Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government has signed a 30 year concession agreement with the UAE-based company “National Central Cooling Company PJSC (DFM: Tabreed)” to offer District Cooling solutions to the greenfield city of Amaravati. The agreement is for a contracted cooling capacity of 20,000 refrigeration tons (RTs) that will build, own, operate and transfer India’s first district cooling system in Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. The cooling services will start from early 2021. Tabreed’s district cooling system is a part of Andhra Pradesh’s vision for Amaravati to create jobs and homes along with a world-class infrastructure and efficient resource management. Compared to other cooling systems, district cooling uses only 50% of the primary energy consumption for cooling urban buildings, thereby reducing CO2 emissions. It also helps in improving the air quality and reducing general noise levels when compared to other traditional air conditioning systems. This will be Tabreed’s first plant outside its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market.

Notes:
Gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Novak Djokovic won the top prizes at the 2019 Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco. Djokovic won the Sportsman of the Year award after claiming victory at both the US Open and Wimbledon. While, Biles was named Sportswoman of the Year after winning four gold medals, one silver and one bronze at the 2018 World Championships. Golfer Tiger Woods won the Comeback award, while tennis player Naomi Osaka won Breakthrough of the Year. The other winners of the night were Chloe Kim (Action Sportsperson), Eliud Kipchoge, Arsene Wenger (Lifetime Achievement), Lindsey Vonn (Spirit for Sports), Jharkhand-based NGO Yuwa (Sport for Good) and Xia Boyu (Sporting Moment), the man who climbed Mount Everest, 44 years after he lost both his lower legs due to frostbite on his first attempt.

Notes:
The 16th meeting of the Russia-India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministers would be held at the Chinese city of Wuzhen in the eastern Zhejiang province on February 27. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will participate in the meeting together with the host Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The Ministers are expected to exchange views on the global situation, regional developments of common concern, address global challenges such as terrorism and discuss trilateral exchanges and activities. The meeting assumes significance as it will be the first high-level interaction between India and China after the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed on February 14. China has expressed shock over the incident, but reiterated its stand to block moves to list JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee. The last RIC Foreign Ministerial Meeting had been held in New Delhi on 11 December in 2017.

Notes:
On 21 Feb, the 2019 edition of Medical Fair India (MFI) was kick started in New Delhi in which global medical device manufacturers, healthcare experts, industry bodies, think tanks and policy makers from over 25 countries are participating. The 3-day medical trade show ‘MFI’ is organised by Messe Dusseldorf India, a fully owned subsidiary of Messe D sseldorf GmbH, the world’s leading trade fair organiser and exhibitions service provider. The MFI is well known for its ability to detect trends and respond to new innovations. Therefore, each edition is unique as it explores new sub-segments and opportunities for diversification. It will act as a platform for healthcare experts and stakeholders to share and discuss tangible solutions to diverse healthcare bottlenecks, challenges and issues of concerns.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently launched the supercomputer ‘Param of 833 teraflop capacity built at the IIT-BHU. It is built at the cost of Rs 32.5 crore under the National Super Computing Mission. About 40% of the total computer power will be used by the students of Navodaya Vidyalaya. The institute claims that relevant social issues faced by common people like irrigation schemes, traffic management, health, an affordable drug will also be taken care of with the help of this supercomputer centre. The ‘Param Shivay’ will include 1 peta byte secondary storage and appropriate open source system and application software suite using 223 processor nodes, 384 GB per node DDR4 RAM, parallel file system, including CPU and GPU. India’s first supercomputer called PARAM 8000 was launched in 1991. At present, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) has Pratyush, National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) has Mihir and IISc has SERC-Cray as supercomputers in India.

Notes:
Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani has recently launched the Integrated Large Scale Eri Farming under North East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. It’s the centrally funded Scheme for Eri silk Farming that will initially cover five districts of the state, which are: Papumpare, East Kameng, Siang, East Siang and West Siang. The skill training will be imparted to eri silk farmers and weavers under the Samarth Scheme. Beside this, Government of India (GoI) will also provide financial assistance to 4000 beneficiaries under NERTPS. The purpose of the Samarth (Scheme For Capacity Building In Textile Sector) scheme is to skill the youth for gainful and sustainable employment in the textile sector.

Notes:
International terror financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to keep Pakistan on its grey list, despite India’s push to blacklist it in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack. The decision was recently taken at the end of week-long meetings by the FATF in Paris. The Paris-based FATF stated that Pakistan has made only limited progress in curbing money laundering and terrorism financing. It failed to show a proper understanding of the risks posed by terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Jamat-ud-Dawa and others. Pakistan has until October 2019 to either comply with the demands made by FATF members or it could be blacklisted. The FATF has asked Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan that includes showing sanctions were being applied in cases of money laundering and terrorism financing. It also has to demonstrate better cooperation between authorities, identify illegal money flows, and enhance support for prosecutors, among other measures. Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Iran and North Korea are currently blacklisted.

Notes:
Justice Uma Nath Singh, the former Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, has been sworn-in as the first Lokayukta of Nagaland and will hold the office for a term of 5 years or till he attains the age of 70. Governor PB Acharya administered the oath to Justice Singh him at a function held at Raj Bhavan in Kohima on 22nd Feb 2019. The Lokayukta is an anti-corruption ombudsman organization in the Indian states. Once appointed, Lokayukta cannot be dismissed nor transferred by the government, and can only be removed by passing an impeachment motion by the state assembly. Maharashtra was the first state to introduce the institution of Lokayukta through The Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act in 1971. This was followed by similar acts that were enacted by the states of Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Delhi.

Notes:
Dr Divya Karnad, who teaches at Asoka University, has bagged the prestigious Global Future For Nature Award 2019 for her work on marine conservation. With the feat, she has become the first woman and the second Indian to receive the honour, the only other Indian being Dr Charudutt Mishra. The Future For Nature Award is a an international award that celebrates tangible achievements in protecting wild animal and plant species.

Notes:
Zimbabwe has recently introduced its new currency, dubbed as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dollar, after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced measures to try and resolve a chronic monetary crisis. The new currency replaces electronic bank savings called digital dollars and the bond notes, and was named after the RTGS system that banks use to transfer money between each other. The currency was launched at an initial rate of 2.5 RTGS dollars per US dollar. The RTGS dollar is supposed to bring together bond notes and debit card and mobile money payments to make sure that they are all worth the same.