Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
A private Indian firm has recently unveiled the indigenous air to ground missile ‘Khagantak’, during the ongoing DefExpo 2020. The firm has manufactured the air to ground missile with a strike range of 180 km.
The Managing Director of JSR Dynamics Air Marshal SB Deo announced the missile and said that when released from a height of 12 km, the missile is an air-launch weapon. It can be used as a guide weapon, which also has artificial intelligence (AI) to recognise the targets. Such indigenous missiles are expected to be a boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative and reduce our dependence on foreign defence manufacturers.

Notes:
The country’s first glass floor suspension bridge is to be built across the river Ganga in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. The state government has recently approved the design of the glass-floor bridge.
This bridge is to be built as an alternative to the iconic Lakshman Jhula which was closed last year, citing safety reasons. The Public Works Department (PWD) is to construct the bridge, which would have a floor with toughened transparent glass, through which the pedestrians can see the surface of the river. The length of the proposed bridge will be 132.3 metres and it will have toughened glass railings on either side.

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 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.

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:
Ministry of Coal (MoC) has recently launched a web portal for star rating of coal mines. Under the portal, all operational coal mines across the country will be enabled for self-rating. The mines will be subsequently validated by Coal Controller’s Organization (CCO), the subordinate office of Ministry of Coal.
The mechanism on the portal would award star rating to the mines with certain evaluation parameters under 7 modules.

Notes:
State Bank of India (SBI) recently partnered with the mobile phone manufacturer Realme, to offer credit facilities. The partnership is made under the bank’s electronic lending product- Electronic Dealer Financing Scheme (e-DFS).
Under this MoU, the dealers and distributors of Realme would get access to credit facilities at low interest rates and minimum collateral. The inventory transactions could also be reported real-time, using the product.

Notes:
The ‘International Day of Women and Girls in Science’ is celebrated across the world on 11 February. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution in 2015 and declared 11 February as the day of Women and Girls in Science. Since then, the day is celebrated annually.
The day is aimed to achieve complete gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and to encourage more women to take up their career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field.

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:
Gulmarg is a popular skiing destination and a hill-station town located in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in the Pir Panjal Range in the western Himalayas.
The town is set to host the five-day national winter games event under Khelo India, from March 7. As many as 30 events are scheduled to be organised under five major activities namely snowboarding, snow skiing, cross country and snow show.