Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare addressed the event on Restoring Cross Border Mobility, through video conference.
The event was organised by World Economic Forum’s Common Trust Network, to discuss the policies and partnerships required to reopen borders and enable essential travel, tourism and commerce in a safe and sustainable method.

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 Germany-based think tank Germanwatch has recently released Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2021. The index ranks countries as per their vulnerability to climate risks both in terms of fatalities and economic losses
As per the report, India is the 7th worst-hit country on account of extreme weather events in the year 2019.

Notes:
The Indian Government is to introduce a bill in Parliament to ban all private cryptocurrencies and create a sovereign digital currency by the Reserve Bank of India.
The bill is to allow certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses. A legislative framework on official digital currency is also expected to be created.

Notes:
On the Polio National Immunization Day scheduled on January 31, 2021, around 89 lakh children were given polio drops under National Polio Immunisation drive across the country.
President Ram Nath Kovind launched the first round of Pulse Polio Programme 2021. Over seven lakh booths were set up for implementing the drive. A house-to-house surveillance will also be provided to vaccinate the remaining children.

Notes:
As per the Union Budget 2021-22, the threshold for paid up capital applicable for Small Companies has been revised from “not exceeding Rs 50 lakh” to “not exceeding Rs 2 crore”.
This enhancement in capital limit is expected to benefit more than 2 lakh small companies and would ease various compliance requirements for them.

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:
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 ‘ASEAN-INDIA Hackathon’ is an initiative taken by the Union Ministry of Education. This year’s edition has been inaugurated and is being organised online from 1st -3rd February 2021.
The event enables India and all the 10 ASEAN countries collaborate in the fields of education, science and technology. The countries also revive their economic and cultural ties under the event. This year the broad themes of the Hackathon are ‘Blue Economy’ and ‘Education’.

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.