Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
Famous Actor Sonu Sood has been conferred with “SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award” by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The award has been conferred upon him for his selfless assistance rendered to migrants, stranded students abroad and bring them back to India. He also opened his hotel in Mumbai for health care workers of nearby hospitals.

Notes:
The Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited – Mukesh Ambani, has topped the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020.
He has been in the top of the list for 9 consecutive years. His total wealth amounts to Rs. 6,58,400 crore and it has grown by 73% in the past one year.

Notes:
The CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant has stated that the organization is fine tuning parameters and indicators used in ranking the 112 Aspirational Districts of India.
The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) was launched by the national think tank NITI Aayog in January 2018. It aims to transform 112 most backward districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas.

Notes:
A Fast Patrol Vessel named “ICGS Kanaklata Barua” has been commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard.
The ship is built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and is the fifth and last in a series of FPVs built by the company. The ship has been named after a teen age freedom fighter of Assam who was shot dead during the Quit India Movement.

Notes:
Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament from BJP, took part in the 3rd G20 Sherpas’ meeting, which was held in a virtual mode. He encouraged the member nations to enhance renewable energy production.
The G20 meeting is being organised under the Presidency of Saudi Arabia and the Sherpas’ meeting was attended by 30 participants including 20 countries.

Notes:
The Union Finance Ministry has permitted Uttar Pradesh to raise an additional Rs.4851 crore of debt which is linked to the reforms undertaken in Public Distribution System (PDS). The additional borrowing can be done by rolling out “One Nation One Ration Card” scheme in the state.
Andhra Pradesh has been permitted for additional borrowing of Rs.2,525 crore for which it will have to make reforms on Ease of Doing Business. In May, the centre increased the borrowing limits of states from 3% to 5% of GSDP. Out of the additional 2%, 0.25% is linked to reforms in PDS and 0.25% is linked to ease of doing business.

Notes:
The Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI) survey is conducted by the nation’s think tank NITI Aayog, by its Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office.
The survey aims to evaluate the performance of different Ministries /Departments in implementing Central Sector Schemes (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). Department of Fertilizers has been ranked 2nd among 65 departments under the Data Governance Quality Index survey.

Notes:
The Department of Economic Affairs of the Union Finance Ministry is responsible for preparing the Union Budget.
The Finance Ministry has commenced the exercise for Union Budget 2021-22 by issuing the traditional circular. The Budget is expected to be presented to Parliament on February 1, 2021. The discussions will start from October 16 and continue till the first week of November.

Notes:
In a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, the resilience of tropical rainforests under two additional extreme scenarios is explored.
As per the study, rainfall in the Amazon is very low that up to 40% of the forest is at a risk of changing into a savanna-like environment, with fewer trees and biodiversity. The study also simulated the effect of emissions from burning fossil fuels between now and the end of the century.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently appointed economists Ashima Goyal, Jayanth R Varma and Shashanka Bhide as members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the prime minister, approved the names. The new members will replace Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua and Ravindra Dholakia. The RBI had earlier postponed the last meeting of the MPC.