Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: February 3rd week (15 Feb – 21 Feb)

SBI has collaborated with Korea Development Bank and launched Korea Desk in Mumbai

Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off successfully with a record 104 satellites, including the country’s earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 series.

Russian space agency Roscosmos State Corporation’s DNEPR rocket launched 37 satellites in June 2014 in one go.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) — called PSLV-C37 — delivered into space a payload of 1,378 kg in its 38th consecutive successful flight.

Cartosat-2 (714 kg) and two “technology demonstration” nano satellites (INS-1 and 2) were the only Indian payloads in this launch on PSLV-C37.

Of the 101 foreign satellites launched by PSLV, 96 are from the US — including 88 from the start-up, Planet Labs, a San Franciso-based earth imaging company — while one satellite each is from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan and the UAE.

This initiative has been launched in association with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., (BSNL), wherein BSNL would distribute pre-loaded SIM cards to foreign tourists arriving in India on e-Visa.
Sim cards will be pre-loaded with a value of Rs. 50 talk time and 50 MB data and will be activated on immediate basis so as to enable foreign tourists use this facility instantly.

The Centre will come up at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad

The Indian Panorama Film Festival being organised jointly by Andaman and Nicobar administration and Directorate of Film Festivals, Government of India, held in Port Blair.

The Reserve Bank of India doubled the quantum of loan that Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) can give against security of gold/ gold ornaments to Rs 2 lakh with bullet repayment option.

HEFA has been jointly promoted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Canara Bank with an authorised capital of Rs. 2,000 crore.

Both Mastercard and Airtel Payments Bank have also teamed up to launch an online debit card to enable Airtel Payments Bank customers make digital payments at over one lakh online merchant outlets.

India is among nine countries that will be part of a global health network focused on improving the quality of care for new mothers and babies and strengthen national efforts to end preventable deaths of pregnant women and newborns by 2030.
The nine countries are India, Bangladesh, A Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand topped the index.

Vikas Swarup, who is currently serving as the official spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, is appointed as High Commissioner of lndia to Canada.

Recognised by the Limca Book of World Records as “the world’s largest congregation of handicrafts exhibitors under one roof,” Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair (IHGF)- Delhi Fair Spring 2017 will be held at at India Expo Centre and Mart, Greater Noida Expressway.

As a TD, he will be assigned to any country except his own and will be responsible for conduct of an entire event, ranging from actual competition management to every related aspect from media arrangements to logistics.

The 100-year plan will involve scientific research programmes to nurture national cadres specialised in space sciences at universities in the UAE.

Gymnast Simone Biles clinched the top honour in the women’s category at the Laureus World Awards at a glittering ceremony.

From Bangladesh, he is a Well-known painter and freedom fighter.

Indian ended second in the same.

Nelson Mandela, Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus, Indian businessman Ratan Tata, late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Facebook CEO Marck Zuckerburg and F1 racer Michael Schumacher. Shahrulh Khan

He has been chosen for this prestigious award for his novel “Kaatna Shami Ka Vriksha : Padma Pankhuri Ki Dhar Se”, published in 2010.

The 11 scientists behind the claim presented their findings in the study “Zealandia: Earth’s Hidden Continent” in Geological Society of America, making a case for Zealandia to be recognised as the world’s eighth continent in its own right.

Under this programme Mahalaki bridge and 15 roads will be constructed in various parts of Nepal.

Under the scheme, middle class people who can`t afford the expensive litigation in the Supreme Court can avail the services of the society for a nominal amount.

Marathi Journalist

Hindi novelist

He inked pact with Puma.

As per latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India accounted for 13 per cent of the total global arms import between 2012–16 which is highest among all the countries.

Saudi Arabia was the second largest arms importer in 2012-16

The world’s first transit rating system, which caters exclusively to metro networks, has been unveiled at the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s head office.

According to the pact, which was inked in 2007, both India and Pakistan shall notify each other immediately in the event of an accident relating to nuclear weapons, under their respective jurisdiction or control, which could create the risk of a radioactive fallout, with adverse consequences for both sides or create the risk of an outbreak of a nuclear war between the two countries.

Developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Mastercard, and Visa, BharatQR code would require merchants to only display one QR code instead of multiple ones.

Devised on the direction set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September last year, it will make payments seamless for buyers as they just have to “scan to pay” for transactions instead of swiping their credit/debit cards.

The State Bank of India (SBI) announced rebranding of its corporate website as ‘bank.sbi’ from earlier sbi.co.in in respect of generic Top Level Domain (gTLD). gTLD adoption that enables an organization to use its corporate name (.sbi) as their website’s top-level identifier.

Devised on the direction set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September last year, it will make payments seamless for buyers as they just have to “scan to pay” for transactions instead of swiping their credit/debit cards.

At a time when cyber attacks are increasing, the government through its Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) launched “Cyber Swachhta Kendra” — a new desktop and mobile security solution for a secure cyber space in the country. The new solution will notify, enable cleaning and secure systems of end-users to prevent further infections.

Part of the solution, USB Pratirodh is a desktop security solution that controls the usage of removable storage media like pen drives, external hard drives and other USB-supported mass storage devices.

M-Kavach tool offers a comprehensive mobile device security solution for Android devices addressing threats related to mobile phones.

AppSamvid is a desktop solution which protects systems by allowing installation of genuine applications through white listing. This helps in preventing threats from malicious applications.

The countries will soon set up an entrepreneurship development centre in Kigali while in aviation, Rwanda Air will start services to India in coming months and both countries will mutually exempt visa requirements.

The famous Nilambur teak which is internationally known for its superior quality and elegant appearance is soon to get added to the list of the Kerala produces that have Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

Nilambur is a municipality and a taluk in the Malappuram district of the Indian state of Kerala.

Nilambur is also a major producer of Teak of fine quality, holds the world’s oldest Teak plantation.