Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2021

Notes:
Punjab’s Excise Department launched ‘Operation Red Rose’ in 2020, to curb illicit liquor trading and nail excise-related crimes.
Recently, it has been using precise tracking and monitoring systems like Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, to check illicit distillation and smuggling of liquor, which has led to rise in suspects booked for crimes and convictions and also rise in revenues.

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:
The United Nations Development Progrmme (UNDP) has released a report titled “The State of Climate Ambition”, which has observed that close to 93% of Least developed countries (LDCs) have submitted enhanced national climate pledges. The report is released ahead of the upcoming COP26 climate negotiations.
The report makes a comparative study between the current climate trends and the assessment made in the 2019 NDC Global Outlook report.

Notes:
Public Affairs Centre (PAC), a Bengaluru-based non-profit think tank releases the Public Affairs Index every year. In this year’s Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021), Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have taken the top three positions, among the 18 large states in governance performance.
The index is based on scores secured by the states in governance performance across the pillars of equity, growth and sustainability. Covid-19 response index has been added to this year’s index for the first time. Sikkim, Goa and Mizoram are winners among the small states, Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh topped among the UTs.

Notes:
Food Processing Industries Minister Prashupati Kumar Paras launched a bakery brand Dilli Bakes, under the One District, One Product (ODOP) initiative. Whole wheat rusk is the first product launched under the Dilli Bakes brand.
The Government is promoting one product from one district under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme. The product has been launched in association with cooperative NAFED.

Notes:
India has applied a USD 2 billion loan to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with the Asian Development (ADB).
Manila-based ADB is expected to finance USD 1.5 billion and Beijing-based AIIB is considering to provide USD 500 million. About 667 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were expected to be procured through the loan.

Notes:
The Finance Ministry has initiated reforms in public procurement and project management to execute projects and provide payments to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on time.
The new guidelines permit alternative methods for selection of contractors, which can improve speed and efficiency in execution of projects. Whereas, the old system gives weightage to the lowest commercial bid. As many as 563 central sector projects were running behind schedule as on October 1 this year.

Notes:
Cook Strait separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast.
Recently, Freedman, who founded the company ElectricAir, crossed the strait for the first time in an electric plane. This 40-minute solo flight was held 101 years after the first person flew a conventional aircraft over the strait.

Notes:
The native Vilwadri cattle of Thrissur district of Kerala is genetically divergent from the rest of the cattle population in the State.
The genetic diversity study was done by a group of scientists of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Animal Genetics and Breeding (CASAGB). The Vilwadri cattle, which are found in the Palakkad-Thrissur border, cattle are humped like other indigenous cattle of the State but they are bigger with longer horns. Indigenous breeds are disease-resistant and can withstand high temperatures.

Notes:
A group of entomologists have documented the odonate fauna in the state of Kerala for the first time. Kerala is home to 181 species of dragonflies and damselflies. It also nurtures 68 species that are endemic to the Western Ghats.
According to the study, the odonates of the Western Ghats stands at 207, of which 80 species are endemics.