Current Affairs 20th February 2015

Current Affairs 20th February 2015 - Important Points

• Name the Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand who had died recently - Manorama Dobriyal Sharma

• Which scheme has been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently- Nationwide Soil Health Card Scheme

• Which Urdu Poet had passed away - Urdu Poet Dr. Kalim Ahmed Ajiz

• Who was appointed as as US Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications - Rashad Hussain

• Name the portal launched by Union Government to foster business environment - eBiz, an Indian Government-to-Business (G2B) portal

• Which two equipments has been combined by German Researchers to search for Earth-like planets - Combined solar telescope with Laser Frequency Comb

• Who has presented Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 to State Government functionaries - PM Narendra Modi

• Which two Tropical Cyclones has hit Australia - Marcia and Lam

Current Affairs 20th February 2015 - Details

Name the Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand who had died recently - Manorama Dobriyal Sharma

On 18th February 2015, Manorama Dobriyal Sharma, Member of Parliament (MP) in Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand and Congress Party leader, died at the age of 60. The Chief Minister of Uttrakhand, Harish Rawat declared three-day state lamentation following her death. She became the first woman member of the Upper House from Uttrakhand and was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha in November 2014 on Congress Party ticket.

Which scheme has been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently- Nationwide Soil Health Card Scheme

Which scheme has been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently- Nationwide Soil Health Card Scheme On 19th February 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide Soil Health Card Scheme in Suratgarh town of Sriganganagar district, Rajasthan. This scheme will help farmers to scientifically analyse the soil of farms in the country. The objective of the scheme is to help farmers in improving productivity by appropriate use of fertilisers or nutrients. 14 crore Soil Health Cards will be issued to farmer of the country for the next 3 years. Around 3 crore farmers will be covered under the project in financial year 2014-15.

Which Urdu Poet had passed away - Urdu Poet Dr. Kalim Ahmed Ajiz

On 15th February 2015, Legendary Urdu poet Dr. Kalim Ahmed Ajiz died in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand at the age of 90. Ajiz was serving as the Chairman of the Urdu Advisory Committee, Government of Bihar, at the time of his death.

About Kalim Ahmed Ajiz

• During 1960’s and 70’s he was the only Urdu poet to represent Bihar in the Red Fort Mushaira.
• Thi farmaish buzorgo ki to likh di ghazal aajiz/wagar na shayaari shairi ka tazarba humko bhala kahan hai was his first written couplet.
• He wrote ghazals and nazams named as, Woh jo shayri ka sabab hua, jab fasl bahar aayei thi, jahan khushboo hi khusboo thi.
• He was awarded with Padma Shri for his contribution to Urdu literature.

Who was appointed as as US Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications - Rashad Hussain

On 18th February 2015, Indian-American Rashad Hussain was appointed as Special Envoy and Coordinator for Strategic Counter-terrorism Communication in the United States (US). He is currently the Special Envoy of the US to Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). He had served as the Director for Global Engagement at the National Security Council and had also worked as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in Washington DC, where he summons criminal cases in 2009. He had received the Distinguished Honor Award for exceptionally outstanding service to the agencies of the US Government in January 2013.

Name the portal launched by Union Government to foster business environment - eBiz, an Indian Government-to-Business (G2B) portal

On 19th february 2015, The Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley launched a single window eBiz portal for 11 central government services in New Delhi to bring transparency and ease of doing business in the country. The 11 Central Government services that will be catered by the portal include four services of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), two services of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), two services of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), one service each from Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). One of the salient features of eBiz is its payment gateway solution. It has been set up in cooperation with all the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to transfer government fees on T+1 basis.

Which two equipments has been combined by German Researchers to search for Earth-like planets - Combined solar telescope with Laser Frequency Comb

On 17th February 2015, German researchers successfully combined the sunlight from a Solar Vacuum Tower Telescope in Tenerife, Canary Islands with the light of Laser Frequency Comb (LFC) to make possible the search of Earth-like planets in distant space with ease and accuracy. Researchers first combined the sunlight from a Solar Vacuum Tower Telescope in Tenerife, Canary Islands with the light of an LFC in order to search for Earth-like planets in distance space with precision. After that they combined the two lights into a one single-mode fibre (SMF) by an optical multiplexer and found that precision improved by about a factor of 100 over a temporally separated fibre transmission.

Who has presented Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 to State Government functionaries - PM Narendra Modi

On 19th February 2015, The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2015 presented Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 to State Government functionaries during the launch of the Soil Health Card scheme nationwide at Suratgarh, Rajasthan. The Krishi Karman Awards were presented to State Government functionaries led by Chief Ministers of States and progressive farmers belonging to the states of Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Punjab and Odisha.

About Krishi Karman Awards

• The best performing States in two broad sets. One for individual foodgrain crops of Rice, Wheat, Pulses and Coarse Cereals and total foodgrains production are awarded with the Krishi Karman Awards.
• State which wins the award gets a trophy, a citation and a cash award of 2 crore rupees.

Which two Tropical Cyclones has hit Australia - Marcia and Lam

On 20th February 2015, Two tropical cyclones Marcia and Lam hit Australia at one time. Tropical cyclone Marcia made the landfall at central Queensland and left a trail of destruction over Rockhampton and Yeppoon. Cyclone Lam made landfall in the Northern Territory.

Current Affairs 2015