Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a first virtual summit with his counterpart of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen.
As per the joint statement, the new ‘Green strategic partnership’ will be based on existing Joint Commission for Cooperation for cooperation in various fields including politics, energy, environment and education.

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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:
NITI Aayog has organized a two-day national-level consultation programme on natural farming from 29th to 30th September.
The programme aims to bring out the socio-economic and environmental benefits of natural farming and to boosting farming income. Central and state government officials, scientists and experts from agriculture universities participated in this event.

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:
Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment will invest Rs 6,247.5 crore to acquire a 1.4 per cent stake in Reliance Retail.
This is the fourth investor in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) and the third such deal recently. Earlier, global private equity firm General Atlantic and Silver Lake bought 0.84 per cent stake and 2.13 per cent stake in the company respectively.

Notes:
The Films Division has organized ‘Gandhi Filmotsav’, as a part of the final event of two years celebration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Birth Anniversary.
The week-long online film festival was streamed on its Website and YouTube Channel. The birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi is celebrated on October 2 across the world. The birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri is also celebrated on the same day.

Notes:
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed highly purified ‘Antisera’ for prevention and treatment of Covid-19.
ICMR along with Hyderabad-based Biological E. Limited have developed highly purified antisera, which was raised in animals, for prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19. This was previously used in medical science to treat many viral and bacterial infections.

Notes:
Indian Army has signed a Rs.7,796 crore project with ITI Limited, a telecom & Defence equipment manufacturing PSU.
The project has been signed for Phase IV of Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON) project. The ASCON is a telecom network for secured communication across the country. The project also includes maintenance of the network for a period of 10 years by ITI Limited.

Notes:
A United States Navy P-8A long range Maritime Patrol Aircra landed at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
This is seen as a significant incident as this is the first time a U.S. P-8 aircraft landed at Port Blair for refuelling under the bilateral logistics support agreement. The agreement is called the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).

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