Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 18th February 2021

Correct Answer: D. Jammu & Kashmir

Explanation: The ancient Kanchoth festival, a symbol of ancient Nag culture, was observed with religious fervour and gaiety across the Chenab valley region of Jammu and Kashmir. The festival is celebrated by locals, mainly Nag followers who believe that on this day of Gouri Tritiya, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati got married and the latter insisted on a throne made of snow as her wedding gift.The festival is celebrated by locals, mainly Nag followers who believe that on this day of Gouri Tritiya, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati got married and the latter insisted on a throne made of snow as her wedding gift.

Correct Answer – E. Assam

Explanation: Star sprinter Hima Das has been appointed as a Deputy Superintendent of Police by the Assam government. The 21-year-old from Assam, known as ‘Dhing Express’ referring to the town near her native village, is currently training at the NIS-Patiala and will be aiming to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics as the athletics calendar starts in a few days. The reigning world junior 400m champion, who won a silver in women’s 400m in the 2018 Asian Games, was also part of the gold-winning women’s 400m relay and mixed 400m relay quartets in the quadrennial event in Jakarta.

Correct Answer – B. Manipur

Explanation: Justice Puligoru Venkata Sanjay Kumar has been sworn-in as the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court at Raj Bhavan, Imphal. He was appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Manipur by the President of India. Prior to this, he served as a Judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Correct Answer – B. Bangladesh

Explanation: The first day of the spring called ‘Pahela Phagun’ was celebrated in Dhaka, Bangladesh despite the continued shadow of Corona pandemic in the country. Cultural organisations held programmes at different venues in the city to herald the beginning of the spring. Programmes were held at the Suhrawardy Udyan, Nandan Manch of Shilpakala Academy and several other locations. The Jatiya Basanta Utsab Udjapan Parishad organized the programme at the Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka. Young women wearing yellow saris and youth dressed in ‘Punjabis’ took part in the festivity. The programme featured dance and musical performances. The traditional programme of ‘Basanta Utsab’ at the Fine Arts faculty in Dhaka university was cancelled since educational institutions have been closed till Feb. 28 by the government due to the Corona pandemic.

Correct Answer – D. e-Chhawani

Explanation: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently launched an online portal ‘e-Chhawani’ and mobile app, to facilitate ‘ease of living’ and ‘ease of doing’ for the residents of the Cantonment Boards across the country. The ‘e-Chhawani’ portal will provide online municipal services to more than 20 lakh citizens across all 62 Cantonment Boards of India while sitting at home.

About the portal: The portal can be accessed at https://echhawani.gov.in/.The residents of cantonment areas can register their complaints regarding civic issues and even get their documents like trade licence, sewerage connectivity applications through the portalJointly been developed by eGov Foundation, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE), and National Informatics Centre (NIC).A cantonment board is a civic administration body in India under control of the Ministry of Defence. It takes care of mandatory duties such as the provision of public health, water supply, sanitation, primary education, and street lighting etc.

Correct Answer – B. Chandra Shekhar Aazad

Explanation: Five Indian-origin personalities have been featured in TIME magazine’s annual list of 100 “emerging leaders.Vijaya Gadde (Twitter’s lawyer), Rishi Sunak (UK FM), Apoorva Mehta (Instacart CEO) Shikha Gupta (ED Get Us PPE) are featured in the list.Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad is also on the list.The 2021 TIME100 Next is an expansion of TIME’s flagship TIME100 franchise of the most influential people in the world.

Correct Answer – D. IIT Madras

Explanation: An IIT Madras-Incubated start-up Pi Beam has recently launched PiMo, a sustainable utility e-bike.Pi Beam’s new Electric Two-Wheeler can charge faster than a smartphone.Riding PiMo does not require a license or registration.Priced at Rs. 30, 000 it is economical and eliminates fuel costs.It offers ‘Battery Swapping’ and a drained battery can be exchanged for a fully charged one at designated locations.PiMo is one of the few EVs in the local market that is almost completely made in India.90% of its components, including the batteries and controllers, are manufactured in India.

Correct Answer – B. Sandes

Explanation:  The National Informatics Centre has launched its own instant messaging platform called Sandes (meaning ‘Message’) mirroring that of WhatsApp.Currently, the Sandes platform is only available to authorised government employees.Like WhatsApp, the app offers features like groups, broadcast messages, message forwarding and emojisWhile the Sandes app allows users to backup chat histories to a registered email, it does not allow users to change their mobile number or email address registered with the appIn August 2020, the NIC launched the Sandes app albeit in a different avatar. The app went by the name of GIMS, or Government Instant Messaging System, and as per latest reports, has already been rolled out among some sections of government personnel.

Correct Answer – A. Mallikarjun Kharge

Explanation: Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has accorded recognition to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha with effect from February 16.Kharge was named Congress leader in the House to succeed Ghulam Nabi Azad whose term has ended. Kharge, a former union minister, had earlier been Congress leader in the Lok Sabha.

Correct Answer – C. Credit Discipline and Credit from Formal Institutions

Explanation: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been conducting Financial Literacy Week (FLW) every year since 2016 to propagate financial education messages on a particular theme across the country.The theme selected for current year FLW is ‘Credit Discipline and Credit from Formal Institutions’ which will be observed from February 8-12, 2021.This theme is one of the strategic objectives of the National Strategy for Financial Education 2020-2025.Focus will be on responsible borrowing; borrowing from formal institutions and timely repayments.

Correct Answer – C. Amazon India

Explanation: Amazon India will start manufacturing electronics products in India.To begin with, it is going to start manufacturing Amazon Fire TV sticks from India.Amazon will commence its manufacturing efforts with contract manufacturer Cloud Network Technology, a subsidiary of Foxconn in Chennai, and start production later in 2021.

Correct Answer – A. Thaawarchand Gehlot

Explanation: Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot virtually released the third edition of the Indian Sign Language Dictionary, on 17 February 2021.The new dictionary contains 10 thousand terms of everyday use including academic, legal, administrative, medical, technical, and agricultural terms.The dictionary also contains regional signs used in different parts of the country.

Correct Answer – C. 18 February

Explanation:  18 February marks the birth anniversary of Ramakrishna Paramhansa.Born on 18 February 1836, Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, who came to be known as Ramakrishna later in life, hailed from a poor Brahmin family from Kamarpukur village, in the Hooghly district of West Bengal.The saint was given the title of ‘Paramahamsa’ by his Vedantic guru, Totapuri, a monk from Punjab.

Correct Answer: A. Mahender Singh Kanyal

Explanation: Senior diplomat Mahender Singh Kanyal has been appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to Syria.Kanyal, who is presently Ambassador of India to Suriname, is expected to take up the assignment shortly.India is also gifting 2,000 metric tonnes of rice to Syria following a request from the Arab republic.