Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
The Mars Digger probe named the ‘Mole’ was deployed on the Mars by NASA’s InSight Lander. The probe has been recently declared dead by the Scientists, as it failed to burrow deep into the Mars.
The heat probe was developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). It has been trying since 2019, to dig deep and find the internal temperature of the Mars. The InSight lander will continue working till 2022.

Notes:
The Finance Minister of Kerala TM Thomas Isaac launched the state government’s action plan for the next five years, if re-elected.
The main focus was on tackling unemployment in the state. The Minister proposed a 20-crore project to build workstations, a digital platform to directly hire job-seekers for ‘work from home’ or ‘work near home’ models.

Notes:
The “Start-up India International Summit” named Prarambh is organised by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce. It is a 2-day event.
The summit aims to bring some of the leading minds from around the world on one platform and deliberate about the collaboration between countries on start-up ecosystems.

Notes:
“Bojjannakonda” is a Buddhist rock-cut cave situated near a village Sankaram near Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The sites are said to date between 4th and 9th Century A.D, when Buddhism is the majority religion of Sankaram village.
Recently, annual Bouddha Mela was celebrated in the Buddhist heritage site, which is generally celebrated a day after Sankranti festival.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj won the SKOCH Challenger Award under “Transparency in Governance” category.
Transformational initiatives of the Ministry include the launch of SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) Scheme, e-GramSwaraj, mActionSoft, AuditOnline and ServicePlus.

Notes:
On the occasion of ‘Prarambh: Startup India International Summit’, the Prime Minster Narendra Modi announced the launch of Startup India Seed Fund with a corpus of Rs.1000 crore.
The fund is intended to provide initial capital for startups, which would promote the setting up of new startups and promote their growth. The ‘Prarambh’ summit marked the 5th anniversary of the Startup India initiative, launched in the year 2016.

Notes:
Uttarakhand Government announced that the number of working days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will be increased from 100 to 150.
As per the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the entire cost will be borne by the state government. He also launched the ‘Uttarakhand Aajeevika App’ to help unemployed people in the state to search for job opportunities.

Notes:
The first group of Indian military experts is set to attend the training to operate the S-400 air defence systems.
India and Russia signed the USD 5.4 billion deal for five S-400 systems in October 2018 and Russia is to deliver the first batch by the end of 2021. Earlier, the US had imposed sanctions on Turkey, for procuring the systems from Russia.

Notes:
The new US administration headed by Joe Biden has announced its plans to halt temporarily its oil and gas leasing in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The preceding administration headed by Trump had issued leases in this region which is considered sacred by Indigenous Gwich’in.
Gwichʼin are an Athabaskan language speaking people of Canada and Alaska. They live in the northwestern part of North America close to the Arctic circle.

Notes:
‘Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM)’ is a Not-for-Profit Association, which aims to facilitate the indigenous production in Indian Defence industry.
Recently, an MoU between the Indian Army & Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) was signed to boost use of indigenous spare parts. This took place on the occasion of the 25 years of partnership of the Indian Army with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).