Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
The Konso cultural landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located in a dry, hilly environment at the edge of the Rift Valley in southern Ethiopia. It has always been a relatively isolated area of the country, where life has remained largely unchanged for at least 400 years. The people live in closely-packed communities of wood-and-mud built, thatched dwellings from which they travel out to their fields of millet on a daily basis. The local chief’s hilltop ‘Palace’ comprises a collection of dome-shaped thatched rooms, with covered meeting and work areas, all surrounded by a heavy wooden ‘stockade’ with narrow gates. In nearby forest clearings, collections of anthropomorphic statues are maintained, one group of them kept under a pagoda-style shelter.

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 World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020-2030 as the “Decade of Healthy Ageing”. International Day of Older Persons is observed on October 1 every year.
United Nations designated this day to focus on the well-being and special needs of the elderly people. The UN theme of the International Day of Older Persons 2020 is “Pandemics: Do They Change How We Address Age and Ageing?”.

Notes:
Major Tech company Google has planned to pay USD 1 billion to publishers globally for their news over the next three years.
The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai said the new product called Google News Showcase will be launched first in Germany. It will be unveiled in Belgium, India, the Netherlands and other countries. Google will pay publishers to create high-quality content for the news feature.

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:
The Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission (ASIIM) has been launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment under the Venture Capital Fund for SCs.
The mission has been launched with an aim to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste students studying in higher educational institutions.

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:
Nigeria is celebrating its 60th independence day on Oct 1, 2020. Nigeria gained independence from the imperial Britain on October 1, 1960 and a representative of Queen Elizabeth II handed over Nigeria’s constitution to the country’s new Prime Minister – Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The African country became a republic three years later.

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:
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.