Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

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:
The newly-formed Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth nearly Rs 2,100 crore, during its investment summit road-show in Mumbai.
The MoUs were signed in the presence of the Lieutenant Governor of J&K, Girish Chandra Murmu. The UT has planned to conduct six city roadshows to maximise investments and has already organised in Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Notes:
Scientists have discovered a new soil bacteria, Paraburkholderia madseniana sp., that may help in controlling soil pollution and fight climate change. P. madseniana is a bacteria discovered by researchers at the Cornell University. It is a ‘phenolic acid degrading bacterium’ noted for its ability to significantly breakdown of organic matter, including those that are carcinogenic. Its role in the carbon cycle has attracted attention for its use in fighting climate change. P. madseniana is a soil bacteria that was discovered in acidic forest soil. The genus to which the bacteria belongs is known for their ability to form root nodules, fix nitrogen in the soil and also break down aromatic compounds. The new species has been found to degrade organic matter like those based on phenolic acids. They can degrade cancer causing compounds that are released by burning of oil, gas, coal and other refuse. They can breakdown a soil contaminant called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).

Notes:
The East-West Industrial Corridor road is proposed to connect the foothill districts of Arunachal Pradesh without passing through Assam. The road will pass through the heart of the Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) to connect Seijosa in Pakke-Kessang district with Bhalukpong in West Kameng. The 692.70 km long industrial corridor would run along the foothills on the boundaries of Arunachal and Assam.

Notes:
Recently, BIMSTEC and South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration jointly organized the conference titled ‘Increase Cooperation in the Energy Sector in BIMSTEC Region.’ The BIMSTEC members are planning for a 3000 km BIMSTEC power grid called BIMSTEC grid interconnection. The MoU was signed in 2018.

Notes:
Antihydrogen is the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen. Whereas the common hydrogen atom is composed of an electron and proton, the antihydrogen atom is made up of a positron and antiproton.

Notes:
The Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2020 were announced in Mumbai on February 20, 2020. Hrithik Roshan was awarded the Best Actor award for his film ‘Super 30’, while the movie directed by Vikas Bahl was selected as the Best Film. Dia Mirza was honored with the Best Actress award for ‘Kaafir’ (web series)

Notes:
Container Corporation of India (Concor) and RZD Logistics JSC (Russian Railways) recently signed a service agreement for transporting cargo between India and Russia using a single invoice.
The containers will move between the two countries by using the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which passes through Iran. The corridor also passes through Azerbaijan.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Indian Prime Minister approved to set up a National Technical Textiles Mission with a total outlay of ₹1,480 crore.
The Mission will have a 4-year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24. The Mission aims at enhancing the export of technical textiles from the current value of ₹14,000 crore to ₹20,000 crore by 2021-22. An ‘Export Promotion Council for Technical Textiles’ is also to be set up for coordination in the project.

Notes:
Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal recently launched a first-of-its-kind platform called ‘Market Intelligence and Early Warning System (MIEWS) Web Portal’.
The MIEWS provides real time monitoring of prices of tomato, onion and potato, collectively known as ‘TOP’. The portal would display all relevant information related to TOP crops such as Prices and Arrivals, Area, Yield and Production etc. It would also give alerts under the terms of the Operation Greens (OG) scheme.