Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

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:
The state government of Madhya Pradesh recently announced that drones would be used in land surveys for mapping the villages. The Revenue department of Madhya Pradesh has signed agreement in this regard with the national mapping agency, Survey of India.
The land survey work is being done manually or with the assistance of satellite images, until now in the state. As many as 55 thousand villages of the state have been selected for mapping. Using the drone technology, the map of the area will be made on a scale of 1:500, for a better resolution. Last year in August, Maharashtra started using drones for mapping its villages.

Notes:
23rd edition of the two day annual National Conference on e-Governance recently concluded in Mumbai. Its focus was on improving delivery of public services by promoting use of digital platforms. During the event, Blockchain Sandbox – Maharashtra was also launched. Mumbai Declaration on e-Governance was also unanimously adopted on the concluding day.

Notes:
Christina Koch has set the record for the longest stay in space by a woman. The U.S. astronaut landed in Kazakhstan on February 6 after 328 days on the International Space Station (ISS).

Notes:
Renowned Indian philosopher and educationist Prof. K. Ramakrishna Rao has authored his autobiography, which is titled as ‘A Child of Destiny: an autobiography’. It was released by the Indian Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, in Visakhapatnam.
The Professor, Vice Chancellor of GITAM University, was also the recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri award. He had also been awarded the National Fellowship of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

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 Cricket team of Bangladesh has clinched its maiden Under-19 World Cup title, in the ICC World cup 2020 cricket tournament, held at Potchefstroom, South Africa.
They beat the Indian team led by Priyam Garg in the Super League final match, by 3 wickets. The team was announced to have won, by D/L method. This is India’s seventh final appearance and the team has missed to earn its record fifth World Cup title.

Notes:
Indian cueist Aditya Mehta was seen in news recently as he won the National Snooker Championship, held at Pune. He represented the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and defeated the 22-time-world champion Pankaj Advani 6-2 to win the title. Pankaj recently won the National Billiards Championship.
Vidya Pillai of Karnataka clinched the women’s snooker title, by beating Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh.

Notes:
The Great Indian Bustard is named the mascot of the UN Convention of Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) (COP 13). India has recently proposed to include three species- the Asian elephant, the Great Indian Bustard and the Bengal Florican in the list of ‘migratory species threatened with extinction’, under the CMS-COP 13.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recently unveiled a draft Visionary Perspective Plan (2020-2030), for conserving the bird species and their eco-systems.

Notes:
National Productivity Council (NPC) is an institution for propagating productivity movement in India, which functions under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The formation of National Productivity Council is being celebrated annually as Productivity Day (12th February) and following seven days as Productivity Week (12th – 18th February). The organisation conducts various events throughout the week for promoting productivity.