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:
The Jagannath Temple Management Committee, has recently approved a Rs 800-crore heritage corridor project. This project aims to revamp and redevelop the temple and is surrounding areas.
The Lord Jagannath Temple is an important 12th century temple located in Puri, Odisha. The temple was built by the King Anantavarman Chodaganga of Ganga dynasty.

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:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to launch the Mahabahu-Brahmaputra initiative in the state of Assam. It aims to improve connectivity in the eastern states.
Ro-Pax vessel operations would be inaugurated between Neamati-Majuli Island, North Guwahati-South Guwahati and Dhubri-Hatsingimari. The Prime Minister would also launch the foundation stone of two bridges, an Inland Water Transport Terminal at Jogighopa and various tourist jetties on Brahmaputra.

Notes:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) eased the listing norms for large companies in the Initial Public Offering (IPO).
It announced that large companies can now divest a minimum 5 per cent in the IPO, instead of 10 per cent. The companies also get five years, as agaisnt three years to raise the public float to 25 per cent.

Notes:
The International Solar Alliance (ISA) has proposed to launch World Solar Bank (WSB).
This is proposed to be launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow that is scheduled to be held in November 2021. The ISA is an intergovernmental treaty-based organization headquartered in India.

Notes:
The Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have recognised Hyderabad as the 2020 Tree City of the World.
This is the only city in India to have earned this honour, along with 51 cities globally. Haritha Haram is the tree plantation drive of the Telangana state, which made the city to grow and maintain urban forests.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Agriculture has obtained approval from DGCA for use of drones to implement Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
The Agriculture Ministry has planned to fly drones over 100 districts of the country to capture images of rice and wheat fields for assessing crop yields. It would also be used for claim settlement under the crop insurance scheme.

Notes:
Annual naval defence and maritime security exhibitions NAVDEX and IDEX are to be scheduled in the United Arab Emirates.
Indian Naval ship Pralaya arrived at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to participate in the exercises from February 20 to February 25. INS Pralaya is the second ship of the indigenously built Prabal Class Missile Vessels.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is to formulate the Space Entrepreneurship & Enterprise Development (SEED)”.
As per the Chairman of the ISRO K Sivan, the programme aims to provide early-stage encouragement programme to start-ups and MSMEs, which are keen on developing services related to space. ISRO will also let the companies use its facilities.