Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved a proposal for capital infusion and immediate release of Rs 2,500 crore to three state-owned general insurance companies. The three public sector companies are: United India Insurance, National Insurance Company and Oriental Insurance Company.
The capital infusion is announced at the backdrop of their critical financial position and breach of regulatory solvency requirements, stipulated by the insurance regulator IRDAI. The companies are expected to be merged in this year.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved the amendment of the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020, so that it also covers the litigations pending in debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) across the country. The scheme can be availed in search and seizure procedures, where the recovery is up to ₹5 crore.
Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020 is aimed at providing resolution of disputed direct taxes. More than ₹9-lakh crore of direct taxes is pending in litigation in India.

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.

Notes:
Veteran bureaucrat Rajiv Bansal was recently appointed as the Chairman and Managing director of Air India. He has been appointed as the head of the national carrier for a second time.
Rajiv Bansal is a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre and he is currently serving as the additional secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. He will replace the current head of Air India, Ashwani Lohani.

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.

Notes:
Debasish Panda, who is currently serving as the Special secretary in the Department of financial services, Union Finance Ministry has been appointed as the new Finance secretary of the country.
As per the Personnel Ministry order, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of the1987-batch IAS officer as the next Finance secretary, replacing the current Secretary Rajiv Kumar.

Notes:
India and Portugal recently signed an MoU to develop a world-class National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal in Gujarat. The MoU has been signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, during his visit to India.
The complex would showcase rich Indian artefacts and create awareness among the public about the rich heritage of the country. The two countries also signed as many as 14 agreements in several fields including maritime transport and ports.

Notes:
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has recently started to capture district-wise data on origin of export goods.
This proposed export information will provide a comprehensive statistical input about the importance of each district, to policymakers. Hence the policies could be aligned with better knowledge of districts and thereby enhancing the local potential.

Notes:
The Ministry of Textiles is organising a Handicraft thematic Exhibition exhibition named ‘Kala Kumbh’, for promoting Geographical Indication (GI) crafts, through the Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts).
Recently the Kala Kumbh exhibition was inaugurated at Bengaluru and Mumbai. It is also proposed to be held at other major Indian cities including Kolkata and Chennai next month. Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) will sponsor the thematic exhibitions. As on August 2019, 178 GI handicraft products have been registered from across the country.

Notes:
Cobalt is a critical element for not only cell phones but also electric vehicles that might be good for the environment. Roughly 60% of mined cobalt is sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Its continued availability is becoming an issue due to political environment of DRC.