Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

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:
It is reported that fraudulent transactions amounting Rs 12,705 crore has taken place in Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) during FY17 to FY19. These frauds pertain to development of 2 Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects undertaken by DHFL.
This observation was made by “Grant Thornton”, a transaction investigating agency. The assistance of Grant Thornton was sought by the administrator of DHFL appointed under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Notes:
The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has revised the ideal weight for adult Indian men from 60 kg to 65 kg.
Similarly, the NIN has revised the ideal weight for adult Indian women from 50 kg to 55 kg. The definition of Indian adult also stands revised from 20-39 years to 19-39 years.

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:
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:
“Air India One” is a custom made B777 aircraft and is manufactured by Boeing. It will be used to fly the President, Vice President and Prime Minister of India.
Another custom-made B 777 plane for the VVIP s would be received shortly from Boeing. These two planes were a part of Air India’s commercial fleet till 2018. They were sent to Boeing for retrofitting them for VVIP travel, at a cost of Rs.8400 crore.

Notes:
Indian Foreign Service officer Devyani Uttam Khobragade has been appointed as India’s next ambassador to Cambodia.
This has been announced by the Ministry of External Affairs. Ms Khobragade is a 1999-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, currently serving as a joint secretary in the External Affairs Ministry. She has served in Indian missions in Berlin, Islamabad, Rome and New York.

Notes:
The E Way bill system is being implemented by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). It is an Electronic Way bill for movement of goods to be generated on the eWay Bill Portal. A GST registered person cannot transport goods more than Rs.50,000 without an e way bill.
Finance Secretary Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey has recently stated that more than 5.74 crore e-way bills have been generated in the month of September 2020 which is seen as a sign of revival of business activities in the country.

Notes:
India and South Africa has formally submitted a request to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and sought a waiver on agreements related to prevent Covid-19.
The countries claimed that there were many reports about Intellectual property rights (IPR) hindering timely provisioning of affordable medical products to COVID-19 patients. Many Developing countries face difficulties while using TRIPS Agreement.