Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 27th & 28th December 2020

Correct Answer: C. ₹450 crores

Explanation: SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI Card) has raised ₹450 crores by issuing bonds on a private placement basis. The tenure of the debt instruments is five years with the date of maturity as of December 22, 2025. The bonds bear a coupon rate of 6 percent per annum. The bonds will be listed on the Wholesale Debt Market Segment of BSE.

Correct Answer – C. Maharashtra

Explanation: Bajaj Auto has signed an MoU with the Maharashtra government for ₹650 crores to set up a manufacturing unit in Chakan. The facility is expected to commence production in 2023. This facility will be utilized for manufacturing high-end KTM, Husqvarna, and Triumph motorcycles as well as for electric vehicles starting with Chetak.

Correct Answer – D. Guwahati

Explanation: 51st DG level talks between Border Security Force India and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) began in Guwahati. It is for the first time that the bi-annual talks between the two Border Guarding Forces are taking place in Assam. The delegation of Border Guard Bangladesh was led by DG BGB Maj Gen Shafeenul Islam while the BSF delegation was headed by DG Rakesh Asthana.

Correct Answer – C. Israel Aerospace Industries

Explanation: India successfully test fired a medium range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) from Odisha coast. The missile was fired from a ground mobile launcher at launch pad number-1 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) near here at 3.55 pm, and it hit the target with accuracy. An unmanned air vehicle (UAV), ‘Banshee’, was first flown into the air, which was hit by the MRSAM. The DRDO has jointly developed the missile in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries. The MRSAM has been manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Ltd.

Correct Answer – D. L & T Defence

Explanation: Defence manufacturing group of Larsen and Toubro, L&T Defence received ‘green channel status’ from Defence Ministry. It has received the status from the Directorate General Quality Assurance (DGQA) under the Ministry of Defence for its major naval weapon delivery systems. L&T became the first private sector defence company to be granted this (green channel) status for delivery of major naval systems. Green Channel Policy was introduced in March 2017 by the Defence Ministry, as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Correct Answer – A. Israel

Explanation: India & Israel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the fields of Health and Medicine, sharing expertise in building climate resilient infrastructure & support to ‘Green Healthcare’. The MoU was signed by Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi & Sanjeev Kumar Singla, India’s ambassador to Israel. On November 4, 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the signing of MoU between India & Israel. The Agreement will replace the existing MoU signed between both countries in September, 2003.

Correct Answer – D. State Bank of India

Explanation: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has released Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Top 30 Banks Performance (for Remitter Banks and Beneficiary Bank). State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd. and Paytm Payments Bank Ltd. (PPBL) have led the pack in November among the top remitter banks, initiating close to half or 1.1 billion of the total Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions processed in November, according to latest data released by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The State Bank of India (SBI) secured the top spot in UPI Transaction among the UPI Remitter Banks with 607.92 million transactions.

The banks have initiated close to half or 1.1 billion of the total UPI transactions processed in November. HDFC is the third largest UPI-player amongst banks in terms of remittances, clocking close to 179.4 million transactions.

Correct Answer – A. World Bank

Explanation: The Government of India and the World Bank signed a $500 million project to build safe and green national highway corridors in the states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The project will also enhance the capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in mainstreaming safety and green technologies. The $500 million loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development a lending arm of World Bank Group, has a maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years. About Green National Highways Corridors Project:

• The Green National Highways Corridors Project will support MoRTH construct 783 km of highways in various geographies by integrating safe and green technology designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial byproducts, and other bioengineering solutions.
• The project will help reduce GHG emissions in the construction and maintenance of highways.
• The ultimate objective of transport infrastructure is to provide seamless connectivity and reduce logistics costs.
• The Government of India has launched many investment programs in road sector infrastructure to strengthen and improve logistics performance.

This project will also support analytics to map the freight volume and movement pattern on the National Highway network, identify constraints, and provide innovative logistics solutions.

Correct Answer – C. Srinagar

Explanation:  Srinagar based Amar Singh College has been recognized with the ‘Award of Merit’ in the 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The restoration of the Amar Singh College brought back one of the most prominent institutional buildings in Kashmir to its former glory. The college building is 80 years old and INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) chapter in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had carried out the conservation work at the Amar Singh College.

Correct Answer – A. PayU

Explanation: PayU with Google Pay has introduced tokenised payments flow for Indian merchants. With the digital token linked to the phone and card information tokenised, Google Pay users can make repeat payments seamlessly and securely. Through the option of one-click payment, one doesn’t need to re-enter the payment data, as the OTP is read automatically and the payment is processed instantaneously.

Tokenised payments offer a highly convenient, safe, and friction-free payment experience, and we are excited to partner with Google Pay to make this available for our merchants. It will help them build lasting trust and loyalty with customers, reduce risks of cart abandonment and payment failures, and scale up their businesses.

Correct Answer – A. Amit Ahuja and Jairam Ramesh

Explanation: The winners of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation Book Prize 2020 for the best non-fiction book on contemporary/ modern India were announced. The Prize was given jointly to Amit Ahuja for his Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements (Oxford University Press) and to former Union minister Jairam Ramesh for his A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of VK Krishna Menon (Penguin Random House), a biography of politician and diplomat VK Krishna Menon. The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, that will be shared by the two authors.

Correct Answer – B. 4th

Explanation: According to the latest rankings released by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), Indian Men’s Hockey Team will finish 2020 in the 4th Position, while the Women’s Hockey Team will finish at the 9th Position. Belgium Men’s Team will finish 2020 at the top position, while Netherlands women’s team finished 1st. In January, 2020, FIH released a new method for calculation of World Ranking. Captain of the Indian Men’s Hockey Team is Manpreet Singh, Captain of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team is Rani Rampal.

Correct Answer – C. Jairam Ramesh

Explanation:  Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh authored his new book titled “The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha”. The book will showcase the story of the poem “The Lights of Asia” which shaped the people’s view of Buddha and his teachings. The book will be published by Viking imprint of Penguin India. The book uncovers and narrates the story of “The Light of Asia: The Great Renunciation” written and published by Sir Edwin Arnold in 1879.

Correct Answer – B. UNICEF

Explanation: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard’. The interactive tool enables countries, partners and industry to follow the developments of COVID-19 vaccine market and the efforts of the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility to confirm that there is fair and equitable access for each and every country in the world. The dashboard, in this 1st release offers a routinely updated overview of the global research and development pipeline, the projected production capacity, the bilateral and multilateral supply agreements, that were announced publicly and the reported price points.