Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
Visa has recently partnered with Indian leading private sector bank HDFC Bank and Digit Secure, to deploy PCI certified Tap to Phone card acceptance solution.
DigitSecure has become the first company based in Asia-Pacific to receive PCI security certification for deploying this technology. India has also joined a list of over 15 markets that provide Visa Tap to Phone technology for merchants.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu has won the first position under the ‘Best State’ category of National Water Awards (NWAs) 2019.
The awards have been constituted by the Department of Water Resources, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti. Tamil Nadu is followed by Maharashtra and Rajasthan as the best states under the normal category.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has proposed to set up a Centre of Excellence for the Indian Knowledge System.
This information has been furnished by the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. This was announced at the inaugural session of an international webinar titled ‘Bharata Tirtha’ organised by IIT Kharagpur.

Notes:
The Union Sports Ministry has approved 6 centres as the Khelo India Centre of Excellence (KISCE). These centres would be upgraded at a cost of Rs 67.32 crore for FY 2020-21 and subsequent four years.
These centres have been identified in the states / UT of Assam, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim and Daman & Diu.

Notes:
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is set to unveil a life size statue of Swami Vivekananda. The statue is being unveiled at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus at New Delhi on November 12th.
The statue would be unveiled by the Prime Minister in a virtual mode. The statue has been installed in JNU campus with the support of the JNU alumni.

Notes:
The Central Government has opened 19 coal mines for auction, and it witnessed a stiff competition from leading private players.
The auction of these 19 mines is expected to generate a revenue of Rs.7000 crore per annum along with creation of more than 69,000 jobs once the mines are operationalised. These 19 mines have a combined peak capacity reaching 51 MT per annum.

Notes:
Researchers have recently discovered a new hidden gene in the novel coronavirus named ORF3d.
The new overlapping gene is expected to contribute to the unique biology and pandemic potential. This may also lead to the development of new vaccines against the virus. The study has been published in the journal ‘eLife’.

Notes:
Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme.
Recently, the Ministry has amended the guidelines of the scheme as solar power plants can also be installed on pasture land and marshy land of farmers. Earlier, only barren, fallow and agricultural lands were used for installing solar plants.

Notes:
The gaming company PUBG Corporation has recently made an announcement to relaunch the game with a version specially created for India.
The company has also planned for setting up an Indian subsidiary with an investment of USD 100 million. The Indian arm would hire over 100 IT professionals specialised in business, e-sports and game development.

Notes:
India has provided 50 Metric Tons of food aid to the African country Djibouti. This is a part of India’s assistance to friendly countries to during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Djibouti is located on the northeast coast of the Horn of Africa. This humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to Djibouti has been delivered by INS Airavat.