Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
A virtual counter-terrorism dialogue was recently held between India and the Belgium-headquartered European Union.
As per the joint statement, both India and the EU condemned terrorism in all forms, including the “Use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism”. The dialogue also called on all countries to ensure no region under their control is used for terrorist attacks on other countries.

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:
The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF announced that around 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be sent to developing countries next year.
UNICEF has partnered with 350 airlines and freight companies to deliver vaccines and 1 billion syringes to poor countries, as part of COVAX initiative. Under the initiative led by GAVI vaccine group and WHO among others aims to deter hoarding Covid-19 vaccines.

Notes:
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu, has been elected External Auditor of Inter Parliamentary Union, Geneva.
He has been elected for the post for a three-year term. The CAG has held many significant posts in the recent pasts including the External Auditor of World Food Programme, WIPO, IAEA, UN WTO, IMO among others.

Notes:
Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the UMANG’s international version in coordination with Ministry of External Affairs for select countries including USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
An online conference was organized to mark the occasion of 3 years of UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) and a milestone of 2000 plus services. The app will help Indian international students, NRIs and Indian tourists to avail the services of the Government.

Notes:
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated 46 online AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs), organised by AICTE.
The programmes would be conducted in 22 Indian states, to train teachers of higher education institutions. Book of World Records, London has acknowledged the training of over one lakh people in 1000 programs under ‘FDP’, as a world record.

Notes:
Union Cabinet has recently approved the merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS Bank India. The Reserve Bank of India had earlier proposed the merger of the private sector lender with the Indian arm of Singapore’s DBS Bank.
It also placed LVB under one-month moratorium and capped withdrawals for depositors. As a part of the amalgamation, DBIL will infuse fresh capital of Rs 2,500 crore into LVB.

Notes:
The Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently flagged off the first heavy weight torpedo, Varunastra.
The torpedo was delivered to the Indian Navy at a ceremony held at Bharat Dynamics Limited, Visakhapatnam Unit. It has been designed and developed by Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam.

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:
Argentina’s Football legend Diego Maradona, regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, passed away due to a cardiac arrest, the age of 60.
The country is to observe three-day mourning for the legendary footballer, who helped Argentina life the World Cup in 1986. Maradona made his debut in the country’s football team before the age of 16. He has won several awards including FIFA Player of the Century.