Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

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 Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has virtually launched the ‘ KAPILA’ Kalam Program for Intellectual Property Literacy and Awareness campaign.
Under the initiative, of higher educational institutions will be made aware of the application process for patenting their invention. It has been launched on the 89th birth anniversary of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, also celebrated as ‘National Innovation Day’, across the country.

Notes:
A naval version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired from INS Chennai.
The missile was fired from the indigenously built stealth destroyer of the Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea. It hit the target accurately after performing extremely complex operations. The missile can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or from land platforms.

Notes:
The United Nations arms embargo (ban) on Iran which stopped the country from purchasing foreign weapons like tanks and fighter jets expired.
Despite objections from the United States, the arms ban has expired. The United Nations had earlier banned Iran from buying major foreign weapon systems in 2010 amid tensions over its nuclear program. An earlier ban also targeted Iranian arms exports.

Notes:
Commodity exchange, Multi commodity Exchange of India (MCX) has recently launched futures trading in real-time Base Metals Index ‘METLDEX’.
The Base Metals Index will track real-time performance of a basket of MCX Base Metal futures that includes zinc, copper, nickel, lead, and aluminium. In August 2020, the exchange had launched MCX Bullion Index (MCX BULLDEX) futures.

Notes:
Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is a space craft of the NASA.
It was seen in news recently as the space craft touched an asteroid using its robotic arm to collect dust and pebbles from the surface to deliver to Earth in 2023. The asteroid known as Bennu, is currently more than 321 million kilometers from Earth.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved Memorandum of Understanding between the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the Certified Practising Accountants, Papua New Guinea, to work together in capacity building in Financial and Audit Knowledge base in the island country.
Mutual Recognition Agreement between the ICAI and the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants was also approved.

Notes:
A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur has developed a low-cost Covid-19 test unit named ‘COVIRAP’.
It is a portable unit for rapid diagnostics of coronavirus and produces results in less than an hour. It involves accurate molecular diagnostic procedure and costs only around Rs 500 per test. The team also developed a mobile application for finding the results.

Notes:
Switzerland-based World Economic Forum (WEF) has recently released a report titled ‘The Future of Jobs Report 2020’.
As per the report, advances in robotics and artificial intelligence will lead to a net increase in jobs over the next five years. It also revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic will result in “double-disruption” for workers.

Notes:
Researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute have discovered a new location of salivary glands in the throat.
In their findings in a research published in the journal Radiotherapy and Oncology, they have named the part as “tubarial glands”. This would be useful for patients with head and neck tumours. The researchers also believe that these glands would qualify as the fourth pair of major salivary glands.