Test: February 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 3 - UPSC MCQ

Chief Minister of Telangana State Mr. K. Chandrashekhar Rao flagged off new Metro line from Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) connecting twin cities if Hyderabad and Secunderabad, and the stretch covering of 11-kms(Kilometers) becomes India’s 2nd largest Metro Rail Network of total operational distance of 69.2kms, only next to Delhi Metro Rail Network having an operational distance of 231kms. Karnataka’s Namma Metro rail network is India’s 3rd largest network of operational distance of 42.3kms.

According to the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri.Dharmendra Debendra Pradhan, a total of about 27.5 crore LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) or cooking gas connections in India & out of this, 8 crore connections have been provided under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme. Also the LPG coverage has reached 96.9 % as of January 1,2020.

Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal Khattar and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Dushyant Chautala of Haryana jointly launched Mukyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana scheme on the mark of successful 100 days of the present state government. The scheme is about providing financial assistance of Rs.6000 to the families below the poverty line.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to conduct the Financial Literacy Week (FLW) 2020 from February 10 – February 14, 2020 based on the theme “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)”. The RBI will also launch a centralized mass media campaign in February 2020 to broadcast essential financial awareness messages to MSME entrepreneurs.

Major in the Indian Army, Anoop Mishra has developed the world’s 1st bulletproof helmet which can stop an AK-47 bullet round from a distance of as less as 10 meters. The helmet is developed under the Indian Army’s “Abhedya” project.

American tennis player Abigail Spears (38 years) was given a 22 month doping ban by the International Tennis Federation(ITF). The ban was announced on spears after she failed the doping test from the 2019 US (United States) open match. The ban which was started from November 07, 2019, will end at midnight on September 6, 2021.

American author Roger Kahn, known for his best-selling book in 1972 “The Boys of Summer” passed away at Nursing home in Mamaroneck, New York, U.S due to age related ailments announced by his son Gordon Jacques Kahn.

On February 10, 2020, an 18-day long “Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat Campaign”has has commenced across India with the aim of bringing various states into the thread of cultural unity. The campaign is being organised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, till 28th February 2020.

Pullela Gopichand, the Chief National coach for the Indian Badminton team has received the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award in Male Category of the year 2019 on the 3rd edition of International Olympics Committee Annual Awards, He is the 1st Indian coach to be Honoured with this Lifetime award by the Olympics Committee.

A 2-day long 4th edition of EAS (East Asia Summit) Conference on Maritime Security Cooperation 2020 was held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN) from February 6-7 2020. The conference was jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI) in association with the governments of Australia and Indonesia.

A 2-day long 23rd edition of National Conference on e-Governance 2020 based on the theme “India 2020: Digital Transformation” with 6-sub themes was held at Mumbai, Maharashtra from February 7-8 2020. India FinTech Festival (IFF) 2020, India’s 1st home based global platform to promote Fintech innovation will be held in Mumbai, Maharashtra in March 2020. Medici is the program partner for the IFF 2020.

The Indian Army’s College of Military Engineering (CME), Pune, Maharashtra, jointly with a private firm developed gunshot locators named as “Parth”. The device is much cheaper than the imported ones. Major Anoop Mishra displayed the Parth gunshot locator at DefExpo 2020 held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP).

On February 10, 2020 Kanwar Pal, Haryana education minister, launched ‘Reading Mission- Haryana’ to inculcate reading habits among students. Book review sessions will be organized by students once a month in educational institutions & 45-minute mass- reading Programme will be held on 4th Saturday of every month.

The 5th Edition of Joint Military Exercise between Indian Army and United Kingdom(UK) Army AJEYA WARRIOR-2020 will be conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom(UK) from February (13 to 26) 2020.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), the regulator of the National Pension System (NPS), has doubled the minimum net worth criterion for pension fund managers to 50 crores from the 25 crore stipulated earlier. Provision has also been made for licenses to have indefinite validity.

According to “Public Enterprises Survey 2018-19”, which measures the annual economic condition of all central PSUs, ONGC, IOC and NTPC were the top three PSUs with profits in 2018-19. BSNL, Air India and MTNL saw the highest losses for the third consecutive year.

The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar announced that the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) of Wild Animals, an Environment Treaty Supported by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is going to hosted by India at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, from 17th – 22nd February 2020. The Great Indian Bustard (Gibi) is chosen as official Mascot of the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS).

Infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has entered into a pact with ideaForge, domestic unmanned aerial vehicles manufacturer, to offer hi-tech drones and allied systems for defence use. They will also offer anti-drone solutions to counter the threat of malicious or unintended usage of drones.

The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is developing Pranash, a new 200Km strike range ballistic missile which will be the advanced version of Prahaar, with the strike range of 150Km. Pranash is a single stage solid propellant surface-to-surface missile.

International Day of Women & Girls in Science was observed on 11th February. The day was celebrated to achieve equal participation & access to women and girls in science. Theme: “Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth”. The theme aims to encourage women and girls to opt for science.

The “2nd BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise-2020 (BIMSTEC DMEx-2020)” was held at Bhubaneswar/Puri, Odisha from 11-13 February, 2020 with themes “A cultural heritage site that suffers severe damage in the Earthquake” & “Flooding or Storm”. Organized by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), on behalf of the Government of India, BIMSTEC DMEx-2020 was inaugurated by Chief Minister Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik on Feb 11, 2020.

The “CLIMISHCON” is a Four-day International Conference on changes in Hydrological cycle, Ocean ecosystem, Fisheries and Food security due to Global climate change. And the conference is going to be held at the Le Meridian Convention center in Kochi, Kerala from February 11 to February 14, 2020. the Theme for the conference is ‘Climate Change-Effective Adaptation for a Secure Future’.

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) state Cabinet, chaired by its Chief Minister(CM) Yogi Adityanath has approved the Ground Water Act-2020 with the aim to improve the falling level of ground water. The cabinet has also approved the provisions of penalty and punishment against the person who contaminate the ground water level.

The Union Ministry of Finance has notified ‘Printing of One Rupee Currency Notes Rules, 2020’ which will feature bilingual signature of Shri Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, Ministry of Finance. It shall be rectangular 9.7 x 6.3 cms, with its paper made of 100% (cotton) rag content. The note will be 110 microns thick, weighing 90 GSM (Grams per Square Meter). The color of the note – pink green, the design surrounding will be of the Sagar Samrat, which is an oil exploration rig.

Bengaluru Raptors, led by World Championships bronze medallist B. Sai Praneeth and World No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying has defeated the mixed doubles pair -Chan Peng Soon and Eom Hye Won of North Eastern Warriors to clinch the Premier Badminton League (PBL) title 2020 for the 2nd time in a row by 4–2 scores, performing best in the final of the league’s fifth season.