Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
Leading stock exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) announced that it has signed a pact with private sector bank Yes Bank to empower the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
As per the BSE, the agreement aims to empower SMEs listed on the platform, through awareness and knowledge-sharing programmes, for export promotion and banking and financial solutions. The bank will also offer customised services and products to the listed SMEs.

Notes:
The National Statistical Office (NSO) conducted the first of its kind “Time Use Survey in India” during the period from January to December 2019. The result of the survey has been released recently in the form of a report.
The survey measures the time spent on paid activities, care activities, unpaid activities, etc. NSO conducted the survey covering 1,38,799 households in both urban and rural areas.

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:
India has successfully test fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable hypersonic missile ‘Shaurya’.
The surface-to-surface tactical missile, with a strike range of around 1,000 km, has been test fired from a test range in Odisha. ‘Shaurya’ is the land variant of India’s K-15 missile and is capable of carrying payloads of 200 kg to 1000 kg.

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:
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:
India’s first advanced manufacturing hub (AMHUB) is to be established in the state of Tamil Nadu. The Guidance, nodal investment promotion and facilitation agency of the state has partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in this regard.
AMHUB is one of the nineteen platforms designed by the WEF. It will help the production ecosystem in Tamil Nadu by identifying and addressing the regional opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Notes:
As per the Forbes India Rich List 2020 that was released recently, the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited remains the richest Indian for the 13th consecutive year.
His net worth stands at USD 88.7 billion. Mukesh Ambani is followed by Gautam Adani with a net worth of 25.2 billion dollar and Shiv Nadar at 20.4 billion dollar. The new entrant in the top 10 is Cyrus Poonawalla, the Chairman of Serum Institute of India (SII).

Notes:
The Nobel Peace Prize 2020 was awarded to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for feeding millions of people amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The WFP was founded in the year 1961. The UN organisation had helped 97 million people last year and distributed to over 15 billion rations to people in 88 countries last year. The award consists of a gold medal, a diploma and a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor.