Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
The Central Government has approved the Start-up India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) with a corpus of Rs 945 crore to provide financial assistance to start-ups.
As per the recent notification of thethe Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the funds will be disbursed through selected incubators across India from 2021 to 2025. DPIIT will also set up an Experts Advisory Committee (EAC) to monitor the scheme.

Notes:
Sandro Botticelli, was an Italian painter, who lived from 1445 to 1510 in Florence, Italy. He is said to be an important artist who have contributed to Florentine painting period.
Recently, one of his rare portraits, the “Young Man Holding a Roundel” was sold for USD 92.2 million (equivalent to Rs 6,722 million) at an auction held at Sotheby’s in New York. This also made a world record auction for any work by the Italian artist.

Notes:
In Myanmar, the military has taken control of the country under a 1-year state of emergency. Major leaders of the country including Aung San Suu Kyi are said to be detained.
In a television release, the military has stated that Article 417 of the country’s constitution have been invoked which allows military to take over in times of emergency.

Notes:
Indian-American Bhavya Lal has been appointed as the acting chief of staff of the US space agency, NASA.
She was earlier serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defence Analyses- Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI). She had served in several important positions related to space sector.

Notes:
According to a recent research published in the journal Nature, Scientists have developed a new protein-based biosensor to detect the novel coronavirus.
These devices recognise the unique molecules on the surface of the virus and bind to them. Subsequently, they emit light through a biochemical reaction. This technique does not rely on genetic amplification as used in the RT-PCR method and saves time.

Notes:
The Supreme Court has directed Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund to distribute Rs 9,122 crore to unitholders of the six schemes that were shut by the company in April 2020.
SBI Mutual Fund has been directed to carry out the process of disbursement. Franklin Templeton has been mandated to distribute the said money within twenty days from the date of order.

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:
The Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence have recently approved 26 green zone sites across the country, to operate Drones. With this, the total green sites stand at 32.
Under the No-Permission-No-Takeoff (NPNT) compliance regulations, the drones are not authorised to fly without the NPNT automated green signal. The Government is also developing the Digital Sky platform, for automatic authorisations.

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.

Notes:
The first meeting of the Joint Working Group in the field of Renewable Energy between India and the Kingdom of Bahrain was held recently in virtual format
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India and Bahrain in July 2018, for promoting bilateral cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy. The meeting focussed on enhanced cooperation in the field of solar, wind and clean hydrogen.