Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The prestigious Mystic Kalinga Literary Award (Indian and Global Languages) is to be presented to the noted Odia and English writer Manoj Das. The award would be presented during the Mystic Kalinga Festival (MKF) which commences in Bhubaneswar on February 8.
The Mystic Kalinga Literary Award is conferred to a person who has made significant contribution to the literature and culture of Odia. The bilingual writer recently received the country’s third-highest civilian award- Padma Bhushan, for his contribution in the field of literature and education. He had also been conferred with the Saraswati Samman award.

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:
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 86-year-old renowned cricket journalist and film historian Raju Bharatan recently passed away. Raju Bharatan had worked with the news magazine-‘Illustrated Weekly of India’ for more than 40 years. He has worked with several famous personalities including Khushwant Singh.
Raju Bharatan was also a columnist in sports magazines. He is the director of “The Victory Story” (1974) the first full-length cricket documentary. The film was based the first victory of the Indian cricket team over England during the tour of 1972. He was also a film historian and he had given voices for several cricket matches in radio.

Notes:
The national online platform for public procurement, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) was launched by the Union Commerce Ministry in 2016. It is an open and transparent procurement platform for government departments.
GeM was recently in news as public procurement worth Rs.40,000 crore has taken place through the online portal. In the recent Union budget, it was announced that government is looking to increase the turnover of the GeM portal to Rs.3 lakh crore.

Notes:
The birth anniversary of great Unani physician and social reformer Hakim Ajmal Khan is celebrated as the World Unani Day every year on 11th February.
He was a founder of scientific research in Unani System of Medicine and one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. Originated in Greece, the field of medicine was introduced in India by the Arabs and Persians. The day is celebrated to create awareness about health care through the Unani system.

Notes:
Renowned space scientist G Narayanan has been named the Chairman of New Space India Ltd (NSIL), Indian Space Research Organisation’s newly formed commercial entity.
Prior to this assignment, G Narayanan was serving as the Deputy director at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), an ISRO unit in Thiruvananthapuram. New Space India Ltd was set up as a Public Sector Undertaking under ISRO, last year to commercially explore the space market. NSIL is set to manufacture launch vehicles with main focus on Small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV).

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:
The regulator of Aviation security in India, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) recently notified that it has banned e-cigarettes and similar products in all airports and aircrafts in India.
It has also prohibited distribution, sale, storage of such products in any airport premises or any aircraft that departs or arrives in India. Last year, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare banned production, sale and import of e-cigarettes, as they include electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS).

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.