Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

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 Chief of the World Health Organisation honored the late Henrietta Lacks with the Director-General award.
She an American woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge during the 1950s. The cells provided the foundation for vast scientific inventions, including research about the coronavirus. The ‘HeLa’ cell line, derived from the first two letters of Henrietta Lacks, helped in the development of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.

Notes:
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind has awarded President’s Tatrakshak Medal (PTM) and Tatrakshak Medal (TM) to Indian Coast Guard personnel.
The awards are being given to the personnel of Indian Coast Guard on Republic Day and Independence Day every year, since 26 Jan 1990. The awards are given for their act of exemplary gallantry and meritorious service on the occasion of the Republic Day 2021.

Notes:
Actor William Shatner flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket-ship on a suborbital trip and landed in the Texas desert to become at age 90 the oldest person ever in space.
Blue Origin, U.S. billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos’s company carried out its second tourist flight. Shatner was one of four passengers aboard the fully autonomous New Shepard spacecraft. The four astronauts travelled above the internationally recognized boundary of space known as the Karman Line, about 100 km above Earth.

Notes:
‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Prerana Sthal’ was inaugurated at Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam.
It was inaugurated on the occasion of 90th birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and to commemorate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. NSTL is the premier naval research laboratory of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). NSTL products including Varunastra, Torpedo Advanced Light (TAL) and Maareech decoy are displayed at the venue.

Notes:
“The Challenge” is the world’s first movie to be shot in space. Russian actress and a director along with a cosmonaut returned to Earth after spending 12 days in the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the movie.
The trio departed ISS in their Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, according to NASA. They blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier this month.

Notes:
‘International Day for the Eradication of Poverty’ is observed every year on October 17, to raise awareness about people living in poverty.
The UN General assembly declared October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, on 22 December 1992. This year’s theme is “Building forward together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and our Planet.”

Notes:
Every year, 17th October is celebrated as World Trauma Day across the world. This day highlights the high rate of accidents and injuries causing death and disability across the world and the need to prevent them.
Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is the leading cause of trauma across the world. Every year, over 5 million people die from injuries across the world. In India alone, around one million people die and 20 million are hospitalized every year due to injuries.

Notes:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance of 30 member countries, of which 28 are European countries and 2 North American Countries. The NATO is headquartered at Brussels, Belgium
Recently, Russia has announced that it is suspending its missions to NATO and that NATO’s military liaison and information offices in Moscow would be closed.

Notes:
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has unveiled the “Bhoodan Grove” plaque at Jerusalem Forest of Israel.
This is in recognition of Jayaprakash Narayan’s visit to Israel in 1958 and a 27-member Sarvodaya team in 1960 to Israel, to study the social structure of Israel’s communal and cooperative institutions.