Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
A group of six black storks (Ciconia nigra), were spotted recently in the Sigur plateau in the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.
The species is classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the “Least Concern” category. The sighting of the black stork in this region is considered to be extremely rare.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Abhyudaya scheme. It aims to provide coaching facilities to the interested candidates for competitive exams like NEET and IIT-JEE.
This scheme would provide facilities similar to that of Kota and Prayagraj to those in other parts of the state who are not able to avail those services. Over 50,000 students are selected under the scheme.

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 “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 world’s largest cricket stadium, Motera stadium was rebuilt and renovated. It is the venue for the third day-night India-England Test.
The stadium has a capacity of 1,10,000 along with 11 centre strips. It also houses four dressing rooms with in-built gymnasium. On account of Covid-19 pandemic, only 55000 persons are allowed inside the stadium.

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.

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:
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.