Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has recently organised its first awareness programme in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
APEDA, which comes under the aegis of Union Ministry of Commerce and Industries, organised the programme in association with the Directorate of Industries of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, in the capital city of the islands, Port Blair. The campaign was aimed at examining methods to promote exports of agri products and implementation of the Agri Export Policy in the Islands. The draft state Agri Export action plan, developed by APEDA was also finalized.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet recently approved the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to confer the status of Institution of National Importance (INI) to five Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).
The Five IIITs in Public-Private-Partnership mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur are to conferred with the INI status. After the status has been granted, the institutions would be able to award degrees and to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (BTech) or Master of Technology (MTech) or PhD degree. The existing 15 IIITs had already been provided with the INI status.

Notes:
Indian Cricket star Virat Kohli retains his top rank in the latest brand valuation study by Duff & Phelps. He is placed at the first spot third year in a row.
The report revealed that Virat Kohli has increased his brand value by 40 per cent to $237.5 million in 2019. The second place was bagged by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who pushed the last year’s second rank holder Deepika Padukone to third. The third spot is shared by actor Ranveer Singh. Former Indian captain M.S.Dhoni is placed at 9th place in the list.

Notes:
Indian President Ramnath Govind recently conferred the International Gandhi Awards for Leprosy on Dr N.S. Dharmashaktu under the Indian nomination (individual) category. Dr N.S. Dharmashaktu was the former Principal adviser (Public health), Ministry of Health and family welfare.
The Leprosy Mission Trust was presented the award under the institutional category. The President also announced that India has accomplished the level of leprosy elimination which is defined as less than one case per ten thousand population.

Notes:
Veteran Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas has recently passed away at the age of 103. The legendary actor was born in Amsterdam and his original name was Issur Danielovitch Demsky.
He made his Hollywood debut in 1946 with the film “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” and Kirk Douglas became a leading box-office icon of Hollywood during 1950-60. One of his most popular movies was ‘Spartacus’, which made a universal box-office record. He was the recipient of the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a US civilian.

Notes:
The Administrative Council under the chairmanship of Lt Governor G C Murmu recently approved the renaming of the state’s Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control Department as the ‘Jal Shakti Department’.
The council also approved the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission and the strategy to achieve 100 per cent coverage of piped water supply across the UT, by December 2021. It was also proposed to set up a Mission Directorate of Jal Jeevan Mission for implementation of the scheme. Seven districts of the UT would be covered for 100 per cent piped water supply by June 2020, in the initial phase.

Notes:
Leading car-maker Ford recently inaugurated its technology and innovation centre in the southern Indian city, Chennai. The Centre was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edapadi K Palaniswami along with the President and MD of Ford India.
The centre spanning over 15,000 sq. ft, is located at the Global Technology and Business Centre (GTBC) campus of Ford, in the Special Economic Zone of the city. The Centre has several state-of-the -art facilities including Mobility Experience Lab. It also has simulations for the Office Raid, an application-based mobility solution of Ford.

Notes:
High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Head-quartered in Pune, it conducts research in the area of High Energy Materials and Explosive materials.
Recently, the lab has tied up with the Russian state military organisation Rosoboronexport to import new technologies for the development of high energy materials required for missiles, rockets and guns. A technology development contract was signed with the organisation in this regard.

Notes:
M.J. Akbar’s new book “Gandhi’s Hinduism – The Struggle Against Jinnah’s Islam” chronicles the endgame that led to the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 and the creation of Pakistan.

Notes:
The National Deworming Day was recently observed across the country on February 10. All children and adolescent boys and girls in all states and Union Territories, who are in the age group of 1 to 19 years are given a single dose of the medicine called Albendazole.
The day is observed with an aim of deworming children and adolescents to reduce the occurrence of parasitic worms in intestine. It is observed under the supervision of the Union Ministry of Health and Family welfare.