Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA), the Ministry has joined hands with Swiggy, regarding PM SVANidhi scheme.
Under this program, the street vendors will be given online access to thousands of consumers. This initiative has been launched in five cities of Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi on a pilot basis. This will be later expanded to all parts of the country.

Notes:
World Teachers’ Day is celebrated annually on October 5, across the world to celebrate the importance of all educators.
The theme for World Teachers’ Day 2020 is “Teachers: Leading in Crisis, Reimagining the Future”. This day has been celebrated since 1994 to commemorate the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO-UNESCO Recommendation regarding the status of Teachers.

Notes:
Indian Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has extended its contract with Ericsson for deployment of 5G-ready radio and transport solutions.
The Made-in-India 5G-ready Ericsson Radio System products are expected to enhance the network capacity and customer experience. India has the highest usage per smartphone per month.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched a campaign on Jan Andolan for COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour.
The campaign has been launched considering the festivals, winter season and the opening up of the economy. The Prime Minister asked the people to wear a mask, wash hands and follow social distancing by maintaining ‘Do Gaz Ki Doori.’

Notes:
Russia recently announced that it has successfully tested a new hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile named ‘Tsirkon’.
The Tsirkon missile was fired from the White Sea in the Russian Arctic and it successfully hit its target 450 kilometres away in the Barents Sea. The missile has also reached a speed of Mach 8 – eight times the speed of sound.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently announced that Finance companies cannot be set up with foreign direct investment (FDI) from Mauritius or other domains that do not meet the benchmarks laid down by Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
This move of the Reserve Bank is expected to impact the huge annual inflows in the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) space.

Notes:
Japan’s Maritime Self-defense Force has commenced anti-submarine drills in the South China Sea, as per the recent statement from the Japanese Defence Ministry.
The exercise deployed three vessels including a helicopter aircraft carrier and a submarine. The entire South China Sea is claimed by China, which has established military outposts on artificial islands. The United States has been accusing China of militarising the South China Sea.

Notes:
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative Rs 100 coin as part of the end of birth centenary celebrations of Vijaya Raje Scindia.
She was also called as the Rajamata of Gwalior and was born on the same day in the year 1919. Vijaya Raje Scindia started her political career from the Congress and later joined the Swatantrata Party before becoming a member of the BJP’s parent party, Jana Sangh.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank has decided to move to the Next Generation Treasury Application (NGTA) for managing the country’s foreign exchange and gold reserves.
NGTA is a web-based application, which would provide flexibility to introduce new products and securities. It can also support multi-currency transactions, settlements and various transactions in asset classes like Fixed Income, Forex, Money Market and Gold.

Notes:
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued an advisory to the government for protecting women’s rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The advisory has been issued in response to rising in the number of domestic violence against women. The NHRC has asked Centre and State to implement its recommendations and submit action taken reports.