Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The state government of Punjab recently declared to ban all types of online lottery schemes in the state. The ban of lottery schemes has been made under the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998.
This step is expected to curb illegal lottery business in the state and to boost the tax and non-tax revenue of the state government. The Cabinet also approved to prohibit the sale of online lotteries, operated through vending machines and online scheme tickets, promoted by other states.

Notes:
The 35th edition of India International Leather Fair (IILF), 2020 is being held in the capital city of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. The fair is being held from February 1 to 3, 2020 at the Chennai Trade Centre.
The fair is organized by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), which functions under aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry for promoting country’s external trade. A large variety of products related to leather industry are being displayed in the 3-day-long international fair. Latest trends and designs of the global fashion are also showcased in the event.

Notes:
The All-Party Parliament Group on Traditional Medicines recently organized a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting aimed at legalising Ayurveda in Europe and integrating it with their other healthcare systems.
During the meeting, Indian Ayurveda doctor, Dr.Pratap Chauhan was conferred with the ‘Ayurveda Ratan’ award. Several representatives and delegated attended the meeting including the Indian Ambassador to European Union, Gaitri Kumar. Ayurveda Day was celebrated at the European Parliament on November 21, 2018 for the first time.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had proposed the door-delivery of pension in the state under YSR Pension Kanuka scheme. The process was recently commenced in the state.
The pension has also been increased to ₹2,250 from the earlier ₹1,000 and the eligibility criteria has been revised to provide pension benefit to all the deserved people. The volunteers, with the smartphones containing biometric information of the pensioners will visit the beneficiaries and process the pension payment.

Notes:
India and Maldives signed 5 agreements for establishing ‘Addu Tourism zone’ in five islands of Addu atoll. An atoll is a ring-shaped chain of islands formed of coral.
The Tourism zone is expected to be set up at a cost of $2.49 million. It aims at generating local employment and boost the eco-tourism opportunities in Addu. The High Commissioner of India Sunjay Sudhir signed the MoUs with the Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and Addu City Council. Another MoU to establish a bottled water plant in Hoarafushi was also inked.

Notes:
The Department of Science & Technology (DST), under the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched a scheme called “Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI)”. It owns high-end analytical testing instruments and reduce the dependency on foreign sources.
DST announced that it has planned to set up five SATHI Centres every year for the next four years. There are already three such institutes in the country at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi and BHU, at a total cost of Rs.375 Cr. The SATHI Centre will run 24×7 throughout the year and external users from other academic institutes and start-ups will be given more time to use the instruments.

Notes:
The famous arts festival called ‘Kala Ghoda Arts Festival’ is celebrated annually in the city of Mumbai. The 21st edition of the street festival has recently commenced. This year, the nine-day-long festival has a variety of events in 12 sections, related to arts, music, cinema, literature, theatre and heritage walks.
This year’s edition of KGAF has been organised entirely through crowd-funding using the platform named ‘Ketto’, without the conventional sponsorship. The annual festival has been organised by the Kala Ghoda Association since 1999.

Notes:
The Scientists at Indian Veterinary Research Institute (ICAR-IVRI), an institute of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, have recently developed a low-cost vaccine for the classical swine fever. Swine fever is a disease associated with high mortality and illness in pigs.
Until now, the swine fever vaccines have been imported for domestic usage and moreover the imported vaccines are to be administered once in every six months. But a single shot of the new indigenous vaccine would be sufficient for the animal’s life time. This would be an affordable option for the farmers and also assist in pork production and export.

Notes:
Leading Indian fin-tech start-up company Paytm has recently launched a point-of-sale (POS) device for smaller merchants. The device would accept payments through cash, Paytm wallet, debit and credit cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) apps.
It is an android-based all-in-one device, which will help the smaller merchants, road-side shop-keepers in handling digital money. Good and Services Tax (GST) compliant bills can also be generated through the ‘Paytm for Business’ app. The device was launched jointly by the founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma and co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

Notes:
A National Level Rural Technical Festival titled ‘Antahpragnya 2020’ was recently organised in the state of Telangana at Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies-Basar (RGUKT-Basar). This is the country’s biggest technical festival.
The three-day technical fest was conducted with the theme ‘Spot and encourage rural tech innovators’. It hosted more than 200 technical events including Campus Farming competition, Robo Racing, Development of Ideal Villages and National Science Fair. Nearly 50,000 people from nearby places and institutions participated in the event.