Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
The UN counterterrorism chief has urged countries to repatriate the children stranded in a massive camp in Al Hol.
Out of the 27,000 abandoned children, many of them are children of Islamic State extremists. Al Hol camp is the largest camp for refugees and displaced Syrians in the country, located in the north-eastern Syria.

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her Budget speech that a “Deep Ocean Mission” will be launched.
A budget outlay of more than Rs 4,000 crore has been announced over five years. This programme will undertake deep ocean survey exploration. It also includes projects to conserve deep-sea biodiversity.

Notes:
Tech major Google has launched a new initiative named ‘Startup School’ to train start-up founders and their teams across the Asia Pacific region.
It is a virtual programme which provides a series of free virtual courses for start-up founders and their teams. Courses on digital marketing, product knowledge and business strategy would be the focus areas.

Notes:
World Wetlands Day is observed every year on 2nd February to create awareness on the importance of wetlands and its role played in the planet.
This year, the theme of the World Wetlands Day is ‘Wetlands and Water’. This year’s theme highlights the importance of wetlands as a source of freshwater. It also encourages action from people and countries to restore them.

Notes:
India’s apex rights body NCPCR – National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has identified 50 “religious places” for complete elimination of child labour.
These places include Taj Mahal and Shri Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. The commission has stated that collaborative intervention would be made with stakeholders including child welfare police officers, anti-human trafficking unit etc in this regard.

Notes:
This year, the 16th edition of India-USA joint military exercise – Yudh Abhyas would be held between February 8 and 21.
This year’s exercise would be conducted at Indio-Pakistan border. The exercise aims to enhance cooperation between the two countries and will have a special focus on counter-terrorism operations.

Notes:
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu warned the Member of Parliaments against recording proceedings of the House on mobile phones.
He also stated that such unauthorised recordings and its circulation on social media is breaching the Parliamentary privilege and contempt of the House

Notes:
Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned the Future Retail’s Chairman Kishore Biyani and other promoters from the securities market for one year.
They have been charged for indulging in insider trading in the shares of the company. SEBI has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 Crore each on the promoters and ordered them to pay back Rs 17.78 crore with interest.

Notes:
The Education Ministry constituted a task force to prepare roadmap on imparting technical education in mother tongue. It was set up in December 2020.
The committee will be headed by the Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare, with representations from Directors from different IITs and NITs. This was announced in the Rajya Sabha by the Ministry.

Notes:
Pakistan has successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile named ‘Ghaznavi’.
The ballistic missile is capable of delivering nuclear and other types of warheads up to a range of 290 kilometres. Last month, the country test-fired another nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile Shaheen-III.