Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2020

Notes:
Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan recently announced that the government is looking at procuring and utilizing about 400-500 million vaccine doses, covering about 200-250 million people.
Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) that is used for the immunisation programme, is used for real-time tracking of vaccine movement, from procurement to storage, to delivery and distribution.

Notes:
‘Sushma Swaraj Lectures’ has been introduced by Ministry of External Affairs, Institute of foreign service and the India Foundation. The lecture series has been designed for foreign diplomats posted in India.
The inaugural session of the lectures titled “in the memory of former External Affairs Minister Swaraj”, was delivered by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.

Notes:
The Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020 will be co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, the Indian Council of Medical Research and NITI Aayog.
The Grand Challenges Canada, the US Agency for International Development and Wellcome are also engaged in the meeting. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural function, on October 19.

Notes:
The Ministry of Finance has authorised State Bank of India (SBI) to issue and encash Electoral Bonds. These bonds would be made available through SBI’s 29 Authorized Branches from 19th October to 28th of October this year. The is the 14th phase of sale.
Electoral Bonds will be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.

Notes:
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has entered into a pact with Delhi based pharmaceutical firm Mankind Pharma. The pact would enable Mankind Pharma to market and distribute the Russian vaccine Sputnik V vaccine in India.
Earlier, Russian Direct Investment Fund entered into a pact with Dr Reddy’s for conducting clinical trials of Sputnik V vaccine and distribute them in India.

Notes:
Heeng (asafoetida) has been cultivated in India for the first time in Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh. This is done with the help of a technology developed by CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT).
Heeng, one of the most commonly used condiments in Indian cuisine, is being imported from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan till date.

Notes:
Japan has introduced deer-friendly bags to stop animals like Nara deer from eating plastics. The locals have launched paper bags made with rice bran that the deer can digest.
Earlier, a deer was found dead with a huge amount of plastic garbage in its stomach, as the deer thinks plastic wrappers left out by tourists as food. Nara Park of Japan is home to more than 1,200 free-roaming deer.

Notes:
In a recently released scorecard of the Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) Index by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Haryana was ranked at the top spot with an AMB Index of 46.7.
The Anaemia Mukt Bharat is an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and UNICEF. It aims to reduce the prevalence of Anaemia all over India.

Notes:
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has set up a working group headed by former New India Assurance Chairman G Srinivasan. The committee has been set up to study the suitability of offering surety bonds by Indian insurance industry.
Surety bonds protect the beneficiary against events that impair the underlying obligations of the principal. The committee has favoured the introduction of Surety Bonds in the insurance sector.

Notes:
The Navy has operationally deployed its first batch of women pilots on the Dornier maritime recce aircraft.
The aircraft is operating from the Southern Naval Command headquartered in Kochi. The three pilots namely Divya Sharma, Shubhangi Swaroop and Shivangi recently graduated as ‘Fully operational Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) Pilots.