Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

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Thaipoosam is a festival celebrated by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai, usually coinciding with Pushya star, known as Poosam in Tamil. It is believed to be Murugan’s birthday by many.

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Pakistani cricketer Naseem Shah recently became the youngest person to get a hat trick in test cricket. Naseem, aged 16 years and 359 days took three wickets against Bangladesh on February 9, 2020 to set this record.

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Anoop Mishra, an Indian Army Major from the College of Military Engineering was known for having developed a bulletproof jacket which protects against sniper bullets. He was seen in news recently as he has now developed a helmet, which is also the world’s first, that can stop an AK-47 bullet round from 10 meters.
Indian Army’s College of Military Engineering in collaboration with a private firm has developed India’s first and world’s cheapest gunshot locator called ‘Parth’, which can locate the bullet from a distance of 400 meters.

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.

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The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) was established in 1972, by an act of Parliament, to act as the nodal agency for the development of Indian seafood industry. It is head-quartered at Kochi.
Recently, MPEDA announced that it is to start the upgradation and modernisation 25 fishing harbours in the country. The project is to be undertaken with the assistance from the Centre
at a proposed outlay of Rs 2500 crore.

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The fifth edition of joint military exercise ‘Ajeya Warrior’ between India and the United Kingdom will be conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom. The exercise is scheduled from February 13 to 26, 2020.
120 soldiers each from Indian and United Kingdom Army would participate in the exercise. The joint military exercise has been conducted alternatively in United Kingdom and India. The training will be held with emphasis on counter-terror operations in urban and semi-urban areas.

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Ace Indian hockey player Lalremsiami has been named as the ‘2019 FIH Women’s Rising Star of the Year’, by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The 19-year-old player from the state of Mizoram, is the first Indian woman player to win the award.
In the men’s category, the Indian men’s team midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad was named as the ‘2019 Rising Star of the year’ by FIH.

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.

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.

Notes:
The Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia recently ratified the North Atlantic Treaty, an agreement to make their country a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The country was earlier called Macedonia and was opposed by its neighbour Greece, as the historic place is present in their border. Greece asked the country to rename itself and it agreed to
drop its objections to the country in joining the NATO and the EU.