Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 19th December 2020

Correct Answer: D. Chennai

Explanation: Torrent Gas Ltd has pledged ₹5,000 crores investment to develop infrastructure to retail CNG to automobiles and piped gas to households and industries in Chennai. It has signed an MoU with the Govt of Tamil Nadu for the development of city gas infrastructure at the Growth and Investment Conclave in Chennai. The firm will lay pipelines and other infrastructure in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts.

Correct Answer – B. Reddit

Explanation: Reddit has acquired “short-form video social platform” Dubsmash. Dubsmash’s entire team including the three co-founders, Suchit Dash, Jonas Druppel and Tim Specht will join Reddit. About 25% of all Black teens in the US are on Dubsmash, and females represent 70% of users. About 30% of users log in every day to create video content, indicating a high level of retention and engagement.

Correct Answer – C. Ladakh

Explanation: People in Ladakh region are celebrating Ladakhi New Year, Losar on 15 December 2020. mbolic Losar celebrations and special prayers are held at Chokanga Vihara in Leh. A traditional flag, Tarchen is hoisted to mark the beginning of New Year. The day has its origins in the 15th century. It is said to last 15 days, but the first 3 days are considered the most important ones.

Correct Answer – D. Federal Bank

Explanation:  Federal Bank has entered into a tie-up with OrbitRemit Limited to facilitate money transfer from New Zealand to India. “OrbitRemit Limited a leading full- service provider based out of New Zealand has its presence in other countries like Australia UK and currently provides remittance services to around 39 countries worldwide”. NRIs and small businesses in New Zealand will now enjoy a modern low cost fast easy and more reliable way of transferring money to India. Federal Bank currently processes more than 17 per cent of the personal inward remittances into India.”

Correct Answer – B. SJVN Limited

Explanation: SJVN Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) for Green Energy Projects through virtual mode. As per the MoU, IREDA will provide services to SJVN for development of Green Energy Projects, and help SJVN in devising an action plan to create and acquire Renewable Energy Projects for the next 5 years. As part of the MoU, IREDA will undertake Techno-Financial due diligence (identifying suitable technology for particular project sites) for the projects of SJVN.

The partnership is expected to improve the knowledge and technology transfer between the two agencies and will also provide consultancy & research services. SJVN is also in the process of developing a 100 MW Dholera Solar Power Project, Gujarat & 100 MW Raghanseda Solar Power Project in Gujarat.

Correct Answer – B. Mumbai

Explanation: The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) released the Urban Quality of Life (UQoL) Index 2020 which ranked 14 Indian cities in India using 29 indicators grouped into 7 categories. In accordance to this, Mumbai (Maharashtra) tops the index followed by Delhi, Kolkata (West Bengal) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) by providing Highest Quality of Life while Bihar’s capital city Patna provides poorest quality of life to its people. Notably, this is for the first time the index has considered the factor of gender parity under which Chennai is named as the most women-friendly city while Patna stood last.

Correct Answer – B. 131st

Explanation: According to the report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India has been dropped two spots to 131 among 189 countries in the 2020 Human Development Index.

• Norway topped the index, followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Iceland, the report showed.
• Niger is the lowest ranked country at 189, placed among Low human development category, with a score of 0.394.
• India(131), Bhutan (129), Bangladesh (133), Nepal (142), and Pakistan (154) were ranked among countries with medium human development.
• In the BRICS grouping, Russia was 52 in the human development index, Brazil 84, and China 85.

Correct Answer – D. Shashi Shekhar Vempati

Explanation: The CEO of Prasar Bharati, Shashi Shekhar Vempati has been elected as the Vice President of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) for a period of three years. Prasar Bharati is India’s largest public broadcasting agency. The Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia–based Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), is one of the largest broadcasting associations in the world.

Correct Answer – C. $1,000 million

Explanation: The Government of India and the New Development Bank (NDB) have signed a loan agreement worth $1,000 million for ‘supporting India’s economic recovery from COVID-19’. The loan has a tenor of 30 years, including a 5-year grace period. The programme will support Indian Government in mitigating the adverse economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic and enable economic recovery in the rural areas. Under the agreement, Shanghai-based NDB will lend financial support for:

• The loan will support expenditures on rural infrastructure related to natural resource management (NRM) and rural employment generation under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
• The programme will support the government in mitigating the adverse economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic and enable economic recovery in the rural areas through natural resource management works which will facilitate economic activity and employment generation to stimulate rural demand.
• The program will improve the livelihood of rural poor along with providing income opportunities to migrant workers who returned home due to job loss caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Correct Answer – B. 7.4%

Explanation: The State Bank of India, in its research report ‘Ecowrap’ has revised the GDP growth of India at (-) 7.4 percent in FY21. Earlier this forecast was (-) 10.9 percent. The SBI research report has also forecast India’s GDP growth in FY22 at 11 percent. The report also believes that it would take seven quarters from the fourth quarter of FY21 for GDP to reach the pre-pandemic level in nominal terms.

Correct Answer – C. NETRA

Explanation: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has set up a dedicated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre named “NETRA”, at its ISTRAC campus at Peenya, Bengaluru. The ISRO SSA Control Centre ‘NETRA’ was formally inaugurated by ISRO Chairman K Sivan. SSA is the science of tracking objects (man-made and natural) that are in orbit and also predicting what they would be at a given point in time. Only the US, Russia and Europe have similar facility in place to track space objects and share collision warnings.

What is NETRA?

• The “NEtwork for space object TRacking and Analysis (NETRA)” will monitor, track and protect India’s space assets. It will function as a hub of all SSA activities within India.
• It has been set up as a ‘Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM)’ aiming to protect high valued space assets from space debris close approaches and collisions.
• The state-of-the-art facility, dedicated to SSA activities, will also help to coordinate between Indian agencies, their foreign counterparts and international bodies.
• The main elements of NETRA would be a radar, an optical telescope facility, and a control centre.

Correct Answer – C. Hindi

Explanation: India’s renowned journalist and Sahitya Akademi Award-winning Hindi Poet, Manglish Dabral died at the age of 72. As a critic of government policies, he returned his Sahitya Akademi award in 2015 in protest against the growing climate of intolerance in the country. He worked as the Editor of Jansatta’s Sunday Magazine, Ravivari. Through his writings in the four-page literary magazine, Jansatta, he mentored a generation of Hindi writers. For his Literary work in Hindi, he was awarded Sahitya Akademi award in 2000 for “Ham Jo Dekhte Hain”. Translated Multiple books to Hindi, which involves the famous translation of Arundhati Roy’s “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” to “Apaar Khushi Ka Gharana”.

Correct Answer – A. Breaking

Explanation:  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board added “Breaking” – a competitive form of breakdancing & 3 other sports – Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, and Surfing to Medal Events Program in Olympic Games. Breaking will make its Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, while 3 other sports will make their Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics to be held in July, 2021 (delayed due to COVID-19). The additional sports were proposed by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee. The sports have been included by IOC to set a new standard for inclusive, gender-balanced and youth-centred games.

Correct Answer: C. Politics

Explanation: Veteran politician and five-time MP Radhika Ranjan Pramanik passed away. He was elected to Lok Sabha five times from Mathurapur (West Bengal) on a CPI(M) ticket, beginning 1989. Before that, he represented Magrahat (East) assembly constituency.