Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
The Martyrdom Day of Guru Tegh Bahadur is observed across the country as Shaheed Diwas every year on November 24.
In the year 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth of the ten Gurus of the Sikhism was executed. He was the youngest son of Guru Hargobind. He had also contributed many hymns to the Guru Granth Sahib.

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:
‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’ is observed every year on November 25, led by the United Nations General Assembly.
This year, the theme for the International Day is “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!”, to focus on bridging the funding gaps to serve the survivors of violence. UN observed that violence against women and girls has increased during the pandemic, terming it ‘Shadow Pandemic’.

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.

Notes:
On 26 November 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India, and it came into effect on 26 January 1950.
To commemorate the event, Constitution Day (Samvidhan Diwas) is observed every year on 26 November. This year, ‘All India Presiding Officers’ Conference’ has been organised in Gujarat. The President participated in ‘Reading of Preamble to the Constitution’ event, held every year.

Notes:
The United Kingdom is set to impose a new competition regime next year to prevent Google and Facebook from using their dominance on smaller firms.
The regime is set to be enforced by a unit within the Britain’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Google and Facebook accounted for around 80% of 14 billion pounds spent in the country in 2019.

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 Government of Madhya Pradesh has made a change in “Draft Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill 2020”. As per the revised draft, marriages for forcible religious conversions would be a punishable offence with a jail term of 10 years.
Earlier, the proposed bill contained that the term of jail would be 5 years. The Government is expecting to table the bill in the state assembly session to be held in December.

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.