Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
The Kilauea volcano located on the Big Islands, the largest island in the United States’ Hawaiian archipelago, erupted recently.
As per the U.S. Geological Survey, the eruption was followed by an earthquake of magnitude 4.4. Multiple fissures opened on the walls of Halemaumau crater and the volcano spewed ash and steam into the atmosphere.

Notes:
Central Bank of India has recently launched contactless ‘RuPay Select’ debit card in association with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Through this card, the users can avail membership and access to golf courses, gyms, spas and restaurants. The users can also avail discounted health check-ups with the National Common Mobility Debit Card (NCMC).

Notes:
As per the researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), tiny antibodies, or “nanobodies” from a Llama named ‘Cormac’ works against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers suggest that at least one of these nanobodies (called NIH-CoVnb-112) can prevent infections and detect virus particles by grabbing the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins.

Notes:
The Assam cabinet recently approved the Assam Official Language Amendment Bill to make Bodo an associate official language of the state.
In February 2020, the third Bodo peace accord was signed between the Centre, Assam government, four Bodo rebel groups and two Bodo organizations. Declaring Bodo as associate official language was one of the clauses of the accord.

Notes:
The Income Tax Department, headed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, has introduced a new initiative called, ‘Jhatpat Processing’.
The aim of the initiative is to smoothen the experience of Income Tax return filing for taxpayers. Tutorial videos of the procedure to file ITR1 and ITR4 were also shared by the Department. Last date for filing income tax for taxpayers not requiring audit is December 31, 2020.

Notes:
As per the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), Indian economy will grow by 9 per cent in 2021 and by 7 per cent in 2022.
It also forecasted that India will overtake the UK to become the world’s fifth largest economy in 2025. As per their forecast, India will Germany in 2027 and Japan in 2030 to become the third largest economy in the world.

Notes:
The Navies of India and Vietnam has concluded the two-day naval passage exercise PASSEX in the South China Sea.
This exercise has been organised as part of efforts to boost maritime cooperation between the two countries. Indian Navy Ship (INS) Kiltan reached Vietnam under Mission Sagar-III with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) stores for flood-affected people of Central Vietnam.

Notes:
Archaeologists have discovered a 2000-year-old food and drinks shop in the site of Pompeii, the site which was buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD.
They have also found traces of food in some of the deep terra cotta jars containing hot food in the shop known as termopolium (Latin for hot drinks counter). It was discovered in the archaeological park’s Regio V site, near the coast of Bay of Naples, in Italy.

Notes:
State-owned Electric power distribution company NTPC has announced that its Dulanga coal mine is commercially operational from October 1, 2020.
The mine has an annual capacity of 7 Million Tonnes Per Annum, at its peak. Out of the ten blocks allotted to NTPC by the Government, three mines are in operation. The PSU also incorporated NTPC mining Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary, for its coal mining business.

Notes:
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has recently updated its mobile application “My FASTag” with a new feature to check balance status.
In 2017, NHAI launched two mobile applications namely MyFASTag and FASTag Partner. While the former is for FASTag uses the latter is to be used by the merchants like CSCs, banking partners and vehicle dealers.