Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock, has successfully ended its mission. The clock was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California.
The Deep Space Atomic Clock is an ultra-precise, mercury-ion atomic clock. It was launched aboard the Department of Defense Space Test Programme 2 mission on June 25, 2019. After the instrument completed its one-year primary mission in Earth orbit, NASA extended the mission to collect more data.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen held bilateral talks at Hyderabad House.
Frederiksen, who arrived on a three-day visit, will hold talks with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier, Frederiksen met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Over 200 Danish companies are present in India and around 60 Indian companies are present in Denmark.

Notes:
The International Day of the Girl Child is observed annually on October 11, to highlight the gender equality impacts. In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognise the challenges faced by girls.
This year, the UN urges the world to bridge the gender digital divide existing in diverse skills and jobs. It has highlighted on the gender digital divide in connectivity, devices, and use, skills and jobs.

Notes:
From the images captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers led by Timothy Hamilton have discovered an unusual gravitational lensing configuration.
Named as ‘Hamilton’s Object,’ it consists of two images of a spiral background galaxy in a fold configuration and a third resolved image of the same spiral galaxy. Together, they create a tangential point configuration.

 

Notes:
Darwin’s ground sloth (Mylodon darwinii), lived in South America between 1.8 million years and 12,000 years ago.
Though the six living sloth species are relatively small and herbivorous tree-dwellers, some species roamed from Alaska to South America. As per findings of a recent study, the extinct species was between 3 and 4 m long and weighed between 1 and 2 tons. The study also contradicts that all sloths were necessarily herbivores.

 

Notes:
As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), India’s consumer price inflation fell sharply to 4.35% in September from 5.3% in August.
This five-month low inflation is due to a favourable comparison with last year and moderating food prices, which offset a rise in the cost of crude oil and fuel. This also marks the third consecutive month within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance band of 2%-6%.

Notes:
India Exim Bank conducted a study titled “Prospects for Enhancing India Japan Trade Relations”. It has highlighted that over the past decade, India’s total trade with Japan has increased from $10 billion to almost $18 billion, with exports valued at US$ 5 billion and imports $ 13 billion in 2019.
It also noted that despite having a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Japan, India is undergoing a persistent trade deficit with Japan, which has doubled during the decade, to almost US$ 8 billion in 2019.

Notes:
Mexico City’s governor has confirmed that the capital’s Christopher Columbus monument would be replaced by a statue of an indigenous woman.
The statue was removed last year after indigenous rights activists threatened to tear the statue down. It is set to be replaced by a replica of a pre-Columbian statue known as the Young Woman of Amajac.

Notes:
The Director-General of the World Health Organisation has set up the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins on Novel Pathogens (SAGO).
The SAGO will advise the Secretariat on technical and scientific considerations on emerging and re-emerging pathogens. An Indian epidemiologist, Dr Raman Gangakhedkar, will be part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Scientific Advisory Group for determining the origin of covid-19 pandemic.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Environment has released a draft notification on regulation of extended producer responsibility under the plastic waste management rules 2016. This covers three categories of plastics namely rigid plastic packaging: flexible plastic packaging of single layer / multilayer plastics.
As per the draft, quantity of waste that will have to be managed by producers and importers has been specified.