Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Telangana recently flagged off the stretch of Hyderabad Metro between Hyderabad and its sister city Secunderabad. With this, Hyderabad Metro has become the second largest operational metro rail network in the country, only after the Delhi Metro Rail.
Hyderabad Metro is also the biggest metro project in the world in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, with a total project cost of ₹20,000 crore, constructed by Larsen & Toubro.

Notes:
Indian cueist Aditya Mehta was seen in news recently as he won the National Snooker Championship, held at Pune. He represented the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and defeated the 22-time-world champion Pankaj Advani 6-2 to win the title. Pankaj recently won the National Billiards Championship.
Vidya Pillai of Karnataka clinched the women’s snooker title, by beating Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh.

Notes:
The state government of Haryana has launched an initiative called ‘Reading Mission- Haryana’. The initiative was launched to encourage reading habit among the young students of the state.
The scheme is on the lines of the ‘Reading Mission 2022’, launched by the central government. Under the state’s initiative, monthly book review sessions and mass book reading are to be organised by students in educational institutions.

Notes:
The first cultural festival called ‘Jerusalem-Mumbai Festival’ is set to be hosted by India, in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The festival is celebrated to promote the ties between India and Israel.
This is the first such joint event for Jerusalem in an Asian city. The two-day festival commences on February 15 and comprises of several art and cultural events to showcase the tradition of both countries.

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 United States Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) office has recently classified India as a developed economy and it is ineligible for GSP benefits from the US.
The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme offers a lower tariff to the exporters of a select group of developing countries. India is the largest beneficiary nation under the GSP, which enjoyed a tariff-free access to the US, till last June.

Notes:
Union Minister of Health and Union Minister of HRD jointly launched the School Health and Wellness Ambassador initiative under Ayushman Bharat scheme. Under the initiative, two teachers in every school will be designated ‘Health and wellness ambassador’ to create awareness about health issues.
The programme will be implemented in 200 districts, initially and will be linked with other government schemes including Fit India movement, Eat Right campaign, Poshan Abhiyaan.

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.

Notes:
Indian Naval Station (INS) Shivaji is located in Lonavala, Maharashtra, India. It comprises of Naval College of Engineering, which imparts training in engineering discipline to personnel of Indian Navy, Coast Guard and other countries.
President Ram Nath Kovind recently presented ‘President’s Colour’, the highest honour given to a military unit, to INS Shivaji. The honour was bestowed on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee (75th anniversary) of the unit.

Notes:
Hydrographic Survey Ship, INS Jamuna of Indian Navy is set to conduct detailed hydrographic surveys in Sri Lanka for next two months. The ship has arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka in this regard.
Several shore-based survey activities are also set to be carried out over the deployment period of 2 months. The personnel of Sri Lanka Navy personnel will be provided training during the hydrographic survey. Harbour training programme for the Sri Lankan sailors is also to be organised.