Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
World Health Day was first established in 1999 by the World Heart Federation (WHF) in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
World Heart Day is annually observed on September 29 to raise public awareness about cardiovascular diseases and their prevention. The World Heart Federation asks people around the world to ‘Use Heart to Beat CVD’.

Notes:
The World Health Organization has announced that the body along with its leading partners to make available 120 million rapid-diagnostic tests for Covid-19.
The programme aims to help lower and middle-income countries in bridging the gap in testing process, though they are not funded. ‘WHO’ aims to provide the rapid diagnostic tests at five US Dollars apiece.

Notes:
The first ever “International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste” is observed on 29th September 2020 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
The day is observed with the message “Stop food loss and waste – for the people, for the planet”. The day aims to create awareness about food loss and calls for global action to maximize the use of food.

Notes:
The state Government of Rajasthan has decided to give 30% of the new Public Distribution System (PDS) shops to women.
The decision has been taken by the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, to empower the women in the state. The state has also approved an additional budget of Rs.11 crore to “Sahyog Evam Uphar Yojna”, where financial assistance is provided to needy families for daughter’s marriage.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed to launch its Venus mission by the year 2025.
French space agency CNES would also participate in the mission. Presently, the two nations are working closely on ISRO’s human space mission Gaganyaan that aims to send 3 Indians to space by 2022.

Notes:
Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), Govt. of India has initiated an anti-dumping probe against two products imported from China.
The probe has been initiated against the import of Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) Blends (used in refrigerators and air conditioners) and Decor Paper. The probe has been initiated by DGRT after SRF Ltd and ITC Ltd have filed applications seeking investigation on dumping of the two products.

Notes:
Digital payments firm Paytm has recently launched a mini-app store, with an aim to support Indian developers.
This initiative is seen as a direct challenge to Google in the App store system. The payment app was earlier temporarily removed from Google’s Play Store for violating developer guidelines. Paytm provides listing and distribution of these mini-apps within its application.

Notes:
The South Pacific territory of New Caledonia has recently rejected independence from France. It chose to remain French in a recent referendum.
In the referendum made two years ago in 2018, the percentage of votes rejecting the breakaway was 56.7 percent, while this year, the percentage was 53.26 percent. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed this result.

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:
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.