Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

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:
Food Corporation of India and other Government agencies are set to procure 742 Lakh Metric tonnes of paddy during the ongoing Kharif season.
This is seen as a record high paddy procurement. The paddy procurement made by the Government last year was 627 Lakh Metric Tonnes. The number of purchase-centres this year have been increased from 30,791 to 39,122.

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:
Indian boxer Sanjeet won gold in the Alexis Vastine international boxing tournament in Nantes in 91 kg category. World silver-medallist Amit Panghal also won gold in 52 kg category.
Ashish Kumar also won gold in the 75kg category opponent pulled out due to injury. Kavinder Singh Bisht won silver while India earned three bronze medals.

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:
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:
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:
The state government of Kerala has recently decided to withdraw the general consent accorded to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe cases in the state.
Kerala becomes the 5th in the list to withdraw the general consent after Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. From now on, CBI can make investigations of cases in necessary situations, only with the permission of the state government.

Notes:
As per the Schmidt Ocean Institute, its research vessel ‘Falkor’ has discovered a massive coral reef in Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
The research vessel has been undertaking a 12-month exploration mission of the ocean surrounding Australia. The 500-meter-high reef has been discovered for the first time in 120 years. ‘SuBastian’, the underwater robot of the institute is deployed to explore the new reef.

Notes:
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar recently virtually addressed the first India -Nordic – Baltic Conclave.
The Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) co-operation framework includes eight countries namely Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.