Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed World Space Week to be celebrated during October 4-10.
The first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4. The Space week aims to celebrate the contributions of space science and technology. This year the theme of the week is “Satellites improve life.”

Notes:
The Centre immediately released nearly Rs 20000 crore among the states from the amount collected as compensation cess this year.
After the 42nd GST Council meet, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also informed that the Centre will also disburse Rs 25000 crore towards Integrated GST for 2017-18 to the states which received less amount due to the anomalies.

Notes:
The Naval Investiture Ceremony of this year has been conducted at Visakhapatnam. During the ceremony, the Gallantry and non-Gallantry Awards announced on the Republic Day this year were conferred.
The Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain also presented Unit citations to distinguished Naval units which have performed well during the past year.

Notes:
The 12th summit of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) countries is to be held virtually held on November 17 via video conference.
This is set to be the first virtual multilateral meeting to be joined by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping since the border standoff in Ladakh in May. The theme for the meeting will be “BRICS partnership for global stability, shared security and innovative growth”.

Notes:
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs Secretary launched the Application Programming Interface (API) integration between the PM SVANidhi Portal and the State Bank of India’s (SBI) eMudra Portal portal.
This integration would enable seamless flow of data between the two portals in a secure environment, which would lead to faster loan sanctioning and disbursement process.

Notes:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced detailed guidelines for product labelling in mutual funds.
Earlier, there were five categories to measure the level of risks in mutual fund schemes. Now SEBI, which is the regulator, has introduced one more category known as ‘very high risk’. These new guidelines shall be in force with effect from January 1, 2021.

Notes:
Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani has recently launched the first-ever brand and logo for Indian Cotton.
It was launched on the second World Cotton Day, which is celebrated across the world on October 7. India’s premium Cotton would be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ in the World Cotton trade. The Minister also released a new logo for the Indian Cotton.

Notes:
Veteran Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer of 1990 batch Pradeep Kumar Rawat has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Kingdom of Netherlands.
As per the recent statement of the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Pradeep Kumar, who is presently Ambassador of India to the Republic of Indonesia, is expected to take up the new role shortly.

Notes:
The Kardhungla Pass is located in the Leh District of Ladakh. It serves as a gateway to Shyok and Nubra Valley. The pass is strategically important since it is used to carry supplies to Siachen Glacier. It is maintained by the Border Roads Organisation.
Recently, Indian Airforce has created a record of highest skydive landing at the Khardung La Pass,as a part of the 88th IAF day celebration. The pass is located at an altitude of 17,982 feet.

Notes:
A group of researchers of West Bengal have discovered India’s first dragonfly fossil at Latehar district of Jharkhand.
The researchers have stated that the fossil would be at least 2.5 million years old. The dragonfly is about 3cm long and has a wingspan of about 2.5cm. The fossil dates back to Permian era (300 million years ago).