Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
The Konso cultural landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located in a dry, hilly environment at the edge of the Rift Valley in southern Ethiopia. It has always been a relatively isolated area of the country, where life has remained largely unchanged for at least 400 years. The people live in closely-packed communities of wood-and-mud built, thatched dwellings from which they travel out to their fields of millet on a daily basis. The local chief’s hilltop ‘Palace’ comprises a collection of dome-shaped thatched rooms, with covered meeting and work areas, all surrounded by a heavy wooden ‘stockade’ with narrow gates. In nearby forest clearings, collections of anthropomorphic statues are maintained, one group of them kept under a pagoda-style shelter.

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.

Notes:
Google India has recently announced the launch of its nationwide campaign named ‘Make Small Strong’.
It aims to help support small businesses and enhance demand through customer support. It encourages people to buy locally and promote their favourite retailers by posting reviews. This new programme is based on feedback from Small and Medium Businesses.

Notes:
India’s Sehgal Foundation has emerged as a co-runner up of the USA’s “Citizen Diplomacy Award”. The institution has been selected for its human rights and women empowerment work in rural India.
The Department of States – Bureau of Global Public Affairs of USA, launched the Citizen Diplomacy Award in 2017 to recognize significant contributions by citizens and organizations to deepen USA’s foreign policy around the world.

Notes:
The CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant has stated that the organization is fine tuning parameters and indicators used in ranking the 112 Aspirational Districts of India.
The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) was launched by the national think tank NITI Aayog in January 2018. It aims to transform 112 most backward districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas.

Notes:
The (Indian Council of Medical Research) ICMR’s second sero-survey findings state that one in 15 individuals aged 10 years and above were estimated to be exposed to corona virus infection.
It shows that, there is a large section of population still susceptible to COVID-19. The report has also stated that containment and behavioural change among the people have effectively checked the potential spread of Covid 19.

Notes:
iDEX4Fauji is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Defence to identify innovations created by Indian Armed Forces personnel.
The initiative has been launched to reward innovations identified by members of the Armed Forces and will boost innovative ideas from soldiers/ field formations. The Minister also launched Defence India Startup Challenge-4.

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:
A ‘High Level Monitoring Committee’ is proposed to be set up by India and Bangladesh to review projects implemented with Line of Credit (LoC) provided by India.
The decision was made at the 6th Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting between the two countries held in a virtual mode. The High-Level Monitoring Committee would be headed by Secretary, Economic Relations Division of Bangladesh and High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh.

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.