Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

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:
At Aero India show 2019, Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has launched its new product “Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG)” to meet the ever-increasing need for drinking water worldwide. The AWG employs a novel technology to extract water from the humidity present in the atmosphere and purify it. It uses heat exchange for condensing the atmospheric moisture to produce pure, safe and clean potable water. The AWG comes with a Mineralisation Unit, which is used to add minerals which are required to make the water potable. The AWG is configurable in static and mobile (vehicular) versions and is available in 30 litres/day, 100 litres/day, 500 litres/day and 1,000 litres/day capacities. The Atmospheric Water Generator can be used to provide drinking water in community centres and public places like health care centres, schools, colleges, offices, railway stations, bus stands, airports, sea ports, off-shore oil rigs, military establishments, remote field areas and remote establishments and residential complexes. It is manufactured by BEL in collaboration with CSIR-IICT and MAITHRI, a start-up company based in Hyderabad.

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.

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China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua has launched the world’s first female AI news anchor ‘Xin Xiaomeng’ to read alongside its male AI news presenters. She was developed jointly by Xinhua and search engine company Sogou Inc. Xiaomeng is expected to make a debut in March during the upcoming meetings of the country’s national legislature and top political advisory body. Earlier, in 2018, China became the first country in the world to develop the first of its kind AI ‘journalist’, a male news presenter by the name of Qui Hao.

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.

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Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), J P Nadda has inaugurated the 4th edition of Global Digital Health Partnership Summit in New Delhi on 25th February 2019. The global intergovernmental meeting on digital health is hosted by the MoHFW in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP). The GDHP is an international collaboration of governments, government agencies and multinational organisations dedicated to improving the health and well-being of their citizens through the best use of evidence-based digital technologies. The vision of the GDHP is to support governments and health system reformers to improve the health and well-being of their citizens through the best use of evidence-based digital technologies.

Notes:
On 25th February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has officially launched PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana) scheme from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. The scheme was announced in the interim Budget 2019-20 on1st February 2019. It is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India. Under the Scheme, Rs 6,000 will be given per year to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of upto 2 hectares. The amount will be given in three installments of Rs.2000 each. The amount will be transferred directly to the bank account of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer. DBT will ensure transparency in the entire process and will save time for the farmers. The Scheme was introduced to augment the income of the Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs). It is estimated to benefit more than 12 crore small and marginal farmers. The aim of the scheme is to supplement the financial needs of the SMFs in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of the each crop cycle. This would also protect them from falling in the clutches of moneylenders for meeting such expenses and ensure their continuance in the farming activities.

Notes:
‘Period. End of Sentence’, a documentary that tackles the stigma around menstruation in rural India, has won the Oscar in the Documentary Short Subject category at the 91st Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The film has been co-produced by Indian producer Guneet Monga and directed by Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi. The film is about women in India fighting against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation and delving upon the work of real life ‘Pad Man’ Arunachalam Muruganathan. The documentary feature is set in Hapur village outside Delhi, where women lead a quiet revolution as they fight against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation. For generations, these women did not have access to sanitary pads, which lead to health issues and girls dropping out from schools. When a sanitary pad vending machine is installed in the village, the women learn to manufacture and market their own pads, empowering their community. They name their brand “FLY”.

Notes:
Leg-spinner Rashid Khan claimed a hat-trick and became the first-ever bowler to bag four wickets in four deliveries in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) on February 17, 2019. Rashid’s impressive bowling performance in the third and final T20I also helped Afghanistan sweep the T20I series by a margin of 3-0 against Ireland in Dehradun. With this feat, Rashid also became the 7th bowler in the T20I history to bag a hat-trick and in the process also completed his second five-wicket haul in the format. Overall, Khan became the 2nd bowler in the history of the sport to do so in international cricket after Sri Lankan veteran Lasith Malinga pick up 4 wickets in 4 balls. Malinga achieved the milestone during the 2007 Cricket World Cup against South Africa.

Notes:
The World Day of Social Justice is observed every year on February 20 to recognize the need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion and unemployment. The day focuses on the plight of social injustice throughout the world and presses for improvements and solutions. The 2019 theme is “If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice”.