Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Ministry of Corporate Affairs is replacing the existing SPICe (Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically) form with a new web form called SPICe+. The existing form, which is used for reservation of name, company incorporation, DIN allotment, and application for PAN/TAN, in its new avatar, would offer 10 services by three central government ministries and departments.

Notes:
Alternaria brassicae is a fungus that causes blight in the Mustard and Rapeseed crops. Yield in a field infected by fungus Alternaria brassicae can come down by as much as by 47 per cent, if remedial measures are not taken.

Notes:
23rd edition of the two day annual National Conference on e-Governance recently concluded in Mumbai. Its focus was on improving delivery of public services by promoting use of digital platforms. During the event, Blockchain Sandbox – Maharashtra was also launched. Mumbai Declaration on e-Governance was also unanimously adopted on the concluding day.

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:
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 of Maharashtra recently announced that ‘Bharosa Centre’ would be launched in the state to monitor the impact of social media on youth.
The proposed Centre would comprise a psychologist, woman police officer and counsellor in the Raigad district of the state to monitor the impact of social media on youth. The announcement was made during the closing ceremony of the seventh Aurangabad International Film Festival.

Notes:
Renowned writer and academician Giriraj Kishore passed away recently. The Gandhian writer was 82-years-old. He was also the recipient of the prestigious civilian award ‘Padma Shri’.
The famous literary works of Giriraj Kishore include ‘Pahla Girmitiya’ and ‘Dhaai Ghar’. A recipient of ‘Sahitya Samman’, he was also a former member of the Sahitya Academy working committee.

Notes:
The Cricket team of Bangladesh has clinched its maiden Under-19 World Cup title, in the ICC World cup 2020 cricket tournament, held at Potchefstroom, South Africa.
They beat the Indian team led by Priyam Garg in the Super League final match, by 3 wickets. The team was announced to have won, by D/L method. This is India’s seventh final appearance and the team has missed to earn its record fifth World Cup title.

Notes:
The 13th UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) (COP 13) is scheduled to be hosted by India in 2020, at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The COP-13 (Conference of Parties) is to be held from February 15-22, 2020.
It was recently announced that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the summit. The theme of this year’s summit is, ‘Migratory species connect the planet and we welcome them home’.

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.