Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
Meghalaya has recently launched the Meghalaya State Capability Forum. It is initiated under the ongoing State Capability Enhancement Project (SCEP).
Meghalaya State Capability Forum will include bi-monthly events, attended by public officials, academia and civil society members. Each event will focus on a theme of importance for Meghalaya’s development.

Notes:
DeFi stands for Decentralised finance. Defi is the financial ecosystem built on blockchain applications that can used for any financial activity.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is looking to warn on DeFi (decentralised finance) applications and projects. As per media reports, RBI has sought legal advice on their workings. India doesn’t have any regulation to deal with cryptocurrencies as well as DeFi, at present.

Notes:
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has delivered the heaviest semi-cryogenic propellant tank (SC120- LOX) ever fabricated to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
The tank will be used in the Mk-III launch vehicle for future missions. The semi-cryo-liquid oxygen (LOX) tank is to be used in the existing Mk-III launch vehicle. HAL had delivered the biggest ever cryogenic Liquid Hydrogen tank (C32-LH2), last year.

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:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has kept India’s growth forecast for 2021-22 unchanged at 9.5%, in its latest World Economic Outlook report.It also projected India’s economy to grow 8.5% in FY23.
In July, IMF had slashed India’s growth forecast for FY22 to 9.5% from earlier projection of 12.5%. It has lowered the global growth projection marginally to 5.9% from 6% earlier. Supply disruptions in advanced economies and worsening pandemic impact in developing countries are the reasons.

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:
BrokerChoose, a broker discovery and comparison platform has released its annual proliferation index. As per the index, India has the highest number of individuals owning cryptocurrency with 10.07 crore users.
The second position is occupied by USA with 2.74 crore crypto and Russia is placed at the third position.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a small finance bank (SFB) licence to the Centrum Group-BharatPe consortium.
Incorporated as Unity SFB, the lender is set to start operations in some weeks. The consortium will take over the assets and liabilities of the strssed Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. Bindra-led Centrum Capital and its partner BharatPe, will infuse Rs 1,800 crore into the SFB. BharatPe would also move its loan assets to Unity SFB.

Notes:
The 17th edition of “Ex Yudh Abhyas”, which is a joint military exercise between India and USA is held from October 15 to 29, at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska, the United States. This is the largest joint military exercise for India.
This is a part of the Indo-US Defence Cooperation. The 16th edition was held at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Bikaner, Rajasthan in Feb 2021.

Notes:
The American space agency NASA has recently released a climate action plan, which aims to avert climate related impact on its key missions to space.
The plan also ensures resilience of NASA’s facilities and assets and to provide important climate related observations to nations across the globe.