Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has recently organised its first awareness programme in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
APEDA, which comes under the aegis of Union Ministry of Commerce and Industries, organised the programme in association with the Directorate of Industries of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, in the capital city of the islands, Port Blair. The campaign was aimed at examining methods to promote exports of agri products and implementation of the Agri Export Policy in the Islands. The draft state Agri Export action plan, developed by APEDA was also finalized.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has granted approval to Alliance Air to fly between India and Sri Lanka, by waiving the rule that an airline needs to own minimum 20 aircrafts to operate internationally.
Alliance Air, which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Air India, has five years of experience but does not have 20 aircrafts. A special exemption is allowed for the interim period, until the airline deploys the higher among- a minimum of 20 aircraft or 20 per cent of total capacity. There was no commercial operation scheduled from Palaly and Batticaloa airports of Sri Lanka, before this approval.

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.

Notes:
Rakhi Halder, the Indian weight-lifter from West Bengal was seen in news recently as she bagged gold medal in 64kg category at the 35th edition of the Senior Women’s National Weightlifting Championships, being held at Kolkata.
Rakhi Halder, who is an Indian Railways employee, had clinched gold in the Commonwealth Championship in June 2019 and the bronze medal at the Qatar International Cup. Earlier, former World champion Mirabai Chanu from Manipur set a new national record in the 49-kg category and won gold medal.

Notes:
The prestigious Mystic Kalinga Literary Award (Indian and Global Languages) is to be presented to the noted Odia and English writer Manoj Das. The award would be presented during the Mystic Kalinga Festival (MKF) which commences in Bhubaneswar on February 8.
The Mystic Kalinga Literary Award is conferred to a person who has made significant contribution to the literature and culture of Odia. The bilingual writer recently received the country’s third-highest civilian award- Padma Bhushan, for his contribution in the field of literature and education. He had also been conferred with the Saraswati Samman award.

Notes:
Pranash is the name of India’s 200-km strike range tactical ballistic missile which is currently under development by DRDO. This missile is advanced version of the 150-km strike range Prahar missile. Pranash will be a surface-to- surface ballistic missile and will be used by Air Force and Army.

Notes:
Raad-500 is a short-range ballistic missile recently unveiled by Iran. It can be powered by a “new generation” of engines designed to put satellites into orbit.

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 state government of Kerala has recently unveiled a scheme to establish hotels to provide meals at subsidised rates called ‘Kudumbashree’ hotels. The announcement was made during the presentation of state’s budget.
The hotels are to be set up in in each of the 1034 local bodies and Kerala meals is to be available at a subsidised price of Rs 25. Kudumbashree is an initiative of the state government for poverty eradication and women empowerment.

Notes:
Anoop Mishra, an Indian Army Major from the College of Military Engineering was known for having developed a bulletproof jacket which protects against sniper bullets. He was seen in news recently as he has now developed a helmet, which is also the world’s first, that can stop an AK-47 bullet round from 10 meters.
Indian Army’s College of Military Engineering in collaboration with a private firm has developed India’s first and world’s cheapest gunshot locator called ‘Parth’, which can locate the bullet from a distance of 400 meters.