Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently projected the economic growth of the country to grow by 6 per cent during the next financial year. This is the lower end of the growth projection as announced by the government in the economic survey, which estimated a rate of 6-6.5 per cent. RBI also stated that the Indian economy continues to be weak.
The first half of the year would grow in the range of 5.5-6.0 per cent and the third quarter at 6.2 per cent, as per the RBI. But this projection is higher than the GDP growth projection of 5%, made in the monetary policy statement of December 2019.

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.

Notes:
Esperanza Base (Hope Base) is a permanent, all-year-round Argentine research station in Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula in Antarctica.

Notes:
Pakistani cricketer Naseem Shah recently became the youngest person to get a hat trick in test cricket. Naseem, aged 16 years and 359 days took three wickets against Bangladesh on February 9, 2020 to set this record.

Notes:
M.J. Akbar’s new book “Gandhi’s Hinduism – The Struggle Against Jinnah’s Islam” chronicles the endgame that led to the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 and the creation of Pakistan.

Notes:
The South African country Botswana has the largest elephant population in the world. Recently, the country was seen in news as it auctioned licenses to hunt elephants, to tackle human-animal conflict.
In the capital city of the country Gaborone, the licenses to hunt 70 elephants were said to be auctioned. The government had lifted the ban on hunting, which was prevalent for five years.

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.

Notes:
The Chief economist of World Bank, Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg recently announced her resignation. The economist is expected to step down from her role on March 1 and return to teach at Yale University.
Pinelopi Koujianou assumed charge as the Chief economist at the end of April 2018. World Bank President David Malpass announced that Research Director Aart Kraay would take over as an interim Chief economist.

Notes:
The first cultural festival called ‘Jerusalem-Mumbai Festival’ is set to be hosted by India, in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The festival is celebrated to promote the ties between India and Israel.
This is the first such joint event for Jerusalem in an Asian city. The two-day festival commences on February 15 and comprises of several art and cultural events to showcase the tradition of both countries.

Notes:
The 33-year-old cricket star of Australia, David Warner won the Allan Border medal of Cricket Australia, for being the Player of the year.
He had been suspended in 2018 for ball-tampering. This is Warner’s third award after he won the coveted award in 2016 and 2017. He was also named the T20 player of the year. Women’s all-rounder Ellyse Perry won the Belinda Clark award.