Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan has launched the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Technologies for Rural Development.
The technologies have been launched under a joint initiative of CSIR, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA). The technologies include improved beehive, dehumidified drier and agricultural waste-based biodegradable plates.

Notes:
As per a report titled “Annual Crime in India 2019” published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crime against Scheduled Castes (SCs) has increased over 7% and crimes against Scheduled Tribes (STs) has increased over 26% in 2019.
As per the report, Uttar Pradesh has recorded the highest number of crimes against SCs in 2019 followed by Rajasthan and Bihar.

Notes:
India has committed to build a 100-bedded cancer hospital and a 22,000-seater cricket stadium in Hulhumale, Maldives.
According to the Indian Embassy in Maldives, this facility is provided under the USD 800 million Line of Credit (LoC) extended to the country, by the Export Import Bank of India (EXIM) Bank in March 2019.

Notes:
The Defence ministry has signed a Rs 400 crore-contract with Economic Explosive Limited (EEL), for the supply of ten lakh hand grenades.
Earlier, similar products were either imported or made by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). The new grenades called multi-mode hand grenades (MMHG), have been designed by the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory of DRDO.

Notes:
Apurva Chandra has been appointed as the new Labour Secretary of Government of India. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer belonging to Maharashtra Cadre. He has replaced Heeralal Samariya.
He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and is a Structural Engineer by education. His first big role will be the implementation of the three labour codes passed by the parliament recently.

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:
Madhabi Puri Buch is the first woman Whole-time member (WTM) of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
She is also the first from the private sector to be appointed a SEBI Board member. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has recently approved the extension of her appointment as WTM for one year beginning October 4, 2020.

Notes:
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, NITI Aayog along with Invest India are organising a virtual global symposium ‘India PV EDGE 2020’.
The symposium includes sessions on ‘Modules and Production Equipment’ and ‘Supply Chain’ among others. Around 60 top Indian and global CEOs are expected to attend the event virtually.

Notes:
According to a data published by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Regional rural banks (RRBs) as a whole reported net loss of Rs 2,206 crore in the fiscal year 2019-20.
This figure was against Rs 652-crore net loss in the fiscal year 2018-19. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) as a percentage of gross loans outstanding of RRBs marginally declined to 10.4 per cent as on March 31, 2020.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested a system of Supersonic missile-assisted release of torpedo called SMART.
The lightweight anti-submarine torpedo has been tested from the Wheeler Island in Odisha. This system is to be deployed for anti-submarine warfare operations far beyond the torpedo range. All the mission objectives were met during the test.