Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
The Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda has announced to withdraw from Formula One (F1 racing) by the end of the 2021.
The decision has been announced by Honda, to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality and other environmental initiatives. Honda has been the engine supplier for the F1 teams Red Bull and Alpha Tauri.

Notes:
A cargo space ship named SS Kalpana Chawla has been launched to the international space station (ISS).
The spacecraft has been launched by Northrop Grumman Corporation, an American aerospace company. The 8000-pound space craft carries a 360-degree view for space walking radish seeds etc.

Notes:
The United Nations designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day, to sensitise on the basic right to adequate shelter.
This year, the theme of the World Habitat Day 2020 is ‘Housing For All — A Better Urban Future’. World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with the theme ‘Shelter is My Right’ and was hosted by Nairobi.

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 Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is set to commission India’s largest HPC-AI supercomputer, ‘PARAM Siddhi – AI’.
The initiative has been led by Scientist and Program Director at CDAC Abhishek Das. The same has been approved by the Union Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad. The supercomputer will have 210 AI Petaflops and will be based on NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD reference architecture.

Notes:
Global technology company IBM will set up an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence with the Government e-Marketplace (GeM).
The CoE aims to bring in transparency, efficiency and cost saving in the public procurement process. The CEO of IBM announced this during his address at the RAISE 2020 AI summit. The company is working with the Karnataka state and NITI Aayog in precision agriculture solutions using AI.

Notes:
The National Mission for Clean Ganga along with Wildlife Institute of India and the Forest Department launched the ‘My Ganga My Dolphin’ campaign.
This has been launched on the occasion of Ganga River Dolphin Day observed on October 5, 2020. A Dolphin-based ecotourism programme was also launched at various sites along the Ganga River. Under the campaign, Dolphin Census will be conducted and awareness campaigns would be held.

Notes:
Union External Affairs Minister of India Dr S. Jaishankar held 13th India-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue with his Japanese counterpart, Mr MOTEGI Toshimitsu in Tokyo.
They reviewed the mutual partnerships in various sectors including maritime security, trade and investment, manufacturing and skill development. They also affirmed to conduct the next Annual Bilateral Summit in India.

Notes:
Goa has become the first Har Ghar Jal State in the country which means the state has provided tap water connection to every rural household.
As per the recent statement by the Jal Shakti Ministry, the state has provided tap water connection to over two lakh 30 thousand rural households. North Goa and South Goa are completely saturated with piped water supply through tap connections.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently extended the deadline for filing GST annual return for the financial year 2018-19 by a month till 31st October of this year.
Taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover above two crore rupees are mandated to furnish the Annual return. Registered persons with aggregate turnover above five crore rupees should furnish reconciliation statement.