Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

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 National Statistical Office (NSO) recently released its revised national account data. As per the data, the economic growth rate for 2019-20 was revised downwards to 4 per cent.
The decrease from the previous estimate of 4.2 per cent was mainly due to contraction in secondary sectors like manufacturing and construction. Real GDP growth of 2018-19 is estimated at 6.5 per cent, against the 6.1 per cent revealed in January estimate.

Notes:
IN FAC T-81 is the Indian Naval Fast Attack Craft of the Super Dvora MK II class, which served the nation successfully for more than 20 years in surveillance and Search & Rescue.
It was recently decommissioned at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. It is a 25-meter-long vessel with 60 tonnes displacement and was built at Goa Shipyard Ltd in collaboration with an Israel manufacturer. The INFAC was commissioned into the Navy in 1999.

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 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:
The ‘Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change’, is a declaration released by the global maritime industry recently.
The declaration focusses on recognising seafarers as key workers by all governments in line with the UNGA resolution adopted recently. The Maritime Union of India (MUI) urged the Centre to consider the declaration while formulating ‘Maritime India Vision 2030’.

Notes:
As per the Union Budget 2020-21, the government would be incentivizing the incorporation of One Person Companies (OPC) in order to boost the ease of doing business.
The Government has reduced the time limit for Indian citizen to start an OPC from 182 days to 120 days. This move allows NRIs to incorporate OPCs in India.

Notes:
PM AtmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, a new centrally sponsored scheme has been announced in the Union Budget 2021-22. The scheme would be launched with an outlay of Rs.64,180 crore over a period of 6 years.
The scheme aims to develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care Health Systems.

Notes:
In the recent Union Budget, the Finance Minister announced that all social security benefits will be extended to gig and platform workers.
Minimum wages will be ensured to all categories of workers. All those workers will also be covered by the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). She also announced that women will be allowed to work in all categories and in the night-shifts with adequate protection.

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.