Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The state Government of Kerala declared the disease caused by the novel coronavirus as a “state calamity”. This declaration comes at the backdrop of three people of the state being tested positive for coronavirus.
Kerala reported the first infection from the virus in India and the person is being treated in isolation wards. Later two other patients, who are the students of a medical college in Wuhan, China are also diagnosed with the virus infection. The novel coronavirus was first reported in China’s Wuhan city and has spread to nearly 25 other countries.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet of India recently approved amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, which will bring multi-state cooperative banks under the regulation of the Reserve Bank of India.
This amendment in regulation is expected to prevent malpractices in the co-operative banks and ensure better regulation. The administrative role of the banks will be managed by the cooperative registrars. This decision is taken at the backdrop of the collapse of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank last year. The banks would also be audited according to the norms stipulated by RBI.

Notes:
Ace Indian weight-lifter, Mirabai Chanu set a new national record in the National Weightlifting Championships in Kolkata, by improving her previous record. The former world champion and common wealth gold medallist belongs to the state of Manipur.
Mirabai lifted a total of 203kg to win the 49kg gold, which was better than her previous best- 201 kg, which she had achieved at the World Championships at Thailand, in September last year. The 25-year-old weight-lifter was placed fourth in the world rankings. Jeremy Lalrinnunga, another top weight-lifter from India won the men’s 67kg title in the Championship.

Notes:
The four-day National Horticultural Fair, which is the country’s biggest horticultural fair is set to be organised at the Hessarghatta campus of the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru.
Indian Institute of Horticultural Research organises the national-level fair, which is scheduled to be held from February 5 to 8, 2020. The theme of this year’s fair is ‘Making farming an enterprise’. More than 50,000 farmers from various States of the country are expected to take part in the exhibition. Several crop varieties, horticultural technologies and practices are to be showcased in the fair.

Notes:
The annual event called Udyanotsav, during which the Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan will be opened for the general public, was inaugurated by the Indian President Ram Nath Kovind.
The gardens will remain open for the public till March 8, 2020 between 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The gardens are to be closed only on Mondays for maintenance works. The unique Mughal Gardens of the official residence of the President comprises of several exotic flowers and bulbous flowers like Narcissus, Dahlia, Sparaxis. Visitors can walk-in directly or use the online booking facility to visit the Gardens.

Notes:
Top Striker of the Indian Hockey team Navneet Kaur was seen in news recently, as she scored two crucial goals against the host New Zealand and led the country to a 3-0 win in the last game of the five-match tour.
In the tour, India began with a 4-0 win over New Zealand Development squad and two subsequent loses. In the fourth match against Great Britain, the Indian skipper Rani Rampal, who was recently chosen as the ‘World Games Athlete of the year’, scored a goal to lead India to the 1-0 win.

Notes:
‘Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana’ (PMKVY) is the flagship skill development scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It is implemented by the National Skill Development Corporation and aims to impart skills to one Crore persons of the country by 2020. It was launched in the year 2015, on the National skills day, July 15.
Recently, the Skill Development Ministry announced that over 73 lakh candidates undertook training under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. The Ministry had earlier announced that PMKVY-III will be launched this year, with enhanced initiatives.

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:
A private Indian firm has recently unveiled the indigenous air to ground missile ‘Khagantak’, during the ongoing DefExpo 2020. The firm has manufactured the air to ground missile with a strike range of 180 km.
The Managing Director of JSR Dynamics Air Marshal SB Deo announced the missile and said that when released from a height of 12 km, the missile is an air-launch weapon. It can be used as a guide weapon, which also has artificial intelligence (AI) to recognise the targets. Such indigenous missiles are expected to be a boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative and reduce our dependence on foreign defence manufacturers.

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.