Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has recently inaugurated the Seismic Survey Campaign by Oil India Limited.
The 220- Crore seismic survey is to be conducted under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), through which OIL had earlier won five blocks for hydrocarbon exploration in Odisha. The survey will be undertaken in and around Mahanadi basin in Odisha.

Notes:
The G-20 countries approved the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to temporarily suspend the government-to-government debt payments to 73 countries. It was extended till June 30, 2021.
The G-20 Finance Ministers virtual meeting was recently held and India’s Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated in it. She highlighted about the DSSI initiative under the G20 Saudi Arabian Presidency.

Notes:
A MoU was signed between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and leading oil & gas marketing companies and technology providers to set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) plants across India.
The CBG plants are to be set up under the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative. The Union Government has set a target to set up 5000 CBG plants by 2023-24 with production target of 15 MMT.

Notes:
India International Cherry Blossom Festival is annually celebrated in Meghalaya, which attracts a large number of tourists in its capital city, Shillong.
The pink Cherry flowers have started blooming in Shillong and is expected to bloom till the end of November. This year, the festival has been cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes:
As per a recent survey conducted by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Ernst & Young, Multi-national Companies regard India as their first option, in terms of investments across the globe.
Out of the total key decision makers of those MNCs, 82 per cent of them said that they have plans to expand their business in the next 2 to 3 years. After India, the second most favourable place is North America followed by the rest of Asia-Pacific.

Notes:
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has declared the Indian Financial services company Karvy Stock Broking Ltd as a defaulter.
The membership of Karvy was also terminated by NSE under NSEIL Rules. In November 2019, Karvy had transferred securities worth Rs 2,300 crore into its account by misusing power of attorney given by its clients. SEBI has also found that Karvy indulged in trades that were not authorized by clients.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh government has passed an ordinance to ban unlawful religious conversions for marriage.
As per the ordinance, unlawful conversion for the sake of getting married through force, deceit, undue pressure will be considered a non-bailable offence and can lead to imprisonment of a maximum of 10 years and penalty of 50 thousand rupees.

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 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:
Odisha is set to celebrate International Sand Art Festival, at its Chandrabhaga Beach starting from December 1, 2020.
The five-day Sand Art Festival festival also coincides with the Konark Festival that is held in the backdrop of the Sun temple in Konark. On account of Covid-19 restrictions, only Indian sand artists will showcase their art using sand, bronze or wood.