Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2021

Notes:
As per the Chinese lunar calendar, a 12-year cycle is described, which is used in the Chinese Zodiac. As per the country’s Zodiac, this year is celebrated as the Year of Ox.
The country celebrates the festival for sixteen days, beginning from the Chinese New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival. After China adopted the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese New year was renamed as the Spring Festival.

Notes:
Mario Draghi has sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Italy. He is the former Chief of the European Central Bank.
He is nick named as “Super Mario”. He has announced his cabinet of ministers, which consists of political and technocratic ministers. He is presently 73 years old.

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:
As per the press release issued by the Indian Embassy, India is to provide Nepalese Rupee 142 million to Nepal for the restoration and conservation of three cultural heritage sites.
These projects are being implemented under USD 50 million grant assistance committed by India earlier. The three sites in the Kathmandu Valley include Seto Machindranath Temple, construction of Dharamshala at Budhaneelkantha and conservation of Kumari Home.

Notes:
Members of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) endorsed the first-ever voluntary guidelines on food systems and nutrition.
CFS is an international and intergovernmental platform, hosted and co-funded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. It enables all stake holders to work towards ensuring food security and nutrition for all.

Notes:
The final production batch of Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) was recently flagged off at DRDL, A P J Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Hyderabad.
The missiles have been designed and developed by DRDO in collaboration with various industry partners and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited. The missile system provides defence against aerial targets including fighter aircrafts and missiles.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it will provide Rs 100 crore loan to Gurgaon-based hospital chain Medanta.
The financial assistance would aid the multi-speciality hospital chain in enhancing healthcare services and medical equipment to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes staff training programmes on infection control.

Notes:
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot released the third edition of the Indian Sign Language (ISL) Dictionary.
This edition has 10,000 terms of daily use and technical terms including academic, legal, medical terms. The second edition of the dictionary released in 2019 had 6,000 terms and the first edition released in 2018 had 3,000 terms.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been conferred the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year Award.
The award has been provided based on a year-long study of results of the projects being implemented by various state governments of the country. Over 123 projects were implemented in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Notes:
Recently, Scientists have recovered the oldest DNA on record. It has been extracted from teeth of mammoths found in north-eastern Siberia that existed to 1.2 million years.
This is seen as a major breakthrough in understanding the evolution of species and determine the characteristics of extinct species.