Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
Grand Anicut Canal, also called as ‘Kallanai’ is said to be the oldest water regulating structure in the world, constructed in the 2nd century A.D by the Chola King Karikal Cholan.
Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the extension, renovation and modernization of the Grand Anicut Canal System. The project is to be taken up at a cost of Rs 2,640 crores. He also inaugurated the 1000-Crore Discovery Campus in IIT, Chennai.

Notes:
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the second highest wicket-taker in tests played in India, after surpassing Harbhajan Singh.
Out of the 391 wickets taken from 76 Tests, Ashwin has clinched 265 wickets in India at an average of 28.76. He achieved this feat during the test match being held against England. Anil Kumble, with 350 wickets, is the leading wicket-taker in Tests in India.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India releases data on the measures of the credit and deposit of banks across the country.
In the latest edition of the data, Bank credit grew 5.93 per cent to Rs 107.05 lakh crore, while deposits rose 11.06 per cent to Rs 147.98 lakh crore. During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, bank credit rose by 3.2 per cent and deposits by 8.5 per cent.

Notes:
The Tata Group’s Tata Electronics has proposed to invest ₹5,000 crore in Tamil Nadu to set up a Phone component manufacturing unit.
The unit is to be set up in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, for manufacture of mechanical enclosures of mobile phones. It is expected to create over 18000 new employment opportunities.

Notes:
Pi Beam – an IIT Madras-incubated start-up has recently launched a 2-wheeler named PiMo. This vehicle can be charged faster than a smart mobile phone.
It has a range of 50 km and is priced at Rs.30,000/-. This vehicle does not require registration and is targeted at personal and commercial users.

Notes:
The first day of the spring called ‘Pahela Phagun’ is celebrated in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The country’s top cultural organisations including the Bangladesh Shilpa Kala Academy held programmes to celebrate the beginning of the spring.
On account of the Covid pandemic, the traditional programme of ‘Basanta Utsab’ at the Fine Arts faculty in Dhaka university was cancelled.

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 International Solar Alliance (ISA) has proposed to launch World Solar Bank (WSB).
This is proposed to be launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow that is scheduled to be held in November 2021. The ISA is an intergovernmental treaty-based organization headquartered in India.

Notes:
The TIME magazine’s annual list of 100 “emerging leaders who are shaping the future”, named the “2021 TIME100 Next”, was released recently.
Chandrashekhar Azad, the leader of the Bhim army, which runs school to educate Dalit children and works to curb caste-based violence, featured in the list. Other 5 Indian origin personalities are UK finance minister Rishi Sunak, Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde, Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta, ED of nonprofit Get Us PPE Shikha Gupta and founder of nonprofit Upsolve Rohan Pavuluri.

Notes:
Union Minister for Mines, Pralhad Joshi and Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik jointly inaugurated the production in two new iron ore mines of Odisha namely Jiling-Langlota Iron ore Block and Guali Iron ore Block.
These mines will generate approxiately Rs 5000 crores of annual revenue for Odisha and a wide variety of employment opportunities.