Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
N S Vishvanathan, former RBI Deputy Governor, chairs the expert committee to chart regulatory measures and study consolidation among urban cooperative banks. The 8-member panel was formed by RBI in 2021 and mandated to report within three months on stability and sector road map.

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:
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:
Nigerian American economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed as the new director-general of World Trade Organization (WTO). With this appointment, she becomes the first African women to be the Chief of WTO.
WTO is an intergovernmental organization that is regulates the trade between nations. It is headquartered at Geneva.

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:
The Joint Conference of the 11th World PetroCoal Congress and World Future Fuel Summit was organised in New Delhi.
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan addressed the joint conference. HE highlighted that the Public sector companies in the oil industry have invested Rs 34,000 crore to upgrade plants for producing BS-VI fuel.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved signing of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) between India and Mauritius.
This is the first trade Agreement to be signed by India with any country in Africa. The agreement aims to liberalise norms covering Rules of Origin, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Telecom, Financial services and Customs Procedures among others.

Notes:
The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, recently announced twenty-five shortlisted cities for the ‘Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge’ cohort.
This challenge is a three-year initiative aimed to support early childhood-friendly neighbourhoods under the Smart Cities Mission of the Central Government. Over 300 pilot projects were proposed in the challenge that would improve quality of life for over 12 lakh children.

Notes:
Researchers of United Kingdom have proposed to start the world’s first Covid-19 human trials on a healthy immune system.
The study is expected to give an understanding on how a health immune system would respond to the virus infection and bring about various metabolic changes in the body

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently laid the foundation stone for Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge over Brahmaputra river.
It is a 19 km long 4-lane bridge to be laid from Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya. The bridge will improve transport connectivity in the Barak valley. It also reduces the distance between the four North eastern states of Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Assam.