Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2021

Notes:
South Africa had announced that it would be the first beneficiary of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).
India, Indonesia and the Philippines will join South Africa as the recipients of the pilot programme aimed at accelerating their transition from coal power to clean energy. The CIF said the Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) programme targets developing countries, which lack adequate resources to finance the transition from coal.

Notes:
The Ministry of Law and Justice placed the Draft Mediation Bill, 2021 in public domain, seeking feedback and suggestions from all stakeholders.
The Bill proposes to bring about a standalone law on Mediation on issues of domestic and international mediation. India is a signatory to the Singapore Convention on Mediation. The Bill also seeks to use the terms ‘conciliation’ and ‘mediation’ interchangeably.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi recently laid foundation stones for multiple projects worth over Rs. 180 crore. He dedicated to the Nation various development projects in Kedarnath including Garud Chatti Bridge on river Mandakini.
He inaugurated Shri Adi Shankaracharya Samadhi and unveiled the statue of Shri Adi Shankaracharya.

Notes:
In the year 2001, the UN General Assembly declared 6 November of each year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
The United Nations Environment Assembly also adopted a resolution in 2016 which proclaimed that a healthy environment plays a significant role in reducing the probability of an armed conflict.  The aims is to minimize the consequences of conflict and wars on the environment.

Notes:
Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space, as her team completed a six-hour stint outside the Tiangong space station.
Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace”, is the latest achievement of China, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon. Its core module entered orbit earlier this year, with the space station expected to be operational by 2022.

Notes:
PHDCCI (PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry) is a chamber established in 1905 and releases the “Economy GPS Index”.
The latest Economy GPS Index for October 2021 stood as 131 as compared to 113.1 in September 2021. The chamber has stated that Indian economy has gained momentum on account of vaccinations, festival seasons and improvement in industry sentiments.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNICEF have jointly launched a massive polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan, which aims to vaccinate over 3 million children in the country. It is said that the campaign is backed by Taliban who have given access to previously inaccessible parts of the country.

Notes:
The Government of New Zealand has enacted the “End of Life Choice Act” and it has come into effect after two-thirds of New Zealanders voted in favour of it in a referendum.
As per the act, a person affected with terminal illness can ask for assisted dying, if there is a likely chance of death within six months and that the person is competent to make an informed decision.

Notes:
The Delhi government announced that it will launch a month-long campaign against the open burning of garbage in the national capital.
As per Delhi’s Environment Ministry, there are four reasons responsible for air pollution in Delhi namely open burning of garbage, dust pollution, vehicular pollution and stubble burning. Under the ‘Anti Open Burning Campaign’, a total of 550 teams from 10 departments will work to control instances of open burning.

Notes:
A report titled ‘Climate Change Performance Index’ has been released which ranks countries on the basis of their performance to abate climate change.
The report has been compiled by Germanwatch, a Germany-based non-profit, non-governmental organization. The top 3 spots in the list of a total of 60 countries remains vacant as no country performed well enough to qualify. India was ranked on 10th spot with a cumulative score of about 69.22.