Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
NITI Aayog and the Embassy of the Netherlands, New Delhi recently signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) on ‘Decarbonization and Energy Transition Agenda’.
Under this partnership, NITI Aayog and the Dutch Embassy aim to create innovative technological solutions to accommodate cleaner energy. It also aims to lower the net carbon footprint, to promote bio-energy technologies among others.

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:
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:
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:
Indian Meteorological Department was established in 1875. As per a recent a recent release by the IMD, India received above normal monsoon during the 4-month long rainfall season of this year.
This year has recorded the second highest rainfall in the last 30 years. IMD has stated that the country received 109% rainfall during the Long Period Average, with 3 out of the 4 months receiving above normal precipitation.

Notes:
The all-weather “Atal Tunnel” which was constructed by the Boarder Roads Organisation (BRO) has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is the longest highway tunnel in the world that is 9.02 km long. It connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year. The tunnel reduces the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km.

Notes:
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed World Space Week to be celebrated during October 4-10.
The first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4. The Space week aims to celebrate the contributions of space science and technology. This year the theme of the week is “Satellites improve life.”

Notes:
According to the official release of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the new emission norms for Tractors will come into force from October 2021.
However, the emission norms of construction equipment vehicles will come into effect from April 2021. A deferment of six months has been provided to the date of implementation of the emission norms.

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:
Global technology company IBM will set up an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence with the Government e-Marketplace (GeM).
The CoE aims to bring in transparency, efficiency and cost saving in the public procurement process. The CEO of IBM announced this during his address at the RAISE 2020 AI summit. The company is working with the Karnataka state and NITI Aayog in precision agriculture solutions using AI.