Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has recently reported that it has recently observed a mix of X-ray and radio signals that were never observed before in the Milky Way.
It also announced that the first fast radio burst (FRB) was also observed within the galaxy. The detection of the phenomenon called FRB was recently published in the journal ‘Nature’.

Notes:
The Chief of Indian Army, General MM Naravane has been conferred with the Honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army, by the President Bidya Devi Bhandari during a special ceremony.
General KM Cariappa was the first Indian Army chief to be honoured with the title in 1950. Last year, Nepali Army chief General Purna Chandra Thapa was also made the honorary General of the Indian Army.

Notes:
The 5th Joint Working Group (JWG) on Coal between India and Indonesia was hosted by India, through video conference mode. It was co-chaired by Vinod Kumar Tiwari, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal and its counterpart of Indonesia.
During the meeting, India’s Ministry of Coal made presentations on Indian Coal Policy reforms, Coking Coal Exploration and Commercial Mining which was followed by presentations by the Indonesian side

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:
As per the recent statement from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is set to issue forecast for malaria outbreaks from next monsoon.
India has also planned to increase the high-performance computing (HPC) facility from the current capacity of 10 petaflops to 40 petaflops. India is at fourth place after the US, the UK and Japan in HPC, at present.

Notes:
The Government of India has made the electronic toll collection system based on FASTag compulsory from 1st January 2021.
It has been made mandatory for all types of 4 wheelers. A notification in this regard has been issued by the Ministry of Highways.

Notes:
Joe Biden of the Democratic Party has been elected as the 46th President of United States of America and Kamala Harris has been elected as the Vice President of the country.
She is a member of the Democratic Party and is set to assume the office of the Vice President on January 20, 2021.

Notes:
The word “Lockdown” has been selected as the Collins Dictionary word of the year 2020. The word has been chosen for a sudden increase in usage of the word during the spread of Covid-19.
Lexicographers have stated that they have picked the word since it had become synonymous with the experience of populations across the world as governments look to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

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:
Australia-India Water Centre (AIWC) has been recently inaugurated through a Webinar and will be led by University of Western Sydney, Australia and IIT Guwahati, India.
The Centre will also include 21 other partners from India and Australia. It will include collaboration in water research, joint master’s level programme in water futures, student and staff exchanges, workshops and training in water sector.