Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
India-Japan Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) cooperation has won the OECD MAP 2019 award for highest agreement ratio.
The award has been announced for a pair of jurisdictions for transfer pricing cases, which demonstrates the commitment of India to provide tax certainty and an effective dispute resolution mechanism for the Japanese companies.

Notes:
The US and Taiwan signed an agreement to establish annual economic talks for five years. The agreement can be extended another five years once the current pact is over.
This pact has been signed amidst the objections expressed by China to the support of the US for Taipei. ‘Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue with Taiwan’ was also launched, to promote cooperation.

Notes:
An Internal Working Group (IWG) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended raising the cap on promoters’ stake in private sector banks to 26% in 15 years.
At present, the percentage of stake is mandated at 15% of the equity share capital of the bank. The group also suggested to allow large corporate or industrial houses, as promoters of banks after necessary amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Notes:
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed a solar-powered Unmanned Autonomous Survey Craft for Indian ports and inland waterways.
It would help to conduct autonomous hydrographic and oceanographic surveys and provide real-time data transmission over long distances. It had a successful field-test recently off the Chennai coast at Kamarajar port.

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:
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 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:
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:
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 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.