11. Britain’s Prince Charles has launched a new Children’s protection fund for which Asian country?
[A] Sri Lanka
[B] India
[C] Bangladesh
[D] Nepal
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [India]
Notes:
The Prince of Britain, Charles has recently unveiled a new children’s protection fund for India. This fund is a part of the charity founded by him in 2007, the British Asian Trust. The trust was founded to fight poverty in South Asia.
Noted American singer Katy Perry was named as the ambassador of the new fund. The Protection fund will focus on reducing the exploitation of children by 50 per cent in India over 10 years. The Children’s Protection Fund will primarily cover child sexual abuse, child labour and trafficking. School safety nets are also proposed to be aet up through child-friendly village models.
12. Which state is set to host the Hornbill Festival this month, which was originally celebrated in Nagaland?
[A] Assam
[B] Tripura
[C] Mizoram
[D] Meghalaya
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Tripura]
Notes:
Tripura government is to hold the two-day Hornbill Festival for the first time from February 8, 2020. The festival has been an important state festival of Nagaland, which is usually held in the month of December in the Naga heritage village of Nagaland.
Tripura hosts the festival with an aim to conserve the Hornbill bird and to boost the livelihood of the state’s people through tourism. Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur also had started organising the Hornbill festival in their states, following Nagaland.
13. Sports Authority of India (SAI) and which sports federation recently announced to establish High Performance Centres in seven places across the country?
[A] Athletic Federation of India
[B] Hockey India
[C] Boxing Federation of India
[D] Swimming Federation of India
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Hockey India]
Notes:
Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Hockey India jointly announced that High Performance Centres would be established in seven places across the country. The Centres are expected to provide world-class facilities to Junior and Sub-Junior hockey players.
The Centres, which would provide international exposure to players, will be monitored by Hockey India. Four Centres including the National Hockey Academy at Dhyan Chand National Stadium will be functional within three months. This step is taken to promote the game and groom young players for the upcoming Olympic Games.
14. Recently, the Supreme Court of India upheld the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act. When was the original act of 1989 amended?
[A] 2016
[B] 2017
[C] 2018
[D] 2019
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [2018]
Notes:
The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 was legislated to protect the scheduled communities from harassments and atrocities.
In March 2018, the Supreme court gave a judgement diluting the original act and it even granted anticipatory bail for those booked in the atrocity case. After huge protest, the government amended the original act and passed the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018. This amendment has been upheld by the apex court.
15. Which Union Ministry has recently launched the web portal for ‘Star rating of Coal mines’?
[A] Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
[B] Ministry of Coal
[C] Ministry of Mines
[D] Ministry of Earth Sciences
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Ministry of Coal]
Notes:
Ministry of Coal (MoC) has recently launched a web portal for star rating of coal mines. Under the portal, all operational coal mines across the country will be enabled for self-rating. The mines will be subsequently validated by Coal Controller’s Organization (CCO), the subordinate office of Ministry of Coal.
The mechanism on the portal would award star rating to the mines with certain evaluation parameters under 7 modules.
16. The storm ‘Ciara’ recently hit several countries of which continent?
[A] Asia
[B] Europe
[C] Australia
[D] North America
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Europe]
Notes:
European countries witnessed a devastating storm named ‘Ciara’, which caused huge damage and killed as many as six people. The hurricane-force winds and heavy rains damaged several thousand buildings in the region.
The storm moved on near Germany, after hitting Britain and Ireland. It was called as ‘Ciara’ by the Irish weather service and dubbed as ‘Sabine’ in Germany. Flood warnings are given and flight operations are suspended in the countries.
17. What is the official name of the virus outbreak from China, as per the World Health Organisation?
[A] COVID-19
[B] CORO-19
[C] n-COR -19
[D] NOVEL-19
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [COVID-19]
Notes:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently announced that the deadly virus outbreak from China will be officially called as “COVID-19”.
The official name was announced to avoid references of particular geographic locations, species of animals or group of people. It has earlier named the virus as “2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease”, temporarily. In the official name, ‘CO’ stands for “corona”, ‘VI’ for “virus” and ‘D’ for “disease”, while ‘19’ denotes the year.
18. Which state government recently launched toll-free helpline numbers for students to resolve their queries by experts?
[A] Odisha
[B] Uttar Pradesh
[C] West Bengal
[D] Haryana
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Uttar Pradesh]
Notes:
The state government of Uttar Pradesh has recently launched toll-free helpline numbers for students. This initiative is aimed at solving queries of students ahead of the Board Examinations.
A senior officer of Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad is designated as Nodal Officer of the initiative. Several academicians and experts of different subjects will be made available on call, to resolve the doubts of students.
19. ‘We Think Digital’ is a digital literacy program of which global technological company?
[A] Google
[B] Facebook
[C] Apple
[D] Amazon
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Facebook]
Notes:
We Think Digital is a global digital literacy program of the technology major Facebook. The program was launched in 2019 with an aim to overcome gender imbalance on the internet space.
Recently, Facebook launched ‘We Think Digital’ program in Uttar Pradesh, in association with National Commission for Women (NCW) and Cyber Peace Foundation. The program aims to provide digital literacy to nearly 1,00,000 women across seven Indian states.
20. Which state government recently approved Ground water Act, 2020, to improve groundwater level?
[A] Bihar
[B] Uttar Pradesh
[C] Jharkhand
[D] Rajasthan
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Uttar Pradesh]
Notes:
The state cabinet of Uttar Pradesh chaired by its Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently approved the Ground water Act, 2020. The act aims at improving the falling groundwater level of the state.
Under the new act, one has to register with the state records before installing submersible pumps either off-line or on-line. It has also ensured provisions for rain water harvesting in all buildings. People who contaminate ground water would be granted penalty and punishment.