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:
A number of welfare schemes for the refugee and the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) population have been announced by the state Government of West Bengal.
One among them is providing land pattas to refugee colonies. The state has decided to give a total 1,25,000 land pattas to the refugees, of which 25,000 pattas were given by the Chief Minister recently.

Notes:
An enhanced version of the Pinaka Mk-1 missile has been successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.
The Pinaka Mk-1 missile system has been developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). This enhanced version is set to replace the existing Pinaka systems deployed by the Indian Army along boarders of China and Pakistan.

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.

Notes:
Kerala has recently become a part of the “Padhna Likhna Abhiyan” programme and is ready to receive the central funds for literacy programmes, after ten years.
Padhna Likhna Abhiyan is the reading and writing campaign launched by the Central Government. IT aims to achieve the goal of complete literacy in the country by 2030.

Notes:
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the government of Bangladesh, Beximco Pharmaceutical Ltd and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
The agreement aims for priority delivery of 3 crore COVID 19 vaccine doses to Bangladesh. Serum Institute of India has reached the final stage of COVID vaccine development. Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd also known as Beximco Pharma, is a pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh.

Notes:
Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha has been recently appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) as per the statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Prior to this appointment the post of CIC was held by Bimal Julka, who completed his term in August. President Ram Nath Kovind has also administered the oath of office to Uday Mahurkar, Heera Lal Samariya and Saroj Punhani as Information Commissioners.

Notes:
India and Italy have signed 15 agreements in various sectors during the virtual Bilateral Prime Minister’s meet that held on November 7, 2020.
The agreements are expected to provide for cooperation in a wide range of sectors like energy, green energy, shipbuilding, media etc. and to review the bilateral relationship.

Notes:
Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd. (TataMD), the healthcare arm of the Tata Group, has recently launched ‘TataMD’s CHECK’.
It is the world’s first CRISPR Cas-9 based diagnostic tool. Tata has also collaborated with the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and other research bodies to develop the diagnostic solution.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Finance has given an approval for creation of the first ever national database of migrant labour called the National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW), which would be seeded with Aadhaar.
This database would provide a platform for the government to implement specific programmes for such labourers