Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
India and the United States of America has recently extended the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on nuclear energy for 10 more years.
In a joint statement issued by the two countries, this is the tenth year of cooperation between them at the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP). The MoU was signed at New Delhi in the year 2010.

Notes:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has recently launched a portal that will enable transgender persons to apply online for certification of their self-perceived gender identity.
Transgender persons can upload declaration of their gender identity, which will be the basis for their identity certificates to be issued by the district magistrate. The Minister opened ‘Garima Greh: A Shelter Home for Transgender Persons’ in Gujarat. The Ministry will open such homes in all states.

Notes:
UMANG App has completed three years since its launch. On the occasion, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the newly instituted UMANG Awards.
The awards will be presented for Departments of Centre and States, based on average transactions in the past six months. Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been conferred with Platinum Partner Award for registering more than 25 lakh transactions on UMANG App.

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:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently chaired the PRAGATI meeting. This marked the thirty-third interaction through the multi-modal platform.
The PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) involving Central and State governments. Prime Minister along with the Secretaries of the Union and State review various projects and schemes. Grievances registered in various sectors are also taken up.

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:
Mizoram has debarred its Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and retired IPS officer Lalduhoma from the state assembly. He was in charge of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s security.
In 1988, he was the first Member of Parliament to have been disqualified from the Lok Sabha, under the Anti-Defection Law. At present, the charge on him is despite being elected as an independent candidate, he declared himself as a representative of ZPM.

Notes:
India and Vietnam recently signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of hydrography. The agreement is signed during the virtual conference held between India’s Defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart.
The agreement also enables sharing of data between the countries and assist in production of navigational charts. Hydrography includes measurement of physical features of oceans and seas.

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.