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:
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 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 BCCI has decided to conduct Vijay Hazare Trophy in place of its first-class domestic tournament Ranji Trophy.
BCCI has stated that the decision has been made as per the wishes of majority of the state units. Additionally, BCCI would also be hosting U-19 National One Day tournament for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy and a Women’s national 50-over tournament.

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:
Serum Institute of India has announced that it would launch a new COVID-19 vaccine under the brand name Covovax.
It would be developed in partnership with American vaccine developer Novavax, by the month of June. The company’s Covishield has been developed in partnership with the Oxford University and British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.

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:
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:
The United Kingdom has recently announced that it will formally apply to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
CPTPP is a trans-Pacific trading association which removes most tariffs between 11 countries including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.