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 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has signed an MoU with the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The purpose of the MoU is to establish knowledge partnership between the Ladakh UT and CSIR, focussing on the areas such as bioresource utilization, introduction of cash crops and exploration of natural resources.

Notes:
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has recently introduced several changes to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Rules.
It includes mandatory “Impact Assessment” for big CSR projects. It also includes mandatory disclosure of all CSR projects and the CSR Committee’s composition on the company’s website.

Notes:
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has recently released an index named “’Asia-Pacific Personalised Health Index”.
India has ranked 10th out of 11 Asia Pacific countries in the index. This index measures the readiness of 11 countries – Australia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand in adopting personalised healthcare.

Notes:
Union External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar recently delivered his virtual keynote address at the All-India Conference of China Studies.
During the conference, he proposed Eight Guiding principles to repair the strained relations of India with China. He also highlighted the disturbance in their ties due to the stand-off at Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Notes:
India exported 4.45 million tonnes basmati rice (worth USD 4.33 billion) in financial year 2019-20. It has a 65 per cent share in global basmati trade.
Pakistan makes the rest of the global trade. Recently, Pakistan’s basmati rice has received a Geographical Indication (GI) registration within the country. India has applied to the EU for the GI tag for its basmati rice in September 2020. Both countries are exporting basmati to the EU without a GI tag from it.

Notes:
As per a recent research published in the journal “Nature”, the number of shark and ray in Indian ocean have declined by 84.7% and has been falling continuously since 1970.
The research noted that oceanic sharks and rays worldwide has fallen by 71% since the last 50 years. Also, 24 out of 31 oceanic shark and ray species are presently classified as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

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:
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.