Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Minister of State for Labour Santosh Gangwar recently announced that the government is conducting a new Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). The survey conducted this year comprises of new parameters and bigger sample size.
As per the results of the PLFS survey being conducted by the government, the Unemployment rate in the country in 2017-18 was 6.1 per cent. The labour force participation in the country in the same time period was found to be 36.9 per cent. The Minister also announced that the new survey conducted through the Ministry of Statistics provides more authentic data.

Notes:
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is observed annually on February 6, across the world. Genital Mutilation, or altering the female genitalia for non-medical reasons is prevalent in 30 countries in Africa the Middle East and other parts of the world.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly designated February 6th as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation and the UN works for the complete eradication of the practice by 2030. United Nations Population Fund, jointly with UNICEF, holds a global programme to eliminate the practice.

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Batterygate refers to implementation of performance controls on older models of Apple’s iPhone line in order to preserve system stability on degraded batteries.

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The Nutan International Theatre Festival (NITF) began on Feb 1 in Jammu and has veen a big it. This is first time in history of Jammu & Kashmir that a theatre festival of international repute was organized here.

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The City Police has recently launched ‘Operation Nakail’ in Ghaziabad, to verify the identity of auto-drivers of the city. Under the initiative, a unique four-digit number will be allotted to every auto-rickshaw of the city.
The owner of the vehicle has to paint the number, his name and mobile number on the auto, which would be easy to identify them. After many crimes were reported to be held in auto-rickshaws, this initiative was launched.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has recently launched two Assessment Frameworks, namely Ease of Living Index (EoLI) and Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2019.
The two indices are expected to assess the quality of life of citizens in 100 Smart Cities and 14 other cities, with more than 1 million population. The MPI assesses the performance of municipalities based on five parameters of Service, Finance, Planning, Technology and Governance.

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The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has recently approved the formation of Joint Venture (JV) between Mahindra & Mahindra and Ford Motor and the transfer of automotive business of Ford India to the JV.
The new venture to be formed would acquire the automotive business of Ford India Pvt Ltd (FIPL), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor company. The automotive business includes manufacturing plants of Ford India in Chennai and Sanand (Gujarat).

Notes:
The National Water Conference, 2020 was recently held in the city of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. It was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of the state, Kamal Nath.
Several renowned water experts from across the country, including ‘the Water Man of India’ Rajendra Singh, participated in the conference and discussed issues of water crisis. Discussions were also held in topics of traditional water sources, river restoration and right to water.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved the amendment of the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020, so that it also covers the litigations pending in debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) across the country. The scheme can be availed in search and seizure procedures, where the recovery is up to ₹5 crore.
Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020 is aimed at providing resolution of disputed direct taxes. More than ₹9-lakh crore of direct taxes is pending in litigation in India.

Notes:
The Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia recently ratified the North Atlantic Treaty, an agreement to make their country a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The country was earlier called Macedonia and was opposed by its neighbour Greece, as the historic place is present in their border. Greece asked the country to rename itself and it agreed to
drop its objections to the country in joining the NATO and the EU.