Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
Ministry of Jal Shakti had constituted a multi-disciplinary Technical Committee to recommend innovative ‘field level solution’ technologies in Drinking Water and Sanitation for states and UTs.
The committee was chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India K Vijaya Raghavan. It also has other members from NITI Aayog, DST, CSIR, DRDO, IIT among others. The committee has recently recommended five technology solutions for states/UTs.

Notes:
India International Cherry Blossom Festival is annually celebrated in Meghalaya, which attracts a large number of tourists in its capital city, Shillong.
The pink Cherry flowers have started blooming in Shillong and is expected to bloom till the end of November. This year, the festival has been cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes:
Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the UMANG’s international version in coordination with Ministry of External Affairs for select countries including USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
An online conference was organized to mark the occasion of 3 years of UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) and a milestone of 2000 plus services. The app will help Indian international students, NRIs and Indian tourists to avail the services of the Government.

Notes:
India and the European Union (EU) held the sixth round of consultations on disarmament and non-proliferation matters in a virtual format.
As per the statement issued by the Union External Affairs Ministry, the India and the EU exchanged developments in the area of nuclear, chemical, biological disarmament and non-proliferation. The consultations also focussed on outer space security issues, export control regimes among others.

Notes:
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Invest India has recently launched the SDG Investor Map for India.
UNDP highlighted 18 investment opportunities areas (IOAs), which are in 6 important SDG (sustainable development goals) enabling sectors including education, healthcare, agriculture among others. This is expected to bridge the SDG financing gap occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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:
The Union Cabinet of India chaired by the Prime Minister approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the field of Physical Culture and Sport signed among BRICS Countries.
Under the MoU, the five countries will help each other in expanding expertise in the area of sports science, sports medicine, coaching techniques etc. This would also strengthen bilateral relations with BRICS member countries.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The scheme aims to provide piped water supply to over 4.1 million people in the two districts of Sonbhadra and Mirzapur.
The outlay of the project is Rs 5,555 crore. The scheme will also benefit over 3,000 villages to access piped water supply.

Notes:
Malayalam film Jallikattu, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, has been selected as India’s official entry for the 93rd Academy Awards, 2021.
It is also the third Malayalam film to be shortlisted for the Oscar Award. This film is based on writer S. Hareesh’s acclaimed story titled ‘Maoist’. As of now, only three Indian films Lagaan, Mother India and Salaam Bombay! have won the coveted award.