GK & Current Affairs Quiz: October 19-20, 2019

Notes:
The first-ever India Innovation Index (III) has been launched by NITI Aayog in New Delhi in order to promote competitiveness among the states. Karnataka has topped the index, followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Jharkhand finished last in the list of 17 major states. Among the North-Eastern states, Sikkim and among Union Territories Delhi has occupied the top spot. 

Notes:
In a path-breaking development, the Central Government has recently approved the Kerala Government’s decision to bring teachers and other staff of private educational institutions under the Maternity Benefit Act. When the amendment to the Act comes into force, Kerala would become the first state in India to provide maternity benefits in the private educational sector. The employees covered under the law can avail 26 weeks’ maternity leave with salary. Moreover, an employer has to provide an amount of Rs 1,000 rupees as a medical allowance.

Notes:
A Chinese company “Sam Enterprise Group” has signed a secretive deal with the  government of the Solomon Islands to lease an entire Tulagi island for up to 75 years but the status of the lease remains unclear since it is a non-binding agreement. The deal was signed just a few days after the Solomon Islands abandoned Taiwan and began diplomatically recognizing Chinese aid and investment to flow. The purpose of the deal is to establish a Pacific military base on a strategic gateway to Australia. The island of Tulagi served as a South Pacific headquarters for Britain and then Japan. It is the site of a former Japanese naval base and was the scene of fierce fighting in World War II.

Notes:
The SBI Card has  launched the ‘SBI Card Pay’ that allows contactless payment using mobile phones at PoS terminals. Using SBI Card Pay, customers can make contactless payments at Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled point of sale terminals with just one tap of their mobiles, without using the physical credit card or entering any PIN. The SBI Card Pay is a payment feature based on Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology for faster, convenient and more secure card payments using mobile phones.

Notes:
Debayan Saha, a mechanical engineering graduate from IIT Kharagpur, has invented a device called “PM 2.5” which he claimed when fitted near the silencer pipe in vehicles will curb air pollution. The technology developed by him uses a combination of electric energy and wave energy to influence the pollutants like PM 2.5 such that they act like magnet attracting other particulate pollutants from the ambient atmosphere to get attached to it. As they grow bigger in size they become heavy and fall off safely on the ground like soil.