Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The state government of Uttar Pradesh, led by the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has recently enforced ‘Performance Regulation Act 2019’ for its Power department.
As per the notification issued by the government, the consumer would get financial compensation for delay in solving their grievances. Delays in repairing and non-response by call-centre of the department would also attract compensation.

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:
Supratim Bandyopadhyay was recently appointed as Chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It is a statutory body which regulates the Pension system in the country.
Supratim was serving as a Member (Finance) in PFRDA, prior to this appointment. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet approved the appointment of Bandyopadhyay as the Chairman for a period of five years.

Notes:
7th Economic Census is being brought out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s Central Statistics Office (Economic Statistics Division). A nationwide Business Register as per international practices adopted by developing countries and in line with UNSD recommendations. It will provide detailed information on economic variables, activity wise, of all the non agricultural establishments of the country including its distribution at all India, State, district, village/ward levels for comprehensive analysis of the structure of the economy.

Notes:
11 Indian institutions have been placed in the top 100 of ‘Times Higher Education’s (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020’, released in London. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India’s top-ranked institution, is ranked 16th among the top 100 universities of emerging economies.
It is followed by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (32nd rank) and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (38th rank). In the total of 533 universities ranked, India has a total of 56 universities in the list.

Notes:
Prince Charles has recently launched a new £150-million Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) innovation centre in London. The centre called the National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC), is created along with the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG)
It is the largest such automotive research and development facility in Europe. Project Vector, which is an advanced and multi-use electric vehicle, has been developed at the new NAIC. The project showcased electric driver-less car concept.

Notes:
A report titled ‘A Future for the World’s Children’ was recently released by a World Health Organization (WHO) Commission, UNICEF and the Lancet journal.
The report included a new ‘Global Flourishing index’, which compares the countries in measures of child survival and well-being. Out of the total of 180 countries assessed, India is placed at 131st rank in flourishing index and 77th rank in sustainability index.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently unveiled a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2019-24. It aims at providing formal and affordable financial services and to promote financial literacy among customers.
Reserve Bank of India under the aegis of Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC) have released the strategy. Some of its recommendations include: Setting up Financial service providers in 5 km range, Public Credit Registry by 2022, etc.

Notes:
The Curt Bergfors Foundation of Sweden has created two USD 1 million prizes for solutions towards sustainable food system amid the threatening climate change.
Named as the ‘New Food Planet Prize’, the prize is to be awarded annually in two categories: existing scalable solution for sustainable foods and innovative initiative for transforming food sector. Experts in the field of climate research will be the prize jury.

Notes:
India and Sri Lanka have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for up-gradation of infrastructure in plantation schools for estate workers of Indian origin.
The MoU was signed in Colombo, under which infrastructure of 9 plantation schools are to be up-graded with the assistance of 30 crore rupees from India. Construction and renovation of several school buildings is also being carried out with Indian grant.