Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu government has recently passed an order to provide 7.5% reservation in medical colleges to students from government schools who have cleared NEET.
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has recently given his assent to the Bill. As per the bill, those who studied from the 6th standard to higher secondary schools in schools managed by the state government will be benefitted.

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:
India’s premier think tank Niti Aayog has recently released a draft model Act and rules on conclusive land titling, to be used by the states. The draft rules aim to reduce litigations and ease the land acquisition process for infrastructure projects.
The draft provides state governments with power to order for establishment, administration and management of a system of title registration of immovable properties.

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 state government of Tamil Nadu has notified 100 per cent motor vehicle tax exemption for transport and non-transport Electric Vehicles.
The state has also planned to set up the first exclusive park for the electric vehicle, for the first time in the country. The state has targeted investments of around Rs 50,000 crore in the Electric Vehicle segment and has announced several incentives to attract investments.

Notes:
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has recently issued notice to seek response from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and four State Governments regarding the ban on use of fire crackers from November 7 to 30 in the interest of public health and environment.
The NGT has also appointed a senior advocate Raj Panjwani and advocate Shibhani Ghosh to assist the tribunal as amicus curiae in the matter.

Notes:
India’s leading private sector bank ICICI Bank has recently announced the launch of India’s first comprehensive banking programme for millennials.
The programme is named as ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ and it offered an instant savings account. As per the bank, any millennial aged up to 35 years can apply digitally for an ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ account. The package also offers investment guidance, customised credit and debit card and many features.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia has recently announced a new plan to ease foreign workers’ contractual restrictions in the country. This would pave way to improvement of a sponsorship system known as Kafala, which is highly controversial.
The new plan is expected to take effect from March 2021 and would make Saudi Arabia more labour attractive.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has recently launched a challenge named “Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge”. It aims to develop and implement initiatives that would improve the quality of life of young children, caregivers and families.
It is a 3-year challenge that would be open for 100 Smart Cities, cities with population of more than 5 lakh and State/Union Territory capitals.

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.