Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2021

Notes:
Wholesale inflation climbed to a five-month high of 12.54% in October, due to a rise in prices of fuel and power, vegetable oils and chemicals.
This is the seventh consecutive month in which wholesale inflation has remained in double digits. It was 10.66% in September 2021 month and 1.31% in October 2020. Wholesale fuel and power inflation rose to 37.18% in October, while core inflation moved up to an all-time high of 11.9% and manufacturing inflation was at 12%.

Notes:
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched the second window of Swavalamban Challenge Fund (SCF).
The theme of the fund is ‘Green Bharat’. The focus of the fund is on innovative projects addressing the green and clean climate change. Other themes are sustainable livelihood, financial inclusion, and access to financial services and promoting the culture of entrepreneurship. A challenge fund is a financing mechanism to allocate funds for specific purposes using competition among organisations. The first window of SCF was launched in August this year.

Notes:
The 341-km Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh connects Lucknow with Ghazipur and has been constructed at a cost of Rs 22,500 crore. The expressway consists of a 3.2-km airstrip to facilitate emergency landing of fighter air crafts on it.
The highway has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.

Notes:
The 16th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2021 was released by the NGO, Pratham. It is based on surveys of children in the 5-16 age group.
As per the report, almost 40% students opt for private tuitions in 2021, while in 2018, it was less than 30% students. Also, the proportion of students receiving learning support at home decreased to 2/3rd of the total school-enrolled children.

Notes:
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala inaugurated India’s first-of-its-kind, dedicated fisheries business incubator known as LINAC- NCDC Fisheries Business Incubation Centre (LlFlC) in Gurugram.
It aims to encourage initiatives among entrepreneurs providing them support in the fisheries sector to move towards self-reliance. The incubator costs Rs 3.23 crore. In total, there are around 30,000 cooperatives in the fisheries sector.

Notes:
Pochampally, a small weavers’ hamlet in the state of Telangana, in the outskirts of Hyderabad, has bagged the ‘Best World Tourism Village’ tag awarded by United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
The village is known for silk sarees and cotton fabrics. The fabrics have traditional geometric patterns in ‘Ikat’ style of dyeing.

Notes:
India has slipped to 82nd position in 2021 in the global bribery risk index. It is released by TRACE, an anti-bribery standard setting organisation.
India slipped five places down from 77th rank last year. The list measures business bribery risk in 194 countries, territories, autonomous and semi-autonomous regions. As per this year’s data, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Eritrea pose the highest commercial bribery risk, while Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand present the lowest.

Notes:
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) forecasted that the Indian economy is likely to grow by 7 – 7.5 per cent in the next fiscal year.
The Council also observed that contact intensive sectors and construction should recover in 2022-23. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered the growth projection for the current financial year to 9.5 per cent, while the IMF has projected a growth of 9.5 per cent in 2021 and 8.5 per cent in the next year.

Notes:
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp has recently launched a high-resolution reconnaissance satellite named Gaofen-11, which is a classified satellite used for spying purposes.
Additionally the satellite would be used for land surveys, city planning, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention and mitigation. The satellite has been launched from Taiyuan Satellite Launch center using the Long March 4B rocket.

Notes:
India and the United States (US) are set to revive the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) after four years, in an attempt to promote trade and investment flows between the two nations.
The India-US TPF was established in 2005 met last in October 2017. It was subsequently replaced by negotiations between the two sides on a trade deal. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, is on a two-day visit to India.