Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2021

Notes:
The Governor of Georgia, Brian P. Kemp, has announced that November 1 will be observed as ‘Kannada Language and Rajyotsava Day’.
Georgia had become the first state in the U.S. to issue such a proclamation for Kannada. Karnataka is set to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava. Georgia houses one of the biggest Indian diaspora in the U.S. Kannada is one of the longest-surviving classical languages, with a rich literature and inscriptions dating back to 450 BCE.

Notes:
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was established in the year 1997 with its headquarters as Vienna, Austria.
The institution is in news recently, as it has launched Data Disclosure Framework (DDF) in association with the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. The DDF is a tool which describes the practices developed to handle and respond to the data requests from foreign criminal justice authorities for counter-terrorism investigations.

Notes:
India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra led a three-member delegation to Uzbekistan to oversee the country’s presidential election.
Indian team has overseen the election as an international observer. Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev got over than 80% of the vote in the elections and was re-elected for a second five-year term. CEC Sushil Chandra and Uzbekistan’s election commission, led by Zainiddin Nizamkhodjaev, held a meeting on electoral cooperation.

Notes:
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya launched the Sixth Edition of National Formulary of India (NFI).
NFI has been published by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) to promote rational use of medicines in the country. It is a guidance document for all healthcare professionals such as clinicians, pharmacists, nurses, dentists etc in their daily clinical practices.

Notes:
CAATSA-Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act is a 2017 law, which intends punish countries that did business with some countries including Russia.
Three Republican U.S. senators filed legislation to exempt India from sanctions for purchasing a Russian S400 missile defense system. This would create a 10-year exemption for member countries of the QUAD – Australia, Japan and India – from sanctions imposed by CAATSA.

Notes:
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is organising a week-long Deep Dive Online Training program.
The training program is organised by National e-Governance Division at MeitY under the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative. MeitY launched the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative in 2018, as the first public-private partnership in cyber awareness. This online program trains Chief Information Security officers (CISO) along with IT staff of different Ministries, PSUs and Banks.

Notes:
AY.4.2, which was seen in the news, is a ‘Coronavirus lineage’. Lineages are the labels given to the branches of the COVID evolutionary chart to illustrate their relatedness.
The lineages are overseen by the Pango network, a team of researchers from the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford. They act as the custodians of lineages and handle the assignment of new labels. This AY.4.2. lineage is traced back to April this year.

Notes:
The Finance ministry has approved an 8.5% return on employees’ provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2020-21.
This move will impact over 6.4 crore subscribers. The rate was the same for the year 2019-20 also. The Labour ministry will now notify the interest rate before the EPFO starts crediting the interest into individual accounts.

Notes:
Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) is a World Bank funded project approved in 2016 for a total cost of Rs. 2200 crore.
The project aims to create awareness through industry clusters to address issues pertaining to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The STRIVE program was launched in Manguluru, through Kanara Industries Association-Industrial Cluster. The participants will get National Apprenticeship Certificate from the Directorate General of Training on clearing the assessment and examination.

Notes:
Punjab is set to commence the census of the Indus river dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor). It is a freshwater dolphin that is found in river Beas.
The Indus river dolphin is classified as ‘endangered’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2007, the dolphins were discovered in Punjab’s Harike wildlife sanctuary. The Indus river dolphin was declared the State aquatic animal of Punjab in 2019.