Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
The “Anti radicalism bill” of France, that aims to strengthen oversite of mosques, schools and sports clubs has been put to vote in the nation’s law making assembly.
The bill has been proposed to rid France of radical Islamists and ensure respect for French value. This is considered to be President Emmanuel Macron’s landmark project.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs is to organise a ‘Mushaira’ event, in which renowned poets from across the country will recite their poems.
The event is to be conducted on February 20, 2021, on the theme ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat’. Mushaira, which is regarded as a poetic symposium is part of the Culture of India and Pakistan. It aims to make younger generation aware of the country’s art and culture.

Notes:
India is set to host a virtual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meet to discuss on management and response of Covid-19 pandemic.
This health secretary-level meet virtually with other SAARC countries, will be conducted as a virtual workshop to exchange best practices amid the pandemic. In 2014, Nepal hosted a SAARC leaders’ summit, which was the most recent meeting of the countries.

Notes:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) eased the listing norms for large companies in the Initial Public Offering (IPO).
It announced that large companies can now divest a minimum 5 per cent in the IPO, instead of 10 per cent. The companies also get five years, as agaisnt three years to raise the public float to 25 per cent.

Notes:
Facebook announced that it has blocked Australians from viewing and sharing news on the platform. This is on account of the proposed laws in the country to make the digital giants pay for journalism.
Though the Australian publishers can continue to publish news content on Facebook, the links and posts cannot be viewed or shared by Australian audiences. Both Australian users and International users cannot share Australian news.

Notes:
Perseverance is the name of the rover sent by NASA to the Mars. The rover, which has been a nearly 300-million-mile journey since it left the Earth over 6 months ago, safely landed at the Martian surface.
The rover is set to experiment a series of activities for the first time: the search for signs of ancient life on Mars, the first helicopter fly on another planet and yhe first recordings of sound on the Mars, etc.

Notes:
Ministry of External Affairs has recently inaugurated the “DigiLocker” platform for the “Passport Seva Programme” of the Ministry.
Under the Passport Seva Programme V2.0, the citizens can submit the documents required for passport services in a paperless mode. DigiLocker is an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY). The issued documents in the system are deemed to be at par with original physical documents.

Notes:
Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified all eight species of pangolin as “threatened” to “critically endangered”.
The World Pangolin Day is celebrated on the third Saturday of February, to raise awareness on their importance. This year, it has been celebrated on February 20. Pangolins are considered as the pest controllers in the ecosystem.

Notes:
The United States of America has officially re-joined the Paris international climate pact recently. Earlier, the USA under the former President Donald Trump’s leadership quit from the agreement and remained outside the pact for 107 days.
With the change in government in USA led by Joe Biden, US decided to rejoin the Paris pact. Biden has set 2022 as the deadline for achievement of 2030 emission cuts as envisaged in the Paris pact.

Notes:
In a land mark move, the state government of Uttarakhand has passed an ordinance, which gives co-ownership rights to women in their husband’s ancestral property. This ordinance amends the Uttarakhand Zamindari abolition and land reforms act.
This ordinance has been moved in view of large-scale migration of male members of the state to other regions of the country.