Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has recently inaugurated operations of the first phase of the International Institute of Advanced Virology.
It has been located at the Life Science Park at Thonakkal in Thiruvananthapuram. Renowned virologist, Dr Akhil Banerjee was appointed as the Head of the research Institute, which is currently under the Department of Science and Technology.

Notes:
Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan recently announced that the government is looking at procuring and utilizing about 400-500 million vaccine doses, covering about 200-250 million people.
Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) that is used for the immunisation programme, is used for real-time tracking of vaccine movement, from procurement to storage, to delivery and distribution.

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:
Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 102nd meeting of World Bank Development Committee Plenary through video conferencing.
She highlighted the measures taken by the Government to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, including the USD 23 billion and USD 271 Billion as a part of the economic stimulus package.

Notes:
As per a recent publication by the Lancet journal, life expectancy in India has risen from 59.6 years in 1990 to 70.8 years in 2019. The value ranges between 77.3 years in Kerala to 66.9 years in Uttar Pradesh.
The report has however pointed out that, in India, people are living more years with illness and disability. High Blood pressure, use of tobacco, air pollution and COVID pandemic has resulted in acute health emergencies.

Notes:
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has recently attended his first overseas summit with his Vietnamese counterpart.
Both the counties agreed to promote defence and security cooperation amidst China’s expanding influence in the region. Under the pact, Japan also agreed to export defence technology to Vietnam.

Notes:
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) chief Michelle Bachelet has recently appealed to the Government of India to review the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
The head of the UN forum also asked India to review compliance of the act with international human rights norms. She also regretted that it was being used to punish NGOs for human rights reporting. Earlier, Amnesty International shut its office in India after its bank accounts were frozen.

Notes:
The famous UNESCO World Heritage Site Nazca Lines (Pampa de Nazca) is located in the South American country Peru.
The place was seen in news recently as a new figurative geoglyph related to a cat was identified, drawn on one of the slopes of this hill. The site is known for its depictions of gigantic animals, plants and imaginary beings.

Notes:
A framework for regulatory sandbox has been introduced by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
Under this sandbox framework, companies operating in the capital market, banking, insurance and financial services can test their Fin Tech solutions in a live environment. The IFSCA was established on 27th April 2020 with head office in Gandhinagar.

Notes:
The third phase of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) will commence in January 2021, as per the Department of Science and Technology.
As per the notification, the mission envisages to take computing speed to around 45 petaflops. The 4,500 crore-National Supercomputers Mission (NSM) aims to operationalise nearly 50 supercomputers across the country in three phases.