Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh government has passed an ordinance to ban unlawful religious conversions for marriage.
As per the ordinance, unlawful conversion for the sake of getting married through force, deceit, undue pressure will be considered a non-bailable offence and can lead to imprisonment of a maximum of 10 years and penalty of 50 thousand rupees.

Notes:
Union Cabinet has recently approved the merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS Bank India. The Reserve Bank of India had earlier proposed the merger of the private sector lender with the Indian arm of Singapore’s DBS Bank.
It also placed LVB under one-month moratorium and capped withdrawals for depositors. As a part of the amalgamation, DBIL will infuse fresh capital of Rs 2,500 crore into LVB.

Notes:
India has recently announced the launch of Phase-IV of the High Impact Community Development Projects in Afghanistan.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced this during the 2020 Afghanistan Conference organized in Geneva, co-hosted by the United Nations, the Government of Afghanistan, and the Government of Finland. India would undertake over 100 projects worth 80 million dollars in Afghanistan.

Notes:
The Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently flagged off the first heavy weight torpedo, Varunastra.
The torpedo was delivered to the Indian Navy at a ceremony held at Bharat Dynamics Limited, Visakhapatnam Unit. It has been designed and developed by Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam.

Notes:
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has recently released an order stating that all consumers trying to dial a mobile number using landline phones should prefix the mobile number with ‘0’.
This process is expected to be performed from January 15, 2021 from Fixed to Mobile calls only. Due to this activity, over 253.9 crore numbers would be generated, which will free up sufficient numbering resources for future use.

Notes:
The United Nations Humanitarian Chief has released 25 million US dollars from its emergency fund to support women-led organisations fighting gender-based violence.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will receive USD 17 million and UN Women will get USD 8 million. The funding was announced at the beginning of the ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence’, from November 25 to December 10.

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 Uttar Pradesh government has approved the 594-km Ganga Expressway project worth Rs 36,402 crore.
The project will have Expressway running along the river Ganga from Haridwar to Allahabad. The state Cabinet also approved a district-wise alignment of the Expressway. The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority will implement the project.

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:
The Cabinet of Pakistan has approved two anti-rape ordinances which includes chemical castration of rapists, with the consent of the convict.
The ordinance also envisages setting up of Special Courts for rape trials and appointing Special prosecutors. The proposed laws include in-camera trials, witness protection, legal assistance to victims and speedy trials of rape cases. It also prohibits unscientific examination of survivors.