Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India has announced that it has shortlisted five start-ups, as part of its MAIL (Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab) programme.
With these new companies, Maruti Suzuki is engaged with 14 start-ups under the MAIL programme in the last 18 months. The initiative aims to create innovative business solutions and promote innovation in automobile sector.

Notes:
India’s first multi-wavelength astronomical observatory named ‘Astrosat’ has recently completed five years of imaging objects in space.
The satellite was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2015. It has successfully carried out over 1000 observations of 800 unique celestial sources. A discovery of a galaxy located at a distance of about 10 billion light-years from Earth has been made using it.

Notes:
Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, also known as Sheikh Nawaf has been sworn in as the Emir (Head) of Kuwait.
The previous ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah has recently died in the United States at the age of 91. Sheikh Sabah ruled the country for more than 14 years and the new Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf is 83 years old.

Notes:
The (Indian Council of Medical Research) ICMR’s second sero-survey findings state that one in 15 individuals aged 10 years and above were estimated to be exposed to corona virus infection.
It shows that, there is a large section of population still susceptible to COVID-19. The report has also stated that containment and behavioural change among the people have effectively checked the potential spread of Covid 19.

Notes:
China is expected to send the world’s first mining robot into space by November 2020 through a private Beijing company, Origin Space.
The mining robot named as an ‘Asteroid mining robot’ will be a part of the preliminary assessment to identify and extract valuable resources. The spacecraft NEO-1 will be launched onboard a Chinese Long March rocket.

Notes:
“Air India One” is a custom made B777 aircraft and is manufactured by Boeing. It will be used to fly the President, Vice President and Prime Minister of India.
Another custom-made B 777 plane for the VVIP s would be received shortly from Boeing. These two planes were a part of Air India’s commercial fleet till 2018. They were sent to Boeing for retrofitting them for VVIP travel, at a cost of Rs.8400 crore.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Jal Sakthi Ministry Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has launched a 100-day campaign to provide potable piped water supply in Schools and Anganwadi Centres, under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
The 100-day programme was envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, while releasing ‘Margdarshika’ for Gram Panchayats.

Notes:
The Second QUAD Ministerial Meeting has been organized at Tokyo City, Japan. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar represented India.
Foreign Affairs Ministers of the four QUAD member countries which include India, United States, Japan and Australia attended the meeting. They jointly acknowledged the importance of maintaining a free and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

Notes:
According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA), the Ministry has joined hands with Swiggy, regarding PM SVANidhi scheme.
Under this program, the street vendors will be given online access to thousands of consumers. This initiative has been launched in five cities of Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi on a pilot basis. This will be later expanded to all parts of the country.

Notes:
The National Mission for Clean Ganga along with Wildlife Institute of India and the Forest Department launched the ‘My Ganga My Dolphin’ campaign.
This has been launched on the occasion of Ganga River Dolphin Day observed on October 5, 2020. A Dolphin-based ecotourism programme was also launched at various sites along the Ganga River. Under the campaign, Dolphin Census will be conducted and awareness campaigns would be held.