Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The United Kingdom government has recently donated 20 million pounds, equivalent to nearly $25 million, for developing vaccine to combat the deadly coronavirus.
The country’s investment is set to be given to the global body named CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), which aims to develop the vaccine in six to eight months. The World Health Organisation has categorised the coronavirus outbreak as a global health emergency. The death toll in China due to the virus infection has crossed 400. Philippines and Hong Kong also reported their first deaths from the outbreak.

Notes:
Fitch Ratings recently released its forecast for India’s economic growth for the next financial year. It estimated a growth rate of 5.6 per cent, which is lower than the 6-6.5 per cent growth rate, as projected by the Indian government in its recent Economic survey 2019-20.
The agency also stated that the Union budget recently presented did not alter its view towards the growth prospects of the country. The agency has affirmed the ‘BBB- rating’ to India, last December. The government has missed its fiscal deficit targets for the previous year and the target for the next year is furthermore relaxed to 3.8%.

Notes:
A National Level Rural Technical Festival titled ‘Antahpragnya 2020’ was recently organised in the state of Telangana at Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies-Basar (RGUKT-Basar). This is the country’s biggest technical festival.
The three-day technical fest was conducted with the theme ‘Spot and encourage rural tech innovators’. It hosted more than 200 technical events including Campus Farming competition, Robo Racing, Development of Ideal Villages and National Science Fair. Nearly 50,000 people from nearby places and institutions participated in the event.

Notes:
Bhutan imposes a Sustainable Development Fee on international tourists, except those from India, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. The current rate is USD 100 per person per night, effective from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2027, as a 50% discount from the earlier USD 200. Indian tourists pay INR 1,200 per person per night. The fee funds conservation and infrastructure.

Notes:
Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), the public transporter of Delhi, has been conferred with the Road Safety Award 2018-19 in the urban category for the lowest rate of accidents.
The Director of DTC received the award from the Union Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari. The award was presented during the 3rd Edition of International Conference and Exhibition on Public Transport Innovation (ICEPTI) 2020, which was organised at New Delhi. The award carries a trophy and a cheque of Rs. 1 Lakh.

Notes:
Indian Oil and Gas company, the Indian Oil Corporation recently signed an MoU with Russian energy firm, Rosneft for importing Crude Oil from Russia.
The crude oil purchase agreement was signed during a meeting between Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and the Chairman and CEO of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. Under the agreement, Russia would export 2 million tonnes of crude oil to India this year. Rosneft bought Essar Oil in 2017, which is now Nayara Energy and holds 49 per cent stake in the firm.

Notes:
The fifth edition of the India-Russia Military Industrial Conference was recently organised in the northern Indian city, Lucknow. The Conference was organised on the sidelines of the biennial Defence exhibition DefExpo 2020.
As many as 14 MoUs related to production of different defence equipment, radar systems, ASW Rocket launchers and 3D modeling were signed between the companies from India and Russia. Among several Indian companies, the prominent ones which signed the agreements were BHEL, Bharat Dynamics Limited and Vista control.

Notes:
Leading car-maker Ford recently inaugurated its technology and innovation centre in the southern Indian city, Chennai. The Centre was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edapadi K Palaniswami along with the President and MD of Ford India.
The centre spanning over 15,000 sq. ft, is located at the Global Technology and Business Centre (GTBC) campus of Ford, in the Special Economic Zone of the city. The Centre has several state-of-the -art facilities including Mobility Experience Lab. It also has simulations for the Office Raid, an application-based mobility solution of Ford.

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 Telangana recently flagged off the stretch of Hyderabad Metro between Hyderabad and its sister city Secunderabad. With this, Hyderabad Metro has become the second largest operational metro rail network in the country, only after the Delhi Metro Rail.
Hyderabad Metro is also the biggest metro project in the world in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, with a total project cost of ₹20,000 crore, constructed by Larsen & Toubro.