Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Operation Car Wash is the name of a criminal and corruption scandal investigation in Brazil.

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.

Notes:
Retired Army General and former Military Secretary-Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, Former Director General of the Coast Guard-Rajendra Singh and United Nations Development Programme’s Policy advisor in Disaster reduction-Krishna Vatsa are the three members recently appointed as the members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the Chairman of NDMA. Kamal Kishore, who is serving as member of NDMA, has been provided a fresh term of five years.

Notes:
The 22nd edition of the world language database Ethnologue was recently released. As per the list, Hindi is the third most spoken language of the world in 2019. The language is spoken by nearly 615 million speakers.
English is placed at the top of the database with 1132 million speakers while Chinese Mandarin is at the second place with 1,117 million speakers. Bangla has been ranked as the 7th most spoken language of the world.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet of India recently approved to constitute the 22nd Law Commission of India. The term of the proposed Law Commission is three years.
The term of the previous law Commission, which was headed by Retired Justice B.S. Chauhan, ended last August. A retired Supreme Court judge or Chief Justice of a High Court will head the Law Commission, which is to advise the Union Government on complex legal issues.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi Palaniswami recently announced in the state assembly that Tamil Nadu will celebrate the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa (February 24) as the Women and Children Protection Day.
He also announced several welfare schemes for Muslims of the state, including doubling the pension of Muslim scholars (Ulemas) to Rs.3000.

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:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched International Mother Language Day (IMLD) in 1991, with an objective of gaining global support for preserving the diversity of languages, with special focus on indigenous languages.
This year, UNESCO has declared ‘Languages without borders’ as the theme for International Mother Language Day 2020, celebrated on February 21. In India, the day is celebrated as Matribasha Diwas.

Notes:
On 26 November 2007, the United Nations General Assembly declared that 20 February will be celebrated annually as the World Day of Social Justice.
This year, the theme for the World Day of Social Justice is selected as “Closing the Inequalities Gap to Achieve Social Justice”. The International Labour Organization adopted the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, which guarantees fair outcomes to all.

Notes:
The fourth Anniversary of the launch of Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) was observed on 21st February. In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Mission under the Ministry of Rural Development, on the same date.
Under the mission, well planned Rurban clusters are created to stimulate local economic development and thereby creating an inclusive rural development.