Test: December 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

India could well be the fastest-growing Asian economy in calendar year 2021 (CY21) if Nomura’s forecasts are to be believed.
The foreign research and brokerage house expects the Indian economy – as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) – to grow at 9.9 per cent in 2021, eclipsing China (2021 GDP growth pegged at 9 per cent) and Singapore (at 7.5 per cent) during this period.

The Ministry of Agriculture has declared Lakshadweep as India’s first Union Territory to become 100 per cent organic.
Lakshadweep is second only to Sikkim, which was India’s first state to be declared completely organic.

In order to raise awareness of the need to protect mountains and its biodiversity, International Mountain Day is observed on December 11.
The theme for International Mountain Day 2020 is mountain biodiversity.

Austria’s Sabrina Filzmoser and Brazil’s Flavio Canto have been appointed as International Judo Federation (IJF) climate ambassadors by IJF President Marius Vizer, in a bid to spread the message of environmentalism.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in dominant style for his second victory of the season and 10th of his career.

RBL Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance have entered into a bancassurance partnership.

The 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG), will take place in Madagascar, instead of Maldives. It will be the 11th edition of this multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees of Indian Ocean island nations.

Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after an 18-years-long cricket career.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had announced that the 2023 FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup will be hosted in Odisha, for a second consecutive time.
The tournament will be held at two venues, Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium in Rourkela.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) has launched the Atmanirbhar Women Scheme as part of its Baroda Gold Loan.

The UNESCO has decided to launch an international prize in the field of ‘creative economy’ in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

In order to raise awareness of corruption, International Anti-Corruption Day is observed every year on December 9. This day also highlights the role of United Nations Convention against Corruption in combating and preventing corruption.
This year’s theme for International Anti-Corruption Day is “Recover with Integrity”.

In a bid to provide basic amenities and conducive atmosphere to new entrepreneurs, a world class incubation centre is in the offing in Maharashtra.
The state government would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Cornell University from New York, USA for setting up the incubation centre. With this, Maharashtra will become the first state in the country to come up with such a centre.

The ninth edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) in Dehradun has begun.
The theme for this year is Emerging Pathways for Building a Resilient Post COVID-19 Mountain Economy, Adaptation, Innovation and Acceleration.

The Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians 2020 has been awarded to Dr. Carolina Araujo, Mathematician from the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She received the Prize for her outstanding work in algebraic geometry.
Dr. Araujo, who is Vice President of the Committee for Women in Mathematics at the International Mathematical Union, is the first non-Indian to receive this prize and will be a role model for all women.

Sergio Perez became the first Mexican victor in F1 since Pedro Rodriguez in 1970, ending a series of races dominated by Mercedes for whom Valtteri Bottas finished eighth and George Russell ninth.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross) Secretary-General Mr Jagan Chapagain signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on implementing the Emergency Medical Team (EMT) initiative.

Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes, wrestler Bajrang Punia and shooter Elavenil Valarivan bagged the top honours at the FICCI India Sports Awards 2020 held virtually this year on the back of the prestigious 10th Global Sports Summit: FICCI TURF 2020.
The two athletes, who have had an impressive 2019-20, won the Sports Person of the Year Awards in their respective categories.

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), on behalf of the Government of India, has extended a Line of Credit (LOC) of $448 million to the Government of Republic of Uzbekistan.

The Ministry of AYUSH announced to develop a new campus of National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN) campus in Pune.
The upcoming campus will be known as ‘Nisarg Gram’. It will be located 15 km from the present NIN campus at Bapu Bhavan.

BSNL in partnership with Skylotech India announced world’s first, a breakthrough in satellite-based NB-IoT (Narrow Band-Internet of Things).

The Asia Cup 2020 had to postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Pakistan was scheduled to host the Asia Cup but the PCB CEO Wasim Khan said the tournament will be hosted by Sri Lanka in 2021 while Pakistan will play host of it in 2022.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has launched a USD 9 billion vaccine initiative that will offer support to its developing member economies to procure and deliver COVID-19 vaccines.
The Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) provides a comprehensive framework and resource envelope for supporting developing Asia’s vaccine access, using two complementary components.

England’s Zena Wooldridge has been elected as the new World Squash Federation (WSF) President following the WSF’s 2020 Annual General Meeting.