Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has recently promulgated an ordinance to ban online gaming in the State.
The State government has submitted a proposal to the Governor to promulgate ordinance by amending several related acts. It provides for fine of Rs 5000 and an imprisonment for 6 months, for those found to be engaged in the act. Persons who are betting in cyber space can also be banned.

Notes:
Indian-origin economist and author Lord Meghnad Desai has resigned as a member of the UK’s Opposition Labour Party, over its failure to tackle racism.
The 80-year-old peer was against the readmission of former party leader Jeremy Corbyn without apology, after being suspended. The Labour Party has been alleged of antisemitism over several years.

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:
The construction arm of Larsen and Toubro (L&T), L&T Construction has bagged the contract to build India’s longest river bridge.
The 19-km long bridge, which is to be built across the Brahmaputra river, will connect Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya. It will also improve connectivity of the North Eastern states with the rest of the country.

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:
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:
Under a new law approved by the Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority will be renamed to Saudi Central Bank.
However, the Central Bank will continue to use its acronym “SAMA” due to its historic significance and relevance. The new law also mandates the objectives of the Central Bank to maintain monetary stability, support economic growth and to directly report King of Saudi Arabia.

Notes:
The “Swasthya Sathi” scheme is a health insurance scheme of the state of West Bengal, which was launched in Dec 2016. It provides secondary and tertiary health care up to Rs.5 lakh per annum per family.
The Chief Minister of West Bengal has recently announced that the “Swasthya Sathi” scheme would cover entire population of the State.

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.

Notes:
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is set to become the first Arab Gulf country to generate electricity from coal.
A USD 3.4 billion Hassyan coal plant is being set up in Dubai with a capacity of 600 MW. The capacity is expected to increase to 2,400 MW by 2023. Most of the existing power plants in UAE runs on Gas.