Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 21st November 2020

Correct Answer: C. Madhya Pradesh

Explanation: The Madhya Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has decided to set up a ‘Gau Cabinet’ for the protection, conservation and promotion of cows in the state. The Cabinet will comprise of the departments of animal husbandry, forests, panchayat and rural development, revenue, home and farmers welfare. The first meeting of the Cabinet will be held at 12 pm on ‘Gopashtami’ on November 22 at the Cow Sanctuary in Agar-Malwa district named ‘Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya ‘. It is India’s first cow sanctuary which was set up by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Madhya Pradesh government in September 2017.

Correct Answer – B. Varanasi

Explanation: The World Economic Forum selected 36 cities from 22 countries for pioneering a policy road map for smart cities. These smart cities are being developed under the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. Of the 36 cities selected, four are Indian cities. The four Indian cities selected are Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and Hyderabad. The selected 36 cities will collaborate with global experts and enhance their city policies in areas ranging from cyber security to services to be provided to physically challenged people. The other cities selected under the programme are Toronto, London, Moscow, Brasilia, Dubai, Melbourne, etc.

Correct Answer – B. 63rd

Explanation: According to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian supercomputer, Param Siddhi has achieved 63rd rank in the list of 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world. Param Siddhi is the high-performance computing-artificial intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer established under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) at C-DAC. The Top 500 project which ranks the top 500 non-distributed computer systems in the world is published twice a year. The first of these updates always coincides with the International Supercomputing Conference in June, and the second is presented at the ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference in November.

The AI system will strengthen application development of packages in areas such as advanced materials, computational chemistry & astrophysics, and several packages being developed under the mission on the platform for drug design and preventive health care system, flood forecasting package for flood-prone metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Patna and Guwahati.

Correct Answer – B. 87.569 km

Explanation: The transportation infrastructure business of L&T Construction, the construction arm of L&T, has secured a mega contract from the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL). It will construct 87.569 km of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, popularly referred to as the Bullet Train project. L&T classifies contracts upwards of ₹7,000 crore in the mega category.

Correct Answer – B. ICICI Bank

Explanation: ICICI Bank has announced the launch of Cardless EMI facility. ‘ICICI Bank Cardless EMI’ is a fully digital mode of payment at leading retail stores. It enables lakhs of its pre-approved customers to buy their favourite gadgets or home appliances just by using their mobile phone and PAN in lieu of wallet or cards. It has tied up with Pine Labs to offer this facility across pan-India.

Correct Answer – A. Shimla

Explanation: Himachal Pradesh government flagged off Medical Mobile Unit Jeevan Dhara, from the Ridge in Shimla. The van would function as a Mobile Primary Health Centre. Free medical consultancy and screening would be provided to the patients through Jeevan Dhara Mobile Health and Wellness Centre. TB Detection Vans were also flagged off on the occasion.

Correct Answer – B. 240th

Explanation: Indian Army celebrated the 240th Corps of Engineers Day on 18 November 2020. In a ceremony organized at ‘National War Memorial’, Lt Gen SK Shrivastava, Engineer-in-Chief laid wreaths and paid homage to the brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country. The Corps of Engineers provides combat engineering support, develops infrastructure for armed forces, etc.

Correct Answer – C. -10.6%

Explanation: Moody’s Investors Service has revised India’s GDP growth forecast to -10.6 per cent for the current fiscal 2020-21 (FY21), in its November 2020 update, from its earlier estimate of -11.5 per cent in September 2020. For next fiscal 2021-22, Moody’s projected India to grow at 10.8 per cent, as against the previous estimate of 10.6 per cent.

Correct Answer – C. 2025

Explanation:  The Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has addressed the 33rd Stop TB Partnership Board meeting in New Delhi through Video Conference. During the meet, the minister has stressed on the need to create a mass movement for the elimination of TB with strategized advocacy, thought leadership, disruptive social entrepreneurship, powerful, societal and political commitment. It must be noted that India is running the “TB Harega, Desh Jeetega” campaign that targets to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target related to TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global target of 2030.

Correct Answer – D. -6.4%

Explanation: Barclays has revised down its GDP forecast for India in the current fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21) to – 6.4% from its earlier estimate of – 6%. However, Barclays has raised its FY22 (2021-22) growth forecast to 8.5 per cent from 7 per cent.

Correct Answer – C. 21st November

Explanation: World Television Day is observed on 21 November every year. The day is observed to acknowledge the role of broadcast media. On this day, the journalists, writers, bloggers, and others who are associated with the medium promote the role of television in communication and globalization. The 21 November was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1996, because the first World Television Forum was held in 1996.

Correct Answer – C. 77th

Explanation: India is placed at 77th position in the TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix 2020. India has achieved a score of 45 in a global list that measures business bribery risks of 2020. India’s rank stood 78 positions in 2019. It was a better performance than neighbouring nations such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and China. But, Bhutan scored better than India and got 48th place in the list. North Korea, Turkmenistan, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Eritrea had the highest commercial bribery risk. Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand showed the lowest bribery risk.

The TRACE Matrix list is released by TRACE International, an anti-bribery standard-setting organization, which measures business bribery risk in 194 countries, territories, and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.

Correct Answer – C. Cricket

Explanation:  Indian cricketer, Sudeep Tyagi has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 33-year-old had played for the Indian national cricket team in four ODIs and a lone T20I as a fast bowler. Apart from this, the right-arm medium-fast bowler had also featured in 14 games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Correct Answer – D. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’

Explanation: Union Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ will be conferred with the Vatayan Lifetime Achievement Award. This award will be conferred to the Minister for writing, poetry and other literary works. The Minister has penned more than 75 books on wide-ranging issues, which have also been translated into many national and foreign languages. Vatayan International Awards given by the Vatayan-UK organization in London honours poets, writers and artists for their exemplary work in their respective fields.

Mr Pokhriyal has earlier received several awards in the field of literature and administration including Sahitya Bharati Award by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sahitya Gaurav Samman by Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Bharat Gaurav Samman, Good Governance Award by Dubai Government, outstanding Achievement Award by Global Organization of Person of Indian Origin by Mauritius, awarded in Ukraine in the area of environmental protection, among others. Mr Nishank is also honoured with “Himal Gaurav Samman” by Nepal.