Best PSC / PCS / STATE PCS online Current Affairs

Current Affairs Dec-2020

Showing 101 - 120 of 233 entries

101. The Union Government has decided to forego interest on eight categories of loans up to what amount, on account of Covid-19?

A
Rs 25 lakh

B
Rs 50 lakh

C
Rs 1 crore

D
Rs 2 crore

Show Answer

Correct Answer : D [Rs 2 crore]

Explaination : [The Central Government has decided to forego interest on eight specified categories of loans paid up to Rs two crore, on account of Covid-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court of India has directed the government again to take steps to forego the interest in eight categories of loans, namely MSME, Education, Housing, Consumer durable, Credit card, Automobile, Personal and Consumption.]

102. Which North Indian city has recently got its bonds listed on Bombay Stock Exchange?

A
Kanpur

B
Surat

C
Gandhinagar

D
Lucknow

Show Answer

Correct Answer : D [Lucknow]

Explaination : [The Municipal Bonds issued by Lucknow Municipal Corporation has been listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The bonds amount to Rs.200 crore and offer 8.5 per cent interest per annum with a tenure of 10 years. Lucknow joins the 8 other smart cities whose Municipal Bonds have been listed in stock exchanges.]

103. Which country has recently declared a climate emergency and pledged to become carbon neutral by 2025?

B
Netherlands

C
New Zealand

D
Australia

Show Answer

Correct Answer : C [New Zealand]

Explaination : [The New Zealand Government has recently declared a climate emergency. This decision has been taken by the government to stress the fact that if emission cuts are not recorded, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predictions on adverse environmental effects would be witnessed. The country also announced that its public sector would strive to become carbon neutral by 2025.]

104. Mamit district, which topped the Niti Aayog’s October rankings of aspirational districts, is in which state?

A
Assam

B
Sikkim

C
Mizoram

D
Madhya Pradesh

Show Answer

Correct Answer : C [Mizoram]

Explaination : [Mamit district of the state of Mizoram has topped the rankings of aspirational districts by Niti Aayog for October. Banka of Bihar and Dhenkanal of Odisha have been placed at the second and third positions, respectively. Niti Aayog assesses the incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas.]

105. “Jiuzhang” is the quantum computer developed by which country?

A
New Zealand

B
Japan

C
China

D
Thailand

Show Answer

Correct Answer : C [China]

Explaination : [Chinese scientists have developed a quantum computer named Jiuzhang. China has claimed it to be the world’s first light-based quantum computer. It is said that the computer can solve extremely esoteric calculations called Gaussian boson sampling in 200 seconds, which a conventional supercomputer would take 600 million years to provide result.]

106. Special Borrowing Window to meet GST Compensation Cess Shortfall, is announced by which body?

A
GST Council

B
Finance Commission

C
Finance Ministry

D
NITI Aayog

Show Answer

Correct Answer : C [Finance Ministry]

Explaination : [The Special Borrowing Window to make good the GST Compensation Cess shortfall is operationalised by the Union Finance Ministry. All states and 3 Union territories have opted for the “option 1”, under which centre has set up the special borrowing window under which the Government would borrow funds to be passed on to the states.]

107. What is the limit of annual turnover, to file GST under the new Quarterly Return filing & Monthly Payment of Taxes (QRMP) scheme?

A
Rs 1 crore

B
Rs 2 crore

C
Rs 5 crore

D
Rs 10 crore

Show Answer

Correct Answer : C [Rs 5 crore]

Explaination : [The Central Government has launched the Quarterly Return filing & Monthly Payment of Taxes (QRMP) scheme for small taxpayers under GST system. Under the scheme, taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover of up to Rs 5 crore in the previous financial year are eligible for this scheme. Those tax-payers should also have filed their October GSTR-3B (sales) return by November 30, 2020.]

108. Mahaparinirvana Diwas is observed to mourn the death of which national leader?

A
Mahatma Gandhi

B
BR Ambedkar

C
Jawahar Lal Nehru

D
Sardar Patel

Show Answer

Correct Answer : B [BR Ambedkar]

Explaination : [Every year 6th December is observed as Mahaparinirvana Diwas, which marks the death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar. He died in this date in the year 1956 and this year marks the 64th death anniversary. Parinirvana is one of the important principles of Buddhism which means release or freedom after death.]

109. What is the headquarters of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network?

A
New York

B
Geneva

C
Paris

D
Beijing

Show Answer

Correct Answer : A [New York]

Explaination : [The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) works under the UN to mobilise the global efforts in SDGs. It is headquartered in New York. UN SDSN and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) published the Europe Sustainable Development Report 2020. It reports the progress of the European Union, its member states, and other European countries towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).]

110. Which country topped the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)?

A
United Kingdom

B
Norway

C
Sweden

D
Denmark

Show Answer

Correct Answer : C [Sweden]

Explaination : [The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) has been released by Germanwatch and NewClimate Institute together with the Climate Action Network (CAN International). India came one rank down from ninth in 2019, to tenth position this year. No country bagged the first three ranks. The fourth rank is presented to Sweden, followed by the UK and Denmark. The index assesses the performances of 57 countries and European Union in four categories.]

111. Which state Police has recently bought ‘Crawler’ software from Interpol, to tackle Child pornography?

A
Gujarat

B
Maharashtra

C
Madhya Pradesh

D
Bihar

Show Answer

Correct Answer : B [Maharashtra]

Explaination : [The cyber wing of the Maharashtra state Police has recently acquired the ‘Crawler’ software from Interpol. It is the first Indian agency to acquire the software, which will help them tackle Child pornography in the state. The software enables the Police to track down child pornography uploaded online, as it has advanced features to detect nudity, look for key-words and recognise age etc.]

112. Which pharma company has become the first firm to ask for ‘Emergency use authorisation’ from India?

A
Astra Zeneca

B
Pfizer

C
Ranbaxy

D
Cipla

Show Answer

Correct Answer : B [Pfizer]

Explaination : [Pfizer has approached the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking for emergency use authorisation (EUA) for its COVID 19 vaccine in India. The company has obtained the emergency use authorisation from United Kingdom and Bahrain recently. The company has asked permission to DCGI for distribution of its COVID vaccine in India and waiver of clinical trials.]

113. The Central Government has decided to set up which organisation to boost AYUSH exports?

A
Trade Facilitation Centre

B
Export Promotion Council

C
Tax Rebate Forum

D
International Convention Centre

Show Answer

Correct Answer : B [Export Promotion Council]

Explaination : [The Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry along with Union Ministry of AYUSH has decided to work together for establishing AYUSH Export Promotion Council. The establishment of this organisation would boost the AYUSH export to various international destinations. The two ministries also decided to review the entire AYUSH sector for achieving price and quality competitiveness.]

114. ‘Starship’, which was seen in the news recently, is the rocket-ship of which space company/ organisation?

A
Blue Moon

B
SpaceX

C
NASA

D
ISRO

Show Answer

Correct Answer : B [SpaceX]

Explaination : [Starship is the futuristic rocket-ship of SpaceX, the private space company owned by billionaire Elon Musk. It is being designed to carry people to Mars. The first high-altitude test flight of the Starship was aborted at the last second, due to an automatic engine abort just ahead of the count-down. SpaceX has conducted five Starship test flights but not at high altitude.]

115. What is the name of the new health research application launched by Google?

A
Google Health Studies

B
Google Research

C
Google Discover

D
Google Medico

Show Answer

Correct Answer : A [Google Health Studies]

Explaination : [Google launched a new health research app called the ‘Google Health Studies’. It enables the research institutions to connect with potential study participants. Through this app, android users can take part in health studies by answering survey questions and providing relevant data. Its first study will focus on respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.]

116. Which payment system is set to be made available round the clock from December 2020?

A
NEFT

B
RTGS

C
Bharat Bill Payment System

D
Aadhar Enabled Payment System

Show Answer

Correct Answer : B [RTGS]

Explaination : [The Reserve Bank has announced that the Real Time Gross Settlement System or the RTGS facility will be available round the clock, from December 14. Last December, the RBI had made the NEFT service available 24×7. As per the RBI, RTGS can be used for both domestic payments in Indian financial markets and cross-border payments.]

117. Breakdancing has been included as an official sport in which famous event?

A
Asian Games

B
Olympics

C
Commonwealth Games

D
South Asian Games

Show Answer

Correct Answer : B [Olympics]

Explaination : [The International Olympic Committee has recently confirmed Breakdancing as an official Olympic sport, to be added at the 2024 Paris Games. IOC executive board also confirmed three sports namely skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing at the Tokyo Games. The Olympic Games scheduled at Tokyo in 2020 was postponed to 2021.]

118. What is the name of the new platform to be launched by Maharashtra, to distribute assistive devices?

A
MahaSharad

B
Maha Assist

C
Maha Sena

D
Maha Ambition

Show Answer

Correct Answer : A [MahaSharad]

Explaination : [The state of Maharashtra is set to launch an ambitious scheme for distribution of assistive devices to persons with disabilities. Named as Maharashtra System for Health and Rehabilitation Assistance or ‘MahaSharad’, the Digital Platform is named after the NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The platform, which aims to lakhs of people, will be available by March 2021.]

119. Which pharma company has developed India’s first mRNA vaccine?

A
Gennova Biopharmaceuticals

B
Serum Institute

C
Cipla Pharma

D
Ranbaxy

Show Answer

Correct Answer : A [Gennova Biopharmaceuticals]

Explaination : [Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has developed India’s first Covid-19 vaccine candidate based on mRNA. It has recently received approval from drug regulators of the country for entrusting it to clinical trials. HGCO19 is the name of the mRNA vaccine candidate developed by the Pune based institution, using the seed grant received under Ind-CEPI mission of the department of biotechnology of the Union Ministry of science and technology]

120. What is the name of the initiative of India, to launch movie series for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation diplomats?

A
CinemaSCOpe

B
IndiaSCOpe

C
KaleidoSCOpe

D
SCOre

Show Answer

Correct Answer : A [CinemaSCOpe]

Explaination : [The Indian Embassy in Beijing recently launched a movie series “CinemaSCOpe”, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Under the programme, over two dozen Indian films dubbed in Russian, will be screened on a monthly basis. The screening will continue till India’s chairmanship of the SCO ‘Council of Heads of State’ meeting in 2023.]