Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
The corruption perception index (CPI) for the year 2020 has been released recently by Transparency International (TI). The index uses a scale of 0 to 100 to rate countries, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
India slipped six places and has been ranked at 86th position out of 180 countries.

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:
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:
The 13-day long Khelo India Zanskar winter sports and youth festival concluded at Zanskar Valley of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The festival was organized by the Department of Sports & Youth Services and the Ladakh Tourism Department, under the Khelo India scheme. It aims to promote the economic activities and winter tourism in Ladakh.

Notes:
The 15th Finance Commission headed by NK Singh, with 117 core recommendation, has tabled its report in the Parliament recently.
The Finance Commission maintained the vertical devolution of taxes with the states at 41%. The divisible pool of financial resources is recommended at 42%, with 1% adjustment made for change of status. So, the vertical devolution of taxes to the states stands at 41%.

Notes:
The Government of India has decided to add 14 new minor forest produce items under the “mechanism for marketing of minor forest (MFP) produce through a minimum support price (MSP)” scheme.
This is aimed to provide remunerative and fair prices for tribal gatherers. The additional items include bamboo shoot, Tasar cocoon, elephant apple, wind dry mushroom etc.

Notes:
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated Aadi Mahotsav, a National Tribal Festival at Dilli Haat, New Delhi. The event is scheduled to be held from February 1 to February 15, this year.
Aadi Mahotsav is a national-level tribal festival and a joint initiative of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED). The event showcases traditional art, handicrafts and cultural heritage of the country. It has been organised from 2017.

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:
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced the launch of its first all civilian mission to space. The mission will be the first all-commercial astronaut mission to the orbit.
Named as Inspiration4, the mission is to be launched using the flagship vehicle of SpaceX, the Falcon 9. Expected to be launched by the end of 2021, it is a charity-focused mission commanded by the entrepreneur Jared Isaacman.

Notes:
Amazon has moved the Delhi High Court against Future Retail for selling its retail assets to Reliance Retail.
Amazon alleges that the ₹24,713 crore worth Future-Reliance deal violates its own contract with the Future Group. The Delhi High Court asked Future retail to maintain status quo. Earlier the Singapore Arbitration gave the Emergency Arbitrator (EA) award in favour of Amazon.