Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) recently released its latest round of Economic Outlook Survey. As per the survey, the annual median GDP growth forecast for 2019-20 is estimated at 5.0%.
The survey also revealed that the GDP growth is likely to improve to 5.5% in 2020-21. The median growth forecast for Agriculture and allied activities and the industry are predicted at 2.6% and 3.5% respectively for 2019-20. The services sector is expected to grow at 7.2% during the current year. A median forecast of 4.7% for GDP growth has been estimated for the third quarter of 2019-20.

Notes:
As a part of the USD 10 million commitment of Google to media literacy, the tech-major recently announced a $1 million grant for a non-profit news literacy organisation called Internews. The fund has been launched by Google News Initiative (GNI), to counter fake news and misinformation in India by building a strong network of senior reporters and journalists. The initiative aims to conduct workshops and camps in Indian cities to inculcate news literacy and avoid fake online information.

Notes:
Nagoba Jatara is a tribal festival celebrated by the Mesaram clan of Gond tribes in Keslapur village of Telangana. It is the second biggest tribal festival, which is celebrated for ten days.
The idol of their God Nagoba is worshipped by the people during the festival. Tribal people who belong to the Mesram clan and reside in other states such as Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh also come and offer prayers at the festival. The festival has concluded recently, the rituals of which was spread over a month.

Notes:
In the recent Union Budget 2020-21, the government has estimated the fiscal deficit target for 2020-21 at 3.5 per cent of GDP (Budget Estimate).
The fiscal deficit target for 2019-20 was estimated at 3.3% earlier, which has also been revised to 3.8% of GDP, citing revenue shortage as the reason. Under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, the Section 4 (2) permits the government to relax its fiscal deficit target during time of unanticipated stress. This section has been used to increase the previous target to 3.8% in the revised estimates.

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:
The state Government of Kerala declared the disease caused by the novel coronavirus as a “state calamity”. This declaration comes at the backdrop of three people of the state being tested positive for coronavirus.
Kerala reported the first infection from the virus in India and the person is being treated in isolation wards. Later two other patients, who are the students of a medical college in Wuhan, China are also diagnosed with the virus infection. The novel coronavirus was first reported in China’s Wuhan city and has spread to nearly 25 other countries.

Notes:
The Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu recently inaugurated the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project between the twin cities of Karnataka, Hubbali to Dharwad.
The project cost of Rs 970 crore is jointly funded by the state and central governments and the World Bank. The BRTS established between the cities on a trial basis already serves more than 1 lakh passengers per day. It has now become fully operational and is expected to be a major boost in the state’s public transport.

Notes:
The US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Centre (GIPC) recently released the latest edition of International intellectual property index. In the list, India is ranked 40, with a score of 38.46%, higher than the last year’s score.
India was placed at 36th rank in the last year’s list, which ranked 50 countries across the world. This year the Centre included 53 economies. The United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France and Germany retained their positions and were placed at the top five spots in the intellectual property index list.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet of India recently approved to set up 13th major port of India, at Vadhavan in Maharashtra. The project is to entail a total cost of Rs 65,544 crore.
The government is expected to hold 51 per cent stake in the project of the new port. All related business activities would be done under private-public partnership (PPP) mode. A special purpose vehicle is proposed to be formed, which would develop the infrastructure of the new port. This port would promote cargo movement from Gujarat, Maharashtra and other land-locked states.

Notes:
Minister of State for Labour Santosh Gangwar recently announced that the government is conducting a new Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). The survey conducted this year comprises of new parameters and bigger sample size.
As per the results of the PLFS survey being conducted by the government, the Unemployment rate in the country in 2017-18 was 6.1 per cent. The labour force participation in the country in the same time period was found to be 36.9 per cent. The Minister also announced that the new survey conducted through the Ministry of Statistics provides more authentic data.