Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

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 city of Kochi, Kerala hosts the 22nd India International Seafood Show, after a gap of 12 years. The three-day seafood show has been inaugurated by the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan on February 7,2020.
The event will provide a platform for collaboration of the exporters and importers of the country’s marine products and seafood industry. The theme of the programme is ‘Blue Revolution: Beyond production to value addition’. Marine Product Export Development Authority (MPEDA) organises the event in association with Seafood Exporters’ Association of India.

Notes:
The state government of Madhya Pradesh recently announced that drones would be used in land surveys for mapping the villages. The Revenue department of Madhya Pradesh has signed agreement in this regard with the national mapping agency, Survey of India.
The land survey work is being done manually or with the assistance of satellite images, until now in the state. As many as 55 thousand villages of the state have been selected for mapping. Using the drone technology, the map of the area will be made on a scale of 1:500, for a better resolution. Last year in August, Maharashtra started using drones for mapping its villages.

Notes:
Sant Ravidas was a 14th-century saint and founder of the Bhakti movement in North India. He was born at Seer Goverdhanpur near Banaras.

Notes:
Kaamya Karthikeyan a student from Mumbai, recently became the youngest girl in the world to scale Mt Aconcagua. Mt Aconcagua is the highest peak in South America, located in Argentina. It is the highest peak outside Asia with the height of 6962 metres.
The student of Navy children school has already scaled the some of the highest peaks in Africa, Europe, and Australia in the past.

Notes:
The state government of Haryana has launched an initiative called ‘Reading Mission- Haryana’. The initiative was launched to encourage reading habit among the young students of the state.
The scheme is on the lines of the ‘Reading Mission 2022’, launched by the central government. Under the state’s initiative, monthly book review sessions and mass book reading are to be organised by students in educational institutions.

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 ‘International Day of Women and Girls in Science’ is celebrated across the world on 11 February. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution in 2015 and declared 11 February as the day of Women and Girls in Science. Since then, the day is celebrated annually.
The day is aimed to achieve complete gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and to encourage more women to take up their career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field.

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.

Notes:
The Economist Intelligence Unit has lowered its global growth forecast for 2020 to 2.2%, from its earlier estimate of 2.3%. The dip was due to the new risks that have emerged following the virus outbreak in China, which was recently named by the WHO as COVID-19.
The real GDP forecast for China in 2020 was also decreased to 5.4%, from the earlier estimate of 5.9%. The agency has assumed that the spread of the virus will be contained by the end of March.