Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the Indo-French year of Environment along with his French counterpart.
India and France have environment projects being undertaken in Assam, Rajasthan and a project to be started in Jharkhand. The objective of this event is to strengthen Indo-French cooperation in sustainable development.

Notes:
As per a recent report by Alvarez & Marsal India, as at September 2020, it took an average of 440 days for resolving 277 cases approved by the NCLT under the IBC.
The report stressed on the need for time-bound resolution of stressed assets and enhancing the resolution processes under Insolvency and Bankruptcy code as recovery percentages fell sharply to 15-25 % whenever there is an increase in time taken for resolution.

Notes:
In the Economic Survey 2020-21 tabled in the budget session of the Parliament recently, the Government has pegged in the country’s GDP growth rate for FY 2021-22 at 11%. The GDP growth for the current financial year has been estimated at minus 7.7%.
Economic survey is an annual document prepared by the Ministry of Finance under the guidance of Chief Economic Advisor. Krishnamurthy Subramanian is the present Chief Economic Advisor.

Notes:
The Economic Survey for 2020-21 has mentioned “Bare Necessities Index” (BNI), to describe the inequalities in access to bare necessities like drinking water, sanitation and housing conditions between urban and rural India.
The index lists 26 indicators on five dimensions namely water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment, and other facilities. It also classifies the regions in three levels of access to bare necessities namely high, medium, low.

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 United Arab Emirates (UAE) has recently amended its Emirati Nationality Law, for granting citizenship to expatriates. This move is aimed to attract and retain individuals with specialised skills.
The amendment seeks to grant UAE citizenship to investors, and professionals like scientists, doctors, engineers, artists, authors and their families.

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:
The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh has launched the first Amputee clinic of India.
The ‘PGI Amputee Clinic’ aims to provide social, mental and physical support to its patients. It also aims to provide complete amputation patient care and provide medical care and rehabilitation of amputees who cannot afford the cost.

Notes:
A team of researchers have discovered a new gecko species in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The new species belongs to the genus Cyrtodactylus also known as bent-toed geckos. The species was named as Cyrtodactylus arunachalensis after the state of Arunachal Pradesh, in which it was discovered.