Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
Theodore Baskaran, a leading Writer, historian, naturalist, and activist has been awarded with the Sanctuary Nature Foundation’s “Sanctuary Lifetime Service Award 2020”.
This award has been conferred upon him for his dedicated works in wildlife conservation and for his writings in Tamil – English regarding the same.

Notes:
Giant Leatherback turtle are the largest of the seven species of sea turtles. They are found in all oceans except the Arctic and the Antarctic.
In the Indian ocean, they nest at Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Government’s proposal for tourism promotion and port development will threaten this species, which is accorded legal protection by listing in Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

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:
As per a communication issued by the President Ramnath Kovind, Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi was removed from her post.
This step has been taken amid a political crisis in the Puducherry Union territory and ahead of the assembly elections in April-May this year. The additional charge of the UT has been given to the Telengana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

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:
According to the Institute of International Finance, the total amount of global debt stood at USD 281 trillion at the end of 2020.
It also revealed that the countries, companies and households raised USD24 trillion last year to tackle the economic crisis created due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The total debt was over 355 per cent of global GDP.

Notes:
India-Singapore CEO Forum was recently organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and FICCI.
The India-Singapore CEO Forum was launched in November 2018. Union Minister Piyush Goyal addressed the forum and expressed that both the countries can work together in areas such as e-commerce, fintech, smart manufacturing and healthcare.

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:
25-year-old Manika Batra defeated Reeth Rishya to win the 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championship.
The top-ranked Indian player and the World no 63 is set compete at two WTT Contender events this month followed by the World and Asian Olympic qualifiers in Doha in the month of March. She received Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2020.

Notes:
Israel recently announced that it is developing a new ballistic missile shield, the Arrow-4, in collaboration with the United States.
Israel’s Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 anti-missile systems are already functioning, which can be deployed in a multi-layered module to destroy incoming missiles.