Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
As per the recent cautionary message from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a new virus named ‘Cat Que’ emerged in China.
This virus comes from Culex mosquitoes and pigs in China and Vietnam. As per ICMR, India also provides breeding climate to this species of Culex mosquitoes. This is published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR).

Notes:
The President of United States of America Donald Trump has announced its plans to distribute 150 million “15 minute” rapid Covid-19 test kits in the coming weeks.
Out of these 50 million test kits would be used for most vulnerable communities of the country, like nursing homes, assisted living facilities etc.

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:
International Translation Day is an international day celebrated annually on 30 September across the world.
The day is celebrated the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators. The celebrations have been led by International Federation of Translators, since it was set up in the year 1953.

Notes:
General Atlantic has proposed to invest Rs 3,675 crore in the Retail arm of Reliance.
With this investment, the company would get 0.84% stake in Reliance Retail Ventures. The fresh investment would value Reliance Retail Ventures at Rs.4.285 lakh crore. This is the second investment of General Atlantic in Reliance after its investment of Rs.6,598.38 crore in Jio.

Notes:
NITI Aayog has organized a two-day national-level consultation programme on natural farming from 29th to 30th September.
The programme aims to bring out the socio-economic and environmental benefits of natural farming and to boosting farming income. Central and state government officials, scientists and experts from agriculture universities participated in this event.

Notes:
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is celebrating the sixth anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).
To commemorate the event, the Ministry is organising a webinar titled ‘Swachhata Ke 6 Saal, Bemisaal’. The Ministry said that 4,327 urban local bodies have been declared open defecation-free (ODF) so far.

Notes:
As per the Reserve Bank of India, India’s external debt stood at USD 554.5 billion at the end of June 2020. It is recorded a decrease of USD 3.9 billion compared to March 2020 level. The main reason for the decrease in external debt was depreciation of INR against major currencies like USD, Euro.
RBI has also stated that external debt to GDP ratio has increased to 21.8 % compared to 20.6 % as of March 2020.

Notes:
October 2 is observed as the International Day of Non-Violence every year by the United Nations, to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The UN General Assembly in a resolution on 15 June 2007 declared this day. The objective of this day is to spread the message of non-violence through education and public awareness. Gandhi is known across the world for his non-violence movement ‘Satyagraha’.

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.