Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
As per the information provided by the Health Ministry, Tamil Nadu tops the beneficiaries list with around 25.56 lakh people getting treatment worth Rs 3,239.5 crore, since 2018.
Till February 4 this year, there were around 1.6 crore hospital admissions worth Rs 19, 714 crores under the scheme. Tamil Nadu is followed by Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The scheme aims to provide a health assurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year to poor families.

Notes:
Safer Internet Day is observed every year on the second day of the second week of February, by over 15 countries across the world.
It aims to provide safer and responsible internet, where every user has the right to use without getting their data leaked. In this year of 18th edition, the theme is “Together for a better internet”.

Notes:
A working group of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed to reintroduce index-linked insurance products (ILIP).
The Group opined that this can be an alternative or complimentary option to the conventional products and unit-linked policies. It was in usage before 2013. Bond indices such as 10-year G-Sec benchmark, MIBOR, one-year Treasury bill, SBI fixed deposit rate, and others can be used.

Notes:
Union Ministers and government departments of the country are setting up accounts on Koo application.
It is seen as the Made-in-India alternative to the social media giant Twitter. The app was one among the winners of the government’s ‘AatmaNirbhar App Innovation Challenge’ in 2020. Recently, there has been a tussle between Twitter and Indian Government, in matters related to farm protest.

Notes:
As per the data given by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, as many as 66,692 manual scavengers have been identified across the country.
As of February 2021, the highest number of manual scavengers have been identified in Uttar Pradesh at 37,379. It is followed by Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Assam. It was also announced that 340 people have died while cleaning sewers and tanks in the last five years.

Notes:
The UN General Assembly adopted 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (IYP). Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa proposed the observance of World Pulses Day.
February 10 was announced as the World Pulses Day in 2019. It aims to increase awareness and access to pulses across the world and to recognise Pulses as a global food. The theme of the year is I love pulses.

Notes:
Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) is a think-tank under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
It recently launched the ‘Seaweed Mission’, which aims to promote commercial farming of seaweeds and its value addition. It also launched the ‘Saksham’ job portal, which will help eliminate middlemen and labour contractors. It also provides skill cards for various types of workers.

Notes:
Veteran American Director Steven Spielberg has been awarded Israel’s prestigious USD 1 million 2021 Genesis Prize.
As per the organisers, the award was provided in recognition of his contribution to cinema, his philanthropic works and his efforts to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. The award is provided every year, to a personality to honour their professional as well as social achievements.

Notes:
The Government of India has approved applications from leading medical devices manufacturing companies, under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
These companies include Siemens Healthcare, Sahajanand Medical Technologies, Nipro India Corporation and Wipro GE Healthcare.

Notes:
India records the highest number of Road crash deaths, across the world. The World Bank recently released a report titled “Traffic Crash Injuries and Disabilities: The Burden on Indian Society”.
Union Transport minister Nitin Gadkari released the report, which highlights the unequal impact of a road crash on poor households. Over 75% of the poor households in India reported a decline in their income after a road traffic crash.