Test: January 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 1 - UPSC MCQ

On December 31, 2019 the union minister of State (MoS- Independent Charge) Housing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA) Shri Hardeep Singh Puri,has announced the results of Swachh Survekshan League 2020 (Quarter 1 and Quarter 2) at an event in New Delhi. During the event, the 5th edition of the Swachh Survekshan 2020 (urban cleanliness survey), which is to commence from 4 January 2020 by MoHUA was also rolled out. >10lakh population: Among the cities with more than 10 lakh population category, Indore ranked 1st in both quarter 1 and quarter 2. It is also to be noted that West Bengal alone did not participate in the Swachh Survekshan League 2020.

On December 31, 2019 the union Minister of Finance Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman released a report of the task force on National Infrastructure Pipeline for 2019-2020 to 2024-2025 (NIP 2019-25) inorder to achieve the $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 . Based on the information compiled by the task force headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, Rs 102 lakh crores has been projected on the capital expenditure in infrastructure sectors in India during the fiscals 2020 to 2025. The capital expenditure will be shared by the Centre, States and the private sector in the ratio 39:39:22 respectively.

On December 28, 2019, The central Government has formed a 7-member group of ministers (GoM) headed by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to review the crop insurance scheme ,“Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)” & make suggestions to improve it according to the needs of the farmers.The group also includes Home Minister (HM) Amit Shah and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of State for Agriculture, Finance, Tribal Affairs and Animal Husbandry.

On December 31, 2019, The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), a professional association for Indian American physicians, is set to organize a 3-days long 14th Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) in Visakhapatnam,Andhra Pradesh(AP) from January 3, 2021 for the 1st time. Over the past few years, AAPI has been collaborating with several professional medical associations & made key role in addressing diabetes with the launch of Sevak programme and CPR-AED(Proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation-automated external defibrillator) training.

Department of Military affairs (DMA) was the newly created department. The new department works for the unity of the three forces Army, Navy and Air Force and will also monitor the services except capital acquisitions according to prevalent rules and procedures. The DMA is the 5th department in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and was created after a change in Government of India (Allocation of Business), Rules 1961.The other existing 4 departments under MoD are are the Department of Defence, the Department of Defence Production, the Department of Defence Research and Development and the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat will be the head of the newly created Department of Military affairs (DMA).

On December 31, 2019 the state govt. of Kerala became the 1st state in the country to pass a resolution scrapping the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The resolution was moved by Kerala’s Chief Minister Shri Pinarayee Vijayan and was seconded by the Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.It was also stated during the assembly that when the Citizenship Act was passed in 1955, it followed all international conventions. But the present act passed by the central govt was claimed to have not followed the international conventions.

On January 1, 2020 the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shri Shaktikanta Das launched a mobile app named “MANI” (Mobile Aided Note Identifier) that would help visually impaired people to identify denomination of currency notes correctly. The currency notes will be scanned using a mobile phone’s camera. The most interesting feature of the app is that it can also be used offline after installation. The audio output is available in both Hindi and English languages.

18-years-old Malavath Poorna from Telangana scaled Mt Vinson Massif, the highest mountain peak in Antarctica at 4,892 meters and becomes the first and youngest tribal women in the World to scale six mountain peaks in six continents.She is the daughter of agriculturist of Pakala tribal hamlet of Nizamabad district in Telangana.Sekhar Babu Bachinepally is her coach.’Poorna’,a biography of Poorna Malavath was written by Aparna Thota.

S Sundar has appointed as interim Managing Director and CEO of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) which is effective from January 1, 2020. The bank’s MD and CEO, Parthasarathi Mukherjee resigned his post on August, 2019 and the post was left vacant.According to the bank Sundar will be in charge until April 30, 2020 or until new MD assumes the charge.He was serving the bank as Chief Financial Officer from 27.04.2018 till 31.12.2019.He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and is a Chartered Accountant and has an experience of 41 years.

On 3rd January 2020, The Indian Railways launched an integrated helpline number 139 for quick grievance and enquiries by the passengers during journeys.It is an integrated form of existing helpline numbers (except 182) particularly to avoid the inconvenience over multiple helpline numbers and will be easy to connect with Railways for all their needs during travel.The helpline number will be available in 12 languages and it will be based on an interactive voice response system and it can also be used for general complaints, accidents and safety issues.

On January 3, 2020 the Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijay Ramniklal Rupani unveiled the world’s 2nd largest statue of Sardar vallabhbhai Patel at Sardardham campus near Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This bronze statue which is 50 feet tall weighing 70,000 kilograms was built at a cost of Rs 3.25 crores. Padma Bhushan awardee Ram Vanji Sutar(Sculptor) who designed the world’s tallest statue has built this world’s second tallest statue too.

Lai Haroba, a ritualistic festival observed by Manipuri meitei communities began in Agartala. The five-day long festival was inaugurated by Speaker of State legislative Assembly, Rebati Mohan Das. Lai Haroba was celebrated through oral literature, music, dance and rituals. A cultural troupe from Manipur came and performing manipuri martial arts, folk music and folk dances. The festival was organized by: Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Government of Tripura. Puthiba Lai Haraoba Committee and Puthiba Welfare & Cultural Society, Agartala.

On January 2, 2020, the Lai Haraoba festival began in Tripura. The festival will be celebrated for 5 days.

On January 2, 2020, The State Government of Odisha has launched an online platform called “e-Gazette portal”( http://egazetteodisha.nic.in), a first-of-its-kind initiative in India designed and developed by the NIC(National Informatics Centre) for all departments. With this, the Gazette notifications are now available as error-free and paperless under one platform.

Palau has become the first nation to ban sun cream which damages the coral reefs, sea life and are toxic to juvenile wildlife species. It is the Pacific Island country in the Western Pacific Ocean near Philippines.The sun cream consists of oxybenzone and octinoxate absorbs UV (UltraViolet) rays which causes water more acidic, makes corals susceptible to bleaching and agitating fish stocks.Following Palau, Hawaii bans sun cream comes into effect from 2021.

On January 2, 2020, According to the data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India rose 15% to $26 billion in the first half of FY2020 (Fiscal year 2020). Singapore continued to be the largest source of FDI in India during the first half of FY2020 with $8 billion investments. The inflow of FDI during April-September of 2018-19 stood at $22.66 billion. The data in brief are as follows: Other top FDI sourcing countries to India: Singapore was followed by Mauritius ($6.36 billion), the United States(US) ($2.15 billion), the Netherlands ($2.32 billion), and Japan ($1.78 billion) in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively.

On January 2, 2020 Delhi AIIMS’ Professor Suresh Chandra Sharma appointed as the 1st ever Chairman of NMC (National Medical commission). Sharma was the head of ENT(ears, nose,throat) head-surgery department of AIIMS(All India Institute of Medical Sciences) in New Delhi.The Committee also appointed Dr Rakesh Kumar Vats, Secretary General, Board Of Governors, Medical Council of India as Secretary of NMC.The Chairman and the Secretary of NMC will serve for a period of 3 years or till the age of 70 years.

The second launch port of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) will established in Thoothukodi district of Tamil Nadu to launch small satellite vehicles. This will come up in 2300 acres.On the lines of GPS navigation system developed by America, the Indian navigation system called Navic with the indigenous atomic clock will be operational with mobile phone manufacturers coming forward to install the regional navigation device.

On 2nd January 2019, Chief Executive Officer of “Khelo India Games” has announced the inclusion of “Lawn bowls” and “Cycling” in the 3rd edition of Khelo India Games. These two games will be included in the event for the first time.Around 6500 athletes from 37 teams will take part in the 3rd edition of Khelo India youth games in Guwahati, Assam which is scheduled to be held from 10th of January to 22nd of February at Indira Gandhi Stadium.

The executive board of the World Health Organisation(WHO) has designated 2020 as International Year of Nurse and Midwife in honour of 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. The WHO will also launch first-ever State of the World’s Nursing report in 2020 prior to the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly.

On January 1, 2020 The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has set up a New, Emerging and Strategic Technologies (NEST) division which helps to deal with new and emerging technologies. NEST helps to partner with 5G and artificial intelligence areas of other countries. Under NEST, central government allows data sharing of various network makers in which Huawei shares its customer details with Chinese government under 5G trails.

A 1st of its kind rehabilitation centre for freshwater turtles is to be inaugurated in January 2020 in the Bhagalpur forest division of Bihar. This centre spread over half a hectare will be able to shelter 500 turtles at a time. The centre will also treat turtles that are sick, severely injured or smuggled, and then be returned safely into its natural habitat.

Prime Minister launched the Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map (I-STEM) Portal during ISC. The portal is designed to be the gateway for researchers to locate specific type of facility they need for their Research and development (R&D) work in India.

On January 3, 2020, A Dubai-based Indian girl, Sucheta Satish (14), who sings in 120 languages,has won the ‘100 Global Child Prodigy Award 2020′ in the category of singing.The award ceremony was held in Ashok Hotel, Delhi. Sucheta, a student in Dubai Indian High School, was awarded along with 99 other child prodigies at the awards, which was attended by chief guest Nobel Peace Prize (2014) winner Shri Kailash Satyarthi.

On January 03, 2020 the National Health Authority(NHA) which is the apex body regulating and implementing Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB- PMJAY) has de-empanelled a total of 171 hospitals and also imposed penalty of Rs 4.5 crore on hospitals for committing fraud and indulging in malpractices under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.

On January 5, 2020, As per Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), eight states namely Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, and Karnataka finalized an action plan for Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) to enhance exports.