Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Moody’s Investors Service recently released its estimates for India’s GDP growth in the upcoming fiscals. It lowered the real GDP growth projection for the next 2020-21 fiscal to 5.5 per cent, from its previous estimate of 6.3 per cent. The government’s Economic survey has projected a growth rate of 6-6.5% for the next fiscal.
It also stated that the GDP growth for the current fiscal ending March 31 would be 4.9 percent, which is slightly lower than the estimate of the government. For the fiscal 2021-22, it predicted a growth rate of 6 per cent, down from 6.7 per cent which was projected earlier.

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 Sharang Artillery gun would be inducted into the Indian Army on February 7, 2020, as per the recent announcement of the Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane. The 155 mm-Sharang is an upgraded version of the existing 130 mm M-46 field guns.
He also announced that Sig Sauer assault rifles and Spike anti-tank missiles are being issued to the army troops, who are deployed in the forward areas. The Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur upgraded the Sharang artillery gun along with the ordnance factories and technical teams of Army and DRDO.

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:
Thaipoosam is a festival celebrated by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai, usually coinciding with Pushya star, known as Poosam in Tamil. It is believed to be Murugan’s birthday by many.

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:
Lucknow Declaration was adopted by the first ever India-Africa Defence Ministers conclave as a part of the 11TH DefExpo. In this Defexpo, 1024 exhibitors participated, 172 of them being foreign companies. 40 Defence Ministers were part of total 70 foreign delegations that visited Lucknow. The event was also called “Defence Kumbh” by UP’s Chief Minister.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal has recently launched Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana. Under this scheme, an annual financial assistance of Rs 6000 is to be provided to the families in the State, whose annual income is up to Rs 1.80 lakh and who own land below 5 acres.
This ensures that the premiums for various welfare schemes of the Central Government, pension scheme and crop insurance are paid automatically from the bank accounts of the needy families.

Notes:
Ministry of Coal (MoC) has recently launched a web portal for star rating of coal mines. Under the portal, all operational coal mines across the country will be enabled for self-rating. The mines will be subsequently validated by Coal Controller’s Organization (CCO), the subordinate office of Ministry of Coal.
The mechanism on the portal would award star rating to the mines with certain evaluation parameters under 7 modules.

Notes:
The Indian government has recently announced that it has decided to rename the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad, as ‘Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management’ (AJNIFM).
NIFM, Faridabad was established in 1993 under the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. The Union Finance Minister serves as the President of NIFM. It trains officers of finance and accounts services recruited by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Indian Cost Accounts Service (ICoAS) officers.