Daily Current Affairs: 17th Feb 2021

Daily Current Affairs: 17th Feb 2021

In this article, we provide 17th February 2021 current affairs in Hind and English for upcoming exams like HCS, RAS, UPPCS, and other state services.

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Previous Quiz

Que1.ऑक्सफोर्ड यूनिवर्सिटी स्टूडेंट यूनियन की अध्यक्ष चुनी जाने वाली पहली भारतीय महिला कौन बन गई है?Who has become the first Indian woman to be elected president of the Oxford University Student Union?

रश्मि सामंत/Rashmi Samant

Que2. किस राज्य ने गरीब छात्रों को मुफ्त कोचिंग प्रदान करने के लिए "अभ्युदय" योजना शुरू की है?/Which state has launched the “Abhyudaya” scheme to provide free coaching to poor students?

उत्तर प्रदेश/Uttar Pradesh

Today's Quiz

Q1.किस देश के प्रधानमंत्री ने हाल ही में हरित ऊर्जा के लिए एक नए सुपर मंत्रालय बनाया है?

(a) इटली

(b) फ्रांस

(c) ब्राज़ील

(d) इज़राइल

Q1. Which country’s Prime Minister has recently created a super ministry for green energy?

(a) Italy 

(b) France

(c) Brazil

(d) Israel 

• The new Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, has put climate change at the center of his plans to run Italy
• He has created a super ministry to ensure a transition to green energy drives recovery in the country. 
• The super ministry has been established with the objective of making full use of European Union funds with respect to climate change.
• In the first move, the Prime Minister will redraft Italy's Recovery Plan.
• The recovery plan of Italy has to be handed to the European Commission by April 2021 in order to get more than 200 billion euros ($240 billion) of funds.

Q2. राष्ट्रीय सूचना विज्ञान केंद्र ने व्हाट्सएप की तर्ज पर कौन सा इंस्टेंट मैसेजिंग प्लेटफॉर्म लॉन्च किया है?

(a) पैगाम

(b) संदेश

(c) पयाम

(d) संवाद

Q2.Which instant messaging platform has been launched by the National Informatics Centre on the lines of WhatsApp?

(a) Paigam

(b) Sandes

(c) Payam

(d) Samvad 

• The National Informatics Centre has launched an instant messaging platform called Sandes on the lines of WhatsApp.
• Like WhatsApp, the new NIC platform can be used for all kinds of communications by anyone with a mobile number or email id.
• This was after the Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) had also posted an advisory against Zoom over safety and privacy concerns in April last year.
• In August 2020, the NIC released the first version of the app that could be used by both central and state government officials “for intra and inter-organizational communication.” 
• The app was initially launched for Android users and then the service was extended to iOS users.
• The launch of the app is also a part of the government strategy to push for use of India-made software so as to build an ecosystem of indigenously developed products. 

Q3.भारतीय नौसेना में तीसरी स्कॉर्पीन पनडुब्बी को हाल ही में किस नाम से कमीशन किया गया है?

(a) INS खांदेरी

(b) INS करंज

(c) INS कलवरी

(d) INS खुखरी

Q3.Indian Navy has got a third scorpene submarine which has been commissioned Into service as ____________.

(a) INS Khanderi

(b) INS Karanj 

(c) INS Kalvari

(d) INS Khukri

• The Indian Navy got its third Scorpene submarine, which was commissioned as INS Karanj, of Project P-75 on February 15, 2021, in Mumbai. 
• Built-in India in collaboration with the Naval Group of France, the third Scorpene submarine will be inducted into service as INS Karanj.
• It was constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited after Khanderi and Kalvari.

Q4.विज्ञान और इंजीनियरिंग अनुसंधान बोर्ड (SERB) महिला उत्कृष्टता पुरस्कार 2021 से किसे सम्मानित किया गया है?

(a) शोभना कपूर

(b) अंतरा बनर्जी

(c) सोनू गांधी

(d) रितु गुप्ता

(e) उपरोक्त सभी

Q4. Who has been awarded the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Women Excellence Award 2021?

(a) Shobhna Kapoor

(b) Antara Banerjee

(c) Sonu Gandhi

(d) Ritu Gupta

(e) All of the above 

• Four young women fellows of the Indian National Science Academy have been awarded the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Women Excellence Award 2021  on the International Day of Women and Girls.
• The SERB Women Excellence Awards function was held on February 13.
• All four women received a grant of ₹15 lakh for a period of three years to pursue their research ideas.
• The four women scientists selected for the awards include Shobhna Kapoor, Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay; Antara Banerjee, Scientist at National Institute For Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai; Sonu Gandhi, Scientist from National Institute Of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad and Ritu Gupta, who is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute Of Technology (IIT), Jodhpur.

Additional Information: 

The second phase of the Vigyan Jyoti program was started on February 11, 2021, on the occasion of International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Q5.किस देश के पूर्व राष्ट्रपति; कार्लोस मेनम का हाल ही में निधन हो गया है?

(a) बोलीविया

(b) ब्राज़ील

(c) चिली

(d) अर्जेंटीना

Q5. Which country’s former President; Carlos Menem passed away recently?

(a) Bolivia

(b) Brazil

(c) Chile

(d) Argentina 

• Carlos Menem, a former Argentine president who delivered short-lived economic stability and forged close ties with the United States in the 1990s  has passed.
• Menem’s accomplishments, however, coincided with growing unemployment, economic inequality, and foreign debt.
• He was 90.
• Current President - Alberto Fernández

Q6.टिपणे काश्मिरची नामक पुस्तक किसने लिखी है?

(a) राधा कृष्ण माथुर

(b) मनोज सिन्हा

(c) अरुण कर्मकार

(d) प्रकाश कुमार 

Q6. Who wrote the book titled, Tipane Kashmirchi?

(a) Radha Krishna Mathur 

(b) Manoj Sinha

(c) Arun Karmarkar

(d) Prakash Kumar 

• Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has recently released a book titled, “Tipane Kashmirchi” (Notes on Kashmir) in Mumbai 
• It is a collection of untold stories authored by Arun Karmarkar.
• Publication: Param Mitra Publishers 
• Language: Marathi

Q7.हाल ही में किस देश के हौथी विद्रोही खबरों में है?

(a) सऊदी अरब

(b) सीरिया

(c) मिस्र

(d) यमन

Q7. Which country’s Houthis rebels are in the news nowadays?

(a) Saudi Arabia

(b) Syria 

(c) Egypt

(d) Yemen

• Joe Biden's US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, recognizing the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, announced the reversal of former President Trump's designation of Ansarallah (the Houthis Movement) as a foreign terrorist organization and specially designated global terrorist group.
•  The decision comes into effect on 16 February.
• Two weeks before stepping down, President Trump, designated Houthis as a terrorist group, disregarding the fact such a decision could lead to the death of thousands of starving Yemenis. 
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had stressed a few days earlier that Yemen was "in immediate danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades."

Q8.कोटिया किन दो राज्यों के बीच विवादित क्षेत्र है?

(a) आंध्र प्रदेश और तेलंगाना

(b) आंध्र प्रदेश और ओडिशा

(c) आंध्र प्रदेश और कर्नाटक

(d) तमिलनाडु और कर्नाटक

Q8. Kotia is a disputed region between which two states?

(a) Andhra Pradesh and Telangana 

(b) Andhra Pradesh and Odisha

(c) Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka 

(d) Tamil Nadu  and Karnataka 

• Andhra Pradesh held panchayat elections in three villages in the Kotia cluster, which is at the center of a dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
• This is the first time Andhra has held panchayat polls in any of these villages.
• Dispute:  Prior to April 1, 1936, villages under Kotia panchayat were part of the Jeypore Estate. In the Constitution of Orrisa Order, 1936, published in the Gazette of India on March 19 that year, the Government of India demarcated Odisha from the erstwhile Madras Presidency with the latter including the present-day Andhra Pradesh.
• When the state of Andhra Pradesh was created in 1955, the villages were not surveyed by the Andhra Pradesh government either.

Q9.किस भारतीय-अमेरिकी को घरेलू नीति परिषद में श्रम एवं कामगारों के लिए अमेरिका के राष्ट्रपति जो बाइडन का विशेष सहायक नामित किया गया है?

(a) भव्या लाल

(b) रश्मि सामंत

(c) प्रोणिता गुप्ता

(d) नीरा टंडन

Q9. Which Indian-American has been named US President Joe Biden's Special Assistant for Labour and Workers on the Domestic Policy Council?

(a) Bhavya Lal 

(b) Rashmi Samant

(c) Pronita Gupta

(d) Neera Tanden 

• Indian-American Pronita Gupta has been named US President Joe Biden's Special Assistant for Labour and Workers on the Domestic Policy Council.
• Gupta was  the Director of the Job Quality Team at the Centre for Law and Social Policy 
• During the second term of the Obama Administration, Gupta was Deputy Director, Women's Bureau at the US Department of Labour from April 2014 to January 2017.

Q10.कौन सा मंत्रालय देश के सभी जिलों में महात्मा गांधी राष्ट्रीय फैलोशिप (MGNF) का विस्तार कर रहा है?

(a) सूक्ष्म, लघु और मध्यम उद्यमों का मंत्रालय

(b) कौशल विकास और उद्यमिता मंत्रालय

(c) कॉर्पोरेट मामलों का मंत्रालय

(d) नवीन और नवीकरणीय ऊर्जा मंत्रालय

Q10. Which Ministry is expanding Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) to all the districts in the country?

(a) Ministry of micro, small, and medium enterprises

(b) Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

(c) Ministry of Corporate Affairs

(d) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

• The Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship chaired an inauguration ceremony of ‘Transforming skilling through strategic partnerships under SANKALP’ and Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF).
• SANKALP (Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion)is a World Bank-supported programme for strengthening district skill administration and the District Skill Committees.
• Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship is a Certificate Program in Public Policy and Management offered by IIMs. It has been designed at the initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
• With the successful launch of MGNF in the first pilot (MGNF) which had 69 fellows working across 69 districts, the Ministry is now expanding MGNF to all remaining districts in the country.