Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The noted astronaut of the US- based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Christina Koch recently completed the longest-ever single spaceflight by a woman.
Christina Koch landed through a parachute at Kazakhstan, from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft she was onboard. She had created a record by spending 328 days on the International Space Station (ISS) and surpassed the previous record held by the American astronaut Peggy Whitson. In October last year, she performed the first all-female spacewalk along with her fellow astronaut Jessica Meir.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently projected the economic growth of the country to grow by 6 per cent during the next financial year. This is the lower end of the growth projection as announced by the government in the economic survey, which estimated a rate of 6-6.5 per cent. RBI also stated that the Indian economy continues to be weak.
The first half of the year would grow in the range of 5.5-6.0 per cent and the third quarter at 6.2 per cent, as per the RBI. But this projection is higher than the GDP growth projection of 5%, made in the monetary policy statement of December 2019.

Notes:
The Department of telecommunications (DoT) recently approved the merger of consumer mobile operations of the Tata group with Bharti Airtel.
During the month of October 2017, the Tata group announced that the company would sell its consumer mobile business to Bharti Airtel. After nearly two years of their plan, the final approval has been granted by DoT. Airtel has acquired Tata’s mobile phone operations across the country in 19 circles across the country. This merger would expand the spectrum availability and 4G coverage of Bharti Airtel.

Notes:
Pranash is the name of India’s 200-km strike range tactical ballistic missile which is currently under development by DRDO. This missile is advanced version of the 150-km strike range Prahar missile. Pranash will be a surface-to- surface ballistic missile and will be used by Air Force and Army.

Notes:
The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 was legislated to protect the scheduled communities from harassments and atrocities.
In March 2018, the Supreme court gave a judgement diluting the original act and it even granted anticipatory bail for those booked in the atrocity case. After huge protest, the government amended the original act and passed the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018. This amendment has been upheld by the apex court.

Notes:
The Indian government has recently announced that it has decided to rename the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad, as ‘Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management’ (AJNIFM).
NIFM, Faridabad was established in 1993 under the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. The Union Finance Minister serves as the President of NIFM. It trains officers of finance and accounts services recruited by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Indian Cost Accounts Service (ICoAS) officers.

Notes:
The Ministry of health and family welfare recently said in a notification that all medical devices sold in the country would be treated as drugs and would be regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940, from April 1, 2020.
As of now, only 23 medical devices are being categorised as drugs. Only a few of these including cardiac stents and intrauterine devices have been brought under price control. The decision was taken after discussing with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB).

Notes:
Veteran Indian journalist Nandu R Kulkarni recently passed away at Mumbai. A resident of Mumbai, the 70-year-old journalist was the Mumbai bureau chief of the Daily newspaper, ‘The Statesman’.
He started his career with ‘The Indian Express’ in 1976 and worked with the group for nearly 16 years. Nandu then joined ‘The Statesman’ in 1992 as the bureau chief. He covered a wide range of fields including politics and business and was known for his reports on economic offences.

Notes:
The Australian team was presented with the ICC Women’s Championship trophy. The team has retained the trophy by topping in eight-team ODI competition played from 2017 to 2020.
Australia has scored 34 points from 18 matches with one more series to play. The ICC Women’s Championship qualified hosts New Zealand and four other top teams including Australia, England and South Africa, directly to the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021.

Notes:
Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi was recently inaugurated as the 28th district of the state of Chhattisgarh, by the state’s Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
The new district, which has been carved out of Bilaspur, has three tehsils and three development blocks namely Gaurela, Pendra and Marwahi. The district has 166 Gram panchayats, 222 villages and two nagar panchayats.