Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) is a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology.
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, four young women fellows of National Science Academies have been awarded the SERB Women Excellence Award. The award includes a grant of Rs. 15 lakhs for three years to pursue their research ideas.

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.

Notes:
Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani rolled out the commercial Jute seed distribution scheme. The productive variant of Jute seeds will help enhance the income of Jute farmers.
Jute Corporation of India had signed an MoU with National Seeds Corporation for commercial distribution of around one thousand Metric Tonne jute seeds for the year 2021-22.

Notes:
Arribada is a term used to describe the mass migration of sea turtles, where large groups of females assemble at a nesting site on the beach.
Recently, the Olive Ridley turtles have started laying eggs in the beach in this nesting season. The nesting season which usually begins in November was delayed by a few weeks this year, due to changes in climate conditions due to the cyclones Nivar and Burevi.

Notes:
Theodore Baskaran, a leading Writer, historian, naturalist, and activist has been awarded with the Sanctuary Nature Foundation’s “Sanctuary Lifetime Service Award 2020”.
This award has been conferred upon him for his dedicated works in wildlife conservation and for his writings in Tamil – English regarding the same.

Notes:
The three-day Mandu Festival began at Mandu, the historic town of Madhya Pradesh. The state also inaugurated Dino Adventure Park & Fossils Museum.
During the Mandu Utsav, Handicrafts related to handmade art are displayed to encourage local artisans. Dinosaur Park is the country’s first modern fossil park to display 24 eggs and various fossils of dinosaurs.

Notes:
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26, is scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.
The event is to be held under the presidency of the United Kingdom. British MP and President-designate of COP-26, Alok Sharma called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

Notes:
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot released the third edition of the Indian Sign Language (ISL) Dictionary.
This edition has 10,000 terms of daily use and technical terms including academic, legal, medical terms. The second edition of the dictionary released in 2019 had 6,000 terms and the first edition released in 2018 had 3,000 terms.

Notes:
Iran and Russia are organising a two-day navy exercise called “Iran-Russia Maritime Security Belt 2021” in the northern part of the Indian Ocean.
India has joined the exercise with a select group of vessels and forces. The drill will cover an area of 17,000 square kilometres and will include shooting at sea and air targets and liberating hijacked ships, as well as search and rescue and anti-piracy operations.

Notes:
Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Demeke Mekonnen Hassen arrived in New Delhi.
He inaugurated the new Chancery and Residence at Ethiopian Embassy in New Delhi along with External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S. Jaishankar. They also discussed on various bilateral and global issues of mutual interest.