Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
India has recently extended a soft loan of USD 400 million (about Rs 2900 crore) to the Maldives.
The Line of Credit (LoC) has been given by Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank), to finance connectivity projects in the Maldives. Including the current LoC, India has extended three such loans to Maldives amounting USD 1.2 billion.

Notes:
Regional Raw Drug Repository (RRDR) of the Ministry of Ayush has been inaugurated at National Institute of Siddha – Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This repository will play an important role in medicinal plant cultivation.
The RRDRwould help in collection, documentation, and authentication of raw drugs from the Southern Plateau Region.

Notes:
The Government of Uttar Pradesh has launched a campaign named “Hath dhona – Roke corona” on the occasion of Global Handwashing Day.
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath stressed that good habits of personal hygiene like hand washing can help to combat Covid19 and enable people lead a healthy life.

Notes:
The scheme for ‘Waiver of compound interest (interest on interest)’ accumulated during moratorium against loans of up to Rs 2.00 crore has been proposed for 8 different sectors. These include MSME, education, housing, consumer durables, credit card, auto, personal and consumption loans.
The Supreme Court of India has recently advised the Union Government to come out with a definite plan for implementing this scheme by 2nd November 2020.

Notes:
The World Food Day 2020 is celebrated every year on October 16 across the world, to raise awareness about the importance of good food and nutrition.
The World Food Day 2020 theme is “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our actions are our future”. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is leading the celebrations and activities conducted on this day across the world.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India has appointed a retired Supreme court judge Justice Madan B Lokur as a “one-man committee”. The committee would to take steps to prevent stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The bench led by Chief Justice S A Bobde directed National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme and Bharat Scouts to assist the committee.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a report titled ‘The Global Tuberculosis Report, 2020’ recently.
As per the report, India recorded a decline in the notification of tuberculosis (TB) cases by about 85 per cent in April 2020, after the imposition of Covid-19 induced lockdown. However, India has the highest TB burden across the globe at 26 per cent.

Notes:
Recently, India and Chile held their first joint commission. The meeting was held virtually and was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chilean counterpart Andres Allamand Zavala.
During the meet, the two countries agreed upon cooperation in the fields of trade, commerce, agriculture, health, social security, defence and space

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh government has launched ‘Mission Shakti’, a 6-month long women empowerment campaign.
The campaign aims to raise awareness and tackle crime against women in all 75 districts across the state. The Governor also flagged off ‘Pink Scooty’ and four-wheeler women police vehicles under ‘Safe City’ Project.

Notes:
Heeng (asafoetida) has been cultivated in India for the first time in Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh. This is done with the help of a technology developed by CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT).
Heeng, one of the most commonly used condiments in Indian cuisine, is being imported from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan till date.