October Current Affairs 2020 Weekly Test -1

Answer – 3) SBI Card
Explanation:
SBI Cards & Payment Services Ltd (SBI Cards) partners with American Express Global Network Services (Amex) to provide global benefits and offer exclusive privileges to their premium consumer segments in India.

Answer – 1) Flipkart
Explanation:
Flipkart and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company partnered to offer ‘Digital Suraksha Group Insurance’ for customers who wish to cover themselves against financial losses resulting from cyber-attacks, cyber frauds, or other such malicious activities on various online platforms.

Answer – 5) Gujarat
Explanation:
Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Government of Gujarat signed a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with Danish Water Forum(DWF) in the water sector through an online interactive platform to establish Indo-Danish Water Technology Alliance in Gujarat and to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 6, ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’.

Answer – 5) Suresh Prabhu
Explanation:
G20 Sherpa Meeting took place virtually under Saudi Arabia’s Presidency. The meeting discussed the actions taken by the forum for tackling the COVID-19 Pandemic. This is the 3rd edition of G20 Sherpa Meeting.          G20 Members, Invited Countries, International and Regional organizations participated in the meeting. Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha represented India at the meeting. He is India’s Sherpa (Emissary) to G7 and G20.

Answer – 3) BrahMos
Explanation:
India successfully test fired the surface-to-surface Supersonic Cruise Missile BrahMos with a Strike Range of over 400 Kilometers from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Odisha. It was jointly conducted by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) & BrahMos Aerospace. The Test-firing was carried under the PJ-10 Project of DRDO. It will pay the way for serial production of indigenous components of powerful weapon systems to realise the aim of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliance).

Answer – 4) Alyssa Healy
Explanation:
Australian woman cricketer and wicket keeper Alyssa Healy broke the record of “Most Dismissal by Wicket Keeper” by MS Dhoni’s who made 91 dismissals in 98 T20 Internationals(T20Is) for India. Healy has played 114 T20Is for Australia and broke the record with 92 dismissals in the shortest format of the game during the match against New Zealand in the 2nd T20I of the three match series at Allan Border Field at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Answer – 1) Ministry of External Affairs
Explanation:
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is creating a new Oceania Territorial Division by integrating Indo-Pacific and ASEAN divisions within it. Through this move, India is seeking to align policies in the regions stretching from Western Pacific (Pacific Island) to Andaman Sea. India will focus administrative and diplomatic attention in the region which is seeing growing Military assertiveness of China.

Answer – 5) Maldives
Explanation:
India will build 100-bedded Cancer Hospital and 22, 000-seater Cricket Stadium, in Hulhumale (Maldives) under USD 800 Million Line of Credit (LoC) extended to Maldives in 2019.The Export-Import Bank (EXIM) of India extended the LOC for development of infrastructure projects in Maldives. The construction of the Hospital will strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the Health Sector. India will partner with Housing Development Corporation Limited of Maldives for the development of Central Park and renovation of Arrival Jetty in Hulhumale. It will benefit both the visitors and residents.

Answer – 4) Mumbai Metro Rail Project
Explanation:
New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Nations approved USD 241 Million (approximately INR 1760 Crores) for Mumbai Metro Rail Project, and USD 500 Million (approximately INR 3670 Crores) for Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Project. The loans were approved by the Board of Directors of NDB in the 28th Meeting held in virtual format on September 29, 2020.

Answer – 2) 6
Explanation:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) excluded six public sector banks (PSBs) from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934 following their merger with other banks with effect from April 01, 2020. The six banks are Syndicate Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), United Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, and Allahabad Bank. OBC and United Bank of India merged into Punjab National Bank; Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank; Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India; and Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank.

Answer – 1) State Bank of India
Explanation:
State Bank of India (SBI) and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide Digital Payment Solutions and Financing solutions to HUL’s retailers and distributors. The Partnership will accelerate the adoption of digital payments among small-scale entrepreneurs and retailers in all parts of the country. It will be available initially in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Answer – 3) Ajay Kumar Bhalla
Explanation:
The Government of India has set up a screening panel to examine all Chinese foreign investment proposals. The panel is headed by the home secretary, Ajay Kumar Bhalla and secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as a member.

Answer – 1) 75th
Explanation:
The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 75) was held virtually for the first time amid COVID -19 from September 15 to September 30, 2020. It was hosted by the United States of America (USA) from New York and under the Presidency of Volkan Bozkir of Turkey. During the session, a special event was organized on September 21, 2020 marking the 75th anniversary of UN. The event was held under the theme “The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism” while the theme of the session was “The future we want, the United Nations we need, reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism – confronting the COVID-19 through effective multilateral action”. On September 30, 2020, Union minister Prakash Keshav Javadekar addressed the UN Summit on Biodiversity, which was convened by the President of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, under the theme of “Urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development”. India has added around 3 million hectares of forest and tree cover, which has enhanced the combined forest and tree cover to 24.56% of the total geographical area of the country.

Answer – 3) October 1
Explanation:
United Nations(UN)’s International Day of Older Persons is annually observed across the globe on 1st October to recognize the elderlies as an asset to the society who are capable of contributing to the development process. The 1st October 2020 marks the 30th Anniversary of the International Day of Older Persons. The first International Day of Older Persons was observed and celebrated on 1st October 1991. The theme of the International Day of Older Persons 2020 is “Pandemics: Do They Change How We Address Age and Ageing?”. The decision of the International day of Older persons was preceded by the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing adopted by the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing, which was also endorsed by the UNGA. On the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons 2020, Dr.  Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare stated that marking the launch year of the Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020-2030) various activities will be undertaken throughout 2020.

Answer – 3) West Bengal
Explanation:
West Bengal (WB) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched ‘Pathashree Abhijan’ scheme for Road Repair. The scheme has been launched to repair 7, 000 stretches of road which includes 12, 000 kilometers of road in a time-bound manner. An amount of INR 500 Crores has been allocated for the scheme, and the works will be finished by December-January, 2021.

Answer – 3) G. Subramonia Iyer
Explanation:
The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) approved a 3-member interim Committee of Directors (CoD) to exercise the powers of Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd till a new MD & CEO takes charge. G. Subramonia Iyer will head(Chairman) the CoD, G. Rajagopalan Nair and P.K Vijayakumar will serve as its members.

Answer – 1) Sanjay Singh
Explanation:
Eby J Jose, Chairman of Mahatma Gandhi National Foundation (MGNF) announced that Sanjay Singh, Member of Parliament (MP) of Rajya Sabha and the leader of Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) has been chosen as the recipient of the “2020 Gandhi Award”. He was recognized with the award for being instrumental in the diplomatic intervention of India to remove the image of Mahatma Gandhi on the beer bottles of Malka brewery, an Israeli private company. M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India will present the 2020 Gandhi Award to Sanjay over an award ceremony at New Delhi in January 2021.

Answer – 4) Smriti Irani
Explanation:
Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) addressed the High-level meeting on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) – Beijing +25 virtually. The theme of the event was “Accelerating the realisation of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. During the conference, it was announced that India is committed to full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Answer – 4) 2025
Explanation:
ISRO is all set to launch its first Venus mission “Shukrayaan-1” in 2025 with participation of French space agency CNES (National Centre for Space Studies; French: Centre national d’etudes spatiales). In this regard, ISRO has selected the VIRAL (Venus Infrared Atmospheric Gases Linker) instrument co-developed with the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos and the LATMOS (Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales Laborator) attached to the CNRS. Notably this will be the first time a French payload will be flown on an Indian exploration mission.

Answer – 3) Assam
Explanation:
Chief Minister (CM) of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal launched an on-line pension submission and tracking system “Kritagyata” during a function held at Assam Administrative Staff College in Guwahati. Created on the lines of “Bhabhisya” portal of Government of India, Kritagyata is first portal of its kind among all the states in the country for the convenience of pensioners by expediting their pension-related claims. Assam Police celebrated its 70th foundation day, i.e. Assam Police Day on October 1, 2020. On this occasion Sarbananda Sonowal launched a month-long “CyberSafety” campaign to raise awareness on cybercrimes and safety. It will be jointly conducted by the Assam Police and cyber-security think tank Cyber Peace Foundation (CPF).

Answer – 1) Ministry of Home Affairs
Explanation:
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has redefined guidelines on how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can accept, transfer and utilize foreign donations and contributions by amending the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA) with Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020 which has come into force w.e.f. September 29, 2020. The decision regarding its commencement was taken by the Centre in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020 (33 of 2020) to maintain transparency in NGOs. Notably, the amendment in Section 13 of FCRA empowers the MHA to freeze the FCRA Bank account in case of any contravention of the FCRA law and can also suspend FCRA registration of an organization up to 360 days from current 180 days (6 months).

Answer – 4) Himachal Pradesh
Explanation:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated ‘Atal Tunnel’ – World’s Longest Highway Tunnel in Manali, Himachal Pradesh.  The 9.02 Kilometre Long Tunnel has been constructed by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) at a cost of INR 3, 300 crores. It connects Manali and Lahaul-Spiti Valley. The Atal Tunnel, running across the 13,050-ft high Rohtang pass, on the Manali-Leh axis is the highest motorable highway tunnel in the world. The Tunnel has been built by adopting the latest NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method) technique.

Answer – 2) Punjab National Bank
Explanation:
To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi i.e. on October 2, 2020, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched a 3 months long nationwide campaign of financial inclusion and literacy initiative “Gram Sampark Abhiyan”. It was launched by Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar on the lines of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. The campaign is centered on four key themes viz. digital, credit, social security and financial literacy. This campaign will culminate on December 31, 2020 covering 526 districts in 24 states.

Answer – 5) Sumaira Abdulali
Explanation:
Right Livelihood Award Foundation announced the four winners of the 2020 Right Livelihood Award which is also known as the alternative Nobel Prize in Stockholm. The four activists Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, Nasrin Sotoudeh of Iran, Bryan Stevenson of the United States(US) and Lottie Cunningham Wren of Nicaragua shared the 2020 award for their contribution towards equality, democracy, justice and freedom.

Answer – 4) SS Kalpana Chawla
Explanation:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft named “SS Kalpana Chawla” after its astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-born woman to enter space and was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle in Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere in 2003. The spacecraft was launched on an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, United States (US) to deliver nearly 8,000 pounds (approximately 3,630 kilograms) of scientific investigations, technology demonstrations, commercial products, and other cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). It should be noted that this delivery is the Northrop Grumman’s 14th contracted cargo flight to the space station.

Answer – 4) Sikkim
Explanation:
On the basis of an application filed by the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC) on behalf of Sikkim, the red cherry pepper chilli of Sikkim, “Dalle Khursani” earned the geographical indication (GI) tag from the Union Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It is considered as one of the hottest chilli in the world with medicinal values.

Answer – 3) State Bank of India
Explanation:
Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the API (Application Programming Interface) integration between the PM SVANidhi Portal and the SBI (State Bank of India)’s eMudra portal. This launch is a part of Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme.

Answer – 3) Hepatitis C Virus
Explanation:
The Head of the Nobel Committee, Thomas Perlmann announced the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 jointly to 2 Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and one British-born scientist Michael Houghton for discovering the Hepatitis C virus, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer at the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. Note- The award is the 1st of six prizes being announced. The other prizes include in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

Answer – 3) Supersonic
Explanation:
After the successful testing of a new version of indigenously developed canister launched hypersonic nuclear-capable Shaurya missile, on October 5, 2020, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested the Supersonic Missile assisted release of Torpedo (SMART) from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. All mission objectives, including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, the release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM), were met perfectly. SMART will be used for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations beyond torpedo range. The technologies required for SMART were developed by DRDO laboratories, including Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad (Telangana), Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL) Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).

Answer – 1) China
Explanation:
An IEEE Spectrum report stated that Origin Space, the Beijing-based company is set to send world’s first mining robot named ‘asteroid mining robot’ into space by November 2020 to identify and extract resources. The mining robot will be launched into space by a Chinese Long March series rocket. The 30-gram spacecraft, NEO-1, is likely to be launched as a secondary payload on a Chinese Long March rocket. This company also has another mission, Yuanwang-1 (‘Look up-1’), nicknamed ‘Little Hubble’, which is to be launched by late 2021 or early 2022.

Answer – 2) “Housing for All – A Better Urban Future”
Explanation:
The United Nations World Habitat Day was observed on 5th October. It is celebrated annually on First Monday of October. The World Habitat Day is observed to reflect on the state of human settlements and to emphasize the basic right of adequate shelter to all. The Theme of World Habitat Day 2020 is “Housing for All – A Better Urban Future”. The Global Observation of the Day will be hosted by the city of Surabaya, Indonesia.

Answer – 3) Gujarat
Explanation:
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani released Sanction letters to two Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for the Country’s First Ever Organic Spices Seed Park in Patan & Banaskantha districts for production of Cumin & Fennel Seeds.

Answer – 3) Delhi-Mumbai
Explanation:
As a part of improving road infrastructure, there are many ongoing expressway (e-way) projects in the country including the longest Delhi-Mumbai Greenfield expressway which is to be completed by 2024.  Among one of the features, Delhi-Mumbai expressway will have India’s first five animal overpass or “animal bridges” with a combined length of over 2.5 km for safe passage of wildlife.  These bridges are inspired from the Wildlife crossings in the Netherlands. These will ensure no disturbance and no chance of any conflict to the Ranthambore Wildlife Corridor connecting Ranthambhore and Mukundra (Darrah) wildlife sanctuaries in Rajasthan as the wild animals will get such passage at every 500 metres interval.

Answer – 2) Harsh Vardhan
Explanation:
Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) virtually chaired the 5th Special Session of Bureau of the Executive Board as Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective behind this session was to ensure the full and effective implementation of the terms of resolution WHA (World Health Assembly) 73.1 on COVID-19 response. It should be noted that Harsh Vardhan is the chair of the WHO Executive Board.

Answer – 5) Myanmar
Explanation:
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General MM Naravane and Foreign Secretary (FS) Harsh Vardhan Shringla concluded the two-day visit to Myanmar on October 4-5, 2020. India proposed to build an USD 6 Billion Petroleum refinery project near Yangon, Myanmar.

Answer – 2) ICICI Bank
Explanation:
ICICI Bank in partnership with Visa introduced a debit card facility for customers who avail Loan Against Securities (LAS) from the bank. The card is available on the Visa platform. With this introduction, ICICI bank becomes the 1st bank in India to launch this facility after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks to issue electronic(e) cards to customers availing an Overdraft (OD) facility, that are only in the nature of personal loan with no specific end-use restriction. Note– New customer who avail LAS will be issued a Debit card.

Answer – 4) Google India
Explanation:
In order to support small businesses and drive demand through customer support, Google India has launched a nation-wide campaign, ‘Make Small Strong’. It has entered into partnership with Zoho and Instamojo to help SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses) to build a digital presence. It has also partnered with Dunzo and Swiggy to expedite small businesses’ on-boarding process. Also, Google in partnership with Doordarshan planned to launch Namaste Digital to increase its outreach program.

Answer – 4) Physics
Explanation:
Goran K. Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the Nobel Prize in Physics 2020. One half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was given to Roger Penrose (United Kingdom-UK) for his discovery that black hole formation is resilient prediction of the general theory of relativity and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel(German) and Andrea Ghez(America) for their discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy (Milky Way). The award comprises a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (more than $1.1 million).

Answer – 4) PARAM Siddhi – AI
Explanation:
In order to be at par with international standards in AI (Artificial intelligence) supercomputing research and innovation, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) will commission India’s largest HPC-AI supercomputer, ‘PARAM Siddhi – AI’. About PARAM Siddhi – AI: It will have 210 AI Petaflops (6.5 Petaflops Peak DP) and will be based on the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD reference architecture comprising 42 NVIDIA DGX A100 systems, connected with NVIDIA Mellanox HDR InfiniBand networking along with indigenously developed HPC-AI engine, Software Frameworks, Cloud Platform by C-DAC.

Answer – 2) Priyanka Chopra
Explanation:
Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra’s long-awaited book debut, ‘Unfinished’, will be launched on January 19, 2021, publisher Penguin Random House India announced recently.

Answer – 4) Goa
Explanation:
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant inaugurated DISHTAVO (Digital Integrated System for Holistic Teaching and Virtual Orientations) Youtube Channel, a unique initiative of the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE), Government of Goa. DISHTAVO Program aims to create online E-content in form of video lectures of syllabus for colleges affiliated to Goa University. Goa has become the first and only State to take the entire syllabus of higher education on e-platform.

Answer – 5) Indian Bank
Explanation:
Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, launched “MSME Prerana” an online business mentoring programme for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by Indian Bank in collaboration with Poornatha & Co, at the bank’s headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. As per Indian Bank, it is the first-of-its-kind initiative by a bank in India for the MSME sector.

Answer – 4) Axis Bank
Explanation:
Axis Bank Ltd in partnership with Vistara, India’s full service carrier launched a Co-Branded Forex Card, ‘Axis Bank Club Vistara Forex Card’ to cater the needs of international travellers. This is the 1st-ever collaboration by a bank and an Indian airline for a co-branded forex card. The multicurrency forex card enables customers to travel to international destinations in a cashless and hassle free manner.

Answer – 4) Dinesh Kumar Khara
Explanation:
The Government of India appointed Dinesh Kumar Khara, the current Managing Director of State Bank of India as the new Chairman of SBI for a period of three years effective from 7th October 2020. Dinesh Kumar Khara succeeds Rajnish Kumar as the new Chairman, whose 3-year term ended on 7th October 2020. The appointment of Dinesh Kumar was recommended by the Bank Board Bureau.

Answer – 1) Russia
Explanation:
Russia successfully test-fired the Tsirkon (Zircon) Hypersonic Cruise Missile. The missile successfully hit a target in the Barents Sea. The test was carried out from Frigate Admiral Gorshkov Vessel located in White Sea, Northern Russia. The Missile successfully hit its target at a distance of 450 Kilometers in Four and Half Minutes, and reached hypersonic speeds of more than Mach 8.

Answer – 3) Stable
Explanation:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deferred implementation of provisions made under Basel III capital due to uncertainty related to Covid crisis. In this regard, RBI will repel the final tranche of the capital conservation buffer (CCB) and the implementation of net stable funding ratio (NSFR) by six months i.e. April 1, 2021.

Answer – 2) Jammu & Kashmir
Explanation:
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha stressed upon innovative and efficient measures for conservation and preservation of world-renowned Dal Lake, Wular Lake and other water bodies in the Union territory.

Answer – 1) Karnataka
Explanation:
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the state’s dispute over Mahadayi river water sharing with Karnataka. Goa and Karnataka have had long disputes over water sharing issues of the Mhadei river. The Inter-State Water Dispute Tribunal has distributed water share between Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka, but the three states have approached the Supreme Court (SC) against the award. Mahadayi or Mhadei, the west-flowing river, originates in Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary (Western Ghats), Belagavi district of Karnataka.

Answer – 2) Odisha
Explanation:
Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha, which was closed since March 27 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, will reopen its gates for the public from October 2, as per HS Mohanty, Assistant Conservator of Forest.

Answer – 3) Chandigarh
Explanation:
The Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department of Chandigarh in coordination with Forest Department has initiated a step to control mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue. The Fisheries Department on Tuesday released Mosquito Killer fish (Gambusia) at Butterfly Park in Sector-26, Botanical Garden at Dhanas, Rose Garden in Sector-16 of Chandigarh for preventing malaria, dengue and to maintain ecological balance. Government Fish Seed Farm, Chandigarh at Regulatory end of “Sukhna Lake” is the only farm which breeds the rare fishes and supplies to several agencies, free of cost for stocking in stagnant water bodies to prevent mosquito breeding. Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh, Punjab, India, is a reservoir at the foothills of the Himalayas.

Answer – 1) Maharashtra
Explanation:
A six-member committee has been appointed by the Maharashtra forest department to check the feasibility of declaring a 265 sq km area at Kanhargaon in Chandrapur as either a wildlife sanctuary or a conservation reserve based on consultations with local residents. According to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, the area extending from Vihirgaon and Murti, where the airport has been proposed, to Rajura forest area and Kanhargaon proposed sanctuary zones, forms part of an identified tiger corridor. The zone is also an important interstate link for tiger dispersal between Kawal and Indravati tiger reserves in Telangana and Chandrapur as well as the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve buffer, which is 38 km from the proposed airport site and 32 km from the Chaprala Wildlife Sanctuary (Maharashtra), said a report by WII on the feasibility of the airport and proposed wildlife mitigation measures.

Answer – 5) London
Explanation:
Amnesty International India has halted its human rights operations in India due to the freezing of its bank accounts by the Government of India. The government has also set up a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry against Amnesty. Amnesty International is an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) founded in London (UK) in 1961. In 1977, it was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Answer – 1) Thrissur, Kerala
Explanation:
The headquarters of Dhanlaxmi bank is located at Thrissur, Kerala.

Answer – 2) Kolkata
Explanation:
After 195 days, cricket and cricketers are coming back to historic Eden gardens stadium at Kolkata. Players of Bengal will start practicing today under strict covid-19 protocol as reported by Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). In a press release, CAB said that it has put in place a medical task force and has created an exhaustive covid-19 protocol and SOP’s based on the recommendation of all relevant parties.

Answer – 4) Himachal Pradesh
Explanation:
The Atal Tunnel, running across the 13,050-ft high Rohtang pass, on the Manali-Leh axis is the highest motorable highway tunnel in the world. Rohtang Pass (el. 13,051 ft (3,978 m) is a high mountain pass 51 km from Manali that connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahul and Spiti valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.

Answer – 1) Rabindranth Tagore
Explanation:
India’s association with the Nobel Prize goes back, across centuries and latitudes. Poet, writer and thinker Rabindranth Tagore brought glory to the country when he became the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for the country. The 52-year-old Tagore was accorded the honour in 1913, 12 years after it made its debut.

Answer – 3) Myanmar
Explanation:
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General MM Naravane and Foreign Secretary (FS) Harsh Vardhan Shringla concluded the two-day visit to Myanmar on October 4-5, 2020. India and Myanmar reviewed the progress made in bilateral relations in recent years by regular high-level visits and interactions. During the visit, COAS and FS called on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Commander in Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior civilian, army officers. Both sides agreed to work on operationalization of Sittwe Port by the first quarter(Q1) of 2021. Sittwe Port is India’s gateway to Southeast Asia, as it will connect India’s landlocked northeast region with Bay of Bengal through Mizoram. It was constructed by India in 2016. Sittwe Port is a deepwater port constructed by India in 2016 at Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in Myanmar, on the Bay of Bengal.

Answer – 1) Noumea
Explanation:
The South Pacific territory of New Caledonia chose to remain French on October 4, narrowly rejecting independence in a tightly-fought referendum marked by a high turnout. The vote rejecting a breakaway from France after almost 170 years came in at 53.26 percent, down from 56.7 percent in a referendum two years ago. The capital and currency of New Caledonia are CFP franc respectively.

Answer – 2) Rajasthan
Explanation:
As a part of improving road infrastructure, there are many ongoing expressway (e-way) projects in the country including the longest Delhi-Mumbai Greenfield expressway which is to be completed by 2024.  Among one of the features, Delhi-Mumbai expressway will have India’s first five animal overpass or “animal bridges” with a combined length of over 2.5 km for safe passage of wildlife.  These bridges are inspired from the Wildlife crossings in the Netherlands. These will ensure no disturbance and no chance of any conflict to the Ranthambore Wildlife Corridor connecting Ranthambhore and Mukundra (Darrah) wildlife sanctuaries in Rajasthan as the wild animals will get such passage at every 500 metres interval.

Answer – 1) Rajasthan
Explanation:
Rajasthan government has decided to build temporary shelters for migratory birds near the Sambhar Lake (near Jaipur) before 2020’s winter season.