Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced that it has discovered a new natural gas field with 80 trillion standard cubic feet of shallow gas resources. The new gas field was named ‘Jebel Ali gas field’.
The field is located between the territories of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and reported to span around 5,000 square kilometres. This discovery would help the country become more energy independent, and self-sufficient. As of now, the UAE imports natural gas from its neighbouring country Qatar for electricity. The National Oil companies of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are set to further explore the field.

Notes:
The Pink City of India, Jaipur was formally certified as a World Heritage site by the Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay. The World Heritage City certificate was presented at a ceremony held at the historic Albert Hall of Jaipur.
It was also announced that UNESCO would collaborate with the Tourism department of Rajasthan Government to promote tourism sector in Western Rajasthan. The walled city of Jaipur was named as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2019, at the 43rd Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in the city of Baku, Azerbaijan.

Notes:
Indian Cricket star Virat Kohli retains his top rank in the latest brand valuation study by Duff & Phelps. He is placed at the first spot third year in a row.
The report revealed that Virat Kohli has increased his brand value by 40 per cent to $237.5 million in 2019. The second place was bagged by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who pushed the last year’s second rank holder Deepika Padukone to third. The third spot is shared by actor Ranveer Singh. Former Indian captain M.S.Dhoni is placed at 9th place in the list.

Notes:
In the recent Monetary policy committee statement released by the Reserve Bank of India, it extended the deadline for one-time restructuring of GST-registered MSME borrower account to December 31,2020. The restructuring was to be implemented before March 31, 2020, as per the RBI’s earlier guidelines. It also announced that scheduled commercial banks can deduct the credit disbursed as retail loans for automobiles, housing and MSME loans from their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) for CRR maintenance.

Notes:
The first ever India-Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave was recently held in the city of Lucknow, during the 11th edition of the biennial defence exhibition DefExpo 2020.
The Defence Ministers and Heads of Delegation from African countries and the Defence Minister of India jointly held the first India Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave. The Conclave adopted the Lucknow Declaration. Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chiefs of all the three services were also present in the event. Prior to this, during the third India-Africa Forum Summit (26-30 October 2015), the Delhi Declaration was adopted.

Notes:
The fifth edition of the India-Russia Military Industrial Conference was recently organised in the northern Indian city, Lucknow. The Conference was organised on the sidelines of the biennial Defence exhibition DefExpo 2020.
As many as 14 MoUs related to production of different defence equipment, radar systems, ASW Rocket launchers and 3D modeling were signed between the companies from India and Russia. Among several Indian companies, the prominent ones which signed the agreements were BHEL, Bharat Dynamics Limited and Vista control.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently released its statement on developmental and regulatory policies, along with the February 2020 Monetary policy statement.
In the statement, the central bank announced about the launch of Digital Payments Index (DPI), which will assess the digitalisation of payments in the country. The DPI will accurately measure the penetration of digital payment modes among the general public of the country. The index is proposed to be launched from July 2020.

Notes:
The country’s first glass floor suspension bridge is to be built across the river Ganga in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. The state government has recently approved the design of the glass-floor bridge.
This bridge is to be built as an alternative to the iconic Lakshman Jhula which was closed last year, citing safety reasons. The Public Works Department (PWD) is to construct the bridge, which would have a floor with toughened transparent glass, through which the pedestrians can see the surface of the river. The length of the proposed bridge will be 132.3 metres and it will have toughened glass railings on either side.

Notes:
Belum cave system is the largest cave system open to the public on Indian subcontinent extending about 3,229 meters. It is located in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. The recently concluded Belum Caves festival promoted the caves system.

Notes:
Christina Koch has set the record for the longest stay in space by a woman. The U.S. astronaut landed in Kazakhstan on February 6 after 328 days on the International Space Station (ISS).