Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has launched a new rural housing project named “Maha Awas Yojana”.
Under the new scheme, as many as 8.82 lakh rural houses will be built in a period of 100 days. The outlay of the project is estimated to be Rs 4000 crore. The state’s Department of Rural Development will undertake this project.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated the ‘Aqua Bazaar’ and ‘Aqua Hub’ project.
Over 150 state-of-the-art fish markets are to be set up in rural areas named ‘Aqua-bazaar’, and a hub and spoke model will be formed in urban areas. Aqua hubs will come up in big cities from where produce will be distributed to retail outlets.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently approved 28 Food Processing Projects worth more than 320 crore rupees. They are supported with a grant of over Rs 107 crore by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
They are approved under the Scheme for Creation and Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities (CEFPPC). The aim of the scheme is to create processing and preservation capacities and expansion of existing food processing units.

Notes:
The Indian Navy is participating in the two-day exercise SITMEX-20, along with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
The exercise is being conducted as a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ exercise, in the Andaman Sea, on account of Covid-19. Indian Navy to Host Exercise SIMBEX-20 with Singapore Navy in Andaman Sea.

Notes:
The Twitter account of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reached 1 million followers. The bank also became the first monetary authority in the world to reach this mile stone on its official Twitter handle.
RBI created its official Twitter account only in January 2012 and in the current financial year, as many as 2.5 lakh new followers joined the RBI handle. Central bank of Mexico is in the second place with 7.74 lakh followers, followed by Bank of Indonesia with 7.57 lakh. US Federal Reserve is at the fourth place.

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:
India and Finland recently signed an MoU for developing cooperation in the field of Environment protection and biodiversity conservation.
The MoU also seeks to exchange best practices in areas like prevention of air and water pollution, waste management, and promotion of circular economy. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar signed the MoU virtually with his Finnish counterpart.

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:
Several groups of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other parts of the country, demanding the repeal of the new agriculture reform laws passed by the Union Government, are holding protests under the name of ‘Delhi Chalo’.
The farmers were granted permission to hold peaceful protests at Nirankari Ground in North west Delhi. As per the farmers, the new agriculture laws will dismantle the minimum support price (MSP) system.

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.