Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 31st October 2020

Correct Answer: A. IIT Jodhpur

Explanation: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to share expertise for the betterment of highway infrastructure. The two institutions will work in domains which include transportation engineering, structural engineering, geotechnical engineering. They will also cooperate in hydraulics engineering, infrastructure systems, earthquake engineering, urban and rural planning and disaster management and planning domains. The MoU will enable Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of IIT Jodhpur to undertake internships from the above-mentioned domains. The joint activities will bridge the industry-institution gap and develop technologies that would be adopted in practice by NHAI.

Correct Answer – D. Tamil Nadu

Explanation: The Young Advocates Welfare Fund has been launched in Tamil Nadu. The Young Advocates Welfare Scheme is aimed at helping such fresh candidates to withstand the initial challenges. It provides monthly financial assistance of three thousand rupees each for two years to the lawyers who just come out of law colleges. Normally a fresher from law colleges takes three to four years to begin practice as an advocate in the court as the registration in the Bar Council, and the mandatory practicing under a senior advocate takes time. Unable to sustain themselves during the initial period, many from poor and rural backgrounds shifted their profession.

Correct Answer – C. NASA

Explanation: India and US recently held the two plus two dialogue. During the meet the country’s decided to share space situational awareness information. This will catalyse efforts in creating safe and sustainable space environment. A joint statement issued after the dialogue read that the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar called the NISAR is to be launched by 2022. The space agencies of the countries signed an agreement to conduct a joint NISAR mission. The mission will develop and launch a synthetic aperture radar. The radar will be capable of transmitting dual frequency signals and is to be carried by an Earth observation satellite.

Correct Answer – C. V.O. Chidambaranar port, Tuticorin

Explanation:  A direct port entry facility was launched at the V O Chidambarnar port in Tuticorin by Union minister of state for shipping and minister of state for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya. The modern Direct Port Entry would allow direct movement of containers from mills to the container terminal round the clock, without in-between handling at CFSs. The facility is launch in an area of 18,357 sq. meters inside the truck parking terminal that was created under ‘Sagarmala’ for issuing customs permission of export cargo such as mills stuffed and e-sealed containers. It can hold 18,000 twenty-foot approximately units (TEUs) per month.  IT-enabled infrastructure at ports would make ports world-class, aligning ‘Maritime Vision 2030’.

Correct Answer – A. India

Explanation: The Union Commerce and Industries Minister Shri Piyush Goyal chaired the 19th SCO foreign trade and economic ministers meet. During the meet, the Minister remarked that countries have to leverage their Economic Strength to enhance trade and investment in the region. This according to the Minister will help in enhancing the speed of recovery from the covid-19 pandemic. This will help in global economic growth as the SCO countries collectively account to 1/7 the of global trade in goods and 1/8th of global trade in commercial services.

Correct Answer – D. Sashidhar Jagdishan

Explanation: The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HDFC Bank, Aditya Puri has stepped down, after 25 years of a highly successful career at India’s largest private sector lender. The 70-year-old Puri had transformed a start-up in a sector dominated by state-owned banks into an industry leader. At nearly Rs 6 trillion, HDFC Bank leads the industry in terms of market capitalisation and remains the most profitable by a long margin. Sashidhar Jagdishan has been appointed as the new chief executive and managing director of the HDFC Bank w.e.f. 27 October 2020.

Correct Answer – D. Russia

Explanation: The 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum has been organised virtually under the chairmanship of Vyacheslav Volodin, the Chairman of Russian Parliament. The Indian Parliamentary Delegation is being led by Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla and also consists of Member of Lok Sabha Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. The forum provides an effective platform to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue and Parliamentary Diplomacy among the Parliaments of BRICS countries with a view to strengthening the role of Parliaments on a range of contemporary global issues.

Speakers and members of five BRICS Parliaments namely Brazil, Russian, India, China and South Africa are attending the Forum. The theme of the Forum is ‘BRICS partnership in the interest of global stability, general safety and innovative growth: Parliamentary dimension’.

Correct Answer – C. IndusInd Bank

Explanation: IndusInd Bank has gone live as a ‘Financial Information Provider’ (FIP) under the new ‘Account Aggregator Framework’ of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This had made it the first bank in the country to do so. With this, customers can now avail a host of benefits such as viewing statements of their accounts, track deposits, plan investments, avail credit cards, etc. on a single window.

Correct Answer – A. 1 billion

Explanation:  The SBI has signed a loan agreement amounting to up to 1 billion US Dollars with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The loan is intended to promote the smooth flow of funds for the whole range of business operations of Japanese automobile manufacturers in India. $600 mn will be financed by JBIC while the remaining amount will be financed by other participating banks.

Correct Answer – C. Sanjay Hadkar

Explanation: Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has presented the top awards of a national level photo competition at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. The photo competition was organized by the Photographic and Artists Social Foundation. Sanjay Hadkar, Photographer of Times of India was presented the 1st prize while Rajesh Jadhav of Deccan Chronicle won the 2nd prize and Ashpak Killedar won the third prize.

Correct Answer – D. BharatPe

Explanation: A leading merchant payment network, BharatPe has announced the launch of digital gold on its platform. The launch of this new category of fintech product is in line with the company’s commitment to offering the entire gamut of financial products to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). BharatPe’s merchants will be able to buy and sell 99.5 per cent pure 24-carat gold. Merchants can choose to buy in rupees or grams, any time of the day and from anywhere, by using the BharatPe app. To facilitate this, BharatPe has also partnered with Safegold, a digital platform that allows customers to buy, sell and receive vaulted gold. SafeGold has appointed IDBI Trusteeship Services to protect the interest of merchants with regard to their gold purchases.

Correct Answer – B. Odisha

Explanation: Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik has launched ‘Odisha State Scholarship Portal’ to help eligible students of the state to avail scholarship benefits in a seamless and transparent manner. According to a government release, 21 scholarships would be offered by eight state departments and more than 11 lakh beneficiary students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and educationally backward classes would benefit from the scholarship portal.

Through the State Scholarship Portal, scholarships will be credited directly to students’ bank accounts as the portal is linked to the state treasury. Moreover, professional programs of the SC and ST Department, Higher Education, Schools and Mass Education, Labor and ESI, Skills Development and Technical Education, and Agriculture Department will be administered on the portal.

Correct Answer – D. Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha

Explanation:  Government of India has approved the name of Former Foreign Service officer, Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha as the new Chief Information Commissioner. He was already the Information Commissioner and was also the most senior. The post of CIC chairman had been vacant for several months after Bimal Zulka retired.

A Marathi journalist, Uday Mahurkar has been selected for the post of Information Commissioner. Uday Mahurkar worked as a deputy editor in India Today Group and is considered close to the Sangh Parivar. Uday Mahurkar has also written a book on Prime Minister Modi titled “Merging with a Billion” and “Center Stage: Inside Narendra Modi”.

Correct Answer: C. Author

Explanation: Daniel Menaker, an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction and a longtime editor at The New Yorker and Random House who worked with Alice Munro, Salman Rushdie, Colum McCann and many others, passed away. Daniel Menaker was the author of several books, including the memoir My Mistake and the comic psychological novel The Treatment, adapted into a 2007 movie starring Chris Eigeman and Ian Holm. He was also known for the O Henry Award-winning title story of his collection The Old Left.