Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights to the Belarusian movement opposing President Alexander Lukashenko.
The opposition movement was led by the exiled Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. The EU also had agreed to impose sanctions against officials suspected of involvement in a security crackdown on protesters in Belarus.

Notes:
The Coronavirus vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech named Covaxin has been recently cleared for third phase of clinical trials.
The vaccine is being developed in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The approval for phase 3 trials has been given by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

Notes:
23rd October of every year is celebrated as World’s Snow Leopard Day. This day is observed to protect and conserve snow leopards and other wild animals of the Himalayas.
Snow Leopards are distributed across 12 countries in central Asia. They generally live in high altitudes of 3000 to 4500m. This day was first proclaimed at the Global Snow Leopard Forum at Bishkek, Kyrgyztan.

Notes:
National Conference on Vigilance and Anti-Corruption would be held from October 27 on the theme “Vigilant India, Prosperous India”.
The conference is to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, through video conferencing. The three-day conference is organized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). This is a part of the Vigilance Awareness week.

Notes:
The Government of Bangladesh has adopted the “No Mask, No Service” policy in order to contain the spread of COVID 19 disease.
As per the new regulation, wearing mask at all public and private institutions, market places and other places of worship is compulsory. Also, no public and private offices will serve anyone who is not wearing a mask.

Notes:
The Central Government has extended the dead line to 31st March 2021, for making payments under the income tax dispute settlement scheme ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’.
As per the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the declaration has to be made by December 31st 2020 and only in respect of such declarations, the payment of income tax without additional amount can be made by 31st March.

Notes:
Indian Army has recently developed a simple messaging application named the Secure Application for Internet (SAI).
The application supports end to end secure voice, text and video calling services for Android platform over the internet. It is similar to messaging applications including WhatsApp and Telegram. It is expected to facilitate secure messaging within the service.

Notes:
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has recently launched ‘Dharani’ Portal for land and property registrations.
Telangana is the first state to use Information Technology services for land registrations. The property details which are not uploaded on the portal will be treated as illegal and will not be allowed for further registrations.

Notes:
Cochin Shipyard and Italy’s Fincantieri, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for co-operation in the areas of design, ship building, ship repair, marine equipment manufacturing, besides training & skill development.
Fincantieri is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups. Cochin Shipyard is the largest shipbuilding and maintenance facility in India.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has launched a mobile application named ‘Green Delhi’. Using the application, the residents of Delhi can bring pollution causing activities to the government’s notice.
The application has been designed to identify the location of pollution source and the complaint will be automatically forwarded to the concerned department for time bound action.