Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Indian Cricket star Virat Kohli retains his top rank in the latest brand valuation study by Duff & Phelps. He is placed at the first spot third year in a row.
The report revealed that Virat Kohli has increased his brand value by 40 per cent to $237.5 million in 2019. The second place was bagged by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who pushed the last year’s second rank holder Deepika Padukone to third. The third spot is shared by actor Ranveer Singh. Former Indian captain M.S.Dhoni is placed at 9th place in the list.

Notes:
Veteran Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas has recently passed away at the age of 103. The legendary actor was born in Amsterdam and his original name was Issur Danielovitch Demsky.
He made his Hollywood debut in 1946 with the film “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” and Kirk Douglas became a leading box-office icon of Hollywood during 1950-60. One of his most popular movies was ‘Spartacus’, which made a universal box-office record. He was the recipient of the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a US civilian.

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.

Notes:
India’s leading defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RailTel Corporation of India for mutual co-operation in the fields of Cloud Services, IoT, e-Governance and Networks for Defence projects.
BEL also signed an agreement with a Bengaluru-based start-up, Newspace & Research Technologies Limited (NRT), for co-operation in design, testing and supply of Unmanned Systems. The PSU also partnered with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) to develop and market products for defence and non-defence applications. All the agreements were inked during the ongoing defence exhibition-DefExpo 2020, at Lucknow.

Notes:
The Nutan International Theatre Festival (NITF) began on Feb 1 in Jammu and has veen a big it. This is first time in history of Jammu & Kashmir that a theatre festival of international repute was organized here.

Notes:
Raad-500 is a short-range ballistic missile recently unveiled by Iran. It can be powered by a “new generation” of engines designed to put satellites into orbit.

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:
The Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal has recently launched Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana. Under this scheme, an annual financial assistance of Rs 6000 is to be provided to the families in the State, whose annual income is up to Rs 1.80 lakh and who own land below 5 acres.
This ensures that the premiums for various welfare schemes of the Central Government, pension scheme and crop insurance are paid automatically from the bank accounts of the needy families.

Notes:
The Department of Agriculture of Andhra Pradesh recently signed Memoranda of understanding with 11 premier agricultural institutions of the country, in the presence of its Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Under the agreement, the institutions will provide technical assistance for increasing the farmers income sustainably, by following organic and natural farming practices. The Chief Minister also announced that more than 11000 Rythu Bharosa Kendras would be set up across the state.

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.