Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
Thailand has official declared the Siamese fighting fish as its national aquatic animal to boost conservation efforts and commercial breeding in the country. Known in the West as a betta fish, the underwater brawler is popular in home aquariums for its iridescent body and many-hued tail. It brings up feelings of nostalgia for older generations in Thailand – which changed its name from Siam in 1939. They remember a time when the fish were traded and sparred in childhood games. The Siamese fighting fish is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Thailand’s official national animal is the elephant.

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The 9th Senior Women’s Hockey National Championship 2019 has started in Hisar, Haryana from February 8. Top India stars will turn up for their respective state units and employers for the tournament. RSPB will begin their campaign against Hockey Rajasthan in the Pool A opening match. Twenty teams will participate in the 11-day domestic extravaganza. Teams that take the top two spots in Pools A, B, C and D in the round-robin stage will qualify for the quarterfinals to be played on February 15. The semifinal and final will be played on February 17 and February 18, respectively.

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On 6th February 2019, Opener Smriti Mandhana hammered the fastest fifty for India in the first T20I against New Zealand in Wellington in just 24 deliveries. She broke her own record of fastest T20I fifty for India in women’s cricket, which she had achieved against England in Mumbai in 2018. Though, Smriti Mandhana’s 58 and Jemimah Rodrigues’ 39 went in vain as the Indian eves were bundled out for 136 in 19.1 overs. New Zealand Women defeated India by 23 runs in the first T20I. The overall record for the fastest fifty in women’s T20Is belongs to Sophie Devine of New Zealand who hit a half-century in 18 balls against India during a T20 International back in 2015.

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The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS 13) will be held at 15th to 22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Recently, the Government of India (GoI) has announced that the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) will be its mascot for CMS COP-13. It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Representatives from 129 Parties and eminent conservationists and international NGOs working in the field of wildlife conservation are expected to attend the COP. India has been a Party to the CMS since 1983. The Conference of Parties (COP) is the decision-making organ of this convention. CMS, also known as the Bonn Convention, recognizes that States must be the protectors of migratory species that live within or pass through their national jurisdictions and aims to conserve terrestrial, marine, and avian migratory species throughout their ranges.

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The Union Cabinet has recently approved establishment of a unified authority for regulating all financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in India through IFSCs Authority Bill of 2019. The establishment of a unified financial regulator for IFSCs will result in providing world-class regulatory environment to market participants from an ease of doing business perspective. This will provide a stimulus for further development of IFSCs in India. Currently, the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors in IFSC are regulated by multiple regulators — the RBI, SEBI and IRDAI, respectively. An IFSC caters to customers outside the jurisdiction of the domestic economy. Such centres deal with flows of finance, financial products and services across borders. It provides business and regulatory environment that is comparable to other leading international financial centres in the world like London and Singapore. IFSC provides Indian companies easier access to global financial markets. The first IFSC in India was set up at GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently raised the limit for collateral-free agriculture loans to Rs 1.6 lakh from Rs. 1 lakh to enhance coverage of small and marginal farmers in the formal credit system. Currently, the banks are mandated to extend collateral-free agricultural loans up to Rs. 1 lakh. This limit was fixed in the year 2010. The RBI also proposed to set up an internal working group to review various issues plaguing farm credit, such as regional disparity, extent of coverage and limited capital formation from such credit. As per interim Budget of 2019, the Government of India (GoI) will also launch the ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) programme to provide assured income support to small and marginal farmers. Under this, vulnerable landholding farmer-families, having cultivable land up to two hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year. This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers in three equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each. The programme will be funded by the Government of India (GoI).

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The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) has decided to include Hindi as the third official language used in its courts, alongside Arabic and English, as part of a move designed to improve access to justice. The move will help the Hindi speakers to learn about litigation procedures, their rights and duties without a language barrier. It is an estimated that 3.3 million Indian expats live in United Arab Emirates (UAE), and a large number of them are blue collared workers. Hence, this is an excellent step taken by Abu Dhabi that will certainly improve access to justice for India’s blue collar workers. It also fits perfectly into the wider agenda of UAE’s Year of Tolerance”.

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Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has been elected as the chairman of the African Union (AU) at the continental body’s summit in Ethiopia. El-Sisi’s election brought to an end the one-year chairmanship of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. The Egyptian leader is expected to focus on the fight against armed groups on the continent and rebuilding efforts of countries recovering from conflict. It is the first time since the AU was founded in 2002 that Egypt assumes the top seat of the body. The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 countries of the continent of Africa. The purpose of AU is to achieve greater unity and solidarity between the African countries and Africans. The primary languages spoken include Arabic, English, French and Portuguese and the languages of Africa. Within the African Union, there are official bodies such as the Peace and Security Council and the Pan-African Parliament.

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On February 8, the 5-day multinational maritime exercise ‘AMAN 19’ has commenced at Pakistan Navy Dockyard near the coastal city of Karachi with the slogan “Together for Peace”. The flags of 46 countries including Pakistan were hoisted and the contingents of Pakistan Navy presented a march-past. The principal purpose of the exercise is to provide a forum for understanding of each other’s maritime concepts and operational cultures and come up with ways and means to combat common threats at sea. The exercise is aimed at fostering maritime cooperation, promoting a safe and secure maritime environment for regional and global stability and for preserving oceans which is the common heritage of mankind.

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The National Productivity Council (NPC) has started the celebration of its 61st Foundation Day on 12th February with the theme “Circular Economy for Productivity & Sustainability”. NPC observed foundation day as National Productivity Day (NPD) and the National Productivity Week (NPW) from February 12-18, 2019. The 2019 theme represents a unique opportunity for circular business model for Make, Use & Return. It presents an opportunity for long term economic prospects and regeneration of materials. The circular economy follows the principle of preservation and enhancement of natural capital by controlling finite stocks and balancing renewable resource flows. It has the potential to increase productivity and create jobs, whilst reducing carbon emissions and preserving valuable raw materials.