 2021-22. The report may be tabled in the Parliament along with action taken report by the government, during the next budget session.

Notes:
The week from 27th October to 2nd November, 2020 is being observed as Vigilance Awareness Week in India. This is being organized by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The theme for this year’s Vigilance Awareness Week is Vigilant India, Prosperous India.
Observance of Vigilance Awareness Week every year is a part the Commission’s approach where all stakeholders collectively participate in the preventive vigilance measures and fight against corruption.

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 Government of Bangladesh has launched massive scheme to dredge 10,000 kilometres of riverways in the country. This is done to improve the inland water navigation system in the country.
The dredging work would be done on 178 rivers of Bangladesh and would be carried out by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) at a cost of Taka 4371 crore.

Notes:
The Central Government is set to release the second tranche of Rs 6,000 crore to 16 states and 3 union territories.
As per the recent statement from the Finance Ministry, the total amount released to states to meet the compensation shortfall under goods and services tax (GST) under the special window is Rs 12,000 crore.

Notes:
The Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region Shri. Jitendra Singh has inaugurated the Mansar Lake Development Plan in Jammu and Kashmir.
This has been done to increase the tourism sector in this region. The project aims at attracting 20 lakh tourists every year along with creation of employment for 1.15 crore man-days.

Notes:
Indian Tennis player Rutuja Bhosale won a singles title in the final of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
In the final, she won Anna Siskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5. The 24-year-old sportsperson is a former Asian junior champion and National women’s champion. She played a significant role to help India qualify for the Fed Cup World Group playoff in Dubai.

Notes:
Based on the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the Central Government has released a financial aid of Rs.2200 crore to 15 states.
The aid would be used to improve the air quality in these states by undertaking capacity building measures. This is the first instalment of the grant towards air quality improvement.

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.

Notes:
WhatsApp has received the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) approval to enter Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in phased manner.
The Social-media giant, owned by Facebook has over 400 million users in India. The UPI payments service is expected to be launched to 2 crore WhatsApp users initially. NPCI stated that a 30% cap will be implemented on total payment volumes via every third-party payment app.