Test: December 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 1 - UPSC MCQ

ICICI Bank opened its representative office in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

In a bid to give a push to digital payments, the Reserve Bank announced a slew of measures including enhancing the limit for contactless card transactions to Rs 5,000 from Rs 2,000 and making RTGS transaction facility available round the clock from December 14.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $50 million policy-based loan to improve financial management procedures and operational efficiencies aimed at achieving more fiscal savings, promote informed decision making, and improve service delivery in the state of West Bengal.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $132.8 million loan to strengthen and modernize the distribution network and improve the quality of power supplied to households, industries, and businesses in India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya.

The book titled “Indian Icon: A Cult Called Royal Enfield” authored by journalist Amrit Raj has been released recently.

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga have been named by Fortune among the Businessperson of the Year 2020, a list topped by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The Fortune 2020 Businessperson of the Year is Musk for a second time.
Narayen, ranked 8th on the list, while Banga, ranked 9th on the list.

International Volunteer Day is observed on December 5, to promote the culture of volunteering, encourage the governments to support the efforts put in by volunteers in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at all levels.
The theme for International Volunteers Day 2020 is ‘Together We Can Through Volunteering’.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched a tech-based loan management solution called ‘LenS-The Lending Solution’, to speed up and maintain accuracy in online loan processing and sanctioning of credit proposals.

Paytm has announced its partnership with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to empower MSMEs with instant digital loans.

New Zealand all-rounder, Corey Anderson (29), has called time on his international career and signed a three-year Major League Cricket (MLC) T20 in the United States of America (USA).

The U.S. has emerged as the second biggest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India after Singapore, replacing Mauritius, during the first half of the current financial year, according to data of the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

The Union Minister of State for Communication Sanjay Dhotre launched five star village postal scheme to ensure the universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in Dehradun for rural areas of Uttarakhand.

India has invited U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson as chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations in January 2021 and a decision on this is awaited from London.

Nongpok Sekmai police station in Manipur’s Thoubal district has been chosen as best performing Police Station in the country.

World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
The theme of World Soil day 2020, “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity”.

Lewis Hamilton has won the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain.

Japan was chosen to host a traditional, seven-team Club World Cup in December 2021.

The Government of India appointed Varsha Joshi as the new Chairperson of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

Gitanjali Rao, a 15-year-old Indian-American scientist and inventor has been named Time Magazine’s first-ever Kid of the Year.

England’s Dawid Malan has attained the highest-ever rating points for batsmen in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20I Player Rankings after a terrific run saw him top the series aggregate with a total of 173 runs and help England thrash South Africa 3-0.

British Indian journalist and author Anita Anand’s book that tells the story of a young man caught up in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar has won a prestigious history-literary prize in the UK.
‘The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj’ beat six other titles for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2020, awarded annually for a non-fiction book of specifically historical content.

Raimona National Park, an Assam reserve forest, ravaged by militancy, is set to become the state’s sixth national park. The state government has proposed to upgrade the 422-sq km Ripu Reserve Forest in Kokrajhar district.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is inaugurated the country’s first memorial for organ donors in Jaipur on the Indian Organ Donation Day.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu released the book ’40-Years with Abdul Kalam- Untold Stories’ authored by Dr Sivathanu Pillai, former chief of BrahMos Aerospace at a virtual function organised in Chennai.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla appointed senior IAS officer Utpal Kumar Singh as Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.