Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had proposed the door-delivery of pension in the state under YSR Pension Kanuka scheme. The process was recently commenced in the state.
The pension has also been increased to ₹2,250 from the earlier ₹1,000 and the eligibility criteria has been revised to provide pension benefit to all the deserved people. The volunteers, with the smartphones containing biometric information of the pensioners will visit the beneficiaries and process the pension payment.

Notes:
Kenya’s longest-serving president, Daniel Arap Moi, who ruled the country for 24 years, passed away recently. He assumed charge as the President of the country in 1978, when the founding President Jomo Kenyatta died.
He was seen as a uniting figure by many Kenyans. During his reign, he passed a constitutional amendment that made Kenya a one-party state. Then he surrendered to the demands of a multi-party state in 1991. Corruption, economic crisis and political protests were reported in the East African country.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation recently released a report on the World Cancer Day, February 4. It has warned that cancer cases would rise by 81 percent in low and middle-income countries by the year 2040, due to lack of investment in prevention and medical care. By 2040, overall cancer cases in the world would rise by 60 percent.
The report also stated that an investment of $ 25 billion would be required for saving 7 million lives globally from cancer. The report asked to tackle the inequality in investment between rich and poor countries. It also revealed that tobacco use was responsible for 25 percent of cancer deaths.

Notes:
Authorities from the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research have recently signed agreements with India in the fields of higher education and research, in New Delhi.
This agreement is a part of the visit of delegation of important educational institutions of Norway to India. Among the several agreements signed, the significant pact was between the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), for co-operation in the fields of bio-photonics, health and diagnostic tools, nanotechnology.

Notes:
Veteran Indian actor Waheeda Rehman was recently conferred with the prestigious Kishore Kumar Samman Award for the year 2018. The award was instituted by the Madhya Pradesh government.
Famous director Priyadarshan was conferred with the Kishore Kumar Samman for the year 2019, on the death anniversary of the legendary actor Kishore Kumar, October 13, 2019. As Waheeda Rehman could not receive the award during the ceremony, she was presented the award now, by the Madhya Pradesh culture minister Dr Vijaylaxmi Sadho.

Notes:
The biennial Defence exhibition of India, ‘DefExpo’ was recently inaugurated at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also attended the inaugural programme.
A live demonstration of naval systems, aerial systems and land systems was performed during the ceremony. The main theme of the DefExpo 2020 is ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’ and the focus will be on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’. The five-day-exhibition is to be attended by delegates and military manufacturers from more than 70 countries. The fifth India-Russia Military Industry Conference is also to be held on the side-lines of the event.

Notes:
A German cybersecurity firm called Greenbone Sustainable Resilience recently published a report on medical data leaks. It revealed that the medical details of more than 120 million Indian patients have been leaked and made available on the Internet.
The state of Maharashtra is placed at the top of the list of states that are affected by the data leak, followed by Karnataka and West Bengal. It also classifies countries in three categories of good, bad and ugly, based on the action taken by the governments after its first report was released. India is placed second in the ugly category.

Notes:
The country’s first glass floor suspension bridge is to be built across the river Ganga in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. The state government has recently approved the design of the glass-floor bridge.
This bridge is to be built as an alternative to the iconic Lakshman Jhula which was closed last year, citing safety reasons. The Public Works Department (PWD) is to construct the bridge, which would have a floor with toughened transparent glass, through which the pedestrians can see the surface of the river. The length of the proposed bridge will be 132.3 metres and it will have toughened glass railings on either side.

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:
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.