Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
The second annual World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day is observed on January 30, 2021. India is home to the world’s largest absolute burden of 11 of the major NTDs.
To celebrate the day, more than 50 landmarks representing 25 nations across the world will be lit up. India joins the celebration by lighting up the UNESCO world heritage site Qutub Minar, Delhi.

Notes:
According to the performance index compiled by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, New Zealand handled the pandemic the most effectively.
India is ranked 86th in the index comprising 98 countries, which measures several key indicators including confirmed cases, deaths, cases per million people and deaths per million people. New Zealand is followed by Vietnam and Taiwan while Brazil is the worst performing country.

Notes:
The Economic Survey for 2020-21 has mentioned “Bare Necessities Index” (BNI), to describe the inequalities in access to bare necessities like drinking water, sanitation and housing conditions between urban and rural India.
The index lists 26 indicators on five dimensions namely water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment, and other facilities. It also classifies the regions in three levels of access to bare necessities namely high, medium, low.

Notes:
The cabinet of Government of Tamil Nadu, has approved new investments in the state amounting Rs.52,257 crores. This includes investment by Tata Electronics amounting Rs.5,763 crores, for manufacture of mobile phone components. These investments are expected to generate over 93,935 jobs in the state.
The state’s cabinet has also cleared the Tamil Nadu Industrial Policy 2021.

Notes:
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has recently amended its Emirati Nationality Law, for granting citizenship to expatriates. This move is aimed to attract and retain individuals with specialised skills.
The amendment seeks to grant UAE citizenship to investors, and professionals like scientists, doctors, engineers, artists, authors and their families.

Notes:
The Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched a scheme to provide financial assistance to start-ups for filing IT patents.
Under the new scheme, around 125-150 start-ups will be supported in the first phase of the scheme with the financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. The state will also provide up to ₹2 lakh for quality testing and certification for the ideas of the start-ups.

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:
The Union Jal Shakti Ministry has recently launched a unified portal on the ‘Gobardhan’ scheme. The portal aims to monitor the progress made under the scheme.
The Gobardhan scheme was launched by the Government of India to manage cattle and biodegradable waste and also help enhance farmers’ income. It is being implemented under the Swachch Bharat Mission Grameen-Phase 2.

Notes:
India’s Foreign portfolio investment (FPIs) has reached a new height as the net FPI in Indian equities crossed the mark of 31.7 billion, during the current financial year.
This is the highest investment in a financial year since FY 2012-23, in India. During that year, India recorded a net FPO inflow of 25.8 billion.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal launched a campaign called ‘Switch Delhi’. This is aimed to promote use of electric vehicles and the CM has appealed to the public to use electric vehicles to curb air pollution in the national capital.
It is also stated that, the Government of Delhi will hire only electric vehicles for various purposes in the next six weeks.