Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The first Bird-ringing station of the country, set up with support of a state government, is to be built in the state of Bihar. This is the fourth such facility in the country. The station, whose main centre is to be built at Bhagalpur, is dedicated for observation, monitoring and research on migratory birds. Rings with chips to track source and origin of birds are placed on their legs.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged between representatives of the Bihar government and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), during the COP-13 CMS summit.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy recently launched a scheme named ‘Nadu-Nedu’, for modernising hospitals.
Under the scheme, all the government hospitals of the state are to be modernised in three years, with the government assistance of Rs.15337 Crores. The hospitals are to be made on par with the highest standard of the country, Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS).

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:
India’s leading airport, the Indira Gandhi International Airport of Delhi has recently become the first Indian airport to be certified as free from single-use plastic usage.
The Confederation of Indian Industry-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CII-ITC CESD) certified the airport. It was also the first Indian airport to make ‘single-use plastic-free’ commitment in 2019. India has committed to abolish all single-use plastic from the country by 2022.

Notes:
The Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts was recently organised in New Delhi. The symposium was inaugurated by Union Minister of Textiles and Women and Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani.
The national symposium was attended by officials from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of Textiles and representatives of Export Promotion Council.

Notes:
India’s ace shuttler and World champion P V Sindhu won the ESPN’s Female Sportsperson of the Year award for a third consecutive time. Sindhu’s World Championship victory has also been selected as the Moment of the Year. Chief National Badminton Coach Pullela Gopichand was selected as the Coach of the Year.
Top-rated shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the ESPN’s Male Sportsperson of the Year award while Manu Bhaker-Saurabh Chaudhary duo grabbed the Team of the Year honour.

Notes:
NITI Aayog recently organised ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation and Development of North Eastern States’ in Guwahati, Assam.
The conclave was organised in association with the North Eastern Council, Government of Assam, Tata Trust, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). The three-day event commenced from February 24th in Guwahati

Notes:
Veteran Indian cricketer Pragyan Ojha recently announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket.
The 33-year-old left-arm spinner played 24 Tests between 2009 and 2013 and grabbed a total of 113 wickets. He last played for India in 2013, against the West Indies in Mumbai. He had also played ODIs and T20 Internationals, representing India.

Notes:
World Bank has released a report titled “Delivering Road Safety in India” during the ongoing ‘Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety’ in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm.
As per the report, India has to invest an estimated amount of additional $109 billion in road safety in the next decade. With the investment, economic benefits equivalent to 3.7 per cent of the GDP can be witnessed annually.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar recently tendered his resignation as Taoiseach, which means Prime minister in the country.
Though he submitted his resignation to the Irish President Michael Higgins, he continued to stay on as interim leader. As per the country’s constitution, the Taoiseach and the government will continue to carry on their duties until successors are appointed.