Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
The Centre for Development of Telematics is an Indian Government owned telecommunications technology development centre.  It is headquartered at New Delhi.
C-DOT has been asked to start working on 6G technologies which is said to be 50 times faster than 5G and other futuristic technologies. Union Telecom Secretary recently inaugurated C-DOT’s Quantum Communication Lab and launched the indigenously developed Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) solution.

Notes:
Union Environment Minister released important publications of the Central Zoo Authority, at the National conference for Zoo directors and veterinarians organized by Central Zoo Authority and hosted by Sardar Patel Zoological Park, Gujarat.
First is the Vision Plan (2021-2031) for Indian zoos to upgrade them to global standards and strengthening of Central Zoo Authority. It focusses on animal care, research, and visitor experiences. Second is the WASH Manual for Zoos- for creating and maintaining WASH facilities within the premises for staff and visitors. He also gave away ‘Prani Mitra’ Awards, set up by CZA.

Notes:
The Prime Minister recently launched the Indian Space Association (IsPA)). It is an industry association of space and satellite companies.
The Founding members include Larson & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, Bharti Airtel, Mapmyindia, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Limited. Other core members include Godrej, Hughes India, among others. Lt Gen Anil Bhatt (Retd) has been appointed the director-general of the association.

 

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:
Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, known as ASKAP, is a radio telescope situated at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Australia. It is run by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australian Government agency.
Recently, using this telescope, Astronomers have discovered unusual signals coming from the direction of the Milky Way’s center. This new signal had very high polarisation and varying brightness. It was named as ‘ASKAP J173608.2-321635’.

Notes:
Indian American Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, is among the corporate leaders to receive this year’s prestigious C K Prahlad award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership.
Created in 2010, the prestigious award recognises exceptional private-sector action that promotes sustainability, innovation and long-term business success. Four of Microsoft’s top leaders including Nadella received the honour for their collaborative leadership.  Microsoft aims to transform into a carbon negative company by 2030 and to remove all its historical emissions by 2050.

Notes:
The Malabar series of exercises, which began as an annual bilateral naval exercise between India and the US in 1992.
The Indian Navy is set to participate in the Second Phase of Multilateral Maritime Exercise Malabar along with the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force, Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy. It is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal from 12 – 15 Oct 2021. First Phase of the exercise was conducted in the Philippines Sea in August.

Notes:
As per the government’s new rules, the gestational limit for termination of a pregnancy in India has been increased to 24 weeks. Earlier the limit was 20 weeks.
Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Rules, 2021, the women including survivors of sexual assault, rape or incest, minors, those whose marital status changes during pregnancy (widowhood and divorce) and those with physical disabilities are included for the new limit.

Notes:
During Brexit negotiations, all parties agreed that protecting the 1998 Northern Ireland peace deal, also called as the Good Friday agreement, was a priority.
Recently, the European Union has set out its proposals to change the way the Brexit deal for Northern Ireland (NI Protocol) is implemented. It was designed to prevent checks along the border between Northern Ireland (in the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (in the EU), after Brexit.

 

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.