Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Kambala is a traditional sport of Karnataka, in which the people of coastal districts of the state conduct a buffalo-race.
It was in news recently as one of the local contestants from Dakshina Kannada district named Srinivas Gowda covered 142.5 m Kambala in just 13.62 seconds. The Sports Authority of India recently announced that it will devise a suitable course for the runner. He is called for trials by the Sports Ministry.

Notes:
According to a recent study by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Andhra Pradesh topped the list of states which attracted the highest project investments in 2018-19.
Maharashtra, which was the topper of last year, missed its top spot in 2018-19, but was ranked first in terms of investments over a five-year period between 2014-15 and 2018-19. In 2018-19, Andhra Pradesh has the highest share (11.8 per cent) in total cost of projects sanctioned in 2018-19 followed by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Notes:
Renowned Musician and founder of the famous music band Parikrama, Sonam Sherpa recently passed away at the age of 48.
Sonam was the lead guitarist of the celebrated music band. He died of a massive cardiac arrest, while he had arrived in West Bengal for recording music. He founded the Parikrama band in the year 1991 in Delhi along with his fellow musician Subir Malik.

Notes:
American Credit rating agency, Moody’s Investors Service has lowered India’s growth forecast to 5.4 per cent for the year 2020. Earlier, the country’s growth was estimated as 6.6 per cent.
Moody’s said in its update on Global Macro Outlook that India’s economy has decelerated rapidly over the last two years and a recovery in the current quarter. It has also predicted a growth rate of 5.8 per cent for 2021. It also stated that the G-20 economies would collectively grow 2.4 per cent in 2020.

Notes:
Microsoft recently announced that the company is set to launch its third premier engineering and innovation hub- India Development Centre (IDC) in Noida.
The Technological Company has already launched two IDCs in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The Centre is expected to generate opportunities to thousands of Engineers in several fields including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud Computing.

Notes:
International Hockey Federation (FIH) recently announced that India will host the men’s edition of the junior hockey World Cup 2021.
The women’s junior World Cup event will be held in Potchefstroom in South Africa. This is the first time the African continent is organising the apex sports event. The Continental qualifier matches are scheduled throughout this year and the World cup would be held at the end of 2021.

Notes:
Tech Giant Google along with consultancy firm Bain and Co. released a report titled ‘Women Entrepreneurship in India—Powering the economy with her’.
As per the report, women entrepreneurs in India can generate 150-170 million jobs by the year 2030. Nearly 16 million women-owned enterprises of India (20% of total enterprises) create direct employment for 27 million people in India.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recently gave its nod for the constitution of a 12-member “Technology Group” to advise ministries, departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) on technology implementation. The committee will be headed by Dr K Vijay Raghavan, principal scientific advisor to PM Modi.

Notes:
Madhya Pradesh Cabinet has cleared a draft bill to enact Madhya Pradesh Time-Bound Clearance Act. This act will ensure time-bound clearance of industrial licenses for investment projects. It envisages that around 40 clearances and permissions pertaining to almost 10 state departments will have to be delivered within a fixed timeframe.

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.