Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
‘BioAsia’ is a flagship summit hosted by the state of Telangana. It is a global summit which unites the scientists and businesses in various fields with special focus on Life Science.
The 18th edition of BioAsia is scheduled to be held during February 22-23, 2021. The theme of the summit is ‘Move the Needle’, with focus on Covid-19, global health, pharma and medtech.

Notes:
Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX-21) is the Indian Navy’s largest exercise. It is being held in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
This month-long drill also includes joint exercises by ships and aircraft and other assets of the Indian Air Force, Army and the Indian Coast Guard in the IOR and the waters in the adjacent regions.

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:
India’s first-ever diesel tractor, converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), has been launched recently by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.
This conversion has been carried out by two companies- Rawmatt Techno Solutions and Tomasetto Achille India. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a clean fuel with the lowest content of Carbon and other pollutants. It is also more affordable than diesel.

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:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated over 57000 water structures constructed in Madhya Pradesh under ‘Jalabhishekam’ water conservation campaign.
These water structures were created during the Covid-19 pandemic period by linking the work with the MNREGA scheme. The water structures costing over Rs 200 crore have been inaugurated under the MGNREGA scheme and PM Krishi Irrigation scheme.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) in association with the European Union are launching the 40-million-euro COVID Vaccine programme in six former Soviet republics.
These countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. Also, it has been observed that the number of COVID positive cases in this region has been declining in the past.

Notes:
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and navigation technology solutions provider MapmyIndia have partnered to create a national level mapping portal.
Along with the state-of-the-art mapping portal, the partnership also seeks to provide geospatial services. MapmyIndia has rich expertise in digital maps and technologies while ISRO has the best satellite imagery data.

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:
S. Chinny Krishna, the co-founder of Blue Cross of India, has been conferred with the prestigious ‘Prani Mitra’ award for 2021 by the Animal Welfare Board of India.
Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh presented the award to Mr. Krishna in New Delhi, for his lifetime service to animals. It is the country’s highest award for animal welfare.