Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 2nd January 2021

Correct Answer: D. Niranjan Banodkar

Explanation: Niranjan Banodkar has been appointed as new Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Yes Bank. He will take over Anurag Adlakha, who has been designated as the new Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of Yes Bank.  MD&CEO, Yes Bank: Prashant Kumar.

Correct Answer – C. Harsh Vardhan

Explanation: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has been nominated as the board member of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). He will succeed Myint Htwe of Myanmar. He will represent the South East Area Regional Office (SEARO)/ Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) constituency on the GAVI Board.

Correct Answer – A. Ladakh

Correct Answer – D. Jindal Steel and Power Limited

Explanation: Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) has become India’s first private company to get “Regular Supplier” status from Indian Railways to supply 60kg 880 grade (90UTS) Rails. JSPL is also supplying 1080 grade Head Hardened rails to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited for the construction of Kolkata Metro rail tracks. It had also exported more than 2 Lakh tonnes of rails.

Correct Answer – B. 8,964.75

Explanation: The government has collected ₹8,964.75 crores from the auctioned and allotted coal mines, till November 2020. Apart from 204 coal mines covered under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, the remaining blocks are allocated under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. Till date, 11 coal blocks under the MMDR Act have been allotted to various government companies.

Correct Answer – A. Raghav Bahl

Explanation: Raghav Bahl has resigned as MD of Quint Digital Media Ltd. Bahl will continue to act as a non-executive promoter director on the Board of the company. Bahl is best known for finding the Network18 group in the early 1990s and expanding it into a media conglomerate with TV channels, digital properties and a magazine.

Correct Answer – C. Nagaland

Explanation: The entire state of Nagaland has been declared a disturbed area for six more months. In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, the Central government has declared it to be a disturbed area for a period of six months. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been in force in Nagaland for several decades.

Correct Answer – B. Leh

Explanation: Union Minister of Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the meteorological centre (MC) of the India Meteorological Department at Leh in Ladakh via video conferencing. The centre would provide localised weather forecasts in the region, which would result in strengthening the weather-related early warning system for the region.

The meteorological centre at Leh is the second MC located in the Himalayas. The first such facility is based in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. The facility is located at a height of 3,500 metres, which makes it the highest meteorological centre in India. This new MC will provide short-range (three days,) medium-range (12 days) and long-range (one month) forecast for Leh and Kargil districts of the Union Territory.

Correct Answer – D. IIT-Hyderabad

Explanation: Union Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has virtually laid the foundation stone of “TiHAN-IIT Hyderabad”, India’s first Testbed for Autonomous Navigation Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial) at IIT Hyderabad. The Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation Systems (TiHAN) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Remotely Operated Vehicles at IIT Hyderabad. The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has sanctioned Rs. 135 crores to IIT Hyderabad under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems.

Correct Answer – C. Uttarakhand

Explanation:  The country’s first pollinator park with over 40 species of butterflies, honeybees, birds and insects has been developed over four acres at Haldwani, Uttarakhand. The objective behind developing the park is to conserve various pollinator species, create awareness among people in general about the importance of conservation of these species and to promote further research on various aspects of pollination, including a threat to habitat and impact of pollution on pollinators.

Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species. Without them, existing populations of plants would decline, even if soil, air, nutrients, and other life-sustaining elements were available. The importance of pollinators was recognised long back in the west and to conserve pollinators, parks, gardens, strips and pathways were created on a large scale in countries like the USA.

Correct Answer – C. Madhya Pradesh

Explanation: In Madhya Pradesh, popular classical music festival ‘Tansen Samaroh’ began with traditional style in Gwalior with the recitations of Harikatha and Milad. The 5-day festival is celebrated every year in the memory of one of the most eminent singers of Indian history, ‘Mian Tansen’. Tansen Samaroh, the oldest and esteemed classical music festival in India is organised by Ustad Alauddin Khan Kala Evam Sangeet Academy, under the Madhya Pradesh culture department attracts thousands of musicians and aspiring singers from all over the country. It is the 95th year of the festival. Artistes from Greece, USA, Iran and Belgium will perform in different sessions of Tansen festival.

Correct Answer – C. Celebrating Compassion In Times of Covid

Explanation: Harmony Foundation hosted the Mother Teresa Memorial Awards for Social Justice. The Awards in its 16th year is the only award endorsed by Sister Prema, the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, the organization started by Mother Teresa. The theme for this year’s awards was, ‘Celebrating Compassion In Times Of Covid ‘.

Awardees this year included:

• Dr Anthony Fauci (USA) is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA. He and his task force were among the first ones to realize the seriousness of this pandemic.
• Father Fabio Stevenazzi (Milan, Italy), decided to return to medical practice in order to help those infected with COVID 19 has thrust him to be the modern-day example of St Charles Borromeo who in 1576 during the Great Plague that hit the city of Milan and cut the population by half, stayed behind to nurse the sick and renovate hospitals.
• Dr Pradeep Kumar (Chennai) took it upon himself to give a befitting burial to his colleague with the help of two ward boys, at a cemetery in the city in the middle of the night.
• IPS Sanjay Pandey (DG Home Guards, Maharashtra) went beyond the call of duty as a police officer to open the first relief camp in the Mumbai city suburbs for migrant workers whose livelihood were disrupted by the lockdown to contain the pandemic.
• Vikas Khanna (Manhattan, USA) heart still moves to serve the lonely and underprivileged here in India.
• KK Shailaja (Minister of Health, Kerala), her extraordinary efforts and pro-activeness in dealing with the pandemic by following experts and scientific advice helped countless Keralites survive the terrors of this pandemic, serving as an example for governments of other states countries to follow.

Correct Answer – C. SAHAYAK-NG

Explanation: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with the Indian Navy conducted the successful maiden test trial of ‘SAHAYAK-NG’ India’s first indigenously designed and developed Air Dropped Container from IL 38SD aircraft (Indian Navy) off the coast of Goa. The trial was conducted by the Indian Navy to enhance its operational logistics capabilities and provide critical engineering stores to ships that are deployed more than 2000 kilometres from the coast.

• SAHAYAK-NG is an advanced version of SAHAYAK Mk I.
• The newly developed GPS aided air dropped container is having the capability to carry a payload that weighs up to 50 kilograms and can be dropped from heavy aircraft.
• Two DRDO laboratories, Naval Science and Technological Laboratory, Visakhapatnam and Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra were involved in the development of the SAHAYAK-NG container along with the industry partner M/s Avantel for GPS integration.

Correct Answer – A. Assam

Explanation:  Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has announced that a multi-modal logistics park in Assam. It will be constructed in Silchar and the Balacherra-Harengajao section of the Silchar-Saurashtra Highway will be completed in March 2022. Mr Gadkari made this announcement at a public meeting at Zero Point on the East-West Corridor at Madhurmukh at Rangpur.

Correct Answer: B. Football

Explanation: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) condoled the demise of former Blue Tigers’ Olympian Nikhil Nandy. The half-back of yesteryears was most famously a part of the Indian squad that finished fourth in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He was also a part of the side that notched-up a semi-final finish in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan. On the domestic front, Nandy was part of the triumphant Bengal squad which won the Santosh Trophy in 1955. He had also won the Calcutta Football League with Eastern Railways back in 1958.