Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
India and the United States of America has recently extended the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on nuclear energy for 10 more years.
In a joint statement issued by the two countries, this is the tenth year of cooperation between them at the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP). The MoU was signed at New Delhi in the year 2010.

Notes:
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) with the Tamil Nadu government to develop the ecosystem for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state.
Under the MoU, Sidbi will deploy a project management unit (PMU) in the government of Tamil Nadu. It will undertake the process of designing the training and capacity-building programmes to be taken up by the state government in areas.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet recently approved Rs 6,000 crore equity infusion in National Infrastructure Investment Fund’s (NIIF’s) debt platform.
The fresh capital would be infused over the current and the next fiscal, to fast-track infrastructure development in the country. Out of this, Rs 2,000 crore is expected to be utilised in the current fiscal, while the remaining will be deployed in 2021-22.

Notes:
As per the recent report released by ‘Transparency International’, as many as 74 per cent of the respondents said corruption is one of the biggest problems in their country.
The report also highlighted that around 19 % paid a bribe in the last 12 months, to access public service and youngsters are more likely to pay a bribe or use personal connection to avail public service.

Notes:
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced to allocate millions of funds to establish a Counter Terrorism Operations Centre (CTOC) based in London.
The Finance Minister also allocated funds for recruiting Police officers, tackling economic crimes and for criminal justice system, which will include the new CTOC. The state-of-the-art facility is expected to be fully operational within five years

Notes:
The Fit India School week program was launched in November last year, to inculcate the awareness of physical activity and sports to school children.
The schools, after registering themselves on the Fit India website, will select a week in the month of December. It will then make the children follow the activities listed by the Sports Ministry for the program. Last year, over 15000 schools participated in the program.

Notes:
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has restored the government recognition to Archery Association of India as a National Sports Federation.
In the year 2012, the Government recognition of AAI was withdrawn, on failure to conduct its elections in accordance with the National Sports Code. In 2020, AAI conducted elections again and elected Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda as President. AAI now has the recognition of Indian Olympic Association and the World Archery.

Notes:
India and Vietnam recently signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of hydrography. The agreement is signed during the virtual conference held between India’s Defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart.
The agreement also enables sharing of data between the countries and assist in production of navigational charts. Hydrography includes measurement of physical features of oceans and seas.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation has released ‘Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour’.
As per the guidelines, at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity per week is recommended for all adults. It also highlights that one in four adults, and four out of five adolescents, do not get enough physical activity, which causes a significant loss in productivity.

Notes:
The promoter of the Sputnik V vaccine candidate – Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has entered into an agreement with Hyderabad based company named “Hetero Biopharma”.
Under the agreement, the Sputnik V vaccine candidate would be produced in India from beginning of 2021. The Sputnik V vaccine is recently claimed to have reached an efficiency of 91.4% in Phase 3 trials.