Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Digital Fortress (Dejfa in Persian) is the name of a cybersecurity project of Iran. This has been frequently in news in recent times as Iran faces frequent DDoS attacks and cyber attacks. On 8th February also, the agency was able to avert a massive DDoS attack.

Notes:
Belum cave system is the largest cave system open to the public on Indian subcontinent extending about 3,229 meters. It is located in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. The recently concluded Belum Caves festival promoted the caves system.

Notes:
The 33rd African Union (AU) summit has commenced recently in Addis Ababa, the capital of the African nation Ethiopia. The summit is being held under the theme ‘Silencing the Guns: Creating conducive conditions for Africa’s development’.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, took over as the African Union chair, from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Heads of countries and government officials from across Africa have assembled in the city for participating in the summit.

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:
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:
Veteran Chartered Accountant Atul Kumar Gupta has been recently appointed as the new President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) for the year 2020-21. He was previously serving as the Vice President of the body during 2019-20.
Atul Kumar Gupta has assumed charge after the President Prafulla Chhajed’s place fell vacant. Nihar Niranjan Jambusaria has been elected as the Vice President of the ICAI for 2020-21.

Notes:
Hydrographic Survey Ship, INS Jamuna of Indian Navy is set to conduct detailed hydrographic surveys in Sri Lanka for next two months. The ship has arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka in this regard.
Several shore-based survey activities are also set to be carried out over the deployment period of 2 months. The personnel of Sri Lanka Navy personnel will be provided training during the hydrographic survey. Harbour training programme for the Sri Lankan sailors is also to be organised.

Notes:
The two-day BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) ‘Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking’ was recently inaugurated in New Delhi.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) organised the conference, which was inaugurated by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Several delegations from the Partner Nations arrived in India to attend the conference.

Notes:
BioAsia is an annual biotech and life sciences forum of the Telangana state government, which is scheduled to be held from February 17 to 19, 2020 at Hyderabad. Switzerland is the partner nation for the event.
Recently, the Genome Valley Excellence Award of BioAsia were announced to Carl H June, a scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, USA and Vasant Narasimham, CEO of multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis

Notes:
India and Portugal recently signed an MoU to develop a world-class National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal in Gujarat. The MoU has been signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, during his visit to India.
The complex would showcase rich Indian artefacts and create awareness among the public about the rich heritage of the country. The two countries also signed as many as 14 agreements in several fields including maritime transport and ports.