Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
The Union Home Ministry began tripartite talks with Gorkha representatives from the Darjeeling Hills, Terrai and Dooars region and the Government of West Bengal.
The talks were held with the objective of resolving the demand of statehood in the North Bengal region. The talks were chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah. The second round of talks with the officials of the Government of West Bengal is scheduled in November 2021.

Notes:
The ‘Dhole’ (Cuon alpinus) is an animal native to Central, South, East, and Southeast Asia. Other names for the species include Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, and mountain wolf. It is a Schedule II species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
A recent study has identified 114 priority tehsils where habitats can be consolidated to enhance population connectivity for the dhole or Asiatic Wild Dog. The animals are found in three clusters across India namely the Western and Eastern Ghats, central Indian landscape and North East India.

 

Notes:
A Team of scientists from Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati have used tea and banana waste to generate non-toxic activated carbon. This substance is said to be used in industrial pollution control, water purification, food and beverage processing etc.
Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

Notes:
A key UN biodiversity summit, with an aim to protecting biodiversity has commenced in China, which witnessed the participation of delegates from about 195 countries. Discussion on “30 by 30” agenda that would accord 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans protected status by 2030 is being discussed in the summit.
During the summit, Chinese Government has committed and pledged a sum of $233 million into a fund, to protect biodiversity in developing countries.

Notes:
The Government of Mizoram has launched a 10-day campaign named “All Mask” to re-sensitise citizens on the importance of wearing masks to combat the virus. This is being observed throughout the state.
This comes at the backdrop of 1000 new Covid-19 cases being reported in the state daily, for more than a month continuously.

Notes:
JSW Steel Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal has been elected as the Chairman of the World Steel Association (WSA) for the 2021-22 period.
Jindal also becomes the first representative from India to serve as Chairman of the WSA. He precedes Yu Yong as the Chairman of WSA, whose members represent approximately 85 per cent of the world’s steel production. Established in 1967, it is headquartered in Brussels.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government recently announced that they have scrapped the position of Police Naik.
The decision is set to impact nearly 45000 constables in the state police force. Before this decision, a police constable (PC) would get promoted to Police Naik (PN) after 10 years of service. In another 10 years they will move to the Head Constable (HC) rank and retire as Assistant Sub Inspectors (ASI).

Notes:
The Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a technical skill development programme organized and conducted by the Indian Railways, to unemployed youths of age 18-35 years. The scheme aims to enhance their employability and entrepreneurship
Recently, the Indian Railways’ Banaras Locomotive Works had successfully conducted the training for its first batch of trainees, and distributed self-employment toolkits cum certificated to the trainees.

Notes:
The Government of Maharashtra has proposed to constructed the “Marathi Bhasha Bhavan” at a 2,500 sq metres free plot of the sea-facing Jawahar Bal Bhavan at Marine Drive, Mumbai.
The building would be constructed by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the construction is proposed to commence from December 2021

Notes:
Each year, the World Health Organisation releases the Global TB Report. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic.
As per the report, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis. It also highlighted that for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased.  Approximately, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 and the increase in number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB.