Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) department of the global tech-giant Google has recently developed a new model to protect the endangered species of killer whales.
The whales, which are also known as orcas are seen in very few numbers in the Salish Sea. Google has partnered with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to monitor their condition and alert experts in the event of sickness or accidents caused to the whales. The trained AI model uses underwater audio and labels to listen to the sounds of the whale and to display its location.

Notes:
The Antonov An-32 of the Indian Air Force recently took-off from the Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport, Leh. The aircraft was powered with a 10% blend of Indian bio-jet fuel.
This is the first time that both engines of the aircraft were powered by the indigenous bio-jet fuel. The bio-fuel is produced from the tree borne oils, grown and acquired from the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh. The aircraft was initially flight tested at Chandigarh Air Base before undertaking the operational flight to Leh.

Notes:
The Serb Tennis star Novak Djokovic clinched his eighth Australian Open title, second in a row, by defeating Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the Australian open finals.
This is the 17th Grand Slam trophy of Djokovic, in his entire tennis career, and he is only behind the other two stars Roger Federer (20) and Rafael Nadal (19). The 32-year-old ace tennis player had already won 5 Wimbledon, 3 U.S Open and 1 French Open titles. This is also his fifth trophy from the last seven major Grand slams, he had competed.

Notes:
As per the recent announcement of the Chairman of the Railway Board Vinod Kumar Yadav, the third private train of the IRCTC is set to run between Varanasi and Indore.
The train which is to be operated overnight, is expected to have the same rakes as in the Humsafar Express. The train is set to run three days a week between the cities- among them two days will be operated via Lucknow and one day via Allahabad. The first two private trains are operated on two routes namely Delhi-Lucknow and Ahmedabad-Mumbai.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had proposed the door-delivery of pension in the state under YSR Pension Kanuka scheme. The process was recently commenced in the state.
The pension has also been increased to ₹2,250 from the earlier ₹1,000 and the eligibility criteria has been revised to provide pension benefit to all the deserved people. The volunteers, with the smartphones containing biometric information of the pensioners will visit the beneficiaries and process the pension payment.

Notes:
Renowned Hindi poet and novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla was selected for the inaugural edition of the ‘Mathrubhumi Book of the Year’ award for his translated book ‘Blue Is Like Blue’.
One of the finest writers in Hindi, the 83-year-old writer was also a recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in 1999. The award is presented to the best fictional work, that was released in the previous year. The stories in his book was translated into English by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai.

Notes:
India and Maldives signed 5 agreements for establishing ‘Addu Tourism zone’ in five islands of Addu atoll. An atoll is a ring-shaped chain of islands formed of coral.
The Tourism zone is expected to be set up at a cost of $2.49 million. It aims at generating local employment and boost the eco-tourism opportunities in Addu. The High Commissioner of India Sunjay Sudhir signed the MoUs with the Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and Addu City Council. Another MoU to establish a bottled water plant in Hoarafushi was also inked.

Notes:
Indian Maharatna Public sector enterprise NTPC Ltd has recently raised $750 million syndicated Japanese yen loan, which will help to reduce air pollution from its power projects across India.
This is the highest single-foreign currency loan raised by the enterprise and also the largest syndicated Japanese yen loan raised by an Asian firm. The yen-denominated bond issued in the Japanese capital by non-Japanese companies is called Samurai bond. The loan will fund the installation of Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) system, which will help reduce SOx emissions. New hydro projects and projects using advanced technologies are also set to be established with the fund.

Notes:
The biennial Defence exhibition of India, ‘DefExpo’ was recently inaugurated at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also attended the inaugural programme.
A live demonstration of naval systems, aerial systems and land systems was performed during the ceremony. The main theme of the DefExpo 2020 is ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’ and the focus will be on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’. The five-day-exhibition is to be attended by delegates and military manufacturers from more than 70 countries. The fifth India-Russia Military Industry Conference is also to be held on the side-lines of the event.

Notes:
Indian Oil and Gas company, the Indian Oil Corporation recently signed an MoU with Russian energy firm, Rosneft for importing Crude Oil from Russia.
The crude oil purchase agreement was signed during a meeting between Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and the Chairman and CEO of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. Under the agreement, Russia would export 2 million tonnes of crude oil to India this year. Rosneft bought Essar Oil in 2017, which is now Nayara Energy and holds 49 per cent stake in the firm.