Test: February 2021 Weekly Current Affair - 3 - UPSC MCQ

In order to recognize the sacrifice and services rendered by the Covid warriors who lost their lives fighting the pandemic, the Odisha government has decided to construct a Covid Warrior Memorial in Odisha. The Biju Patnaik Park in Bhubaneswar has been selected for this purpose.

India’s Usha Rao-Monari, a leading investment professional, has been appointed by UN chief Antonio Guterres as Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the UNDP, joining a growing list of women from the country appointed to helm key agencies of the global organisation.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Central government and Uttarakhand government for setting up of ₹173 crore science city in Dehradun in presence of chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Arbor Day Foundation have recognized Hyderabad as a 2020 Tree City of World, for its commitment to growing and maintaining urban forests.

Global forecasting firm Oxford Economics revised India’s economic growth projection for 2021 to 10.2 per cent from the earlier 8.8 per cent, citing receding COVID-19 risks and the shift in the monetary policy outlook.

Former Governor of Bihar and Jharkhand M Rama Jois who had served as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court has passed away after prolonged illness in Bengaluru. He was 89 years old.

Food Processing Industries Ministry has approved proposals worth over 363 crore rupees to increase the level of processing and value addition of horticultural and agricultural produce.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been conferred the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year Award.

Safer Internet Day is observed every year on the second day of the second week of February with an aim to provide safer and better internet, where every user gets to use the internet responsibly and without getting their data leaked. This year’s SID celebration took place on 9 February 2021.
This year, the theme is “Together for a better internet”.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a Rs 100 crore debt financing agreement with Global Health Private Ltd (Medanta) to provide essential health care services and medical equipment to help combat the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

E-commerce company Flipkart has partnered with ICICI Lombard to offer ‘Group SafeGuard’ insurance, a group insurance policy to its consumers.

The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of Maharaja Suheldev Memorial and development work of Chittaura Lake in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh through video conferencing.
Mr Modi also inaugurated a medical college in the name of Maharaja Suheldev. The event marked the 112th birth anniversary celebration of Maharaja Suheldev.

With an eye on the upcoming Assembly polls, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeelaunched “Maa” canteens for providing subsidised cooked meals for the poor and the destitute at a nominal cost of ₹5.

Mastercard announced the launch of its flagship Priceless program in India. The program – known as Priceless India – will enable domestic and global travellers who are Mastercard cardholders to attain unique insights and exclusive access to several unparalleled experiences in the country.

The aggregate fiscal deficit of states is likely to be at 4.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021-22 compared to 4.6 per cent in 2020-21, says a report by India Ratings and Research.

India successfully test fired indigenously-developed anti-tank guided missile systems ‘Helina’and ‘Dhruvastra’, paving their induction into the Army and the Indian Air Force respectively.

The Kerala Sahitya Akademi awards for the year 2019 were announced, and author S. Hareesh’s Meesha (Moustache) has won the best novel prize. The awards carry prize money of Rs 25,000, a citation and a certificate.
Rathri Pandrandarayk oru Tharattu (A Lullaby at 12:30 in the Night), written by P. Raman, won the award for the best poetry.
Ramachi by Vinoy Thomas has bagged the award for the best short story.
Noted actress Sajitha Madathil bagged the Akademi award for her contribution in the drama Arangile Matsyagandhikal.

The Bangladesh Supreme Court launched the Artificial Intelligence (AI) based translation software ‘Amar Vasha’ through a virtual event.

Amazon is setting up its first device manufacturing line in India to make Fire TV sticks locally and has partnered with Cloud Network Technology, a subsidiary of Foxconn, to begin producing the device at its Chennai plant later this year.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami handed over Tamil Semmal award to Muthalankurichi Kamarasu (From a bus conductor to a writer).

The Finance Ministry will infuse Rs 3,000 crore capital into state-owned general insurance companies during the current quarter in a bid to improve their financial health.

In Cricket, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has become the first player in the 143-year history of Test cricket to take 200 wickets against left-handed batsmen.

Equitas Small Finance Bank said it has launched a FASTag powered truck terminal at Khalapur, in Maharashtra.

S&P Global Ratings has said that India will be one of the fastest growing emerging marketeconomies with a 10 per cent growth in the next fiscal.

The prize winning writer Irwin Allan Sealys announced his stunning new novel, titled “ASOCA: A Sutra”. The book will be published by Penguin Random House India.