Test: January 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

On January 05, 2020 Uttar Pradesh (UP) became the 1st state in India to conduct an exercise to shortlist migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan for eligibility under the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019. This exercise will also eventually identify the people living illegally in UP.All the 75 district magistrates of UP have been asked to track down migrants from the above three countries who have settled without citizenship for decades. Migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh were reported to be found mainly in Lucknow, Hapur, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Noida and Ghaziabad cities of UP.

Amit Shah has been announced to head the Group of Ministers (GOM) to discuss and examine the proposed National Tariff Policy 2016. Before being sent to Shri Amit Shah, the draft policy was first sent for approval to the cabinet secretariat. The policy if implemented, will bring a major reform in the stressed power sector but is opposed the states govts and discoms (Distribution Companies) due to clauses like penalties for load shedding. GoM: The interministerial group will have 10 ministers comprising of 8 ministers in the cabinet rank and 2 ministers with independent charge.

On January 03, 2020 Iran’s most powerful military commander,General Qassem Soleimani, who was the head (since 1998) of the Quds Force, a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in an American drone airstrike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. The airstrike was conducted by the order of United States(US) President Donald Trump.Soleimani was seen as the 2nd most powerful person in Iran after Iran’s supreme leader Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Reason for airstrike: The drone strike came days after US(United States) embassy in Baghdad was attacked by protestors. Previously in April 2019, the US also designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its Quds Force as foreign terrorist organisations.

On January 02, 2020 the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has mandated all the health and General Insurance Companies(GICs) to offer 1st of its kind standardised health insurance products (SHIP) in the name “Arogya Sanjeevani” policy with effect from April 1, 2020. All the health products offered by those companies will be succeeded by this name. It is to be noted that no health insurance companies will mention any other name other than the standard name of Arogya Sanjeevani in any of the documents.

Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embalo won the West African state of Guinea-Bissau’s Presidential election. He succeeded President Jose Mario Vaz. Umaro belongs to Madem G15 party. Embalo served as Prime Minister between 2016 and 2018. Embalo is nicknamed as “The General”, a reference to his rank as reserve brigadier quit from the army in the early 1990s.He defected former ex-Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira of African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).

On January 4, 2020 the Sports Ministry has given ‘in principle’ approval to hold the Commonwealth Games shooting and archery events in India. These events will be held under the aegis of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) Friendship Program in March 2022.Last year CWG has decided to exclude Shooting event in 2022 CWG but Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was against the decision.India won 66 medals including 26 golds in 2018 CWG in Gold Coast, Australia and also won 16 medals in Shooting event.

On January 5, 2020, Madhya Pradesh (MP) state Cabinet led by its Chief Minister (CM), Kamal Nath has approved the Mukhya Mantri Karmchari Swasthya Bima Yojana (Chief Minister Employees Health Insurance Scheme) implementation from April 1, 2020, for the welfare of all 12.55 lakh employees of the state. Benefits of the scheme: Under this, Rs 5 lakh for general illness and 10 lakh for critical illness & Cashless treatment facility up to Rs 10,000 per annum in OPD (Outpatient Department) will be provided / free medicines will be distributed.

On January 05,2020 2 ships of the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) arrived at Mormugao Port in Goa to participate in the 12th edition of the Indo-Oman bilateral naval exercise ‘Naseem-Al-Bahr‘. The meaning of the biennial exercise Naseem-Al-Bahr that has been conducted since 1993 between India and Oman is sea breeze.Participating ships:Among the Indian Navy ships(INS) Beas and Subhadra are participating while 2 naval ships of the RNO i.e, RNOV (Royal Navy of Oman Vessel) Al Rasikh and RNOV Khassab are participating.

On January 7, 2020, A 3-day long 4th edition of the Buxa Bird Festival 2020 has begun in Buxa National Park in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal(WB).The festival, organized by West Bengal Forest Department, will see the participation of around 50 people, including prominent ornithologists, birdwatchers and bird enthusiasts from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.Till now, the presence of More than 300 rare species of birds has been noticed in Buxa National Park.

The new World- Class facility center for training astronauts will come up in India in the next three years at Challakere in Chitradurga district of Karnataka.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed Rs 2700 crore, to set its young House Space Flight Centre (HSFC) in Bengaluru, Karnataka, which will be the single-top for all space related activities for space travelers.By these facilities the cost of sending Indian astronauts to foreign countries for such facilities can be reduced.Four pilots of India will train at the “Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre” in Russia for Gaganyaan mission 2022.

In a bid to unify different tribes of Mizo community, the state Government of Mizoram will organize the 1st edition of Zo Kutpui festival 2020 across 10 states in India & also in countries such as Maryland in the US (United States), Tahan in Myanmar and Bangladesh from January 9, 2020.The 1st such festival, organized by the Mizoram tourism department, would be held at Vanghmun, a hub of Mizos in neighbouring Tripura, from January 9 – 11,2020. Then festival will carry forward to other states which have a significant Mizo population.

On January 06,2020 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), gave approval to Uttar Pradesh based Shivalik Mercantile Co-operative Bank Ltd to convert to a small finance bank (SFB). With this, Shivalik Mercantile became the 1st urban cooperative bank (UCB) to be converted into an SFB since the release of reformed RBI guidelines which came out 2 years ago. Grant of License: The RBI will grant licence to Shivalik Mercantile bank for the commencement of banking business under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 as an SFB.

On January 7, 2020,Inorder to better manage the stressed UCBs, India’s Central Bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released its final Supervisory Action Framework (SAF) tightening norms for Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs). An UCB will be kept under supervisory action framework when its net non-performing assets (NPAs) exceed 6% of its net advances. As soon as this threshold is breached, RBI will take multiple actions, depending on severity of stress. UCBs may also come under the scanner when its Capital to Risk-weighted Assets ratio (CRAR) falls below 9 %.

On January 06, 2020, Bhubaneswar, Odisha has been selected to host the 1st edition of the 2020 Khelo India University Games (KIUG) which will be held from February 22nd to March 1, 2020, at Bhubaneswar’s KIIT University (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology University). The Union Sports Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju and Odisha’s Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik unveiled the logo and jersey of Khelo India University Games during a event in Bhubaneshwar. Mascots of the 1st edition of the 2020 Khelo India University Games (KIUG):‘Jay and Bijay‘.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will observe 2020 as the ‘Year of Mobility’. It aims for the creation of more residential units and the implementation of various welfare measures for the troops. It will focus on sports and physical fitness leveraging modern gadgetry and constructing infrastructure to their families.

Sunita Lakra was in news recently because she announced retirement recently.She belongs to Hockey.Indian women’s hockey team defender Sunita Lakra, who was part of the 2018 Asian Games silver-winning side, announced her international retirement, citing a knee injury. However she will continue to represent in domestic hockey and play for NALCO (National Aluminium Company Limited), Odisha.Sunita has so far played 139 matches for India that also included the 2014 Asian Games bronze medal.

Darlipali Super Thermal Power Station is located in Odisha.It was in news recently because the State-owned NTPC has launched the 800 mw unit of its Darlipali Super Thermal Power Project in Odisha.With this, the total installed capacity of NTPC and NTPC group has become 49,695 MW and 58,156 MW respectively.

On December 31, 2019, Humpy Koneru (32), an Indian chess grandmaster from Andhra Pradesh, has settled 12th overall in the 2-day FIDE World Blitz competition 2019 held at at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. She ended the tournament with 10.5 points out of 17 games. Kateryna Lagno (13 points) of Russia and Magnus Carlsen of Norway (16.5 points) retained their titles in the Women’s and Men’s Blitz Championships respectively.

Leo Varadkar is the first Indian Origin Prime Minister of Ireland.He was in news recently because he had visited Goa to celebrate New Year and he also visited Maharashtra to visit his ancestral village.

The correct answer is A as The tagline of Bank of Baroda is "India's International Bank".

Manav Thakar 19 years old young Indian table tennis player who jumped nine places and become the world’s No.1 player U-21 (Under-21) Men’s single category rankings released by the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation). Thakar won The U-21 men’s singles title at the ITTF Challenge Plus Benemax-Virgo North American Open in Markham, Canada by defeating Argentina’s player Martin Bentancor. Among other Indians, Sathiyam has retained his 30th spot in the senior category, while Achanta Sharath Kamal ranked at 33rd position. Among women, India’s Manika Batra was static at the 61st position.

The correct answer is C asDavid Rasquinha is the Managing Director of Export-Import (Exim) Bank

Mahadayi Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Goa.It was in news recently because the carcass of a tiger was found in Sanctuary. During the last tiger census, the presence of big cats was reported in the Mahadayi Wildlife Sanctuary, with experts claiming these were ones traveling from nearby Bhimgad and Hanshi-Dandeli sanctuaries.

Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) was launched under which over 36.13 crore LED bulbs were distributed across the country .Recently UJALA and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) of the central government completed five successful years of illuminating the country today. This has resulted in estimated energy savings of 46.92 billion kilowatt-hour per year.