VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE TNPSC Current Affairs JANUARY - 2020
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1 - 28 HISTORY 01 . Important Days . Defence National Security and Terrorism . World Organisations – Pacts and Summits . Eminent Persons . Sports and Games . Books & Authors . Awards & Honours . Cultural Panaroma . India & its Neighbours . Appointments – Who is who?
29 29 - 33 POLITICAL SCIENCE .India’s Foreign Policy .Latest Court Verdicts .Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility
34 - 38 GEOGRAPHY 34 .Policy on Environment and Ecology .Natural Disasters – Safeguard Measures
39 - 44 ECONOMICS .New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector .Current Socio 39 - Economic Problems 45 - 55 SCIENCE 45 .Latest Inventions in Science & Technology . Latest Discoveries on Health Science . Mass Media & Communication
56 56 NATIONAL – DIARY OF EVENTS
80
80 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
85 85 TAMIL NADU AFFAIRS
89 89 PRACTICE QUESTIONS Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Important Days History
1.1 Important Days
Date Day Theme / Remark Theme of National Consumer Day 2019 is- ‘Alternate 24-12-2019 National Consumer Day Consumer Grievance/Dispute Redressal’. Good Governance Day in India is observed on 25 25-12-2019 Good Governance Day December to commemorate the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
04-01-2020 World Braille Day
The 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is observed on 9 January 2020. The day is celebrated to recognize 09-01-2020 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas the overseas Indians who have contributed to the development of India.
10-01-2020 World Hindi day
12-01-2020 National Youth Day Theme: Fit Youth Fit India Armed Forces Veteran’s Day is observed every year on 14th January as a mark of respect and recognition of the services rendered by Field Marshal Kodandera Fourth Armed Forces Veterans’ 14-01-2020 Madappa Cariappa OBE (Order of the British Empire), Day the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces who retired on 14 Jan 1953. Observing since 2017, the year 2020 marked day’s fourth edition.
15-01-2020 Indian Army Day
145th Foundation Day of India 15-01-2020 Meteorological Department (IMD) 1 to 17 The theme for National Road Safety Week 2020 is : National Road Safety Week 2020 January ‘Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha’.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 1 Important Days Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
19-01-2020 National Immunization day
International day of education The theme for the year 2020 is ‘Learning for people, 24-01-2020 2020 planet, prosperity, and peace’. Theme for NVD 2020 is ‘Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy’
25-01-2020 10th National Voters’ Day Hon’ble President of India Sh. Ram Nath Kovind will be the Chief Guest at the 10th National Voters’ Day being organized by Election Commission of India on 25th January 2020 at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantt. India celebrated its 71st Republic Day on January 26, 26-01-2020 Republic Day 2020.
1.2 Defence, National Security and Terrorism
India to get its First Chief of Defence will be tasked with trimming weapons Staff procurement procedures and integrating The Cabinet Committee operation of Indian armed forces- Army, on Security (CCS) chaired Air Force, Navy. CDA will act as a military by the Prime Minister adviser to Government of India and will Narendra Modi has also head Department of Military Affairs. approved the creation of a A CDS to oversee military was first Chief of Defence Staff recommended by the Kargil Review (CDS) post that will Committee– a committee set up after function as a single point of contact for Kargil War (1999), to examine lapses in different branches of armed forces. security after war, in which Pakistani CCS also approved the report of a high- soldiers infiltrated into India, occupied level committee headed by National key positions in Kargil mountains and Security Advisor Ajit Doval, which triggered the war. finalised responsibilities and framework Other Committees: for operation of CDS. Naresh Chandra Committee Report– In the present structure, the Chairman of ‘Report of Task Force on National Chiefs of Staff Committee (CSC) is Chief Security’ of Army Staff (CoAS) Bipin Rawat. General Shekatkar Committee Report– Role of CDS: ‘Committee of Experts on Enhancing Chief of Defence Staff, described as ‘first Capability and Rebalance Defence among equals’ among service chiefs, Expenditure’, chalked out a strategy for higher defence management.
2 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Defence, National Security and Terrorism Stamps released to commemorate IAF chief formally inducts Dornier contribution of Directorate of aircraft into No. 41 Squadron Revenue Intelligence Indian Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala has formally inducted the light utility Sitaraman released postage stamps to aircraft Dornier into the No. 41 ‘Otters’ commemorate the services of Directorate Squadron of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in order to The aircraft was inducted during a protect the nation. DRI plays an immense ceremony at the Palam Air Force Station. role to counter smuggling and preserve cultural heritage and environment of the International Conference on Safety country. in Maritime and Marine Operations Government amends rules to allow The International Workshop on Marine Chief of Defence Staff to serve up to Conservation and Marine Research will maximum age of 65 years be held in Chennai from 6th to 10th January. The defence ministry has amended the The workshop, organized on behalf of army, air force and navy rules by bringing in a new clause that allows the Chief of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, will be Defence Staff to serve upto a maximum held at the National Marine Institute age of 65 years. of Technology (NIOT), located at General Bipin Rawat, is made the Chief Pallikaranai. of the Defence Staff (CDS)- he is a front More than 100 delegates from the USA, runner for the post- he will continue UK, Australia, France, Sri Lanka, Saudi to serve for most of the second term of Arabia, Kuwait, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, because Maldives and the Congo will participate he would have turned 65 years old by in this workshop. March 16, 2023. I-Stem Portal; DRDO Science Expo Government creates Department of launched at the Indian Science congress Military Affairs, to be headed by CDS PM Modi inaugurated the 107th Indian The government has created a Science Congress in Bengaluru. He Department of Military Affairs in the launched the I-Stem portal at the Defence Ministry and it will be headed by inaugural function. Also, the Defence newly-appointed Chief of Defence Staff Research Development Organization (DRDO) has installed more than 150 (CDS) General Bipin Rawat exhibits at the congress. The new department will have under it works relating to the three forces Army, I-STEM Portal Navy and Air Force and procurement I-STEM is Indian Science, Technology Engineering Facilities Map. The portal will exclusive to the services, except capital act as a gateway for the researchers and acquisitions, according to prevalent rules users to locate facilities that are required and procedures for their research and development work.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 3 Defence, National Security and Terrorism Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
Initially, similar facility was operating Visakhapatnam gearing up to host at IISc, Bengaluru and IIT Bombay. MILAN 2020 The I-STEM portal is a replica of these Visakhapatnam is gearing up to host facilities. The facility at IISc Bengaluru was called the Centre for Nano Science International Naval event ‘MILAN’ and Engineering (CeNSE). in March 2020. The preparations were reviewed at the Eastern Naval Command 12th naval exercise ‘Naseem-Al-Bahr’ (ENC) by Vice Admiral S N Ghormade, between India and Oman held in Goa Chief of Staff.
2 ships of the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) Key Points: arrived at Mormugao Port in Goa to 41 navies of different countries were invited participate in the 12th edition of the Indo- so far, of which 30 navies have confirmed Oman bilateral naval exercise ‘Naseem- their participation in MILAN 2020. Al-Bahr‘. The meaning of the biennial exercise Naseem-Al-Bahr that has been INS vikramaditya deployed in Arabian conducted since 1993 between India and sea Oman is sea breeze. India has deployed its aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in the Arabian Sea at a time 1st tri-dimensional expedition ‘Maha- China and Pakistan are holding a nine- Navy Connect 2020’ launched by day mega naval exercise in the region. Indian Navy in Maharashtra The exercise ‘Sea Guardians’ is taking The first tri-dimensional expedition place in the midst of heightened tension ‘Maha-Navy Connect 2020’ was launched between India and Pakistan over the by Indian Navy in Mumbai. It aims to Kashmir issue. Both China and Pakistan, promote the heritage of Indian Navy including submarines, destroyers and and to spread awareness about Coastal frigates, are part of the exercise. Security amongst the coastal communities in Maharashtra. LCA Navy variant successfully lands on INS Vikramaditya Navy to get INS Vikrant by 2021 The Naval variant of the indigenous Light India’s first indigenously-manufactured Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk1 Tejas under aircraft carrier INS Vikrant will be development successfully completed the inducted into the Navy in 2021. first arrested landing on board aircraft The ship now under construction at carrier INS Vikramaditya. Cochin Shipyard was earlier scheduled Two prototypes have been flying as part to join service this year. of the development. The SBTF, which A model of the 40,000 ton ship will be part replicates the flight deck of an aircraft of the Navy tableau on Republic Day. At carrier, was specifically built to train present, the Indian Navy has only one Naval pilots in the complex manoeuvres aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. of landing on the short flight deck of an The INS Vikrant will be able to have 20 aircraft carrier before they move on to the MIG-29K fighter jets, and ten helicopters actual carrier. 4 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Defence, National Security and Terrorism
DRDO offered to develop a new twin- between the two Coast Guards engine deck-based fighter jet for the and to enhance interoperability in Navy, tapping into its experience of communication and Search and Rescue developing the naval LCA, and it should procedures and sharing of best practices. be ready by 2026. First edition of ‘Sahyog- Kaijin’ exercise The Navy operates the MiG-29K fighter between two coast guards took place in 2000. jets from the INS Vikramaditya. These Four Indian Coast Guard Ships, their Russian jets will also fly from the first aircraft and a vessel from National indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant once it Institute of Ocean Technology will be enter service. The force is also evaluating participating along with Japan Coast global tenders for 57 carrier-based, twin- Guard Ship. engine fighter aircraft Apache and Chinook helicopters to Two Coast Guard ships commissioned participate in Republic Day parade-2020 at Kolkata The newly inducted Apache attack
Two Indian Coast Guard Ships (ICGS) and Chinook heavy lift helicopters will - Annie Besant and Amrit Kaur - were be participating in the fly past of the commissioned at Kolkata. Republic Day for the first time. Annie Besant will be based at Chennai, The Indian Air Force (IAF) tableau for the Amrit Kaur will be based at Haldia. Republic Day 2020 will showcase scaled
The ships are fitted with state of the art down models of five systems, which will technology, and navigation equipment, include the Rafale fighter aircraft. along with Bofors 40/60 guns and 12.7 mm Stabilised Remote Controlled Guns Russia to deliver S-400 air defence for enhanced fighting efficiency. systems to India by 2025 Japan coast guard Ship ‘Echigo Russia said it has started production of PLH08’ arrives Chennai to take part S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems for India, and all five units will in the 19th edition of ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ be delivered by 2025. exercise The Indian Armed forces will receive the The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) Ship first batch of 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles this ‘Echigo PLH08’ has arrived Chennai year as well. These will be produced in on a five-day goodwill visit and it will India under a joint venture. th participate in the 19 edition of Annual Asserting that the S-400 air defence missile Joint Exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ which will systems are among best in the world, be begin on January 16, 2020 with the the diplomat said they will significantly Indian Coast Guard (ICG) off in Chennai, bolster India’s air defence mechanism. Tamil Nadu. In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 It is aimed at further strengthening billion deal to buy the air defence missile bilateral ties and mutual understanding systems.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 5 World Organisations – Pacts and Summits Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
Winged Raider: Indian Army’s This is the first time Start Up India is largest airborne exercise-500 troops participating at the Parade. participate Indian Navy The Indian Army recently conducted The Indian Navy is to showcase its the largest air borne exercise called the tableau at the Republic Day parade under Winged Raider. Around 500 troops the theme Theme: Indian Navy-Silent, participated in the exercise. Strong and Swift. Around 500 troops participated in the exercise. The exercise was conducted in the north-eastern theatre. 1.3 World Organisations – The exercise was conducted to demonstrate the operational readiness Pacts and Summits of the paratroopers and air warriors. The C-130 Hercules, Dhruv Helicopters UNICEF Report: more than 1,70,000 and C-17 globe master transport aircraft violations against Children participated in the exercise. Thanjavur gets a Sukhoi squadron The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released its annual report. The The Indian Air Force (IAF) inducted a report stated that since 1989, the number squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets of countries experiencing conflicts has armed with BrahMos supersonic cruise increased and the attacks on children has missiles, at its Thanjavur Air Force Station. increased as well. Five to six SU-30MKI fighter planes with the capability to carry BrahMos missiles Highlights would be positioned at the Air Force According to the report, the number Station and the full capacity of 18 planes of attacks on children since 2010 has would be reached. increased three-fold. The agency has This is also the first Sukhoi squadron of hence named the decade as ‘Deadly the IAF with BrahMos missiles. Decade”. UNICEF says that in 2018, around 24,000 Start Up India-first time in Republic grave violations were recorded against Parade; Indian Navy children. The number has gone up highly The Department of Promotion of Industry to 1,70,000 in 2019. This is more than and Internal Trade (DPIIT) operating threefold and is deadly. The includes under Ministry of Commerce and abductions, killing, sexual violence, Industry is to showcase tableau on Start maiming, child recruitment, denial Up India at the Republic Day Parade to be to humanitarian access and attacks in held at Rajpath, New Delhi. The tableau schools and hospitals. is to be held under the theme: Reach for the sky.
6 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 World Organisations – Pacts and Summits Convention on Rights of Child, 1989 by INSEAD, a partner and sponsor of According to the convention, any child the United Nations (UN) Sustainable below the age of 18 is called a child. Development Goals (SDGs) Tent in Around 140 countries have signed the Davos, Switzerland. India has moved convention. India is also a signatory. up eight places to the 72nd position from th For the 1st time, Vizag (Andhra 80 position in GTCI 2019. In list of 132 Pradesh) to host 14th Global countries Switzerland tops the list. According to the report the United States healthcare summit in 2021 (USA) is at the 2nd position followed The American Association of Physicians Singapore. of Indian Origin (AAPI), a professional Top10 list includes Sweden at 4th, association for Indian American Denmark at 5th, the Netherlands at 6th, physicians, is set to organize a 3-days long Finland at 7th, Luxembourg at 8th, Norway th 14 Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) in at 9th and Australia at the 10th position. Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (AP) . China was ranked at the 42nd place, Key Points: Russia at 48th position, South Africa at 70th Around 500 doctors from the United position and Brazil at 80th position. States of America (USA), Australia, Nepal pitches for informal SAARC Britain and other countries expected to summit participate in the summit, which will focus on various communicable and non- Nepal will host an informal summit of the communicable diseases, public health leaders of the South Asian Association hazards, eradication of tuberculosis (TB), for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on preventing maternal mortality, control of the sidelines of the coming Sagarmatha Hepatitis B etc. Sambaad. To revive the forum, which has been The Global Risks Report 2020 unable to meet formally during the last The Global Risks Report 2020 presents four years because of the negative India- the major risks the world will be facing in Pakistan relations. The SAARC summit the coming year. It stresses the need for a could not be held in Islamabad in 2016 multi stakeholder approach to addressing after India faced terror strikes blamed on the world’s greatest challenges, and comes elements in Pakistan. ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Kathmandu had invited all SAARC heads 50th Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters. of government for Sagarmatha Sambaad, Switzerland tops the Global Talent the first edition of a multi-stakeholder Competitiveness Index 2020, India dialogue, to be held from April 2 to 4 and ranks 72nd argued that an alternative to the formal summit model could be explored. The Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020 (GTCI) report was launched
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 7 Places in News / Eminent Persons Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 1.4 Places in News were released in 24 languages by Department of Archaeology. Railways launches ‘Him Darshan It has been published by the Department Express’ with Vistadome coaches for of Archaeology and Tamil Nadu Textbook tourists visiting Shimla Corporation. Indian Railways started a seven coach Statue of Unity finds place in 8 glass-enclosed vista dome Him Darshan Wonders of SCO Express train on the heritage Kalka- The 182-meter tall Statue of Unity in Shimla route, with glass rooftop to have a Gujarat has been included in the Shanghai panoramic view of the hilly region. Cooperation Organization’s ‘8 Wonders MEA included Madagascar & Comoros of SCO’ list, External Affairs Minister S in Indian Ocean Region Division Jaishankar announced.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) The ‘Statue of Unity’, the world’s tallest has included Madagascar and Comoros in statue, is a monumental tribute to Sardar the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) Division. Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s The IOR division looks after India’s first home minister as well as deputy maritime neighbours such as Sri Lanka, prime minister. Maldives, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The statue was inaugurated in October Previously these two nations were looked 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi rd after by East and South Africa Division of on the occasion of Patel’s 143 birth the MEA. anniversary. Madagascar and Comoros are also the members of the Indian Ocean Rim 1.5 Eminent Persons Association (IORA) and International Solar Alliance (ISA).] PM Modi to unveil statue of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow Keeladi reports in 24 Indian, global languages Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil a statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow. Mr.Modi will unveil the 25-feet bronze statue at Lok Bhawan, the secretariat of Uttar Pradesh government. Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of Atal Bihari Medical University.
The findings of the Keeladi excavations
8 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Eminent Persons 120th Birth Anniversary of Shaheed world” by the United Nations (UN) in its Udham Singh being celebrated ‘decade in review’ report released on Nation is playing homage to great December 23, 2019. revolutionary, Shaheed Udham Singh, a Nitish Kumar Unveils Statue of Arun well-known freedom fighter from Punjab Jaitley in Patna on his 120th birth anniversary being Bihar Chief Minister celebrated on 26th December. Nitish Kumar unveiled He was born on 1899 in Sanguru district a statue of former of Punjab. He belonged to Ghadar Union Minister Arun party and was best known for avenging Jaitley in Patna on his the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by birth anniversary and assassinating Michael O’ Dwyer. paid floral tributes. MS Dhoni named captain of CA’s ODI Jaitley, 66, died on team of the decade August 24 at the All India Institute of Former India skipper and wicket-keeper Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. He batsman MS Dhoni been named captain was cremated with full state honors at the of Cricket Australia’s (CA) ODI team of Nigambodh Ghat in the national capital the decade and the line-up features three on August 25 Indian players. 2020 Designated as “Year of Nurse Apart from Dhoni ,Virat Kohli and Rohit and Midwife” Sharma have made the cut in CA’s team. In the honor of 200th birth anniversary of CA’s ODI team of the decade: Rohit Florence Nightingale, the World Health Sharma, Hashim Amla, Virat Kohli, AB Organization designated the year 2020 as de Villiers, Shakib Al Hasan, Jos Buttler, the “Year of Nurse and Midwife”. MS Dhoni (c), Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Highlights Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan. This year, WHO is to focus on nursing and UN declares Pakistani activist Malala midwifery in order to achieve Universal yousafzai as the most famous Health Coverage. The organization is teenager of the decade leading the development of “World Malala Yousafzai (also Nursing Report” that is to be launched in known as Malala), a 2020. Pakistani activist for Florence Nightingale female education and the Florence Nightingale was an English youngest Nobel Peace Social reformer born in 1820. She Prize (2014) laureate, organized camps for wounded soldiers was named as “the most and also served as a manager of nurses famous teenager in the during the Crimean War. She was called “The Lady with the Lamp” for making
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 9 Eminent Persons Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
rounds on wounded soldiers. The day is He began his political career as the adviser celebrated by the International Council of to Rajiv Gandhi in 1983. He became a Nurses. founding member of the NCP alongside Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma because of Guru Gobind Singh Birth anniversary differences with the Congress leadership Celebrated in 1999. India celebrated the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh. He is considered to Transwoman wins on DMK ticket in be the 10th Guru of Sikhs. He was born Namakkal on January 5, 1666. A 30-year-old Guru Gobind Singh transwoman, A Riya, has Guru Gobind Singh founded Sikh created history in Tamil Warrior community called Khalsa in Nadu by winning the 1699. He introduced five Ks in Sikhism. post of ward councillor It is called the “Panj Kakar”, They are in Tiruchengode uncut hair (Kesh), an iron bracelet (kara), Panchayat Union on a a wooden comb (Kangha), 100% cotton DMK ticket. undergarment (Kachera) and iron dagger Ms. Riya polled 2,701 votes, defeating her (Kirpan). nearest rival by 950 votes. PM Modi pays tribute to Savitribai Austria’s Kurz returns as world’s Phule on her birthday youngest govt. head
PM Narendra Modi paid his tribute to the The leader of Austria’s Indian Social Reformer Savitribai Phule. conservatives Sebastin Kurz She was born on January 3, 1831. was sworn in as the world’s youngest democratically Savitribai Phule elected leader, at the head of Savitribai is considered as the first female a coalition with the Greens. teacher of India. She played vital role in ‘Protect the climate and the improving women rights in the country. borders’, the 33-year-old has become She is also regarded as “Mother of Indian Chancellor of the Alpine country’s first Feminism”. government to include the Greens, She along with her husband Jyotirao an arrangement called “exotic” and Phule founded the first India’s girls’ “unlikely” by Austrian media. school in Pune in 1848. Iconic painter Akbar Padamsee Devi Prasad Tripathi passes away passes away at 91 Devi Prasad Tripathi, general secretary Modern Indian painting, Akbar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Padamsee, passed away. passed away here on Thursday.
10 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Eminent Persons
Akbar Padamsee was also a photographer, Freedom fighter Bhim Chandra Jana sculptor, filmmaker, engraver and dies at 107 lithographer, he was most The freedom fighter’s youngest son recognized and decorated Ashok Jana said his father was arrested for his paintings which for the first time in 1930 at the age of 17 have found a place of while opposing the use of foreign goods. prominence in eminent Jana was awarded by the Government galleries in India and of India after Independence and was an around the world. avowed Gandhian all his life Padamsee was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2010 Taiwan’s leader meets with U.S. official after election win World leaders descend upon Royal
Palace in Oman U.S. ambassador to Taipei, as China warned that
Oman’s Sultan Haitham countries should stick with Bin Tareq Al Saeed began recognizing communist- receiving condolences for ruled Beijing as the rightful the death of his government of “one China,” predecessor Qaboos Bin including Taiwan. announced at the royal palace in the capital Tania Shergill-trailblazer woman Muscat. officer who led all-men contingents during Army Day parade Karunanidhi’s statue unveiled in Andamans Captain Tania Shergil created history on this DMK president M.K. Army Day by becoming Stalin unveiled the the first-ever woman to statue of party leader ‘Parade Adjutant’ to lead M.Karunanidhi in the an all-men contingent. Andamans. The historic move came He had already after she commanded the unveiled the statue contingent with her head of DMK founder held high at the Cariappa Parade Ground Annadurai in 2013. in Delhi Cantonment on January 15. Mr. Stalin agreed to include Andamans like Puducherry, as part of the DMK- Women Power at Republic Day Congress alliance in Tamilspeaking areas. parade: Tania Shergil and CRPF bikers The Republic Day parade held at Rajpath every year is one of the largest parades of the world. The parade marches from
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 11 Sports and Games Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Rashtrapati Bhawan along Rajpath Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy until India Gate. This year the parade becomes women’s World Rapid has certain events to express the woman champion power in the defence sector. India’s Koneru Humpy Subhash Chandra Bose Birth outwitted China’s Lei Anniversary 2020 Tingjie in a dramatic Armageddon battle to win India is celebrating the 123rd birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra the Women’s World Rapid Bose on January 23, 2020. Subhash Chess Championship in Chandra Bose is known for the Moscow, Russia.
establishment of the Azad Hind Fauj or While Humpy was Indian National Army (INA). crowned the world women’s rapid champion, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen Nation pays a tribute to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on his birthday. Several claimed the men’s title in the space cultural programs held across the country Sonowal launches torch relay of in his respect. It is believed that Netaji Khelo India Youth Games Subhash Chandra Bose died in a plane Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda accident in 1945. Sonowal and officials of the Khelo India Youth Games launched the torch relay of 1.6 Sports and Games the competition in Guwahati on. The tournament will be held between 10 Abhishek-Yashaswini duo on top January 2020 to 22 January 2020. The opening ceremony of the third Khelo India Youth Games will take place at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati. Cristiano Ronaldo Wins Best Men’s Player of the Year at Dubai Globe Soccer Awards Haryana dominated the mixed air pistol Cristiano Ronaldo did competition, winning all the three gold not finish 2019, after medals in the 63rd National shooting not winning the Ballon championship. d ‘Or, FIFA’s’ The Best’ The Olympic quota winners Abhishek award or even UEFA’s Verma and Yashaswini Singh Deswal Men’s Player of the bagged the gold, beating Harshada Year awards, finished Nithave and Ankiet of Maharashtra 16-10. 2019 with the best men’s player at the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards.
12 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Sports and Games
Ronaldo has won the award six times out winners for the year 2019 to recognise of its nine years of its existence, while and honor the best international cricket finishing runners-up in the ‘other’ big players of the previous 12 months. football awards of the year Indian opener Rohit Gurunath Sharma Lawn bowls & Cycling to be included became ODI (One Day International) in 3rd Khelo India Games Cricketer of the Year for the first time. At the same time, Virat Kohli bagged Spirit
Chief Executive Officer of “Khelo India of Cricket award. Games” has announced that “Lawn bowls” and “cycling” will be included Jacqueline Williams of Jamaica st in the 3rd edition of Khelo India Games. becomes the 1 woman third Umpire The two games will be included in the in men’s T20I event for the first time. The rd3 edition of Jacqueline Williams of the tournament will be held in Guwahati, Jamaica becomes the first Assam in January 2020. Athletes from woman third umpire in all over the country will be coming to men’s international Guwahati for the Khelo India Youth cricket match. The Games. 43-year-old Jamaican Telangana’s mountaineer Malavath woman oversaw all 3 Poorna scaled Antarctica’s highest matches of the Twenty20 peak Mt. Vinson Massif International (T20I) series in Grenada, West Indies between West
18-years-old Malavath Indies and Ireland. Poorna from Telangana st scaled Mt Vinson Massif, India wins 7 medals in 1 UWW Rome the highest mountain ranking series 2020 held in Rome, peak in Antarctica at 4,892 Italy meters and becomes the The Indian wrestling team has clinched first and youngest tribal 7 medals (4 gold, 2 silver and a bronze) women in the World to in the 1st edition of UWW (United World scale six mountain peaks in six continents. Wrestling) Rome Ranking Series 2020 At the age of 13 years she became the held from January 15 – 18, 2020 in the world’s youngest girl who scaled Mt. Italian Capital, Rome. Everest. The 4-day tournament, organized by 16th edition of ICC awards 2019 UWW, has featured all the 3 disciplines announced ; Rohit Sharma named – freestyle, Greco Roman and women’s ODI cricket of the year wrestling. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the list of ICC award
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 13 Books & Authors Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 List of Indian winner: 1.7 Books & Authors Winner Category Medal “Dreams of a Billion: India and the Bajrang 65kg freestyle Gold Olympic Games”- Book to chronicle Punia India’s Olympic journey Ravi Kumar 61kg freestyle Gold Dahiya Boria Majumdar with Nalin Mehta, Vinesh 53kg Gold authored a book titled “Dreams of a Phogat Billion: India and the Olympic Games” that describes about the chronicle India’s Gurpreet 82kg -Greco- Gold journey in the global sports arena of Singh roman Olympics. Anshu 57kg Silver Malik “Bharathi’s Cats” Books Released Sunil Kumar 97kg Silver On behalf of The Hindu ‘Why do Sajan 77 kg Bronze students pray for sun prayers? Bhanwal How?’and’Bharathi’s Cats’books were published in Chennai. A blend of chess and tourism ‘Why do students pray for sun prayers? As the first international chess tournament How? ‘books was written by Eben to be held on a houseboat, the mascot A book titled “Politics of Opportunism” of Kerala Tourism, the six-day tourney released by S Gurumurthy will be held in a ‘Spice Route luxury houseboat,’ which will cruise along the Noted Economist and Political Analyst backwaters, blending chess and tourism S Gurumurthy released a book titled and promoting Kerala globally. “Politics of Opportunism: Regional Parties, Coalitions, Centre-State Relations World Archery lifts suspension on AAI in India”. World Archery removed suspension The book is authored by R P N Singh imposed on Archery Association of India Sanjay Dharwadker authored (AAI). Indian archers has now been allowed to compete in World Archery “Diamond In My Palm” – Tale of 12 Events from 23 January 2020 onwards. diamonds from Golconda that India The decision to remove suspension was lost forever taken by World Archer’s executive Board Sanjay Dharwadker authored the book postal vote. titled “Diamond In My Palm” that describes, how the world’s 12 greatest diamonds originated from Golconda and Kollur mines in Andhra Pradesh & later took away by Mughals, Persians, Brits, French, Turks and Russians after centuries
14 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Books & Authors of bloody wars, conspiracies and million- master, an able administrator and an dollar deals, and now ensconced in their ideal leader who leads by example. national treasures The Parambikkulam-Aliyar Irrigation Venkaiah Naidu released a book ‘The Project Renaissance Man-The Many Facets of The launch of the book ‘The History Arun Jaitley” on his birth anniversary of the Engineering Miracle of Asia Vice President Mr. Venkaiah Naidu Parambikkulam Aliyaru Irrigation has unveiled a book entitled “The Project’ was published in Pollachi on Renaissance Man-The Many Facets of behalf of ‘The Hindu Group’. Arun Jaitley” with the Lok Sabha speaker The Sakshitya Academy Award-winning Om Birla on the 67th birth anniversary of poet Sculptor by Pollachi journalist the former finance minister Arun Jaitley S.Kobu wrote the book. at a ceremony held in New Delhi. Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam pontiff
Pax Sinica: Implications for the Indian releases book on Mahaperiyava Dawn, authored by Samir Saran and
Akhil deo. The second volume of the book Embodiment of Truth - Kanchi Malayali novelist A Sethumadhavan’s Mahaswami, brought out by The Hindu, first English novel, ‘The Cuckoo’s was released by Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Nest’ published pontiff Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati. Malayali novelist A Sethumadhavan’s Former Union minister Ashwini Kumar’s ‘The Cuckoo’s Nest’ is his first novel in was launched book Human Dignity—A english and was published by Niyogi purpose in perpetuity in New Delhi. Books. In this book the author attempts to fight Gandhi wanted to spend 15 Aug, against the division in society through the 1947 in Pak: Book by MJ Akbar character of the eternal optimist, Madam
Agatha, a former nun and also other Mahatma Gandhi wanted to spend Indian girl-child raised in an orthodox August 15, 1947, the first day of freedom, in community. breakaway Pakistan rather than in India, says a new book ‘Gandhi’s Hinduism: Amit Shah releases a book The Struggle new book ‘Gandhi’s Karmayoddha Granth Hinduism: The Struggle Against Jinnah’s Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Islam’ Against Jinnah’s Islam’ by former Amit Shah released a book Karmayoddha Union minister M J Akbar. Granth, on the life of Prime Minister Shri According to the author, Gandhi’s Narendra Modi in New Delhi. immediate concern after independence “A ‘Karmayoddha’ is man with a beating was the fate of partition’s principal heart for people, a statesman, a hard task victims, the minorities: Hindus in
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 15 India and its Neighbours / Awards & Honours Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
Pakistan and Muslims in India. Indian High Commission organizes Whether in South Africa or India, for over “Art Exhibition” in Bangladesh half of a century till the end of his public The Indian High Commission has career in 1948. organized the “Art Exhibition” in Dhaka, Former Indian Cricketer WV Raman’s Bangladesh. The “Art Exhibition” has book ‘The Winning Sixer’ been organized to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Woorkeri Venkat Raman (WV Raman), Gandhi. The art exhibition constituted former Indian cricket team opener unique photographs of Mahatma Gandhi has authored a book ‘The Winning from his initial days in South Africa to Sixer: Leadership Lessons To Master’, numerous movements he participated in which was released formally by Anil India. Radhakrishna Kumble during an event in Bengaluru, Karnataka. WV Raman is the current head coach of the national 1.9 Awards & Honours women’s cricket team. The book was BCCI honour for Srikkanth and Anjum published by Rupa Publications, India. Book ‘Essays and Reminiscences: A Festschrift in Honour of Nani A Palkhivala’ released on noted jurist and economist Nani A Palkhivala The book ‘Essays & Reminiscences: A Festschrift in Honour of Nani A Former India captain K. Srikkanth will Palkhivala‘ was released to mark the be conferred the Life Time Achievement birth centenary anniversary of Indian Award during the BCCI Awards. Jurist and Economist Nanaboy “Nani” The Life Time Award 2019 for women Ardeshir Palkhivala. The book is will be bestowed on Anjum Chopra, also published by LexisNexis publications. a former captain AAO bestows Life Achievement 1.8 India and its Neighbours honour to Dr Santosh G Honavar Pakistan to import polio markers Dr Santosh G Honavar, from India India’s ophthalmologist is conferred with the The Pakistan Government decided to import Polio markers from India recently. American Academy of The Government has suspended the Ophthalmology’s trade with New Delhi for months after (AAO) highest award abrogation of Article 370. Life Achievement honor that is given to its members. 16 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Awards & Honours
He is the first Indian chosen for the honour. presented annually on behalf of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Central Department of Agriculture to is the world’s largest association of eye honor farmers and state governments specialists. who excel in agricultural production. th Harivarasanam Award for Ilaiyaraja This award is the 5 time Tamil Nadu has been awarded the award for Agricultural
Musician and composer Ilaiyaraja Production. has been selected for the prestigious During the period 2017-18, Tamil Nadu Harivarasanam Awardd instituted by produced 10.382 lakh tonnes of oil seeds the state government for 2019. Each year, with 2,729 kg / ha. Harivarasanam Award is announced The Government of Tamil Nadu has been ahead of Makarvilakku Festival in the recipient of various awards in the Sabarimala. field of agriculture from 2011-12. The award will be conferred on Ilayaraja on January 9 at a function to be held at DRDO Scientist Award for scientist Sabaraimala Sannidhanam. The ward Chitra Rajagopal consists of a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, The 34th Indian citation and plaque. The award is jointly Engineering being instituted by the state government Conference was held and Travancore Devaswom board, and is recently in the being awarded since 2012. Telangana capital, Sanjay Gupta of ‘Jagran’ to be Hyderabad. honoured with Lokmanya Tilak The National Design and Research journalism award Institute’s National Sanjay Gupta, the Design Awards for editor-in-chief of 2019 were announced at the event. ‘Jagran’ will be honored with “Lokmanya Tilak Dubai-based Indian singer, Sucheta satish National Journalism wins Global child prodigy award 2020 Award” for his great A Dubai-based Indian contribution in the field girl, Sucheta Satish of Journalism. (14), who sings in 120 Best Agricultural Worker Award for languages,has won the ‘100 Global Child Tamil Nadu Prodigy Award 2020′ Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred in the category of the best Agro-worker for Tamil Nadu, singing. The award which has a high yield of oil seeds. ceremony was held in The Agricultural Workers Award is Ashok Hotel, Delhi.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 17 Awards & Honours Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
Suchetha, a student in Dubai Indian High Kapilakurichi near Paramathi, Namakkal School, was awarded along with 99 other district. child prodigies at the awards, which was He has sown his own 1 hectare of land attended by chief guest Nobel Peace Prize in 2017-18. Cultivated on the advice of (2014) winner Shri Kailash Satyarthi. the Agriculture Department, Papathi has taken a yield of 1,210 kg / ha. Hello FM receives International Yoga Day Media Award MS Swaminathan & Dr. Gutta honored st Hello FM, an FM radio station owned with 1 Venkaiah Naidu National by the Thanthi group was conferred the Awards in Hyderabad “International Yoga Day Media Award” Eminent Agricultural Scientist Dr M S instituted by the Central government for Swaminathan has been selected as the 1st popularising yoga. recipient of the Muppavarapu Venkaiah Aayushi Dholakia becomes Miss Teen Naidu National Award for Excellence while renowned social worker Dr.Gutta International 2019 Muniratnam has been selected as the 1st Aayushi Dholakia has recipient of the Muppavarapu National bagged the title of Miss Award for Social Service. The award Teen International 2019. was given at a function in Hyderabad, She also bagged the titles of Telangana. Best in National Costume Award and Best in Speech India-born author Jasbinder Bilan Award. bags UK Costa Children’s award, 2019 Miss Teen International is the world’s Indian born-author oldest running teen Jasbinder Bilan’s (UK Paramathi female farmer who won resident) debut novel ‘Asha and the Spirit the award for Prime Minister Bird’ focussing on Paramathi, an old readers of age range 9 woman from years and above, beat Kunjampalayam the competition and village, who earned named as the winner of 2019 UK(United high yields in sesame Kingdom) children’s book award named cultivation, has Costa Children’s Award. achieved a record of The story is about eleven-years-old recognition as a pioneer Asha, who is empowered with spiritual farmer to the Prime Minister. connections to her grandmother as she Farmer P. Papathi belongs to journeys through the wild and dangerous Kunjampalayam, a suburb of Himalayas with her best friend Jeevan.
18 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Awards & Honours TN cuts road accidents, gets Centre (Maria Joseph Xavier), ElangoAdigal award award (Poet G Thirugnanasambandam), The award titled ‘Best Performance in Amma Literary award (Umayal Road Safety` was given to TN by the Muthu), Singaravelar award (SK centre. Subramanian), MaraimalaiAdigal Defence Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh, gave award (P Muthukumaraswamy) and this award to TN Transport Minister Mr AyothiDasaPandithar award (Poet V M.R. Vijayabaskar. Prabhakaran).
As per official data, in the year 2018, TN Senior journalist Maalan alias V witnessed a 32% drop in the deaths due Narayanan, poet Krishangini alias Brinda to road accidents when compared to the Nagarajan, MarabinMainthanMuthaiah, previous year. In the years 2016 and 2017, S Mohammed Yusuf, KJ Masthan Ali, the state of TN grabbed many eyeballs as Siva Murugesan, N Kadikachalam, it topped India’s statewide accident chart. Murugudurai and A Mathivanan have been chosen for the best translator award Chithirai Thirunaal awards for 2019 for 2019. and Tiruvalluvar award for 2020 Thiruvalluvar awards for 2020 Former union minister Gingee N Ramachandran, senior journalist Maalan While N Nithyananda Bharathi has been and poet Krishangini are among those chosen for Thiruvalluvar award for chosen for awards instituted by Tamil 2020, the following have been selected Nadu government for 2019. for Thiruvalluvar Thirunaal awards The awards will be presented by Chief for 2019: Gingee N Ramachandran Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at a (ThanthaiPeriyar award), Ambedkar function in Chennai. award (K Arjunan), Perarignar Anna The awards carry ` 1 lakh, a citation award (G Samarasam), Kamarajar award and a shawl. For the organisation which (MS Mathivanan), MahakaviBharathiyar receives Thamizh Thaai award, ` 5 lakh, a award (P Sivaraji), Bharathidasan award citation and a shawl will be given. (T Thenisai Chellappa), Thiru Vi Ka award The personalities who have been (S Sundararajan) and KAP Viswanatham chosen for Chithirai Thirunaal awards award (Manimekalai Kannan). for 2019 are: ThamizhThaai award Puri, Odisha recieves Swachhata (Chicago Tamil Sangam), Kabilar Darpan Awards 2019 award (Poet Vetrialagan), UVeSa Puri, Odisha has been awarded for its award (V Mahadevan), Kambar award initiatives for plastic waste management ( Saraswathi Ramanathan), SollinSelvar with the Swachhata Darpan Awards 2019. award (Poet Kavidasan), Umaru Pulavar The award ceremony was held during award (Liagat Ali Khan), GU Pope award the Open Defecation Free Sustainability Workshop held in New Delhi.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 19 Awards & Honours Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
The workshop was organised by the Deepika Padukone receives Crystal Department of Drinking Water and Award at Davos Sanitation (DDWS) and Ministry of Jal Padukone was given the award for Shakti. The Puri District of Odisha has her leadership in raising mental health been awarded for successfully managing awareness. the plastic wastes in the district with Deepika Padukone receives Crystal its effective policies by engaging the Award at Davos, talks about depression. people of the town through awareness programmes, hence keeping the town’s ‘cVIGIL’ and ‘Voter Helpline app’ won environment pollution free. e-Governance Award of Excellence 2019 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha Sindhi writer Vasdev Mohi to be conferred with 29th Saraswati Samman Award of Excellence for the year 2019 was given by Computer Society of India Sindhi (Indo Aryan (CSI) and Special Interest Group on language) Writer e-Governance (CSI SIG e-Gov) at Kalinga Vasdev Mohi has Institute of Industrial Technology in been selected for the Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Saraswati Samman The two innovative Information and 2019, a literary Communication Technology (ICT) recognition given applications developed by Election annually by the K K Commission of India (ECI), ‘cVIGIL’ (Krishna Kumar) Birla Foundation. The and ‘Voter Helpline App’ has won the literary award is given for his short stories e-Governance award. collection- ‘Chequebook’. The short story talks about the sufferings President confers Bal Shakti Puraskar of the marginalized sections in the society. on 49 The work was selected by a committee Ishaan Sharma, who headed by former secretary general of the saved a Russian tourist Loksabha, Subash C Kashyap from two robbers, Telangana-Genco and SAP bags CSI Omkar Singh, who award holds the world record for the youngest The Telangana State Power Generation theoretical author, and Corporation (TS-Genco) and SAP (India) Gauri Mishra, have jointly bagged the Computer Society youngest pianist in India, were among of India (CSI) special interest group those who were given the Bal Shakti e-governance award of excellence-2019 Puraskar 2020 by President Ram Nath for their project - Leveraging TS-Genco Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Business Process using SAP File Life- Forty-nine children in the age group of cycle Management and Analytics. five to 18 won the award in the fields
20 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Awards & Honours of innovation, social service, scholastic, actor Suresh Oberoi for Culture and Lok sports, art and culture and bravery. The Sabha MP Geeta Koda for Aspirational. ` award carries a medal, a cash prize of 1 TNAU V-C gets Harit Ratna Award lakh, a certificate and a citation. N Kumar, Vice- Former President Pranab Mukherjee Chancellor of Tamil Confers ‘Champions of Change 2019’ Nadu Agricultural Award University, has been Jharkhand CM (Chief Minister) Hemant conferred ‘Harit Ratna Soren was conferred with ‘Champions of Award 2019’ by the All Change Award-2019’ for social welfare India Agricultural (Aspirational Districts) by Former Students Association for President Pranab Mukherjee at a function dissemination of `30-crore in New Delhi. entrepreneurship project in agri-business Award Contribution: The award is and for motivating students to the contributed to Hemant for his work agriculture sector in the State. in the Barhait and Dumka assembly The award was conferred at the 5th constituencies in the state. National Youth Convention at Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya in Sparsh Ganga initiative’ wins Raipur. Champions of Change Award Kerala Media Academy award for Environmentalist and social activist Arushi Nishank was honoured with the N.Ram Champions of Change Award 2019 for N. Ram, chairman of The her initiative towards cleaning and saving Hindu Group Publishing river Ganga, the Sparsh Ganga initiative. Private Limited, has been The second edition of the Champions selected as the outstanding of Change Award was held at Vigyan mediaperson in a national Bhawan (January 20). award instituted award The award is given under the carrying a cash prize of `1 transformation of Aspirational District lakh, citation and sculpture was Program announced by Prime Minister announced as part of the academy’s 40th Narendra Modi in January last year. anniversary celebration. The program identifies the progress Former IPS Officer bags disaster of 115 ‘aspirational’ districts whose mitigation award development is being monitored by NITI The Disaster Mitigation and Management Aayog. Centre in Uttarakhand and former Other recipients of the award were IPS officer K.M. Singh have been actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Kundra for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan),
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 21 Awards & Honours Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for their Padma awardees from Tamil Nadu, contribution in the field of disaster Puducherry management. Social worker Krishnammal Jagannathan, While the Disaster Mitigation and industrialist Venu Srinivasan and Management Centre in Uttarakhand, littérateur Manoj Das have been chosen an organisation working in the field of for the Padma Bhushan awards from natural calamity relief, has been selected Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. in the institution category and will be given a certificate and a cash prize of `51 lakh. The award is announced every year on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. As many as 330 nominations were received this year and the final decision was taken by the Prime Minister. Padma honours for Mary Kom, Sindhu Carnatic vocalists C.Lalitha and C.Saroja, artist Manohar Devadoss, social worker Boxing ace S. Ramakrishnan, nagaswaram vidwans Mary Kom has Kalee Shabi Mahaboob and Sheik been bestowed Mahaboob Subani and IIT-Madras with Padma professor Pradeep Thalappil from Tamil Vibhushan Nadu, and artist V.K. Munusamy from while Puducherry are the recipients of the badminton Padma Shri awards. icon P.V. Krishnammal Jagannathan, 94, heads Sindhu has the Land for Tillers’ Freedom (LAFTI), been honoured an NGO working for the upliftment with Padma of women belonging to the Scheduled Bhushan ahead of the 71st Republic Day. Castes and their families, particularly in The list, released by the Government also the Thanjavur region. includes six Padma Shri Award winners Ms. Jagannathan had worked extensively with veteran hockey star M.P.Ganesh in areas like Kilvenmani following being recognised for his services to the the massacre in 1968, when 44 people game. Arun Jaitley and, Sushma Suvaraj belonging to the SC community were were also awarded with Padma Vibushan burnt by henchmen from an intermediate Posthumously. caste.
22 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Latest Terminology Gallantry medal for downed pilots 1.10 Latest Terminology Squadron Leaders Siddharth Vashisht and Ninad Mandavgane, pilots of 26 new Indian English words added an Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter to the Oxford Dictionary accidentally shot down in Budgam were The Oxford Dictionary includes a range posthumously selected for the Vayu Sena of colloquial terms, slangs, acronyms, Medal (Gallantry) on the eve of Republic and phrases as official new words for Day by President Ram Nath Kovind. people to use. The President approved nine Shaurya About two years ago endearing Indian Chakras, of which four were posthumous. words like ‘Abba’ and ‘Anna’ were added Six Shaurya Chakras were to Army to the dictionary. The list of inclusions for personnel, while three were to security 2018 also had words like ‘gulab jamun’, forces personnel under the Home ‘dadagiri’, ‘achcha’, ‘bapu’ and ‘surya Ministry. namaskar’. As many as 70 Indian words These include nine Shaurya Chakras, 28 were added that year. Param Vishisht Seva Medals (PVSM), But about a month back, the dictionary four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals (UYSM), assumed a more serious tone and chose 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals (AVSM), 10 ‘climate emergency’ as the Word of Yudh Seva Medals (YSM), 123 Vishisht the Year 2019. Other shortlisted words Seva Medals (VSM), 111 Sena Medals included ‘Climate crisis’, ‘climate action’, (Gallantry), five Nao Sena Medals ‘climate denial’, ‘eco-anxiety’ and (Gallantry), four Vayu Sena Medals ‘extinction’. (Gallantry), 40 Sena Medals (devotion to The latest edition of the Oxford duty), eight Nao Sena Medals (devotion Advanced Learner’s Dictionary features to duty) and 14 Vayu Sena Medals 26 new Indian English words, including (devotion to duty). ‘Aadhaar’, ‘chawl’, ‘dabba’, ‘hartal’ and ‘shaadi’. Arvind Krishna awarded Mahakavi The 10th edition of the dictionary has 384 Kanhaiyalal Sethia Award Indian English words and incorporates Renowned poet and literary critic Arvind over 1,000 new words such as chatbot, th Krishna Mehrotra was awarded 5 fake news and microplastic. edition of the Mahakavi Sethia Award for poetry during JLF 2020. The award is given in memory of Rajasthani and Hindi poet Kanhaiyalal Sethia and carries a cash prize of Rs. 1 Lakh.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 23 Latest Historical Events / India and its neighbours Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 1.11 Latest Historical Events 1.12 India and its neighbours
Earliest Sanskrit inscription in south List of Nuclear Installations exchanged India found in A.P. between India and Pakistan The Epigraphy India and Pakistan exchanged their Branch of the nuclear installations under an agreement Archaeological that prevents them from attacking each Survey of India other’s atomic facilities. The practice is has discovered being followed for 29 years for now. the earliest Agreement on Prohibition of attack epigraphic against Nuclear Installations evidence so far The agreement was signed between for the Pakistan President Benazir Bhutto and Saptamatrika Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi. It was signed cult. on December 31, 1988. It is also the earliest Sanskrit inscription to have been History discovered in South India. Between 1986 and 1987 Indian Army Saptamatrikas are a group of seven carried out massive exercise Brasstacks female deities worshipped in Hinduism that created fear of attacks on Pakistan as personifying the energy of their nuclear facilities. The fear of Pakistan respective consorts. was the base for the countries to sign the The inscription is in Sanskrit and in agreement. Brahmi characters and was issued by Prahlad Patel to attend launch of Satavahana king Vijaya in 207 A.D. Visit Nepal-2020 The inscription was first copied and India sent Minister of State for Tourism studied and it transpired that it records Prahlad Patel for the inauguration of the construction of a prasada (temple), Visit Nepal 2020, the largest economic a mandapa and consecration of images diplomacy initiative of Kathmandu. on the southern side of the temple by a The initiative is important as it will open person named Kartika for the merit of Nepal’s tourism economy which has the king at the temple of Bhagavathi emerged as an arena of interface between (Goddess) Saktimatruka (Saptamatrika) India and China. at Tambrape; Tambrape being the ancient To generate investment for infrastructure name of Chebrolou development and also develop the tourism sector that is crucial for Nepal’s economy.”
24 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 India and its neighbours / Appointments – Who is who? President Kovind lays foundation Suresh Chandra Sharma Appointed stone of Lakshadweep’s 1st super Chairman of National Medical Commission specialty hospital at Kavaratti The head of Delhi AIIMS’ The President of India, Shri Ram Nath ENT head-neck surgery Kovind, who was on a first ever 2-day department, Professor State Visit to the Union Territory of Suresh Chandra Sharma, Lakshadweep, has laid the foundation was on Thursday stone for Lakshadweep’s 1st Super appointed as the chairman Specialty Hospital at Kavaratti. of National Medical Commission (NMC). The NMC has been mandated with South Asia’s 1st and 119th e-passport framing policies for regulating medical in the world institutions and medical professionals in Prime Minister (PM) of Bangladesh, the country. Sheikh Hasina Wazed have launched The Appointments Committee of the e-passport in Dhaka, Bangladesh as Cabinet has approved the appointment Mujib Century year gift to the country. of Sharma for a period of three years or Bangladesh is the first country in South till the age of 70 years. Asia and 119th country in the world to have e-passport facility. Malaysia is the MHA designates senior office for first country in the world to launch this Ayodhya verdict related matters facility in 1998. Ministry of Home Affairs has designated an additional secretary-level officer to 1.13 Appointments – Who is who? handle all matters related to Ayodhya Court verdict. Rohan shah designated as India’s To fulfill the SC verdict, the MHA has set representative & Governor on ERIA up a new division, which will be helmed board by Additional Secretary Gnanesh Kumar. Rohan Shah, a practicing counsel at the V K Yadav to lead Railway Board for Supreme Court (SC) and various High 1 more year Courts (HC), has appointed as India’s The Appointments Representative and Governor on the Committee of the Cabinet board of Economic Research Institute for has approved the re- ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) for a period employment of V K Yadav of 3 years. as the Chairman of The ERIA board meets once every 6 Railway Board. The months in Jakarta(Indonesia) & in Japan. appointment has been done for a period of one year.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 25 Appointments – Who is who? Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
He took over as Railway Board Chairman Federal Tax Service, as the next prime from Ashwani Lohani on January 1, 2019. minister of the country. He replaced He has also held the post of General Dmitri Anatolyevich Medvedev who Manager of South Central Railway (SCR). resigned from his post.
He is an electrical engineer and belongs Lt.Gen.S.K.Saini to be Vice-Chief of to the 1980 batch of the Indian Railway Army Staff Service of Electrical Engineers. Lt.Gen.S.K.saini, currently Lokpal member DB Bhosale resigns the Southern Army Justice Dilip B Bhosale has Commander, will be the resigned as member of the next Vice-chief of Army country’s anti-corruption Staff. He will assume charge ombudsman Lokpal. A on January 25, defence Lokpal member is sources said here. appointed for a five-year Nripendra Misra to head Nehru term or till attaining the Memorial Musem age of 70. As part of a full revamp Newly appointed deputy governor of the Nehru Memorial to look after RBI’s monetary policy Museum and Library’s division executive council, Newly appointed RBI Nripendra Misra, former Deputy Governor Principal Secretary to the Michael Debabrata Patra Prime Minister, has been will look after the key appointed as the new monetary policy chairperson. This comes at a time when department along with the institution is finalising plans to set up seven other units, the a Museum of Prime Ministers. central bank said after reshuffling portfolios of deputy governors. 1.14 Cultural Panorama Besides the governor, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has four deputy governors Losar Festival: Ladakh New Year looking after different departments. being celebrated Union Territory of Ladakh is celebrating Mikhail Mishustin becomes the next Losar Festival on 27 December 2019, to prime minister of Russia mark the Ladakh or Tibetan New Year.
The Russian lawmakers have Until 2018. Losar gathering use to have approved Russian President Vladimir “UT Status for Ladakh” a resolution for Putin’s proposed candidate Mikhail new Year. Vladimirovich Mishustin, the head of the
26 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Appointments – Who is who? Mandu Festival begins at Mandu, Maryland in US (United States), Tahan in Madhya Pradesh Myanmar and Bangladesh from January The first edition of Mandu Festival 9,2020. begins at Mandu, picturesque fort city of Northeast-Gujarat cultural fusion Madhya Pradesh. The event is organized to commemorate Lord Krishna’s by Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board. wedding with Rukmini The festival will witness a celebration The eight States of the Northern Eastern of the historic heritage blended with the Region will participate in a big way modern vibrancy of the city culture. during the Madhavpur Mela of Gujarat ‘Dhanu Jatra’ the 11-day long festival due to be held in the first week of April begins at Bargarh in Western Odisha this year. The annual fair is held at Madhavpur Ghed in Porbandar district ‘Dhanu Jatra’ the famous 11-day long and the Mela this year will commence on open-air theater festival begins at Bargarh 2nd April, a day after the Ram Navami in western Odisha. Jatra’s drama is based festival. on the story of Lord Krishna and his uncle The eight North-Eastern states namely Kansa. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, It is the world’s longest open-air drama Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim named in the Guinness book of records. and Tripura will participate in this To celebrate Indian’s Independence and festival. The Madhavpur Mela of Gujarat to symbolize the victory of good over evil shares its connect to the Mishmi Tribe this festival was celebrated from 1947-1948. ancestry to the legendary King Bhishmak of Arunachal Pradesh. ‘Lai Haraoba’ ritualistic festival Mizoram sets to celebrate ‘Chapchar begins in Tripura Kut’ festival on March 6, 2020 In Tripura, Lai Haraoba, a ritualistic Government of Mizoram along with festival observed by Manipuri meitei the organizing committee under communities began in Agartala. The 5-day the chairmanship of Chief Minister long festival is jointly organised by the Zoramthanga has decided to celebrate Department of Information and Cultural the ‘Chapchar Kut’, the biggest and Affairs, Government of Tripura, Puthiba most important festival of the Mizos, on Lai Haraoba Committee and Puthiba March 6, 2020. The two- days festival is Welfare & Cultural Society, Agartala. celebrated under the theme “Promotion Zo kutpui festival 2020 of Mizos’ culture and moral code”. th In a bid to unify different tribes of Mizo 13 Jaipur Literature Festival began community, the state Government of in Jaipur, Rajasthan Mizoram will organize the 1st edition The 13th edition of the Zee Jaipur Literature of Zo Kutpui festival 2020 across 10 Festival (JLF) began at Diggi Palace Hotel in states in India & also in countries such as Jaipur, Rajasthan on January 23, 2020 and
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 27 Appointments – Who is who? Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 will be conducted till January 27, 2020. The The night before ‘Magh Bihu’ is called 5-day long festival was inaugurated by Chief ‘Uruka’ meaning the night of feasts. Minister of Rajasthan Shri Ashok Gehlot. The villagers make bamboo huts called Tripura Renames Baramura Hills as ‘Bhelghor’ or community kitchen where ‘Hatai Kutul’ on ‘Kokborok Day’ they begin with the preparations for the The Tripura government has renamed festival. Baramura Hills in Kokborok language on ‘Kokborok Day’, thereby fulfilling the long-standing demand of Kokborok speaking people that prominent places of the state be renamed in the local language. The state government, through an emergency cabinet decision, has renamed Best Agricultural Worker Award for the Baramura Hills as “Hatai Kutul” to Tamil Nadu mark “Kokborok Day” held every year Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred on January 19. the best Agro-worker for Tamil Nadu, which has a high yield of oil seeds. Discosvery of 18th – century ‘plot stones’ The Agricultural Workers Award is near Uthiramerur in Kanchipuran presented annually on behalf of the district Central Department of Agriculture to th Near the Uthiramerur, two 18 -century honor farmers and state governments ‘plot stones’ have been discovered. who excel in agricultural production. Edamichi Village is located on the This award is the 5th time Tamil Nadu has road from Salavakkam village to been awarded the award for Agricultural UthiramerurCircle. These are thought to Production. th be 18 century plot stones. During the period 2017-18, Tamil Nadu It has been customary for his wife to produced 10.382 lakh tonnes of oil seeds set herself on fire with a heroic death in with 2,729 kg / ha. battle to protect her ethnic group or her The Government of Tamil Nadu has been hometown. the recipient of various awards in the Magh Bihu festival celebrated in field of agriculture from 2011-12. Assam Magh Bihu, an auspicious harvest festival is being celebrated in Assam. Magh Bihu falls in the local month of ‘Magh’ during mid-january. It is also called ‘Bhogali Bihu’ or ‘Maghor Bihu’ as it is celebrated with community feasts after the annual harvest takes place.
28 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Latest Court Verdicts / Political parties and Political system in India POLITICAL 2. SCIENCE 2.1 Latest Court Verdicts 2.2 Political parties and SC to examine Dalit Christians’ quota plea Political system in India The Supreme Court agreed to examine Kerala: The first state to pass anti- a plea that Dalit Christians or Christians CAA resolution of Scheduled Castes origin should enjoy The Kerala Government passed a the same quota benefits reserved for resolution to rollback the Citizenship Scheduled Castes. Amendment Act (CAA) that was passed A Bench led by Chief Justice of India during this winter session of Parliament. Sharad A. Bobde issued notice to the According to the Kerala Government, the government on a writ petition filed by CAA act contradicts the basic principles the National Council of Dalit Christians of Constitution. (NCDC) that reservation for government jobs and admissions in educational India’s UJALA Programme completes institutions should be made “religion 5 successful years neutral”. Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for SC affrims 3% quota for disabled in PSUs All (UJALA) and LED Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) marked
A three-judge Bench of the Supreme their fifth anniversary. Court has granted relief to persons with The schemes were implemented by disabilities across the country by allowing Energy Efficiency Services Limited reservation in promotion in all groups for (EESL). EESL is a joint venture of PSU those employed in public sector jobs. operating under Ministry of Power. The Bench led by Justice Rohinton Highlights F.Nariman confirmed that 3% reservation Under the SLNP initiative, in five should be given to disabled persons both years around 1.03 crore smart LED in direct recruitment and in promotions. street lights were installed. This Included under The Persons with helped in reducing Green House Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Gas emission by 4.8 million tons Protection of Rights and Full Participation) annually. Also, the initiative has Act, 1995”, were eligible for reservation created 13,000 jobs. in promotion.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 29 Political parties and Political system in India Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Citizenship Amendment Act comes Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY): Key Features into effect from January 10 Objective: Since, groundwater contributes The Centre announced that the nearly 65% of India’s total irrigated area, Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA with ABY, the Central Government seeks has come into force from January 10, 2020. to promote Panchayat led ground water The Union home ministry announced management and behavioral change the Act under which non-Muslim with primary focus on demand side refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh management. The scheme will also help and Afghanistan will be given Indian in supplying water to every house hold citizenship, will come into force from by 2024. January 10. Operational Guidelines Jal Jeevan Citizenship Amendment Act Mission (JJM) released by PM Narendra The CAA was passed by the Parliament Modi in New Delhi on December 11, 2019. According to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, released the Operational Guidelines for th Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh Institutional arrangement proposed for and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 JJM Implementation: facing religious persecution there will not i. National Jal Jeevan Mission at the be treated as illegal immigrants but given Central level Indian citizenship. ii. State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) at State level iii. District Water and Sanitation Mission 2.3 Govt – Welfare oriented (DWSM) at district level iv. Gram Panchayat and/or its sub- Govt schemes, their utility committees i.e. Village Water Sanitation PM Modi launches Atal Bhujal Yojana Committee (VWSC)/ Paani Samiti at village Level : Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched About JJM: Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY), a scheme for
sustainable management of ground water Approved on 13.08.2019, the `3.60 lakh resources, in New Delhi. Crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims to provide Functional Household Tap The scheme was launched on the occasion of 95th birth anniversary former Prime Connection (FHTC) Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. On the occasion, the 8.8-kilometre long Strategic Tunnel under Rohtang Pass was also named after late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
30 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility ‘One nation, one ration card’ to Scheme” and subsidized meal scheme be implemented in 12 states from named “Shiv Bhojan” program for the January 15 poor. The central government’s ‘One Nation, Key Points: One Ration Card’ system, under which Under Farmer Loan Waiver Scheme beneficiaries can buy subsidized food short-term crop loan up to Rs 2 lakh taken grains from ration shops in any part of by farmers between April 1, 2015-March the country, will be implemented on 31, 2019, and short-term restructured crop January 15, 2020. loan arrears up to September 30, 2019, will The initiative will come into effect initially be waived. It will be implemented from in 12 states, and then gradually to the rest March 2020 and Maha Vikas Aghadi will of the country. provide Rs 21,216 crore for scheme. In its initial stage, the scheme is being Shiv Bhojan” programme: The Rs 6.4 implemented in 12 states Andhra Pradesh, crore program will be started as pilot Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, project for three months. Under this, at Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, least one ‘Shiv Bhojan’ canteen will be Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and started at district headquarters. Jharkhand. Each canteen will serve 500 thalis (plates) Earlier, Union Minister of Consumer which is available at Rs 10 each, consisting Affairs, Food and Public Distribution of two chapatis, one vegetable, rice and Ram Vilas Paswan had on December dal. Canteens serving the meal will be 3 announced that the ‘one nation, one functional between 12 noon and 2 pm ration card’ system will be “implemented Pm Modi to release fourth instalment without fail in the entire country” by June of Kisan Samman Nidhi 30, 2020 PM Modi is to release the fourth Mukhyamantri Aawas Yojana instalment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Yojana in Tumakuru, Karnataka. The Kejriwal launched the scheme named Prime Minister will also confer “Krishi ‘MukhyamantriAawas Yojana’ for the Karmanya” award to three fishermen residents of Jhuggi Jhopri (JJ) clusters & and 28 progressive farmers from various it will provide a pucca house to every states. citizen in Delhi. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana Maharashtra cabinet approved The scheme was first introduced in Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Farmer Loan Telangana as “Rythu Bandhu” scheme. Waiver & Shiv Bhojan scheme Under the scheme, a certain amount is given to eligible farmers. Eventually, the Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav scheme was accoladed for its huge success Thackeray approved the “Mahatma all over the world including World Bank. Jyotirao Phule Farmer Loan Waiver
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 31 Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
Under the scheme, Rs 6,000 will be to acknowledge positive role of media in provided to farmers annually. The amount disseminating outreach of Yoga. is directly credited to bank accounts of The awards were announced for the first eligible farmers in four installments. time in June 2019. GoI has been pushing Centre sets up 7-member GoM led Yoga practices since 2014. In September by Rajnath singh to review crop 2014, during his United Nations General insurance scheme-PMFBY Assembly address proposed the idea of celebrating International Yoga Day every The central Government has formed a year. 7-member group of ministers (GoM) A resolution was passed by the UN headed by Defense Minister Rajnath following this and now International Day Singh to review the crop insurance of Yoga is being celebrated every year on scheme ,“Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima 21 June. Yojana (PMFBY)” & make suggestions to improve it according to the needs of the List of clean cities farmers. Melathiruppanthuruthi is a panchayat Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana town in Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu as well as Thanjavur The Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was district, in the list of cleanest cities in the launched for the development of model South, has been selected as the top city. villages. Under the Yojana, Members The Central Government’s ‘Clean India’ of Parliament (MPs) will be responsible for developing the socio-economic and program, a quarterly survey of various physical infrastructure of three villages cities in the country, is conducted once a each by 2019, and a total of eight villages quarter. each by 2024. Through ‘Jal Abhiyan’ schemes, we buy After adopting Jayapur, Nagapur and garbage, go to homes, and buy quality. Kakarhia villages, Modi decided to also We have been performing many tasks adopt Domari village on the banks of such as decomposing garbage, creating Ganga as a model village for holistic biofertilizers, earthworm fertilizers development and using ‘plastic materials’ for road construction. GoI to confer first “Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman’ Govt to provide ` 15 lakh under Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi scheme The Ministry of Information and The govt has released the National draft Broadcasting will confer policy on Rare Disease in which financial “Antarrashtriya Yoga support of Rs.15 lakh will be provided Diwas Media Samman” under the Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi to 30 media houses. scheme for one-time treatment of rare The aim of the award is diseases.
32 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology
Beneficiaries: The scheme benefit is The report was revealed in the December limited to people below Poverty Line 2019 issue of the Emerging Infectious (BPL) and also 40% of the population Diseases journal of the US Centers for eligible as per Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) by scientists of the National Institute of norms for treatment in government Virology (NIV), Pune. tertiary hospitals only. 7-billion-year-old stardust is the National Policy for Treatment of Rare oldest material ever found on Earth Diseases (NPTRD): Scientists Previously the health ministry formulated recently the National Policy for Treatment of identified the Rare Diseases (NPTRD) in July, 2017. oldest material When this policy was introduced, there on Earth: prevailed lack of clarity regarding the stardust that’s 7 cost effectiveness, share of expenditure billion years old, between centre and states etc. Hence the tucked away in a massive, rocky meteorite policy was decided to be reframed & the that struck our planet half a century ago. ministry constituted an expert committee This ancient interstellar dust, made of in November 2018 to review it. pre-solar grains (dust grains that predate our sun), was belched into the universe by dying stars during the final stages of 2.4 Latest Inventions on their lives. Some of that dust eventually hitched a Science & Technology ride to Earth on an asteroid that produced the Murchison meteorite, a massive, 220- Rare variety of H9N2 virus has been lb. (100 kilograms) rock that fell on Sept. reported in a 17-month-old boy of 28, 1969, near Murchison, Victoria, in Maharashtra Australia. India’s first case of Avian influenza or New analysis of dozens of presolar grains Bird flu caused by a rare variety of H9N2 from the Murchison meteorite revealed a virus has been reported in a 17-month- range of ages, from about 4 million years old boy of Maharashtra. older than our sun - which formed 4.6 The infection is caused by a rare variety billion years ago - up to 3 billion years of H9N2 virus, which is a subtype of the older than our sun, researchers reported influenza A virus that leads to human in a new study. influenza as well as bird flu. The viruses are found in wild birds and are endemic in poultry in some countries.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 33 Policy on Environment and Ecology Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 3. GEOGRAPHY
3.1 Policy on Environment and Ecology
India State of Forest Report (ISRF) - three States showing an increase in forest 2019 cover are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh The forest cover in the country increased and Kerala. by 3,976 square kilometres (sqkm) Tree cover, defined as patches of trees but with the sharpest declines in the less than 1 hectare and occurring outside northeastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, the recorded forest area, grew by 1, 212 Manipur and Mizoram, according to the sqkm. Tree and forest cover together 2019 edition of the India State of Forest made up 25.56% of India’s area. In the last Report (ISFR) that was made public assessment it was 24.39%. In terms of the canopy density of the trees comprising forest patches—is wavering. While 1,755 sqkm of ‘moderately dense forest’ (MDF) became ‘Very dense forest (VDF), 2782 sqkm of MDF regressed into lower quality ‘open forest (OF),’ Scrub forest’ or ‘Non forest.’ Result of Swachh Survekshan League, 2020 released The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on December 31, 2019, released Swachh Survekshan League in New Delhi. Around 4,372 cities participated in the league. It is a cleanliness survey that At 712,249 sqkm, the forest cover helps in competitive federalism. constituted 21.67% of the nation’s Palau first country to ban sunscreen geographical area or 0.12% more than last to protect Coral Reefs year. The Pacific Island, Palau has become The ISFR, a biennial exercise, assesses the the first country to ban sun cream that forest and tree cover, bamboo resources, is harmful to corals. The country has carbon stock and forest fires. The top banned common ingredients used in cosmetics including oxybenzone.
34 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Policy on Environment and Ecology
Highlights Highlights
The order of the ban was passed in The peak winter is the ideal time to 2018. However, it comes into effect from carry out the census as it exposes more January 1, 2020. The Rock Islands in the than 50% of mud banks. The crocodile Palau is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. count in the park has been increasing How are sun creams harmful to corals? gradually. According to the census, in The sun creams absorb UV radiations and 2000, there were 1,192 crocodiles in the make corals susceptible to bleaching. It is park. estimated that around 6 to 14,000 tons of IMD’s State of Climate Report: 2019 sunscreen are washed into reefs annually. the warmest year since 1901 India records less than 100 tiger The International Meteorological deaths for the first time in three years Organisation released its “State of For the first time in the past three years, Climate Report” for the year 2019. the number of tiger deaths in a year According to the report, the climate in the country has been less than 100. change has claimed 1,659 lives in India in According to data from the Ministry of the year 2019. It also stated that 2019 was Forest Environment and Climate Change the warmest year of India since 1901. (MoEFCC), there were 84 cases of tiger Highlights of the report deaths in the country and 11 cases of The extreme weather events that occurred seizures (in which a tiger is presumed in the country in the year 2019 were all dead on the basis of body parts seized linked to climate change. It includes by authorities). Both put together, the cyclones, floods, heat waves, cold waves, number of tiger deaths is in 2019 is 95. landslides, etc. Of all the states, Bihar In 2018, the number of tiger deaths reported highest deaths (650) due to recorded was 100 (93 mortalities and extreme weather events. seven seizures). The number of tiger Of these 300 died in floods and 350 died deaths in 2017 was 115 (98 mortalities due to heat waves. Following Bihar, and 17 seizures), and the number of tiger other states such as Maharashtra, UP, deaths in 2016 was 122 (101 mortalities Kerala, Rajasthan and Karnataka showed and 21 seizures) in 2016. high numbers of deaths due to extreme Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National weather events. Park Census: Increase in Salt Water New Delhi recorded the longest cold Crocodiles wave duration of 18 days since 1902. According to the recent census at Bird flu outbreak in Chhattisgarh: the Bhitarkanika National Park, the over 15,000 birds culled population of salt water (or estuarine) Bird flu has been reported from a state- crocodiles have increased to 1,757 as run poultry farm in Chhattigsarh’s Korea compared to 1,742 in 2018.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 35 Policy on Environment and Ecology Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
district, prompting the authorities to cull What is Seismic Microzonation? over 15,000 birds and step up vigil on It is the process of dividing earth quake poultry birds within 10 km radius of the prone areas based on certain factors. affected area. The factors include geological and 15,426 chickens and quails have been geophysical characteristics of site s. culled and 30,000 eggs destroyed after They are ground shaking, landslide, the highly contagious H5N1 virus was liquefaction susceptibility, rock fall detected among birds at the poultry hazard and flooding caused due to earth farm and hatchery in Baikunthpur town, quakes. Based on the division, mitigation located around 300 km measures are prepared. Hence, it is a preventive method to minimise the losses. Kaziranga has one of the highest The factors in the microzonation method number of wetland birds are estimated based on response from soil Kaziranga recorded 96 species of wetland layers. birds – one of the highest for wildlife Waterbird census from January 24 reserves in India, according to the second th wetland bird count conducted. The 10 edition of Tamirabharani water The survey registered a total of 19,225 bird count in select water bodies in birds belonging to 96 species under 80 Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Thoothukudi families. The first waterfowl census in districts will be conducted between 2018 had yielded 10,412 birds covering 80 January 24 and 26 this year. species, belonging to 31 families. As usual, thousands of migratory birds With 6,181 individuals, the bar-headed have arrived at irrigation tanks in the goose led the species count, followed by Tamirabharani basin and thousands the common teal at 1,557 and northern of local birds started breeding in their pintail at 1,359. All three belong to the regular nests. family anatidae. Haboob
The first wetland bird survey in A huge dust storm rolled through Dubbo Kaziranga, a UNESCO World Heritage and Parkes in New South Wales on Site since 1985, was conducted in 2018. Sunday afternoon The cloud was described as a ‘haboob’ GoI launches ‘Seismic Hazard dust cloud, which often form after a Microzonation’ to minimize thunderstorm earthquake disasters The Bureau of Meteorology also recorded wind gusts of 107km/h at 7.41pm local The Ministry of Earth Science has launched time in Dubbo. Seismic Hazard Microzonation project in major cities of India. The project aims to Corona virus outbreak reduce hazards of seismic activities by With China reporting an outbreak of a putting in adequate measures novel corona virus, the Directorate of
36 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Policy on Environment and Ecology Public Health and Preventive Medicine New species has instructed doctors to look out for In 2019, two new species of marine symptoms of influenza-like illnesses, eel, Gymnothorax and amanensesis regardless of patient travel history to the and Gymnothorax smithi were been affected country. discovered by this ZSI centre.
Tamil Nadu already has in place a WEF to conserve 1 trillion trees by screening mechanism for influenza-like 2030 to combat climate change illnesses, and doctors have been told through 1t.org to stay alert, look out for symptoms of respiratory infections, fever and cough The World Economic Forum (WEF) and and ask for the travel history of patients. its partners have launched 1t.org which Corona viruses are species of virus is a multi stakeholder effort to support belonging to the subfamily Coronavirinae efforts to grow, restore and conserve 1 in the family Coronaviridae, in the order trillion trees around the world in order to Nidovirales. restore the biodiversity and help combat Corona viruses are enveloped viruses climate change. with a positive-sense single-stranded 1t.org’s aims and efforts to be taken: RNA genome and with a nucleocapsid of Project aim: 1t.org project aims to unite helical symmetry. all the countries’ govts, non-govt. New snake eel species discovered in organisations, businesses & individuals in to restore nature in a mass scale. Odisha Carbon locking: Locking up the carbon A new snake eel species residing in the in the world’s forests, grasslands, and Bay of Bengal has been discovered and wetlands can provide 1/3rd of emission documented this month (January) by reductions needed to meet the Paris the Estuarine Biology Regional Centre Agreement targets by 2030. (EBRC) of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) at Gopalpur-on-sea in Odisha. A bid to restore coral reefs in Gulf of This new marine species has been named Kutch using biorocks Ophichthus kailashchandrai to honour The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), with the vast contributions of Dr. Kailash help from Gujarat’s forest department, Chandra, Director of ZSI, to Indian is attempting for the first time a process animal taxonomy. to restore coral reefs using biorock or Ophichthus kailashchandrai is the eighth mineral accretion technology. species of the Ophichthus genus found A biorock structure was installed one on the Indian coast. It is the fifth new nautical mile off the Mithapur coast in the species discovered by the Gopalpur ZSI Gulf of Kachchh on January 19. in the last two years. Biorock is the name given to the substance formed by electro accumulation of minerals dissolved in seawater on steel
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 37 Natural Disasters – Safeguard Measures Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 structures that are lowered onto the sea Climate change caused 15 disaster bed and are connected to a power source, this year in this case solar panels that float on the At least 15 natural disasters linked to surface. climate change this year caused damage 3.2 Natural Disasters – of over $1 billion and seven of them cost at least $10 billion, British charity Safeguard Measures Christian Aid. This year is set to be the second hottest Typhoon Phanfone year in history and each of the disasters in Typhoon Phanfone pummeled the central the report has a link with climate change. Philippines, bringing a wet, miserable Tropical Cyclone Sarai lashed Coastal and terrifying holiday to millions in the mainly Catholic nation. area of Fiji Phanfone was tracking a similar path to Tropical Cyclone Sarai has lashed the Super Typhoon Haiyan, the country’s Pacific island nation Fiji, with 140km/h deadliest cyclone on record which left winds forcing hundreds of people to more than 7,300 people dead or missing evacuate to higher ground ahead of in 2013. possible flooding.
Book on Kiran Bedi launched Mr. Purohit, who launched the book Where Kindness Spoke, published which is devoted Ms. Bedi’s work in the Union Territory, said he had been her fan since 1982, when as a deputy commissioner Book titled The Story of Yoga: From of police she had famously ordered the removal of the Prime Minister Indira India to the Contemporary World by Gandhi’s car. Alistair released Minority Affairs minister Mukhtar Book titled “first definitive history” of Yoga, “The Story of Yoga: From India Abbas Naqvi’s new novel ‘Balwa’ to to the Contemporary World” has been be released written by Scottish cultural historian The Union Minister for Minority Affairs Alistair Shearer, will be released by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will soon release the end of January, 2020 and published his Hindi novel Balwa, a fiction story by Penguin Random House. The book based on the happenings in India in the discusses about the practice of yoga since 1990s. It will be published by Diamond ancient time in India till now. Pocket Books.
38 Vetrii IAS Study Circle VNewetrii 'Economics Current A Policyffairs, J &a nuGovt.ary - Sector 2020 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector
4. ECONOMICS 4.1 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector
Andhra Bank receives “Best ` 70,000 crore plan to revive BSNL, Performing Bank award” for Rural MTNL Self Employment Training Institutes A seven-member Group of Ministers nd (2 rank) for 2018-19 (GoM) has been constituted to fast-track Union Minister for Agriculture and and oversee the implementation of the Rs Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and 69,000 crore revival plan for state-owned Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar, telecom corporations BSNL and MTNL presented the Best Performing Award The high-level group will expedite for Rural Self Employment Training smooth implementation of recent Institutes (RSETI) (2nd rank) to Andhra decisions taken on revival of BSNL and Bank for the financial year 2018-19. MTNL that includes crucial elements like allocation of 4G spectrum and asset E-commerce, new industrial policy monetization likely this fiscal The GoM includes Defence Minister The Department for Promotion of Rajnath Singh, IT and Telecom Minister Industry and Internal Trade Trade (DPIIT) Ravi Shankar Prasad, Home Minister is working actively on the e-commerce as Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala well as new industrial policies, and both Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush are expected to be released by the end of Goyal and Oil Minister Dharmendra this fiscal. Pradhan. The government released a draft national e-commerce policy, proposing setting up Finance Minister launches ‘eBkray’ a legal and technological framework for auction platform for assets attached restrictions on cross-border data flow and by banks also laid out conditions for businesses Union Finance Minister Nirmala regarding collection or processing of Sitharaman has launched eBkray an sensitive data locally and storing it common e-auction platform to enable abroad. online auction of attached assets
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 39 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 transparently and cleanly for the shown the most improvement. The improved realization of value by banks. second SDG-zero hunger –shown sharp The platform will help buyer to easily divergence in the performance of States, navigate to bank e-auction site after a with little middle ground, Kerala, Goa notified property is selected. It also helps and parts of the north-east, including user to search property using State-wise, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh District-wise and bank-wise details. and Sikkim, have scored above 65, with About eBkray platform Goa at 75 points.
Objective of Portal: To enhance user 22 of the States and Union Territories experience through seamless access to have scored below 50, with the central information by search based on type and Indian States of Jharkhand, Madhya location of property put up for e-auction Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh scoring by banks in India. below 30, showing high levels of hunger and malnutrition. India may surpass Germany to On the fifth SDG-gender equality – become fourth-largest economy in almost all States fare poorly. Only 2026: Report Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh India is expected to overtake Germany to and Kerala have managed to cross 50 become fourth-largest economy in 2026 points, The indicators considered include and Japan to become third largest in 2034, crimes against women, eradicating sex according to a recent report by the UK- selection and discrimination against based Centre for Economics and Business daughters, and access to reproductive Research (CEBR). health schemes, as well as indicators It further said India is also set to reach showing women’s economic and political a gross domestic product (GDP) of USD empowerment and leadership. 5 trillion by 2026, 2 years later than the SBI to implement OTP-based ATM cash government’s target. withdrawals from January 1 2020 India has decisively overtaken both France and the UK to become the State Bank of India will introduce One world’s fifth-largest economy in 2019. Time Password (OTP)-based ATM cash It is expected to overtake Germany to withdrawals. The step has been taken to become fourth largest in 2026 and Japan reduce the occurrences of unauthorised to become the third largest in 2034,” the transactions happening at ATMs. SBI will report, titled ‘World Economic League introduce one-time password for every Table 2020 cash withdrawal of Rs 10,000 and above between 8 am and 8 pm. Kerala tops NITI Aayog’s index of UN The OTP-based cash withdrawal will be goals effective from January 1, 2020 across all Kerala has retained its top slot, while SBI ATMs. When an SBI cardholder will Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim have enter the amount of cash he/she wishes
40 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector
to withdraw, a screen will appear asking division will work to increase investment for the OTP. coordination among the states of the The customer will then have to put country and also with the foreign the OTP that the bank will send to the countries. registered mobile number. OTP is a Highlights system-generated string of numeric The NEST will act as a nodal point characters that allow users to make a to exchange views with foreign single transaction. governments. Finance Minister unveils plans for This will help in confronting emerging `102 lakh cr.infra projects challenges and scenarios in new technologies. With India coping with Union Finance Minister Nirmala issues of security implications in 5G and Sitharaman has outlined plans to artificial intelligence, NEST division will invest more than `102 lakh crore on help India spread emerging technologies infrastructure projects by 2024-25, with among the states the Centre, States and the private sector to share the capital expenditure in a AI powered National Stock Exchange 39:39:22 formula. Knowledge Hub inaugurated in New This will be a significant increase over Delhi the last six years, when the Centre and The National Stock Exchange (NSE) States together spent `51 lakh crore on knowledge Hub was inaugurated. The infrastructure. hub will assist insurance, banking and On Independence Day, Prime Minister financial services. The hub has adopted Narendra Modi had announced plans the latest technology of Artificial to invest `100 lakh crore on modern Intelligence. infrastructure. This is the expenditure Highlights needed to achieve a $5 trillion economy The technologies such as Artificial by 2024-25. Intelligence and Machine Learning are A task force of senior bureaucrats chaired two major keys for India to become 1 by Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu trillion-dollar economy by 2035. The hub Chakraborty then identified `102 lakh is one such step of the technologies to crore projects in 18 States as part of a boost the economy of the country National Infrastructure Pipeline. RBI allows video-based customer Ministry of External Affairs creates identification “NEST” to increase investment coordination The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to permit video-based Customer The Ministry of External Affairs is to set Identification Process (V-CIP) as a up a new division called NEST-New and consent-based alternate method of Emerging Strategic Technologies. The
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 41 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
establishing the customer’s identity, for to 5.8% in the next fiscal year. customer onboarding. For videobased The bank’s Global Economic Prospects customer authentication, PAN number report released cited a lingering weakness and Aadhaar number will be mandatory. in credit from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) as the main cause for the downgrade. 5% growth cloud over Budget 2020
This is the slowest growth forecast since the 3.1% rate recorded in financial year 2008-09. India’s GDP growth is seen dipping to an Global economic growth, is expected to 11-year low of 5 per cent in the current rise to 2.5% in the current calendar year, fiscal, mainly due to poor showing by underpinned by a gradual recovery in manufacturing and construction sectors. investment and trade from last year’s As per the first advance estimates of significant weakness. the national income released by the Regional growth: In comparison, National Statistical Office (NSO), the Bangladesh will be ahead compared to manufacturing sector output growth will India. Its GDP growth rate is estimated to decelerate to 2 per cent in 2019-20, down be 7.2%, while in Pakistan it is expected from 6.9 per cent in the previous financial to be at 3 % & Sri Lanka’s growth rates at year. 3.3% for FY-20. World Bank pegs India’s growth for RBI formulates National Strategy FY20 at 5% for Financial Inclusion for the period The World Bank cut India’s growth 2019-2024 for financial year 2020 to 5% from 6% The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under estimated earlier, the country’s statistics the aegis of Financial Inclusion Advisory office pegged growth in the current Committee (FIAC) has set up a 5 year plan financial year at 5%, the lowest in 11 of formulation of National Strategy for years. Financial Inclusion (NSFI) for the period The multilateral lender expects the 2019-2024. This has been done keeping country’s growth to recover only slightly in view the global trend of financial
42 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 New Economic Policy & Govt. Sector inclusion which acts as a key driver of WEF’s 1st Global Social Mobility Index economic growth. 2020: India ranks 76th & Denmark NSFI approval: The national strategy plan, tops the list i.e., NSFI was finalised and approved by The World Economic Forum (WEF) st Financial Stability Development Council released 1 edition of a report titled “The Global Social Mobility Report (FSDC) and the final documents were 2020: Equality, Opportunity and a New released by RBI deputy director Mahesh Economic Imperative”. The global social Kumar Jain at the high level meeting on mobility index (GSMI) of 82 countries Financial Inclusion for the North East were launched in this report. As per the region at Agartala, Tripura. Index, India ranked in the 76th position with a score of 42.7while Denmark Financial Stability Development Council: topped the list. It is an apex body constituted by govt. of India on the recommendations of the Rank Country committee headed by Raghuram Rajan 76 India (former RBI governor) in 2008. 1 Denmark 2 The chairperson of this council is the Norway 3 Union Minister of Finance (MoF) of India Finland 4 Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. Sweden 5 Iceland World Gold Council report: RBI ranks 6th in buying gold abroad IMF lower India’s growth forecast to 4.8% The World Gold Council (WGC) recently released its report, “World Gold Outlook The International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2020”. The report says that gold has lowered India’s economic growth performed the best since 2010 in 2019. estimate for the current fiscal to 4.8% In 2019, the gold trade in USD has and listed the country’s much lowerthan- increased by 18.4% as compared to 2010. expected GDP numbers as the single biggest drag on its global growth forecast Highlights: India for two years. According to the WGC, RBI (Reserve Bank In October, the IMF had pegged India’s of India) currently holds 625.2 tonnes of economic growth at 6.1% for 2019. gold. This is 6.6% of the country’s foreign Compared to the October World Economic exchange. With this, India ranks sixth in Outlook (WEO) forecast, the estimate for the world among other central banks. 2019 and the projection for 2020 represent 0.1 percentage point reduction for each year while that for 2021 is 0.2 percentage point lower.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 43 Current Socio-Economic Problems Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 For the 1st time, RBI Releases Minutes 4.2 Current Socio-Economic of board meeting For the 1st time, India central bank, the Problems Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released IL&FS: SEBI fines 3 rating agencies th the minutes of the 579 meeting of ₹25 lakh each Central Board of Directors (BoD) held in
Chandigarh on October 11, 2019 as part of The Securities and Exchange Board the central bank’s transparency initiative. of India (SEBI) has penalized rating agencies India Ratings & Research, CARE Background: and ICRA for alleged lack of proper due In the recent times, RBI central board diligence while rating non-convertible meetings have been controversial, debentures of crisis-hit IL&FS. especially considering that then governor In three separate orders, the SEBI imposed Urjit Patel had resigned for the reason of a penalty of `25 lakh each on them. alleged difference of opinions on policy The SEBI probe has alleged the matters with the central government. agencies placed excessive reliance on the submissions made by the IL&FS management while failing to change the Extra rating or placing it under ‘watch’ even as there were reports related to the slow pace of asset monetization and deleveraging of the group. Srinagar declared Open Defecation Free Top cities to help poor performers Mayor of Srinagar Junai Azim Mattu announced that the Finding some of the 100 cities selected for Srinagar has joined the list of the Smart Cities Mission lagging behind in ‘Open Defecation Free (ODF)’ implementation of projects, the Union Housing cities. Swachata certificate: and Urban Affairs Ministry has decided to pair Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir up 20 of the best performers with 20 of the worst received its Swachata certificate in order to improve their performance. from Ministry of Housing and The aim was that the top performing cities Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Central would inspire and help those lagging behind to Government and joins the list improve their work. of cities that are now ‘OPEN Among the top cities in the latest internal DEFECATION FREE’. rankings are Nagpur, Tiruppur, Ranchi, Bhopal, Achievement of Srinagar: Srinagar Surat, Kanpur, Indore, Visakhapatnam, Vellore, receives 45th Rank in Cleanest Vadodara, Nashik, Agra, Varanasi, Davanagere, cities in the country. Kota, Pune and Udaipur.
44 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology 5. SCIENCE
5.1 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology
CSIR to develop new drugs for global 30% non-fossil fuel or renewable energy market capacity. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Indian Railways selling drinking Research (CSIR) and Central Drug water produced from air Research Institute (CDRI) signed an An ‘atmospheric water generator’ is the agreement to develop new drugs and latest initiative of the Indian Railways. repurposing of drugs for India and for The South Central Railway has installed global markets. The team research work one such generator kiosk at the is also joined by Cipla. Secunderabad railway station. What is Drug Repurposing? Known as ‘Meghdoot’, this atmospheric Drug repurposing is identifying new uses water generator has been made under the of approved or investigational drugs. It is ‘Make in India’ programme by Maithri used to treat common and rare diseases. Aquatech. The generator can produce The main advantage of using repurposing nearly 1,000 litres of water a day. drugs is its reduced development cost, A litre of water along with a bottle costs shortened development timings and `8 and `5 per if passengers carry their increased use of de-risked compounds. own bottle. For a 300 ml glass, it costs NTPC to invest ₹50,000 cr. For 10 GW `3 and `2 without a glass while a 500 ml solar capacity glass of water will cost `5 with glass. State-owned power giant NTPC is Indian Air Force decommissioned its planning to add 10 GW of solar energy last MiG-27 squadron generation capacity by 2022, which entails The last of the iconic MiG-27 (Mikoyan an investment of around `50,000 crore, to MiG-27) fighter jet aircraft was be funded mainly by green bonds. decommissioned from the Indian Air NTPC has installed renewable energy Force (IAF) at Jodhpur base in Rajasthan. capacity of 920 MW, which constitutes The aircraft served the IAF for over 3 mainly solar energy. decades (30 years). The Jodhpur air base It has formulated a long-term plan to previously had the squadron of 7 MiG-27. become a 130 GW company by 2032 with
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 45 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
The aircraft served during the 1999 Kargil War. It is known by the name ‘Bahadur’ in India. MiG-27 was procured in the 1980s from the then Soviet Union(SU). The aircraft has the single most powerful engine in the world. CSIR develop new technology of Geranium Production NASA will in February ship the rover to CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, where Research) has developed a new low- its three sections will be fully assembled. cost technology to produce Geranium China launches its largest carrier saplings. Geranium acts as an anti- rocket “Long March-5” inflammatory and anti-septic agent. China has successfully launched its It has several medicinal values. The largest carrier rocket “Long March-5“. development has been made under The rocket was launched from Wenchang Aroma Mission. Space Launch Center in south China’s Geranium Hainan Province.
The plant is originally from South The rocket is also known as CZ-5. It Africa and is predominantly used in was China’s third attempt to launch the manufacturing essential oils. November rocket. is the best suitable sowing season of The Chinese rocket carried the Shijian-20 Geranium. In India, the plant is cultivated satellite, a communication satellite and in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, placed it into its designated orbit. The Uttar Pradesh and North Easter Regions. Shijian-20 satellite will lay the foundation NASA’s Mars 2020 rover set to hunt for the development of highly sensitive Martian fossils and scout for manned space probes. missions It is China’s heaviest and most advanced communications satellite in A NASA robotic rover is nearing geosynchronous orbit. completion ahead of a journey next year to search for evidence of past life on Mars Christina Koch records longest single and lay the groundwork for the space spaceflight by woman agency’s mission to send humans into NASA Astronaut Christina Koch has deep space. created a record for the longest single The U.S. space agency showed off its space flight by a woman. She has Mars 2020 rover, whose official name will surpassed the earlier record of 288 days in be chosen early next year. space which was previously established
46 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology by NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson in Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-3 in 2017. mission mode, says ISRO
She would return to Earth in February Four pilots from the Indian Air Force 2020. Till then, she would have spent (IAF) will leave for Russia to receive more than 300 days in the space. She is training as astronauts of Gaganyaan, the onboard the International Space Station first Indian crewed flight to space. since 14th March 2019. The initial tests were conducted in the VSSC successfully launches Rohini IAF’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine, (RH) 200 sounding rocket from Bengaluru, and Russia. Thumba, Kerala The four will leave in the third week of January to be trained at the Yuri Gagarin Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a Cosmonaut Centre in Moscow, as per major space research centre of the Indian an agreement signed between the space Space Research Organisation (ISRO), agencies of the two countries last year. has successfully launched Rohini (RH) Gaganyaan, announced by the Prime 200 sounding rocket at 9.30 a.m from Minister Narendra Modi in August 2018, Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala is the `10,000-crore Indian human space under the mission to study changes in flight scheduled for 2022. It is designed to the earth’s upper atmosphere during the have 3-7 crew members spend 3-7 days in eclipse. space in a 400-km orbit. Thekerala district administration had The launch of the nearly `600-crore warned that during the launch, near- Chandrayaan-3 is targeted for the end of shore waters spread over 9 kilometres this year or early 2021. off the Thiruvananthapuram coast from The lander and rover are estimated to Valiyathura – Pallithura as a potential cost `250 crore and will go to the moon on danger zone. a propulsion model. The GSLV Mark III IIT Guwahati researchers developed vehicle costs around `350 crore. materials to produce energy from The Tamil Nadu government has water on a small scale started acquiring 2,300 acres of land in Researchers from the Indian Institute Thoothukudi district for ISRO’s second of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) have launch port. Currently satellites are developed materials that can produce launched from the Sriharikota launch energy from water to decentralizing centre in Andhra Pradesh. energy generation for every household. ISRO sets its fourth RAC-S in The findings were recently published in Karnataka ACS Applied Nanomaterials. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sets its fourth Regional Academic Centre for Space (RAC-S) at the National
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 47 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) scheme Phase II. The stations are to be at Surathkal in Mangaluru taluk. set in 62 cities in 24 states and Union Key Points: Territories. The centre helps for the advanced FAME India research in the areas of relevance to the FAME India is Faster Adoption and future technological and programmatic Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric needs of the Indian Space programme. Vehicles. The objective of the scheme is It also helps in the promotion of space to increase the use of electric and hybrid technology in southern regions like vehicles by offering incentives. Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Challakere to be ISRO’s astronaut Telangana, Karnataka, Pondicherry and training hub Lakshadweep. Project NETRA: ISRO Signs pact to set up optical Telescope The Indian Space Research Organization signed a pact with Indian Institute of Astrophysics to establish an optical telescope under “Project NETRA”. The organisation also tied up with NIT- Karnataka to set up a regional academic India’s world-class facility for training centre for space to promote research and astronauts will come up not in the space development. headquarters in Bangalore, nor in any Project NETRA glitzy metropolis. It will be established in Project NETRA was launched by ISRO three years at Challakere, a shrubby, arid in September 2019. Under the Project, oil seeds town on the Bangalore-Pune ISRO plans to set up observational NH4 in Chitradurga district of Karnataka. facilities that will help in making early The Indian Space Research Organisation warnings to satellites about debris (ISRO) has proposed a ` 2,700-crore and hazards in their orbit. It includes master plan to create top infrastructure radars, telescopes, control centres and that will house its young Human Space data processing units Flight Centre (HSFC). 2636 EV Charging Stations sanctioned WHO prequalifies Serum’s low-cost under Phase II FAME India pneumococcal vaccine The Department of Heavy Industries Pneumococcal operating under Ministry of Heavy vaccine Industries and Public Enterprises has developed by sanctioned 2636 Electric Vehicle (EV) the Pune-based charging stations under FAME India Serum Institute
48 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology of India has been pre-qualified by the discovered as part of the Cosmic Deep World Health Organisation (WHO) in the and Wide Narrowband (Cosmic DAWN) third week of December 2019. survey. The prequalification of the vaccine by The team of astronomers was led by an WHO was based on the results of a Indian-origin Goa-born scientist, Vithal phase-3 trial (the final phase of human Tilvi. clinical trial) carried out in 2,250 children IDRSS: ISRO new satellite to help in Gambia, a small West African country. Gaganyaan crew The pneumococcal vaccine PNEUMOSIL is a conjugate vaccine to help produce The Indian Data Relay Satellite System stronger immune response to a weak antigen. (IDRSS) will track Indian satellites in low- earth orbits. It is a new satellite series that BEE sets new standards for ACs: plans to set up a communication system Default temperature set to 24 Degree between the space assets of India. Celsius Highlights The Government of India has released The system is aimed to play vital role in new performance energy standards for India’s space station and space docking. the performance of air conditioners after It will also assist distant expeditions of consulting Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). India to Mars, moon and Venus. The BEE operating under Ministry of The system will help in monitoring Power develop strategies and policies launches. The IRDSS is to play a major with primary objective of reduction in role in India’s Human Space Flight energy usage. According to BEE, the Programme, Gaganyaan. total air conditioner capacity of India is 80 million tons of refrigeration. It is NASA Discovers Potentially Habitable estimated that this will increase to 250 Earth-Sized World “TOI 700 d” in million by 2030. Star’s ‘Goldilocks’ Zone
International team of astronomers The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of the National Aeronautics finds farthest galaxy group EGS77 and Space Administration (NASA) An international team of astronomers has discovered an Earth-sized world funded in part by NASA has found ‘Goldilocks’ zone within the habitable the farthest galaxy group identified as range of the star. Scientists confirmed “EGS77“. the find as TOI 700 d by using NASA’s EGS77, the trio of galaxies dates to a time Spitzer Space Telescope. when the universe was only 680 million About Goldilocks Zone: years old, or less than 5% of its current The Goldilocks Zone refers to the age of 13.8 billion years. habitable zone around a star where the EGS77 is the farthest group of galaxies temperature is not too hot and not too to have ever been sighted. EGS77 was
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 49 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 cold and liquid water to exist on this at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu (TN) on planet. January 20,2020.
Vikram Sarabhai Children Innovation The range of this will be in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) up to Suez Canal. Center to be set up in Gujarat The Vikram Sarabhai Children Innovation TB diagnostic test developed in India Center (VSCIC) will be set up in Gujarat. has high accuracy, says WHO The Vikram Sarabhai Children Innovation The World Health Organization (WHO) Center (VSCIC) will identify, nurture and had mentioned that the India - made promote innovative abilities of children Truenat MTB, a molecular diagnostic in the state. The above announcement test for pulmonary and extrapulmonary was made during the Children’s TB and rifampicin-resistant TB, has high Innovation Festival (CIF) taking place in accuracy. Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Truenat MTB has “high diagnostic Indian-American among NASA’s new accuracy as initial test to diagnose TB astronauts and to sequentially detect rifampicin Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, an Indian- resistance”. American US Air Force colonel, is among It will be used as an initial test thus 11 new NASA graduates who have replacing sputum smear microscopy. successfully completed their over two Truenat is developed by the Goa-based years’ of basic astronaut training. Molbio Diagnostics. The company was With a goal of sustainable lunar provided with technical assistance exploration later this decade, NASA will and resources by the Foundation for send the first woman and next man to the Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) to surface on the Moon by 2024. help commercialise Truenat. ICMR had Additional lunar missions are planned assessed and validated the diagnostic once a year thereafter and human tool. exploration of Mars is targeted for the mid-2030s. “APNA UREA-Sona Ugle” brand of HURL launched-To increase Urea India’s 1st Sukhoi-30 squadron to be Production stationed in Thanjavur, TN: IAF chief The APNA UREA-Sona Ugle brand of RKS Bhadauria HURL (Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited) was launched by the Union As per the Chief of the Indian Air Force Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri (IAF), Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar D V Sadananda Gowda. Singh (RKS) Bhadauria,the induction ceremony of a Sukhoi-30 MKIs (Su- Recent developments in Urea 30 MKI) squadron in the southern Production skies will take place in the presence of In order to make India self-sufficient in Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Urea, the Union Government approved
50 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology revival of three Urea plants located in Xenopus laevis from which they take Sindri, Gorakhpur and Barauni. The other their stem cells. two major fertilizer plants at Talcher and Key Points: Ramagundam are also to be reopened. The machines used are less than a What is HURL? millimeter (0.04 inches) wide which are HURL is a joint venture of Indian small enough to travel inside human Maharatna companies namely IOCL bodies. They can walk and swim, survive (Indian Oil Corporation Limited), NTPC for weeks without food, and work (National Thermal Power Corporation) together in groups. and Coal India Limited. The objective Xenobots could be used to clean up of HURL is to make India self-reliant in radioactive waste, collect micro plastics in Urea. the oceans, carry medicine inside human Submarine-launched ballistic missile bodies, or even travel into our arteries to scrape out plaque. tested India successfully Vyom Mitra, first Indian ‘woman’ to test-fired the 3,500- ride to space km range “Young woman” submarine- named Vyom Mitra launched ballistic will ride to space in the missile, K-4, official first test flight of the sources confirmed. human space mission, The test was carried Gaganyaan. out by the Defence The ISRO unveiled its Research and first ‘woman’ astronaut Development Organsiation (DRDO) from to an international gathering here on a submerged pontoon off the Wednesday. Visakhapatnam coast around noon. Two trial flights without crew will take INS Arihant, the first and only operational place with a humanoid — the first around SSBN, is armed with K-15 Sagarika December 2020 and the second around missiles with a range of 750 km. July 2021. Vyom Mitra is the result of a Xenobots: World’s first living, self- year-long toil of the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram. healing robots The ISRO will send the human-resembling Scientists of University of Vermont and model in a space capsule around the Tufts University have created the world’s end of 2020 or early 2021 to study how first living and self-healing robots she and later real astronauts respond to Xenobots, using stem cells from frogs. It living outside earth in controlled zero- is named after the African clawed frog, gravity conditions.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 51 Latest Inventions on Science & Technology Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
Wuhan coronavirus may have been missile (SSBM) ‘Ghaznavi’ was held transmitted to people from snakes in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Ghaznavi A new coronavirus originating in Wuhan, missile strike targets upto a range of 290 China, that has claimed 17 lives may have km (kilometers). been transmitted to people from snakes, In November 2019, Pakistan had carried according to a genetic analysis. The out a successful training launch of snakes may have caught the virus from ballistic missile Shaheen-I which was also bats in the food market in which both an SSBM. animals were sold. The source of the infection is suspected 5.2 Latest Discoveries in to be a food market in Wuhan that was visited by several of those first infected Health Science with the virus. The market is known World’s oldest rhino’ dies in Tanzania to sell live wild and farmed animals, including marmots, birds, rabbits, bats Fausta, a female black rhino, who was and snakes. believed to be the world’s oldest rhino has died at the age of 57 in a Tanzanian First ‘industry-made’ PSLV in 2022 conservation area. Fausta died of natural The first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle causes in captivity in Ngorongoro Crater, (PSLV) fully built by the industry will be which lies in Ngorongoro Conservation rolled out in 2022. Area of Tanzania. The PSLV will be manufactured by the industry as a whole product, The ISRO has announced plans to outsource the 5.3 Mass Media & Communication PSLV to the industry so that it can focus on other research areas and important President Kovind releases mobile app missions. of Red Cross Society of India
The first developmental flight of the President Ram Nath Kovind released Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is the mobile app of the Red Cross Society expected in April. This mission will be of India in Hyderabad. This app is carried out from Sriharikota. developed by the Telangana Centre for The process of acquiring 2,300 acres at Good Governance in less than three Kulasekharapattanam in southern Tamil months, the mobile app is accessible in all Nadu for establishing a launch facility for languages. The developers informed that the SSLV is in progress. the access to blood bank and Red Cross Pakistan successfully launched membership will become easy with the ballistic missile “Ghaznavi” launching of the mobile app. The successful training launch of nuclear- capable surface-to-surface ballistic
52 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Mass Media & Communication
Raksha Mantri launches DefExpo application approved the certificate can 2020 mobile app be downloaded from the portal or from Raksha Mantri has launched the the mail. “DefExpo 2020” mobile app of the About e-PAUTI App: forthcoming DefExpo 2020. The app Using this App, people can pay has been developed by Department of land revenue online with the help of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence their smartphones without visiting a (MoD). government office. It provides detailed information about CACS & e-BCAS launched to enhance the daily events, participating exhibitors, security & ease of doing at airports Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), guest speakers of seminars/ Minister of State (I/C) for Civil Aviation webinars, publications, and directions of launched the Biometric enabled the venues and city weather Centralised Access Control System (CACS) and ‘e-BCAS Project Training Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a web Module’. The two projects aims to portal to tracing of stolen mobiles in enhance security and ease of doing Delhi business at airports. The Department of Telecom Minister The CACS project is aimed to digitize Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a the employee movement process at the web portal www.ceir.gov.in to trace the airports. This multi-layered security stolen mobiles for Delhi subscribers.. system encompasses the uniqueness of e-certificate portal and ePAUTI App the Airport Entry Permit (AEP) users, were launched by Odisha Government biometric authentication in addition to PIN-based identity verification through
Chief Minister of Odisha has launched an contactless smart card technology. e-certificate portal and ePAUTI App. The The ‘e-BCAS’ project envisaged to achieve e-certificate project is a part of 5T model of a “paperless office” under e-Governance Governance by the revenue and disaster initiative of Government of India. management department. According to CM, no fees will be charged for the RBI governor launched MANI app certificates specifying these services as for visually challenged to identify the rights of the people. currency notes About e-certificate portal: The 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank The applicants can apply for various of India (RBI) Shri Shaktikanta Das certificates like caste certificate and launched a mobile app named “MANI” permanent residence certificates (Mobile Aided Note Identifier) that through http://edistrict.odisha.gov.in/ would help visually impaired people to without visiting Tehsil offices and once identify denomination of currency notes correctly.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 53 Mass Media & Communication Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
The currency notes will be scanned using Fifteen States and Union Territories have a mobile phone’s camera. The most agreed to set up Regional Cyber Crime interesting feature of the app is that it can Coordination Centres. also be used offline after installation. The The MHA had unveiled its National audio output is available in both Hindi Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. and English languages. Multi-function ‘smart poles’ to come Odisha govt launches India’s 1st at 50 spots in city e-Gazette portal for all gazette The Chennai Corporation is installing notifications ‘smart poles’ in various parts of the city, to The State Government of Odisha facilitate better integration of key aspects has launched an online platform of the command and control system. called “e-Gazette portal” (http:// The ‘smart pole’ installed near Ripon egazetteodisha.nic.in), a first-of-its-kind Buildings has a public address system, initiative in India designed and developed camera, rain gauge and equipment to by the NIC (National Informatics Centre) monitor pollution and illumination of the for all departments. With this, the Gazette roads during the night. The Corporation notifications are now available as error- will share information on civic welfare free and paperless under one platform. schemes, civic projects, and disaster events through the public address system. NPCI launched the Vajra Platform for a fast and secure platform High School Portal ‘Aspire’ to be The National Payments Corporation of launched India (NPCI) launched the Vajra Platform The Minister for School Education Dr. to make payments fast and secure. Prabhuram Chowdhary will launch The platform is based on blockchain portal ‘Aspire’. The Portal has been technology. prepared with the help of UNICEF for the students of class 9th to 12th of the govt New Facility inaugurated to tackle schools. cybercrimes The ‘Aspire’ is in fact a future opportunity Union Home Minister Amit Shah portal. Information pertaining to college inaugurated the Indian Cyber Crime fee, subjects, admission procedure etc. of Coordination Centre (I4C). all the colleges of national and state level The I4C is a seven pronged system, which can be obtained from this portal. includes a cybercrime reporting portal, analysis of threats, capacity building, Amit Shah to launch POLNET 2.0 research and innovation, creating an Police communication services in the ecosystem for cybercrime management country are set for a major revamp and a joint cybercrime investigation with Union Home Minister Amit Shah platform for law enforcement agencies. expected to launch an upgraded POLNET
54 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Mass Media & Communication 2.0, armed with a robust multi-media further propel the country’s economic facility. growth through concerted efforts, be it in The Directorate of Coordination Police highways or MSME. Wireless (DCPW) that operates the The focus will be rural areas, and forming POLNET or the police network services clusters of potters, people dependent in the country has created a new and on leather industries and giving them enhanced communication platform assistance with new technology aimed at for police and security forces to better promoting export of these products. communicate during law and order In a 1st, City Union Bank launches problems and disasters including linkup multilingual voice based ‘All-In-One’ from remote border and coastal areas. app The DCPW was set up in 1946 and it was placed under the Ministry of Home For the 1st time India, the City Union Affairs in 1950 with the primary mandate Bank (CUB) Limited , one of the leading of coordination between state and central Indian banks in India, has launched police and security agencies for radio multilingual voice enabled mobile communication and frequency allocation. banking application. Now the CUB customers can converse CM Bhupesh baghel launches with the chat–bot ‘Ask Lakshmi’ of the employment-oriented mobile app app in Tamil, English, Hindi / Telugu ‘Rojgar Sangi’ in Raipur language for their general banking The Chief Minister (CM) of Chhattisgarh, queries including transactions like Bhupesh Baghel has launched a Balance enquiry, mini statement, fund employment-oriented mobile app, transfer over voice/text instructions. ‘RojgarSangi’ developed by state-run App aims to academically empower Chhattisgarh State Skill Development visually impaired students Authority (CSSDA) at the ceremony of youth fest 2020 held at Science College The Swalekhan (self-writing) app is a premises in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. tech offering conceptualised by the city- based Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya, Nitin Gadkari’s 5-yr roadmap an NGO that works for the betterment Union Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari of the visually impaired individuals, in his second innings has lined up big and developed by Josh Software, a Pune- plans - from infusing Rs 15 lakh crore in based IT services company specialising highways to propelling GDP growth by in providing global tech solutions, in globalising khadi and MSME products. conjunction with Tekvision, a leading After taking charge of Road Transport accessibility service provider whose and Highways and Micro, Small, and workforce comprises a significant number Medium Enterprises (MSME) ministries, of visually impaired technocrats. Gadkari told PTI that the mission is to
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 55 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 6. NATIONAL – DIARY OF EVENT
Free Wi-Fi services provided to all Highlights of the report villages till 2020 The States and Union Territories were Union Minister of Communication and IT divided into 3 groups namely Big states, inaugurated “Digital Village , Guruwara”. North East and hill states and union During the launch, it was announced that territories. the Government has planned to offer free Tamil Nadu topped in Good Governance Wi-Fi services to all villages till March Index in the “Big States” category. It was 2020. followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The Highlights report also said that among the big states The Government of India has so far the poor performers were Odisha, Bihar, connected 1,30,000-gram panchayats Goa and Uttar Pradesh. Jharkhand was through Bharatnet. More than 50,000 ranked the last in good governance index. Gram Panchayat are yet to be connected. In the North East and hill states category, The government is working under the Himachal Pradesh ranked first. It was current target that at least 15% of villages followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura, are to be digitalized in next four years. Mizoram and Sikkim. The bad performers Bharatnet Project of the category include Jammu and The initiative was launched in 2011. Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland Under the initiative, 100 Mbps speed and Arunachal Pradesh. internet were to be provided to around Agricultural ranking 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats. The aim is In Agricultural and allied ranking, the best to increase their speed to around 2 to 20 performing states were Madhya Pradesh, Mbps in the future to all households in Mizoram and Daman and Diu. In order rural areas. to frame agricultural rating parameters Government launched Good such as food grain production, milk and Governance Index meat production, horticulture produce Government of India launched Good and crop insurance were considered. Governance Index. Tamil Nadu topped in Good Governance Index.
56 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event NITI Aayog to launch SDG India which can travel around 1000 kms in a Index & Dashboard 2019–20 single fill.
NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of The project has been executed by Government will launched the second Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and has edition of Sustainable Development been achieved through pioneering design Goals (SDG) India Index and Dashboard of Type IV Composite Cylinders in buses, 2019–20. replacing traditional very heavy Type-I The first edition of SDG India Index was Carbon Steel cylinders. launched in December 2018. It was the Delhi has witnessed revolution in shift first tool developed by any large country towards cleaner, gas based fuels. Over to monitor progress towards achieving 500 CNG stations are operating in Delhi SDGs at sub-national level. NCR and about 12 lakh piped natural gas connections have been provided. Cabinet approves transfer of Assam Massive locust invasion in Gujarat Gas Cracker Project to oil ministry Sharing borders with neighboring The Cabinet Committee on Economic Pakistan, Gujarat is under attack from Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister hoppers new-born locusts that have Narendra Modi has approved the transfer flown in across the international border. of administrative control of Brahmaputra As the swarms mature, they have ravaged Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL), the farms in North Gujarat, devastating Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) farmers in the three border districts implementing Assam Gas Cracker Project Banaskantha, Patan and Kutch. (AGCP) from Department of Chemicals The locusts, known as tiddis locally, have & Petrochemicals (under Union Ministry wreaked havoc on standing crops of castor, of Chemicals and Fertilizers) to Union cumin, jatropha, cotton, and potato, and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas fodder grass in around 20 talukas. (MOP&NG). Gujarat has not witnessed such an invasion Shri Dharmendra Pradhanatal unveils of locusts since 1993-94. According to local India’s First CNG Bus which can run experts, the State administration has been 1000 Kms in one fill caught napping despite an alert from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Delhi has witnessed a revolution in shift (FAO) of a massive locust attack in South towards cleaner gas based fuels Asia covering Pakistan and India. In a major step towards making India a The Locust Warning Organization (LWO) gas-based economy and making CNG as in Jodhpur had noticed the swarms the eco-friendly option for long distance and predicted their trajectory across transport in the country , Minister of the international border. Among the Petroleum& Natural Gas and Steel, border districts, Banaskantha is the worst unveiled India’s first long distance CNG affected. bus fitted with composite CNG cylinders,
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 57 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
33rd National Conference of the All ASI Sites include- (1) Sarnath, (2)the India Induction Furnace Association Buddhist relics at Chaukhandi Stupa, (3) of India (AIIFA) held in New Delhi Kushinagar and the Mahaparinirvana Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Temple,(4) Piparahwa and (5) Shravasti. and Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Govt to launch Digital Radio by 2024 participated in the 33rd National Centre government is planning to revamp Conference of the All India Induction ‘All India Radio’ officially known as Furnace Association of India (AIIFA) on ‘Akashvani’ by introducing Digital Radio Secondary Steel Sector in New Delhi in India by 2024, when the country will be Theme of the Conference was “Most technologically- equipped for it. advantageous route of Environment The announcement in this regard friendly steel making through Electric was made by Union Information and Induction Furnace (EIF) and its global Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Prakash acceptance”. Javadekar at the 2019 Akashvani Annual India first Transgender University to Award in New Delhi. come up in Uttar Pradesh About All India Radio (AIR) India’s first university for transgender AIR was established in 1936 and is community will be opened Kushinagar officially known as Akashvani since district in Uttar Pradesh. It is the first 1956. It is the national public radio of its kind university in country, where broadcaster of India and is a division of transgender community members will be Prasar Bharati, which is India’s largest able to get education. public broadcasting agency. AIR is sister The university will facilitate its members service of Prasar Bharati’s Doordarshan to study right from class 1 to post Graduate television Network. (PG) and even do research and get PhD NPR: house to house verification degree. Members of the transgender planned community will get education and will The Narendra Modi government be able to give a new direction to the proposes to update the existing National country. Population Register, which already has Sign boards in Chinese language put an electronic database of more than 119 up at 5 ASI sites crore residents, by verifying the details of Union Tourism Miniter Prahlad Singh all respondents through house-to-house Patel informed that sign board in Chinese enumeration, according to an official Language have been put up at five manual on conducting the fresh NPR Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) exercise. protected Archaeological Sites located in The NPR exercise has become Uttar Pradesh (UP). controversial because the Citizenship Rules 2003 link the Population Register
58 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event
to the creation of a National Register Indian Railways tracks. However, mostly of Indian Citizens (NRIC) or National they run parallel to each other. Register of Citizens. Health Minister inaugurates 2nd Coupled with the passage of the edition of “Eat Right Mela” Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, which excludes Muslims, fears about an The Union Health Minister has nd NPR-NRC have brought lakhs of people inaugurated the 2 edition of “Eat Right onto the streets in protest. Mela” in New Delhi. The Eat Right Mela Data for the NPR was first collected in of Food Safety and Standards Authority 2010, and updated in 2015. The Modi of India (FSSAI) is a commendable effort Government has proposed that the next and outreach activity for citizens towards phase of NPR will be conducted along eating right. with Census exercise between April to The Union Minister launched ‘The September 2020. PURPLE Book’ a handbook on diets for diseases. New wagon to boost cargo capacity The Union Minister also launched The Dedicated Freight Corridor NetSCoFAN (Network for Scientific Co- Corporation of India, Ltd. (DFCCIL) operation for Food Safety and Applied tasked with building the over `81,000 Nutrition), a network of research & crore freight corridor in the country, academic institutions working in the began testing a new wagon that will help area of food & nutrition along with the boost the cargo carrying capacity by four NetSCoFAN directory, covering detailed times due to increased length of the train, information of various heads/Directors use of double-stack containers and more and lead scientists of lead and associated payload carrying capability. partnering institutions. The wagon — used for hauling freight — CSMT gets ‘Eat Right’ station certifi- have been tested by the Research Design cate and Standards Organization (RDSO) and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus are manufactured at the Golden Rock (CSMT) railway station in Mumbai has Railway Workshop in Tiruchirappalli, been conferred with ‘Eat Right Station’ Tamil Nadu. certification with the five-star rating by The trial was conducted at a speed of 100 the Food Safety and Standards Authority km/hour on a 270-km-long section of the of India (FSSAI) for food safety and western freight corridor from Rewari to hygiene. Kishangarh. Currently, maximum speed National outreach programme ‘GeM of goods trains varies from 40 kmph to Samvaad’ takes off in 4 States 100 kmph on the Indian Railways tracks. The DFC tracks are separate from the A national outreach program ‘GeM Samvaad’, launched by Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has begun from 19th
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 59 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
December 2019 in 4 States of Karnataka, Delhi’s first ‘Garbage Cafe’ opens in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh (HP) Najafgarh; get food in exchange of and Andhra Pradesh (AP). plastic All new Railway recruits to be In a very novel idea of plastic garbage inducted through UPSC Civil service collection, the South Delhi Municipal exams Corporation has launched a unique initiative of providing food for garbage. The railway board has now decided The scheme has been started in Najafgarh that all new recruits in railways will be area where local residents can exchange inducted through UPSC (Union Public plastic waste for lunch and dinner. Service Commission) Civil Services While people can avail lunch and dinner Exams under five specialties. in exchange for 1-kg of plastic waste, The decision comes days after the Union breakfast can be eaten by depositing 250 Cabinet approved big ticket reforms in grams of plastic garbage. the railways by merging its eight cadres India’s first ‘garbage cafe’ was opened in and departments services into one single Chhattisgarh by Ambikapur Municipal entity- the Indian Railway Management Corporation. Service (IRMS). Foundation laid for India’s first Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020 Contest Transit-Oriented Development Project Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020 (PPC 2020) is inviting candidates to participate in Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020 Contest. the foundation stone for country’s first Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020 (PPC 2020) transit-oriented development (TOD) aims to take away the stress of students, project in New Delhi. Under the TOD who also get a chance to interact with PM project a state-of-the-art infrastructure Modi during the programme. zone, including national capital’s tallest tower, will be built in east Delhi. Assam Govt Launches ‘Abhinandan’- About Transit-Oriented Development Education Loan Subsidy Scheme (TOD) Project Assam State Finance Minister Himanta The project- ‘East Delhi Hub’ at Biswa Sarma attended the ceremonial Karkardooma (in New Delhi), spreading launch of ‘Abhinandan’ a progressive over 30 ha, will come up in next 3.5 scheme by the state Finance department years. The hub will be developed around on December 26. existing two Delhi Metro stations at According to reports, the scheme will Karkardooma (on Blue and Pink Lines provide one time subsidy of ` 50,000 in It is being implemented by Union education loan to 1546 students. Ministry of Housing an Urban Affairs (MHUA).
60 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event Amazon to open first farm collection AIR organises National Symposium center in Pune of Poets 2020 Amazon Retail India Pvt Ltd, the retail All India Radio (AIR) organized the arm of e-commerce giant Amazon, will National Symposium of Poets 2020 on soon open its first farm collection center 27 December 2019. This edition of poet in Pune, recited by the sources privy to symposium was attended by select poets the development. from all corners of country, who gave Under its farm-to-fork initiative, Amazon their presentations and captivated the will directly purchase vegetables from hearts of people. farmers, who would be paid within 24 IRCTC to launch Tejas train from hours. Ahmedabad to Mumbai on January 17 District authorities plan to conduct The second Tejas Express train to be annual flamingo festival in January operated by the Indian Railway Catering The annual flamingo festival in Nellore and Tourism Corporation (IRCTCNSE district is round the corner with the 1.85 %) will start running between winged visitors arriving in large numbers Mumbai- Ahmedabad. on their annual sojourn. More than The Western Railway announced that it 40,000 flamingos can be seen in action at shall introduce the all new air-conditioned the lake. Overseeing arrangements for Tejas Express train with modern facilities the Flamingo Festival from January 3 to 5. and features between Ahmedabad and About 75 bird species visit the sanctuary, Mumbai Central from January 19 after its of which 30 bird species are migratory. inaugural run on January 17. Somali epic found at NFAI Maharashtra: Farmers whose crop African cinematic heritage, the negatives loan exceeds Rs 2 lakh ineligible for of an epic Somali film thought to have waiver been lost were ‘discovered’ in the vaults Farmers whose crop loan is more than of the Pune-based National Film Archive Rs two lakh, will not be eligible for the of India (NFAI). loan waiver scheme announced by the The Somali Dervish, a four-hour-long Uddhav Thackeray-led ‘Maha Vikas 1985 masterpiece by eminent Somali Aghadi’ government in Maharashtra last poet, playwright and film-maker week. Said Salah Ahmed, chronicles the As per the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule revolutionary Somali Dervish movement Farmer Loan Waiver Scheme, loan up to under the leadership of the legendary Rs two lakh taken between April 1, 2015 anti-colonial fighter Mohamed Abdullah and March 31, 2019 and which has not Hassan, revered as the ‘Father of Somali been repaid till September 30, 2019 will Nationalism’ and known by the sobriquet be eligible for waiver. ‘Mad Mullah’.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 61 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Amit Shah Unveils New Insignia for MOSPI constituted economic CRPF’s VIP Security Wing statistics committee headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah Pronab Sen unveiled a new insignia for the CRPF’s The Ministry of Statistics and Programme VIP security wing that protects 59 high- Implementation (MOSPI) has set up risk dignitaries, including members of a standing committee on economic the Gandhi family and a host of Union statistics (SCES) in order to develop ministers. methodologies in conducting surveys on The logo - with a “Garuda”, sword and industry, services sector and employment shield - will give a distinct identity to the in place of multiple panels on these unit. issues. The committee which consists of The insignia will bear the motto of the 28 members will be headed by India’s force - “Always, Aware, Alert”. Of the 59 first chief statistician Pronab Sen. protesters under this unit, 15 are under Rabung bridge in Upper Siang district the top category of “Z+”, 21 under the of AP inaugurated “Z” category and the remaining 23 under various other categories. The state Health and Family Welfare minister of Arunachal Pradesh (AP) th New Delhi hosts 49 Border inaugurated the Rabung bridge on the Coordination Conference between Migging-Tuting road in Arunachal BSF & BGB Pradesh‘s(AP) Upper Siang district. 49th Border Coordination Conference The bridge was constructed by between border guarding forces of India Project Brahmank of the Border Road and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi. Organisation(BRO). The Indian delegation was headed by Bengaluru to host Science Congress DG Border Security Force Vivek Kumar
Johri and the Bangladesh delegation Bengaluru is all set to host the 107th was headed by DG of Border Guards edition of the Indian Science Congress.
Bangladesh (BGB) Md Shafeenul Islam. It will be the ninth time the city hosts the annual convention. The conference focused on co-operation
in Border Guarding and Border Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Management between the two forces. inaugurate it at the University of During the conference, both forces agreed Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru. to make all possible efforts to curb the Coming in the time of agrarian distress, menace of cattle smuggling or any other the congress has chosen ‘science and criminal activity and to ensure tranquility technology: rural development’ as its on the borders. theme.
62 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event
Government of India signed MoU with system has been introduced to provide Flipkart under DAY-NULM scheme better features and an easy guidane Government of India signed MoU with to the passengers and also to enhance Flipkart for selling the products made satisfactory user experience. The cost of by women self-help groups under the equipment is Rs 10 lakhs including Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National supply, installation, commissioning and Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY- onsite warranty of 3 years. NULM) on the e-commerce platform. Railways renames Railway Protection 27th National children’s science Force as Indian Railway Protection congress 2019 held for the 1st time in Service Thiruvananthapuram The Ministry of Railway (MoR) has The Vice President of India, Shri accorded Organised Group ‘A’ status Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu has (OGAS) to Railway Protection Force attended the 27th edition of National (RPF) and also renamed RPF as Indian Children’s Science Congress (NCSC) 2019 Railway Protection Service (IRPS). The based on the theme “Science, Technology notice of renaming was issued by the and Innovation for a clean, green and Joint Director of Railway Board Amitabh healthy nation” held for the 1st time at Mar Joshi on December 30, 2019. Ivanios College in Thiruvananthapuram, CM Khattar inaugurates ‘Atal Kisan Kerala from December 27 -31,2019. Mazdoor canteen’ in Haryana National Children’s Science Congress Haryana Chief Minister (CM) Manohar (NCSC): Lal Khattar has inaugurated a “Atal It is a nationwide Science Communication Kisan Mazdoor canteen” (named after programme started in the year 1993. former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee) It is the program of the National built by the Haryana State Agricultural Council for Science and Technology Marketing Board at a cost of Rs 4 lakh in Communication (NCSTC), Department Karnal’s New Anaj Mandi, Haryana. This of Science and Technology, Government canteen will greatly benefit farmers and of India. labourers, who can get food for Rs 10. IR creates Passenger Friendly Key Points: Information System at Anakapalle The canteen, open from 11 am – 3 pm, Station will provide nutritious food (including 4 The Indian Railways (IR) has introduced rotis, pulses, vegetables and rice) to the new Passenger Information System laborers. Such canteen system will also be at Anakapalle Railway Station of started in the sugar mills of the state. Vijayawada Division of Andhra Pradesh The Marketing Board of Haryana has (AP) in South Central Railway (SCR). The also decided to operate the canteens at 25 different locations in the state.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 63 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
Khattar also unveiled a 14-foot statue of ‘Damini’ helpline service considering Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the Atal Park, the safety of the women passengers. As built at a cost Rs 56 lakh. the extension of ‘Nirbhaya Yojana’ the Entire Nagaland declared ‘disturbed unique number “81142-77777” has been subscribed for this helpline. area’ for six more months under Using these helpline women passengers AFSPA can lodge their complaints by calling the The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has helpline number and by using WhatsApp declared the entire region of “Nagaland” service. as a disturbed area under section 3 of Women officers from UPSRTC will the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, monitor this service from 9 a.m to 6 p.m 1958 ie., AFSPA Act, for a further period everyday. After 6 p.m complaints can be of 6 more months with effect from 30th lodged using general helpline number December, 2019. 1800-180-2877. About AFSPA: World Book Fair, 2020 at New Delhi The act gives the military sweeping
powers to search and arrest, and to open The New Delhi World Book Fair fire so as to keep maintenance of public organized by the National Book Trust is order. being held for 42 years now. The trust As per Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) is an apex body of Government of India Act, 1976 once declared ‘disturbed’, the functioning under Ministry of Human area has to maintain the status quo for a Resource Development. minimum of 3 months. Highlights The World Book Fair is to be held 10,000 cameras to be used in Gujarat between January 4, 2020 and January Lion Census, 2020 12, 2020. The fair is organized jointly by The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is to National Book Trust and India Trade conduct Asiatic Lion Census in May 2020. Promotion Organization. More than 800 The Institute will use 10,000 cameras to exhibitors and 40 foreign exhibitors are to conduct the census. participate in the fair. Asiastic Lions The theme of the fair is Theme: Gandhi, The Asiatic Lions in Gujarat are restricted the Writers’ Writer. to Gir National Park in the state. The lions Gujarat CM unveiled world’s 2nd are listed as “Endangered” in the IUCN tallest statue of Vallabhbhai Patel in Red List. Ahmedabad UPSRTC launched ‘Damini’ helpline The Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijay service for women RamniklalRupani unveiled the world’s UPSRTC (Uttar Pradesh State Road 2nd largest statue of Sardar vallabhbhai Transport Corporation) has launched Patel at Sardardham campus near
64 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad, First Silk Processing plant in Gujarat Gujarat. to boost ‘PATOLA SAREE” production
This bronze statue which is 50 feet tall The Khadi and Village Industries weighing 70,000 kilograms was built at Commission (KVIC) inaugurated the first a cost of Rs 3.25 crores. Padma Bhushan “Patola Saree” production unit in Gujarat. awardee Ram VanjiSutar(Sculptor) who This will help to cut down the cost of silk designed the world’s tallest statue has yarn production and also will increase built this world’s second tallest statue the sale of raw material for Patola sarees. too. Highlights Indian Railways launches integrated The silk production plant has employed helpline number 139 for passengers 90 local women of which 70 belong to The indian Railways launched an Muslim community. The installation integrated helpline number 139 for quick cost of the plant was Rs 75 lakh and the grievance and enquiries by the passengers KVIC operating under Ministry of MSME during journeys. has contributed Rs 60 lakhs. The plant Key Points: has been built in a backward district of Gujarat (Surendranagar district). The It is an integrated form of existing helpline aim of the plant is to make silk readily numbers (except 182) particularly to available to Patola saree manufacturers avoid the inconvenience over multiple to boost its product. helpline numbers and will be easy to connect with Railways for all their needs 5 DRDO Young Scientist Labs launched during travel. Five new defence laboratories led by The helpline number will be available in under-35 directors and young military 12 languages and it will be based on an scientists were formally launched on interactive voice response system and it Thursday to drive the country’s war can also be used for general complaints, technologies of the future under the accidents and safety issues. Defence Research & Development ‘Cyber Safe Women’ campaign Organisation. was launched by Maharashtra Prime Minister, who is on a two-day Government visit to the State, dedicated to the nation the DYSLs or DRDO Young Scientists Maharashtra Government launched Laboratories that will operate from five ‘Cyber Safe Women’ campaign to mark cities across the country. the birth anniversary of social reformer, The labs operating in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Savitribai Phule. Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad will Key Points: each pursue a key technology necessary The main aim of this initiative is to for developing the nation’s next reduce the cyber crimes against women generation of defence systems. and children.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 65 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 1st of-its kind turtle rehab centre MECOS-3, 2020: Global Marine comes up in Bihar Ecosystem Meet in Kochi A 1st of its kind rehabilitation centre for The Marine Ecosystems-Challenges freshwater turtles is to be inaugurated and Opportunities (MECOS), the third in January 2020 in the Bhagalpur forest international symposium is to be held in division of Bihar. Kochi.
This centre spread over half a hectare will Yoga Science Meet and Women be able to shelter 500 turtles at a time. The Science Congress fill colours to ISC centre will also treat turtles that are sick, 2020 severely injured or smuggled, and then be returned safely into its natural habitat. The Yoga Science meet was organized as part of the ongoing 107th Indian CM Jagan mohan reddy inaugurates Science Congress (ISC) in Bengaluru. YSR Aarogyasri scheme at Eluru, The meet was addressed by the head of Andhra pradesh SVYASA Yoga deemed University Dr. In a bid to provide free medical treatment HR Nagendra. to the poor, The Chief Minister (CM) of The participants discussed the benefits of Andhra Pradesh (AP), Yeduguri Sandinti yoga. Jaganmohan Reddy has inaugurated 107th Indian Science Congress: “YSR Aarogyasri scheme” at Eluru in The 107th Indian Science Congress (ISC) West Godavari district of AP. is held from 3-7 January 2020 at the The scheme will be extended to each University of Agricultural Sciences in district of the state from the month April Bengaluru, Karnataka. ISC will provide 2020. the desired platform to the farmers who Eligibility & Treatment amount: The introduced innovations in agriculture. revamped healthcare scheme is aimed The theme of the 107th ISC is Science and at providing free medical treatment to Technology: Rural Development. people having an annual income of up to Rs 5 lakh & those eligible people will also st be given Aarogyasri cards. Uttar Pradesh became 1 state to For this, the state government will shortlist migrants for citizenship distribute 1.42 crores cards with QR Uttar Pradesh (UP) became the 1st state in (Quick Response) codes across the state. India to conduct an exercise to shortlist Free treatment will be provided to the migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and person whose treatment cost is more than Afghanistan for eligibility under the new Rs 1,000. Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019. This exercise will also eventually identify the people living illegally in UP.
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Key Points: Kochi to host Global Investors Meet: All the 75 district magistrates of UP ASCEND 2020 have been asked to track down migrants Kochi, Kerala will host the Global from the above three countries who Investors Meet: ASCEND 2020. ASCEND have settled without citizenship for 2020 will showcase 18 mega projects with decades. over Rs 100 crore investment each and Amit Shah to head group of ministers offering direct employment to over 9,000 to examine the proposed National people. The meet will be organized by the Tariff Policy Industries Department. The Invest Kerala The minister of Home Affairs (MoHA) Portal: “invest.kerala.gov.in” will also be Shri Amit Shah has been announced showcased at the meet. to head the Group of Ministers (GOM) Invest Kerala Portal is a single-window to discuss and examine the proposed facilitator for hassle-free investment National Tariff Policy 2016. promotion launched under its ease of GoM: The interministerial group doing business initiative. will have 10 ministers comprising of 8 ministers in the cabinet rank and 2 Rajnath Singh inaugurates National ministers with independent charge. Traders Convention in Delhi
Chandigarh railway station is fifth in Defence Minister inaugurated the National Traders Convention at Ramlila the country to inaugurate Navigation Maidan, Delhi. facilities for visually impaired The convention has been organised Navigation facilities for visually impaired by Confederation of All India Traders was inaugurated in Chandigarh railway and will deliberate upon various issues station in Punjab. It is fifth in the country concerning traders, including “onslaught and first in North India to have these of e-commerce companies on retail trade facilities for visually impaired. by their malpractices and violation of FDI It was developed by Indian Railways policy”. with the help of NGO ‘Anuprayaas’ The aim of this convention will be to CISF observes 2020 as the ‘Year of discuss the role of the trading community Mobility’ in achieving a 5 trillion dollar economy goal. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will observe 2020 as the ‘Year of Cabinet nod for FDI in coal mining Mobility’. The Union Cabinet approved an It aims for the creation of more residential ordinance to amend two laws to ease units and implementation of various mining rules, enabling foreign direct welfare measures for the troops. investment in coal mining. At a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 67 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Minister Narendra Modi, the ordinance J&K has registered highest IPD care to amend the Mines and Minerals in the country (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 Jammu and Kashmir has registered the and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) highest Inpatient Department, IPD care Act, 2015 was approved. in the country.
The ordinance would strengthen the According to the report released by the auction process of those mines whose National Health Systems Resource Centre leases were expiring on March 31, 2020. (NHSRC), New Delhi. Seamless transfer of clearances would As per the report, the 96% IPD care in also be facilitated. rural areas of J&K is provided by Public Doorstep delivery of rationcards for Health Facilities. senior citizens in MP This facility is highest against the country’s average of 85%. Senior citizens living alone in Madhya Pradesh may soon get doorstep delivery Tamil Nadu second in suicides of groceries from public distribution Tamil Nadu ranked second after system (PDS) ration outlets. Maharashtra in the number of suicides This facility would be meant for people reported in 2018. above 75 years of age who are living The National Crime Records Bureau alone without any adult family member (NCRB) statistics revealed that a large in their homes. number of people took the extreme step Tomar announced the government has owing to illness and family problems. verified credentials of 37 per cent of the Tamil Nadu also contributed to 10.3% of 1.18 crore PDS beneficiaries through M the total suicides reported in the country. Ration Mitra app. The State reported the maximum number Jagan to launch Amma Vodi Scheme of 6,433 suicides committed due to family problems while 3,034 people ended their Andra Pradesh Chief Minister will launch lives owing to health issues. the Jagananna Amma Vodi programme Maharashtra reported the maximum at the PVKN government Degree College of 231 cases of government servants grounds in Chittoor. The day also marks committing suicides followed by Tamil the completion of one year of his Praja Nadu with 173 cases. Sankalpa Padayatra. Under the scheme, a financial assistance No country for elders of `15,000 will be given to nearly 43 lakh Tamil Nadu was one of the top three mothers or guardians who send their States in India when it came to offences children to school. Student enrolment has against senior citizens (aged above 60). already increased by 30% in the current As many as 3,162 crimes against senior academic year after the announcement of citizens were reported during the year the scheme. compared to 2,769 cases in 2017.
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While the number of such offences stood land for commercial ends, has approved at 2,241, a majority of them (2,230 cases) a scheme that could allow “forests” to related to crimes booked under the be traded as a commodity. It allows the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Property Forest Department to outsource one of (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act. its responsibilities of reforesting to non- government agencies. In the current U.P. tops list in crimes against women system, industry needs to make good the Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 59,445 loss of forest by finding appropriate non- cases. The National Crime Records Bureau forest land-equal to that which would be (NCRB) published the annual Crime in razed India Report 2018 on Wednesday. It was West Bengal tops in 2018 acid attack published with provisional data, as five cases: NCRB States — West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim — did There has been a marginal decline in the not send clarifications sought by the incidents of acid attacks in the country in NCRB despite repeated reminders. 2018 compared to the previous year, West Bengal accounted for the highest number First Solar Power and plans to Link of cases of such attacks, according to the J&K with rest of India National Crime Records Bureau (NRCB) Indian Railways announced that it will report. source 1000 MW of solar power and 200 The NCRB report shows that West Bengal, MW of wind power to zonal railways by Uttar Pradesh and Delhi contribute to 2021-22. Also, Kashmir is to be linked almost half of acid attacks in the country. with the rest of India through railway Centre mulls mobile test labs at ports network by December 2021. to check quality of imported fertilizers The Pulses Conclave 2020 to be held The Centre is mulling introducing mobile in Lonavala, Maharashtra testing labs at 21 ports across the country India Pulses and Grains Association in a bid to ensure imported fertilizers (IPGA), the nodal body for India’s pulses reach farmers on time after a quality trade and industry today announced that check. the fifth edition ‘The Pulses Conclave’, Imported fertilizers are tested by their biennial global pulses conference Faridabad-based Central Fertilizer will be held at Amby Valley City in Control and Quality Institute (CFCQI) as Lonavala, Maharashtra. well as three regional centers that come Panel approves scheme to ‘trade’ in under the agriculture ministry. forests Currently, imported fertilizers are tested by Faridabad-based Central Fertilizer The Forest Advisory Committee, an Control and Quality Institute (CFCQI) as apex body tasked with adjudicating well as three regional centers that come requests by the industry to raze forest under the agriculture ministry.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 69 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 4 Indian airports received Transgender Persons Act comes into international recognition for reducing effect emissions as per ACI The Social Justice Ministry issued a The Airports Authority of India (AAI) notification, notifying the Transgender has announced that 4 Indian airports Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, have received international recognition which was passed by Parliament on for reducing the carbon emission level as November 26 and given Presidential per the standards set by Airports Council assent on December 5, 2019. International (ACI) for the grading. The 4 The Act aims to end discrimination airports are as follows: against transgender persons in accessing ff Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International education, employment and healthcare. Airport (West Bengal) It also recognises the right to self- ff Biju Patnaik International Airport (Odisha) perceived gender identity and provides for certification from a District Magistrate; ff Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (Uttar Pradesh) in case a transgender person has had a gender-change surgery, the law says they ff Trivandrum International Airport (Kerala) can obtain a certificate from the medical Union Power Minister RK Singh facility where they had the operation, and released 2nd State Energy Efficiency apply for a change in their certificate. Index 2019 in New Delhi. Dr. Manabi Bandopadhaya, who became The Minister of State (MoS - Independent India’s first transgender college principal Charge) for Power and New & in 2015. Renewable Energy who is also MoS for India’s under-5 girls face high Skill Development & Entrepreneurship mortality Shri Raj Kumar Singh has released the State Energy Efficiency Index 2019 in New Delhi. The index tracks the progress of Energy Efficiency (EE) initiatives undertaken in 36 states and Union Territories (UTs) based on 97 indicators. Progressive states: The progressive states and UTs of the 2019 index which was grouped into 4 for rational India is among the few countries in the comparisons were Haryana, Kerala, world where, in 2018, the mortality for Karnataka, Maharashtra, Himachal girls under 5 years of age exceeded that Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Puducherry and of boys, according to the ‘Levels and Chandigarh Trends in Child Mortality’ report by the United Nations (UN) inter-agency group for child mortality.
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The report states that in 2018 fewer Highlights countries showed gender disparities in This year, in 2020, number of foreign child mortality, and across the world, ministers are to attend the dialogue. It on average, boys are expected to have includes ministers from Russia, Iran, a higher probability of dying before Maldives, Morocco, Australia, Bhutan, reaching age-5 than girls. Denmark, Czech Republic, Uzbekistan According to India’s 2017 Sample and Estonia. Registration System (SRS) the States with Theme: 2120: Navigating the Alpha the highest burden of neonatal mortality Century. are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, with 32, 33 and 30 neonatal ‘Cyber AASHVAST” Cyber Crime deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively. Prevention Unit launched in In this sense, Uttar Pradesh is the State Gandhinagar Gujarat with the highest number of estimated Home Minister Amit Shah launched the newborn deaths in India, both because country’s first Cyber Crime Prevention of the high neonatal mortality rate and Unit called the “Cyber AASHVAST” in because of the large cohort of births that Gandhinagar. Along with AASHVAST, occur every year in the State,” noted the Video Integration and State Wide information released by UNICEF (United Advance Security project called VISWAS Nations Children’s Fund). was also launched. Half of all under-5 deaths in 2018 Highlights occurred in five countries: India, Nigeria, The Cyber AASHVAST is a unit that Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the will act to prevent cyber crimes with the Congo and Ethiopia. India and Nigeria help of VISWAS and NETRANG. The alone account for about a third. AASHVAST will also monitor, prevent Current trends predict that close to 10 and control cyber-crimes in the state. million 5-to 14-year-olds, and 52 million Along with AASHVAST and VISWAS, children under 5 years of age, will die Project NETRANG was also launched. between 2019 and 2030. It will establish command and control Raisina Dialogue to be held New Delhi rooms in 33 districts of Gujarat. In India the cyber-crimes have almost The Raisina Dialogue is to be held doubled between 2016 and 2017 according between January 14, 2020 and January to NCRB. Therefore, GoI is taking many 16, 2020. It is a multilateral conference measures to bring them under control. that is held in New Delhi annually since 2016. The dialogue is organised by the GoI to launch Purvodaya to accelerate Ministry of External Affairs and Observer Eastern India Development Research Foundation. The Ministry of Steel announced that it will launch “Purvodaya”, a world class
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 71 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 steel hub. The hub aims at an accelerated vision and spatial AR provides a mixed development program me of eastern reality experience to visitors in selected states. The Ministry will be joined by CII monument. (Confederation of India Industries) in the Arunachal pradesh becomes the 1st implementation of “Purvodaya”. state in India to initiate IUCN’s red- Highlights listing of orchids The initiative aims at developing the Arunachal Pradesh (AR)has became eastern states through an integrated steel the 1st State in India to initiate the hub. The steel hub will create 2.5 million International Union for Conservation jobs in the region. It will create world- of Nature (IUCN)’s ‘red listing’ of class logistics and infrastructure. This orchids at the state level after it has will also help in achieving India’ s steel inked a Memorandum of Understanding policy target of 300 MT by 2030. (MoU) with the International Union Indian Heritage in Digital Space for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in exhibition in New Delhi Itanagar, AR. Union Minister of State for Culture and IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species is Tourism (IC) Shri Prahalad Singh Patel an important indicator of the health of the launched the first International Heritage world’s biodiversity. This list is serving Symposium and Exhibition (IHSE). The as a powerful tool to inform and catalyze exhibition will be held until February action for biodiversity conservation and 15, 2020 on “Indian Heritage in Digital policy change. The IUCN has estimated Space “ and first international heritage that these are complications for protecting symposium will be held for two days in natural resources. the National Museum in New Delhi. 23rd National Youth Festival 2020 The project aims to create digital held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh installations using 3D laser scan data, The 23rd edition of the National Youth AR, holographic projections and 3D Festival (NYF) 2020 was held at Indira fabrication, to provide interactive and Pratishthan, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh immersive experiences showcasing from January 12-16, 2020. It was jointly the glory of Hampi and five Indian organised by the Ministry of Youth monuments namely KashiVishwanath Affairs and Sports (MYAS) and State Temple, Varanasi; TajMahal, Agra; Sun Government of Uttar Pradesh. Temple,Konark; Ramachandra Temple, The theme of the 2020 NYF was “Fit Hampi ; and RaniKiVav, Patan. Youth, Fit India” Inauguration: It was Installation of ‘ViRaasat’ which consists inaugurated by Chief Minister of Uttar of a scaled down 3D printed replica Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath and using laser-scanning, 3D modelling Minister of State (MoS- independent and rendering, 3D printing, computer charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports,
72 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event Shri KirenRijiju on 12th January that New Delhi to end the refugee crisis of marked the birth anniversary of Swami Bru-Reang community. Vivekananda, Indian-Hindu monk. Under the agreement, around 34,000 Bru “Globalizing Indian Thought”, an Refugees are to settle in Tripura. The Centre will offer their rehabilitation helps International Conclave held at with an allocated budget of 6000 crores. Kozhikode The land is to be provided by the Tripura The International Conclave on Government. The Centre will provide aid “Globalizing Indian Thought” was held of Rs 1.5 lakhs to build their houses. in IIM, Kozhikode Due to ethnic tension in 1997, around The conclave aimed at revealing India’s 5,000 families of 30,000 Bru-Reang tribes thoughts in becoming one of top three were forced out of Mizoram to seek economies of the world. shelter in Tripura.
India is stepping towards the goal of In 2010, GoI began its efforts to becoming a 5 trillion Dollar economy by permanently rehabilitate them as they 2025. This will make India one of the top constantly demanded to settle in Tripura. three economies in the world after US In 2018, GoI signed an agreement with and China the State Governments of Tripura and GoI launches Saksham, a mega Mizoram in order to help the families and campaign on fuel conservation increase the aid substantially. The Petroleum Conservation Research Rajnath Singh flags off 51st K-9 Vajra Association (PCRA) operating under at L&T gun making facility. Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged will launch fuel conservation campaign. off the 51st K-9 Vajra-T gun at the Larsen The campaign will create awareness and Toubro Armored Systems Complex among public about fuel conservation. at Hazira, Surat. PCRA has been conducting Saksham The L&T officials showed the minister the campaigns in different parts of the different manoeuvres of the K-9 Vajra-T, country. a tracked self-propelled howitzer.
In collaboration with NCERT, PCRA has The gun weighs 50 tonnes and can fire prepared a comic book on the theme, 47kg bombs at 43-kilometre distant “Fuel Conservation”. targets. Historic Bru-Reang Refugee L&T had in 2017 won the Rs 4,500-crore agreement signed-34,000 displaced contract from the Ministry of Defence to settle in Tripura. to supply 100 units of K9 Vajra-T 155 mm/52 calibre tracked self-propelled Government of India, Bru-Reang gun systems to the Indian Army under representatives, Government of Tripura the Centre’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. and Mizoram signed an agreement in
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 73 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National Information Centre sets up ELECRAMA-Indian Electrical Industry Centre of Block Chain Technology in Showcase inaugurated Bengaluru The ELECRAMA 2020 was held in The National Informatics Centre (NIC) Noida. The event showcases innovations will set up block chain technology centre and achievements of Indian Electrical in Bengaluru. Industry. The centre aims to provide Block Chain Significance as service to all the stake holders who are The “ELECRAMA” platform is organized interested in shared experiences, learning by Indian Electrical and Electronics and resources. Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA). National Informatics Centre has always It is supported by other ministries such been the premier technology advisor and as ministry of renewable energy, power, also a pioneer in introducing technologies MSME (Micro Small and Medium such as National Knowledge Network, Enterprises). NICNET, etc. Industrial Meet of ‘Wings India’- Merger Plan of RSTV and LSTV in final Asia’s largest Civil Aviation Event stages held at Bengaluru
The merger of Rajya Sabha Television The Industrial meet of the Asia’s largest (RSTV) and Lok Sabha Television (LSTV) Civil Aviation was held in Bengaluru. is in the final stages, with a six member The Civil Aviation event is to be held at committee expected to submit a report Begumpet airport, Hyderabad in March by to Upper House Chairman Venkaiah 2020. The theme of the event will be Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Theme: Flying for All. The final decision will be taken by them. Targets set for aviation sector There has been an overwhelming India aims to become the third largest demand that the live transmission of the aviation market globally by 2024 proceedings of the two Houses should The number of Indian carriers is to be not be disrupted. increased to 1,100 by 2027 The committee consists of Prasar Bharati The freight traffic at the airports of India Chairman Surya Prakash, Additional is to cross 11.4 MT by 2032. Secretary to the RS Secretariat A. Rao, the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s Ganpati Sanskrit to replace Urdu on railway Bhatt, Financial Adviser to RSTV Shikha signboards in Uttarakhand Darbari, and CEOs of RSTV and LSTV Names of railway stations written in Urdu Manoj Kumar Pandey and Aashish Joshi on platform signboards in Uttarakhand respectively. will now be written in Sanskrit. LSTV was launched in 2006 by Speaker As per rules of the Railway Manual Somnath Chatterjee. appropriate change should have been
74 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event made on these signboards in 2010 after Ghaziabad, UP under the ‘Adarsh Khel Sanskrit was made the second official Gram’ program, IMT in association with language of the state. NGO(Non Governmental Organization)‘ Sanskrit was made the second official Sports: A Way of Life’. language of Uttarakhand in 2010 during AIM: To evolve sports culture and the chief ministership of Ramesh increase sports literacy in the country. Pokhriyal Nishank, who is now Union Key Points: HRD Minister. Under this program all the verandahs, New Parliament complex may seat courtyards will be developed as primary 1,350 members sports ground management and IMT will provide Olympic related sports A new Lok Sabha central hall big enough to house 900 Members of Parliament equipment. (MPs), and flexible enough to house up to One hour everyday from 4-5:00 pm will 1,350 MPs for a joint Parliament session be the designated time to play sports. will be the center piece of the Central The main objective is to teach the Olympic Vista redevelopment plan that has a games in these villages and various deadline of 2024. Arjuna Awardees would meet these kids The shape of the present circular building to motivate them to participate in the designed by architects Edwin Lutyens games. and Herbert Baker in 1912-13, was based on the Chausath Yogini temple, one of Govt to collect data including families the oldest heritage sites in India. headed by transgenders for census According to presentations made by 2021 the Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, the According to the Ministry of Home affairs new triangular Parliament building will (MHA), the central government, for the come up next to the existing complex, the 1st time, will collect data on households Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts headed by a transgender and members will be relocated with some of the new living in the family for census 2021. government buildings coming up where it is located, and the National Archives Previously, the choice of the head of the will be remodelled. household was gender – male or female. Key Points: Bahadurpur and Kheri Viran to The census officer, while making a become India’s first model sports list of houses to be held from April 1 – villages September 30, 2020 will ask for specific Two villages namely Bahadurpur and information based on 31 questions from Kheri Veran of Uttar Pradesh (UP) each household during the census 2021. has set to become India’s first ‘Model Now three options will be given under the Sports villages’ as part of the Institute head “sex of the head of the household”- of Management Technology (IMT) male, female and transgender.
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In addition, the government gather data Through this initiative, students can plan on ‘ownership status of the census house’ their academic/ learning objectives and – whether it is owned / rented. pursue courses as per their wishes and The census reference date will be March 1, requirement. 2021 but due to snowfall it will be October UGC has also released a concept note 1, 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), on NAC-Bank on www.ugc.ac.in. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The commission has also invited the New initiative in Census 2021: views and suggestions from all Higher The census 2021 will be done through a Education Institutes (HEIs) including mobile phone application, deviating from teachers, students, education personnel, the traditional pen and paper. on the NAC-Bank latest by December 20, Usage of census monitoring & 2019. management portal as a single source for Gujarat leads in water efficiency all officers involved in Census activities survey under National hydrology to provide multi language support. project Background: According to the rankings of ‘Central and The census has been conducted in state governmental water departments India since 1872 without outbreak. It is based on their efficiency targets for conducted every 10 years. 2021 is not 2019’ released by Ministry of Jal Shakti, th th only the 16 census but also 8 after Gujarat ranked the best for parameters on independence. The Census Act, 1948 and efficiency targets , while National Capital the Census Rules, 1990 provide the legal Territory of Delhi remains in the worst- framework in conducting the Census. performing state category. UGC to Set Up National Academic Departments wise ranking: The Survey Credit Bank of India (SoI) received top spot among the 7 central government departments The University Grants Commission reviewed . (UGC) will soon set up the National It was followed by National Institute of Academic Credit Bank (NAC-Bank) Hydrology (NIH) and the Central Water with an aim to help students plan their Commission. Central Pollution Control learning objectives and graduate with a Board (CPCB) pushed to the last in the degree before the stipulated period. The year 2019 ranking. system of academic credit bank is already State wise ranking: However, Delhi prevalent in many foreign countries. improved its position by 6 places to The National Academic Credit Bank will get 35th rank in 2019 as against bottom enable non-science students (arts and 41 in 2018. Tamil Nadu (TN) ranked commerce stream) to take up courses best among the states that significantly in the science stream after completing a improved its ranking. It stood at 13th spot bridge course/ programme. in 2019 as compared to 33 in 2018.
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Rajasthan has been ranked 3rd in the or any member of his family dies while country this time, while in the April- working in a field then they will be given May 2018 rankings, Rajasthan was financial assistance of five lakh rupees. ranked 16th. In the rankings released in For the first time, the scheme will also December-2019 include the Bataidars, who work in the 1st of Krishi Manthan 2020 begins in field of other persons and share the crop after it is harvested. Ahmedabad, Gujarat The scheme will cover farmers and their st The 1 edition of the Krishi Manthan 2020 family members in the age group of 18-70 which is a Food, Agri-business and Rural years and will be implemented from 14th Development Summit of Asia was held in September 2019. Ahmedabad, Gujarat from January 16-17, 2020. The event was organised by Food India drops 10 ranks in Democracy and Agribusiness Committee of Indian Index Institute of Management Ahmedabad The latest (IIMA). edition of Govt sets up National Startup the Democracy Advisory Council Index spells The government stated that it has set up gloom for a National Startup Advisory Council to India. The advise the Centre on measures needed world’s to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and start-ups in the country. biggest The Council will suggest measures to democracy foster a culture of innovation among slipped 10 students and others. places in the 2019 global ranking to 51st place. UP Govt launches Mukhyamantri The survey published attributes the Krishak Durghatna Kalyan Yojana primary cause of “the democratic Uttar Pradesh Government has launched regression” to “an erosion of civil liberties Mukhyamantri Krishak Durghatna in the country”. Kalyan Yojana which will provide India’s overall score fell from 7.23 to 6.9, financial assistance to family of farmers on a scale of 0-10, within a year (2018- who die or become handicapped while 2019) — the country’s lowest since 2006. working in fields. A year of democratic setbacks and Government has also decided to popular protest, was done by The implement Mukhyamantri Paryatan Economist Intelligence Unit — the Samvardhan Yojana to boost tourism in research and analysis division of The state. Under the ‘Mukhyamantri Krishak Economist Group. Durghatna Kalyan Yojana, if a farmer
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 77 National – Diary Of Event Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Uttarakhand is the 1st state in the Jharkhand’ Jharia is the most polluted country to implement agricultural Indian city & Lunglei, Mizoram least leasing policy polluted: Greenpeace India report Uttarakhand has become the first state in 2018 India which has made a policy to lease The Greenpeace India report for 2018 was agricultural land. After the approval of released based on the National Ambient Rashtrapati Bhavan, the state government Air Quality Monitoring Programme has issued the order. (NAMP). Jharia in Jharkhand which is known for Coal-belching is the most Carbon Disclosure Project: India polluted Indian city with 322 µg/m3 ranks 5th (micrograms per cubic meter) of PM10 The Carbon Disclosure Project, an annual (Particulate matter) pollutants in 2018, report on carbon reduction activities of according to the report analysis of 287 different countries and their firms was cities across the country. Out of 287 cities released by a non-profit organization 231 cities were severely polluted. Global Reporting Initiative. According Gujarat secures top spot the SKOCH to the report, the countries were ranked State of Governance 2019 ranking based on their corporate responsibilities According to the ‘SKOCH State of of carbon reduction. In order to assess the Governance 2019’ report, Gujarat role played by them, their science-based gained the top spot on the back of better targets were weighed. performance in Health, Education, Power and e-Governance segments. Gujarat, India’s first e-waste clinic opens in which was ranked 5th in 2018 replaces Bhopal 2018 leader West Bengal. The first e-waste clinic of the country The projects undertaken by the states, has been recently opened in Bhopal. This have performed the best in terms of clinic will segregate and process e-waste rankings across 22 different parameters from household and commercial units. have been listed as STARS. The clinic will process all types of Top 3 Star states include: e-Waste materials like computers, Rank State Name Project mobile, chargers, etc. The clinic will run 1 Gujarat 104 projects a campaign ‘junk to jugaad’ for those 2 Maharashtra 50 projects e-waste materials which will not be possible to process. 3 West Bengal 20 projects The e-waste clinic has been prepared in India participates at United Nations a junk low floor bus. Central Pollution AIDS Programme at World Economic Control Board (CPCB) and Bhopal Forum Municipal Corporation (BMC) are India participated at the United Nations providing technical support to this clinic. AIDS (UNAIDS) programme at the World Economic Forum (WEF). The theme of 78 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 National – Diary Of Event
the programme was Theme: Access for The exhibition was Organised by all: Leveraging Innovations, Investments Department of Science and Technology and Partnerships for Health. (DST) and the National Council of Science UNAIDS Programme Museums (NCSM) under the Department The main objective of the programme is of Atomic Energy (DAE). to coordinate global action on the AIDS India’s 1st War Memorial for Animals disease and alleviate its impact. It was to be set up in Meerut, UP established in 1994. The govt has announced to set up MP Government makes reading of country’s 1st war memorial for service Preamble compulsory in Schools animals such as dogs, horses, mules in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (UP). This war MP Government has also decided to memorial will come at army’s specialised make reading of Preamble of Constitution breeding, rearing training centre for compulsory in Schools. animals in the Remount and Veterinary Maharashtra to launch Sovereignty of Corps (RVC) Centre and College in Meerut. Constitution Programme Prior to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra Government had also announced that GSAT-30 gives India a it will make reading of preamble to Communication boost constitution compulsory in all primary The nation’s latest and secondary schools, starting from communication satellite,GSAT-30, was January 26. The initiative is being launched into space from the Guiana launched as part of the Sovereignty of Space Centre in Kourou at 2.35 a.m. Constitution Programme which is being IST. The 3,357-kg satellite will replace launched in public interest. INSAT-4A, which was launched in 2005 and marks the first mission of the year ‘Vigyan Samagam’, India’s 1st global for Indian Space Research Organisation Mega Science Exhibition (ISRO). The high-power satellite is The Union Minister of State Independent equipped with12 normal C band and Charge (I/C) MInistry of Development 12 Ku band transponders, ISRO opted Of North Eastern Region, Minister of for a foreign launch as the GSAT-30 is State (Mos) Prime Minister’s Office much heavier than the 2,000-kg lifting (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances and capacity of its geostationary launch Pension, Minister of State for Department vehicle GSLV-MkII. While the newer and more powerful GSLV-MkIII can lift up to of Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra 4,000kg, the space agency plans to save Singh inaugurated India’s first global the two or three upcoming MkIIIs for its Mega Science Exhibition “Vigyan first human space flight Gaganyaan of Samagam” at National Science Centre, 2022 and two preceding crew-less trials. New Delhi. The exhibition will be held The first Indian crew-less test flight is from January 21, 2020 to March 20, 2020. planned for later the year.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 79 International Affairs Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 7. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
India-Brazil MoU on Bioenergy The strength of this missile indicated Cooperation gets Cabinet approval by Avangard, which can fly in the Union Cabinet has given its approval atmosphere at a speed 20 times the speed for signing of Memorandum of of sound. was a hyper sonic glide vehicle. Understanding (MoU) between Republic Kinzhal, a hypersonic glide vehicle, is of India and Federative Republic of Brazil already part of the Russian Air Force. on Bioenergy Cooperation. China, Russia and Iran to hold naval Background drills in Gulf of Oman. In 2016, during the meeting between China, Russia and Iran will hold joint Prime Minister Narendra Modi and naval drills starting Friday in the Gulf President of Brazil in India, the two of Oman, Beijing and Tehran said, at a sides agreed to cooperate on research time of heightened tensions since the U.S. and development (R&D) of renewable withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal energies, and in field of 2nd-generation with Tehran. biofuels. The military exercises aim to “deepen Russia, the only nation in the world exchange and cooperation between the owns hypersonic weapons: President navies of the three countries. Putin 5th Round of India-Japan Maritime According to the Russian President, Affairs Dialogue was held in Tokyo Vladimir Vladimir Putin, Russia is The 5th round of India-Japan Maritime the only country in the world that has Affairs dialogue was held in Tokyo, hypersonic weapons. He revealed the Japan. During this dialogue, India and new zircon missile at a meeting of senior Japan agreed to deepen their maritime military officials in Moscow. cooperation. Apart from the dialogue, As per Putin, the Zircon missile, which the 8th Round of India-Japan bilateral can fly from land to land in 10 times faster consultations on disarmament, non- than the speed of sound, has a range of proliferation and export control was also more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) held in Tokyo. and can carry a nuclear or conventional warhead.
80 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 International Affairs EAM S Jaishankar co-chairs 19th Joint and the US, its last. About 3,92,078 babies, commission meeting 2019 b/w India according to UNICEF, are estimated to be & Iran held in Tehran born around the world on New Year’s External Affairs Minister (EAM), Day. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who was on a But India tops the list of eight countries 2-day (22-23 December 2019) visit to Iran, expected to contribute to half the number co-chaired the 19th Joint Commission of births on January 1, with an estimated Meeting 2019 with his Iranian counterpart 67,385 births. China follows at 46,299, Javad Zarif in Tehran, Iran. Nigeria (26,039), Pakistan (16,787), Key Points: Indonesia (13,020), the US (10,452), the Both sides also agreed to celebrate Democratic Republic of Congo (10,247) their 70th anniversary of bilateral treaty and Ethiopia (8,493). of friendship in 2020. The Chabahar Iran withdraws from the JCPOA deal project, which was signed in May completely 2016, is considered a gateway to trade Iran had completely withdrawn from opportunities with the three countries of JCPOA(Joint Comprehensive Plan of Central Asian Nations. Action) nuclear deal. The announcement Chabahar port: came after the US troops killed General It is on the Indian Ocean about 100 Qassem Soleimani. kilometres west of the Pakistan border. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action It consists of 2 separate ports - Shahid The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Kalantari & Shahid Beheshti. India ( known commonly as the Iran nuclear and Iran first agreed to plans to further deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on develop Shahid Beheshti port in 2003. the Iranian nuclear program reached in Water Resources Protection Agency Vienna on July 14, 2015, between Iran and Registration of Companies Act the P5+1 (the five permanent members The Tamil Nadu Water Resources of the United Nations Security Council- Conservation and Rivers Reorganization China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, Corporation is registered under the United States-plus Germany) together Indian Companies Act. with the European Union. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Governor’s reference to ‘dual Corporate Affairs has issued a certificate citizenship’ triggers a debate of registration to the Government of The Tamilnadu Governor Banwarilal Tamil Nadu. Purohit’s address to the Assembly in At over 65,000, India estimated to which he advocated dual citizenship for see most births on January1: UNICEF Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka living in The Pacific Ocean island-nation of Fiji Tamil Nadu, has triggered a debate. most likely delivered 2020’s first baby,
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 81 International Affairs Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
It is for the first time that the matter was Japan world’s most powerful passport included in the Governor’s address, by The Henley Passport Index, which former chief Minister Jayalalithaa in periodically measures the world’s most April 2016 during her campaign for the travel-friendly passports, released its first Assembly election. report of the new decade. Ukrainian plane crash in Iran kills all The index placed Japan as the world’s 176 on board; no hint of foul play most powerful passport, while Singapore took the second spot. South Korea tied A Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran killing all 176 on with Germany for the third spot. board, mainly Iranians and Canadians. Japanese who hold the strongest passport Search and rescue teams were combing in the world can visit 191 destinations through the smoking wreckage of the without visa. The year 2020 marks the Boeing 737 flight from Tehran to Kiev but third year running in which Japan has officials said there was no hope of finding held the top spot. anyone alive. India slipped two places in 2020 to the 84th The vast majority of the passengers on place, sharing the spot with Mauritania the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) and Tajikistan. Indians can get visa-free flight were non-Ukrainians, including 82 entry to 58 countries, according to the Iranians and 63 Canadians. index Pedro Sanchez sworn in as Spain 1ST Session of India-Norway Dialogue Prime Minister on Trade & Investment Pedro Sanchez was sworn in as Prime The first Session of India-Norway Minister becoming head of Spain’s first Dialogue on Trade & Investment (DTI) coalition government since the return of was convened in New Delhi. democracy in the 1970s. He took the oath The session was based on the Terms of before King Felipe VI. Reference (ToR) signed between India UAE Cabinet validates Multi-entry and Norway in New Delhi, during the Tourist Visa valid for 5 years visit of Prime Minister of Norway.
The UAE Cabinet has validated the This was the first mee ting after the Multi-entry Tourist Visa which would be signing of DTI. valid for 5 years. The Multi-entry Tourist The first Session was preceded by an th Visa facility would be available for all industry interaction on 15 January, 2020 nationalities visiting the UAE. with the representatives from Indian The decision was taken in the UAE’s industry, where discussions were held on Cabinet meeting which was held at the various areas of mutual interest likeblue Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi. economy, shipping & maritime, ICT, The decision has been made to boost the renewable energy, fisheries and MSME. UAE’s tourism economy.
82 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 International Affairs 10th World Future Energy Summit UAE has been declared ‘reciprocating 2020 held in Abu dhabi, UAE; CLIX territory’ by India under section 44A sustainability summit held of CPC, 1908 Recently the 10th edition of World Future The Central Government has declared Energy Summit (WFES) 2020 hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to be a Masdar renewable energy company, “reciprocating territory” under Section was held at Abu Dhabi National 44A of Civil Procedure Code (CPC), 1908. Exhibition Centre in Abu Dhabi, United The order was issued by the Ministry of Arab Emirates(UAE) from January 13- Law and Justice. 16, 2020. The theme for the year 2020 Key Points: was “Rethinking Global Consumption, By this the order passed by the superior Production, and Investment”. Courts of UAE can now be enforced in 3rd Climate Innovations Exchange: India as if they had been passed by the Alongside the World Future Energy local courts in India. Section 44A provides Summit, 3rd edition of the Climate the law on the subject of execution of Innovations Exchange, ‘CLIX’ for decrees of Courts in India by foreign short and the Future Sustainability Courts and vice versa. Summit was also held in Abu Dhabi. The other countries “reciprocating The event showcased innovative ideas territories” are: United Kingdom, Singapore, related to energy, food, agriculture and Bangladesh, Malaysia, Trinidad & sustainability in space. Tobago, New Zealand, the Cook Islands The Berlin Conference on Libya (including Niue) and the Trust Territories of Western Samoa, Hong Kong, Papua
The Conclusions of the Berlin Conference New Guinea, Fiji, Aden are the some of on Libya that have just been released the countries which have reciprocating provide such a wide remit to please territories. all participating parties allowing for broad and different interpretations 60th Tiruvalluvar statue in Cambodia and providing no real new solutions or on behalf of the World Tamil mechanisms to break the impasse that Association has dogged the Libyan crisis since the th 2015 Skhirat Libyan Political Agreement. The 60 Tiruvalluvar Statue will The conclusions build upon the Paris, be installed in Cambodia on April Palermo and Abu Dhabi processes and 2020 on behalf of the VGP World conclusions as well as the 2015 Skhirat Tamil Association. To establish the Libyan Political Agreement and all Thiruvalluvar statue in the Cultural relevant UN and UN Security Council Office premises in Cambodia from 1st to resolutions. This includes UNSMIL’s 6th of April. A group of about 50 Tamil Gassan Salame current ”Three-Point- writers, headed by Dr. VG Santhosam, Plan” for Libya. will be attending the ceremony.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 83 International Affairs Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
India slips two places on global The 2019 CPI draws on 13 surveys and corruption perception index expert assessments to measure public India’s ranking in the Corruption sector corruption in 180 countries and Perceptions Index (CPI-2019) has slipped territories, giving each a score from zero from 78 to 80 compared to the previous (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). year, said Transparency International India Opens 1st Mahatma Gandhi questioning the “unfair and opaque Convention Centre in Niger political financing” in the country. Its India’s Minister of External Affairs (MEA) score of 41 out of 100 remains the same. Shri Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Nigerian President Mahamadou Issoufau inaugurated the first convention centre in Africa namely “Mahatma Gandhi convention centre” (MGICC) established at the state of Niger in Western Africa by India to honour the memory of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.This is the 1st centre established in Africa by India under grant assistance. The report has revealed that a majority of countries are showing little to no improvement in tackling corruption.
DLF to invest Rs 5,000 crore to develop 6.8 million sq ft IT park in Eco-farms across Tamil Nadu set to Chennai be new tourist hotspots Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC, is An eco-park at Courtallam, a giant planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore to develop a 6.8 million sq ft information orchard at Karumandurai near Salem, a technology park in Chennai, making the a farm in Thandikudi in Kodaikanal, a south India city its second largest market farm at Devala in the Nilgiris and one in after Gurugram. Kallar near Mettupalayam, developed The project, DLF Downtown Taramani by the horticulture department. spread over 27 acre is a joint venture with Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO).
84 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Tamilnadu Affairs 8. TAMILNADU AFFAIRS
Korean Rolling Barriers to be installed Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan in Ooty on trial basis to reduce and Uttar Pradesh. accidents Andra Pradesh government releases In order to mitigate the occurrence of funds for fast-track courts accidents on hilly terrains, the Tamil Nadu Enforcement of the Disha Act required Highways Department in collaboration fast-track courts in all the districts, the with a private firm have come up with an Andra pradesh government ordered to idea to install Korean rolling barriers, in release of `2 crore for each of them. a pilot phase. He also called for augmenting the
Rolling barriers which are known to capacity of the forensic laboratory at the provide cushioning effect during a crash, State Police Headquarters and setting reduces the high speed effect, reducing up of new ones in Visakhapatnam and the road accidents at steep curved roads Tirupati. as in mountainous terrains, flat roads, curved road sections, ramps, median, Innovation Technology Center Opening entrance/exit ramps in the parking The Center for Innovative Technology at garage etc. the Indian Science and Industry Research CM requests PM to include T.N. in Institute in Tharami will have 100% electrification services by 2030 announced Atal Bhujal Yojan by the Union Minister Harsh Vardhan.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami The groundbreaking ceremony of the wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Center for Innovative Technology for requesting that the State be included in Innovation (SICR) at Karakudi at the the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) that Indian Institute of Science and Industry was launched recently. (CSIR) campus, Chennai, at the Center The scheme, being implemented for Electrochemical Research (SICRI), at a at a cost of `6,000 crore, intends to cost of Rs.100 Crore. strengthen participatory and sustainable groundwater management at 8,350 village World Tamil Economic Forum panchayats in 78 districts of seven States, Hyundai in Tamil Nadu has signed including Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, an agreement to produce 50 thousand
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 85 Tamilnadu Affairs Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 electric vehicles by March. For this code plan. The objective of the program is purpose Rs. 7000 crores has been invested to uplift the livelihood of the rural poor. announced by the Tamil Nadu Industries Just dial 1962, a toll-free number, and Minister MCC Sampath. an Animal Mobile Medical Ambulance The sixth World Economic Forum was (AMMA) with animal-friendly design held in Chennai on behalf of the World and equipped with ultrasound scan, Tamil Economic Institute and the Chennai that is being implemented in 30 districts Development Corporation. including Tirunelveli.
Tamilnadu is the second largest economic A.R.Rahman launches a collaborative development of the country. project First Economic Conference of World Music composer A.R. Rahman’s Tamil announced ‘Ta Futures’, a collaborative The World Tamil Economic Forum on culture project that would curate and behalf of the Chennai Development celebrate the sounds. Corporation and the meeting of Tamils Mr. Rahman announced that the focus living abroad will be held on January 6 would be on capturing the culture of and 7. Tamil Nadu and bringing it out in the List of cleanliness cities: Top three form of a new creative expression. places in Tamil Nadu Government introduces three Bills In the Southern Region of the Low The AIADMK government introduced Population Cities category, Union three Bills in the Assembly. Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies that Melathiruppanthuruthi, T.Kalupatti Act, 1983, has no provision to place the and Ganguvarpatti had made the top president or vice-president of a registered three in Swachh Survekshan Cities list. cooperative society under suspension in The Swachh Sarvekshan League 2020 the event of misappropriation of funds or code for cities on cleanliness was released breach of trust or gross mismanagement by Regional Minister of State for Health of the affairs of the society. Hardeep Singh Puri. The proposed legislation sought to Livestock Research Center to be replace the Ordinance to extend the arrange in Sankarankoil tenure of the special officers appointed The Goat Research Institute will be set to manage the affairs of the market up at Sankarankoil in Tenkasi district, committee pending the constitution of announced by the Livestock Development a new market committee by another six Department Chachach Udumalai K. months beyond November 2019. Radhakrishnan. Third bill is Fisheries University Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Jayalalithaa has developed the Vision 2023
86 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Tamilnadu Affairs
Cable-Laying of Chennai-Andaman & The State’s overall score in 2019 is 67, up Nicobar Islands Submarine Optical from 66 in 2018. Fiber System to be inaugurated This time, T.N. will share the third spot This system will play a pivotal role in with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. driving the “Digital India” vision of The State saw major improvement in Hon’ble Prime Minister. The total length its scores relating to the goals of clean of submarine cable to be laid exceeds 2250 water and sanitation, sustainable cities km and will have an initial bandwidth and communities, life on land and peace, capacity of 400 Gbps for supporting voice justice and strong institutions. and data connectivity. It also witnessed a steep fall in the scores BSNL have organised a function for pertaining to zero hunger and reduced commencement of cable-laying of inequalities. Chennai – Andaman & Nicobar Islands Top performer Submarine Optical Fibre Cable System. Tamil Nadu was the top-performing State The submarine cables will be initially laid in terms of the ‘no poverty’ goal. The from Chennai to Port Blair covering a indicators used to assess performance distance of 1,450 kilometres. Afterwards in this area include population below it will be extended to Rangat, Long Island, national poverty line, households Swaraj Island, Hut Bay, Car Nicobar, covered by health scheme/insurance Kamorta and Campbell Bay in the Union and benefices of social protection under Territory, covering an additional distance maternity, among others. of 800 kilometres. The State’s score on the ‘zero huger’ goal dropped to 48 from 61. Under the goal, TN’s Fishery and Music universities in terms of the annual production of rice, named after the late CM J Jayalalithaa wheat, coarse cereals (Kg/Ha) indicator, Tamil Nadu (TN) Assembly passed the the State dropped to 2,598.00 in 2019 from Bills to rename ‘Tamil Nadu Fisheries 3,788.49 in 2018. University’ and ‘Tamil Nadu Music and Tamil Nadu, along with Kerala and Fine Arts University’ as ‘Tamil Nadu Maharashtra, had achieved the goal Dr.J.Jayalalithaa Fisheries University relating to maternal mortality ratio (TNJFU)’ and ‘Tamil Nadu Dr.J.Jayalalithaa (MMR). The State’s MMR stood at 63, as Music and Fine Arts University (TNMFAU)’ against the target to reduce it to 70 per ,after the late Chief Minister and AIADMK 1,00,000 live births by 2030. leader J Jayalalithaa. In 2018-19, Tamil Nadu did not register T.N retains third spot in SDG index any progress under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which aims to Tamil Nadu has retained the third rank provide access to all-weather roads to all in the Sustainable Development Goals eligible unconnected habitations in the (SDG) India Index 2019, released by NITI country - one of the yardsticks under the Aayog.
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 87 Tamilnadu Affairs Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
‘industry, innovation and infrastructure’ The Mega Food Parks would be goal. established in Theni, Virudhunagar, Amma Youth Sports Scheme launched Tuticorin, Erode, Cuddalore, Salem, Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai
The scheme will be implemented in and Krishnagiri districts. all 12,524 gram panchayats and 528 panchayat unions. Govt to try intra-state portability of The Amma Youth Sports Scheme ration cards on pilot basis announced by Chief Minister Edappadi According to the GO, ration cardholders K.Palaniswami in the Assembly in July, can purchase food grain from any ration last year has made strides in Jolarpet, shops in the state. Initially, the scheme Sholingur, Arni and Cheyyar. would be tested in Tirunelveli and The scheme was launched by Minister for Thoothukudi districts on a pilot basis and Commercial Taxes and Registration, K.C. once it is successful the scheme would be Veeramani and Labour Welfare Minister extended to the entire state. Nilofer Kafeel in Mandalawadi village of To facilitate smooth flow of intra-state the Jolarpet block. portability in the state, 20 percentage of List of Sports under Amma Youth additional allotment has to be made in Sport Program are Kabaddi, Football, addition to the excess entitlement Volleyball, Cricket. The Central government is ambitiously Tamil Nadu government to set up pursuing ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ mega food parks across state despite the Opposition parties criticising them. Even the state government has
The Tamil Nadu government would soon accepted to implement the scheme and it set up mega food parks that would lead to is likely to come into force in June. creation of jobs in rural areas of the state, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. Mega Mohiniyattamevent in Thrissur In addition to the proposed Mega ‘Ekatmakam’, a mega Mohiniyattam food parks, an ‘Ultra Mega Food Park’ event, will be held at Thekkinkadu would also be set up on a 450-acre land Maidan in Thrissur. The event, in which at Pelakuppam village in Villupuram 6,000 dancers will take part, is organized district. with an aim to enter the Guinness World The mega food parks would evolve as Records. hubs for food processing in fruits and vegetables, fisheries, dairy, poultry and meat by encouraging private investment and are expected to generate substantial employment in rural areas.
88 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Practice Questions 10. PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1. Which of the following state didn’t participate on swachh survekshan-2020? (A) Tamil Nadu (B) Tripura (C) Karnataka (D) West Bengal 2. Where is kakrapar nuclear power plant located? (A) Maharastra (B) Gujarat (C) Odisha (D) Andra Pradesh 3. Which of the following state related to Arundhati scheme? (A) Arunachal Pradesh (B) Tamil Nadu (C) Andra Pradesh (D) Assam 4. Who is the beneficiary of RBI launched app MANI? (A) Visually challenged persons (B) Businessmen (C) Citizens (D) Public Sector Banks 5. What is the recently launched general integrated helpline of Indian Railway? (A) 135 (B) 139 (C) 138 (D) 144 6. Where is sikh temple Nankana Sahib gurdwara located? (A) India (B) Nepal (C) Afghanistan (D) Pakistan 7. Where is ISRO planned to build a astronaut training hub with Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC)? (A) Hyderabad (B) Bangalore (C) Tuticorin (D) Challakere 8. Saras MK2 frequenthy seen in news related to (A) An assault riffle (B) A cruise missile (C) A light transport aircraft (D) A drug for SARS 9. Qasem soleimani an army commander recently killed by USA belongs to which of the following country? (A) Iraq (B) Iran (C) Oman (D) Qatar 10. Which of the following payment bank signed agreement with Fastag to make payment service? (A) Equitas Bank (B) Paytm (C) Phonepe (D) Airtel 11. Which state organized Zo Kutpui festival recently? (A) Manipur (B) Mizoram (C) Assam (D) Nagaland 12. What is officially estimated GDP growth rate for financial year 2019-20 by National statistical office? (A) 4.5 (B) 4.8 (C) 5 (D) 5.2 13. Recently launched book “Karmayoddha Granth” revolves around which of the following person’s life? (A) Mahatma Gandhi (B) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (C) Jawaharlal Nehru (D) Narendra Modi 14. Which Public Sector Bank (PSB) has approved to financial assistance to the Women Entrepreneurs Welfare Association (WEWA) in Tamil Nadu? (A) SBI (B) Indian Bank (C) Canara Bank (D) Bank of India
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 89 Practice Questions Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
15. Which country India signed agreement on exploration and used of outer space for peaceful purpose? (A) Sweden (B) United Kingdom (C) Mongolia (D) Switzerland 16. Who is recently choosen for “Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu National Award for excellence”? (A) K. Sivan (B) M.S. Swaminathan (C) Narendra Modi (D) Amit Shah 17. What is the India’s rank in Henley passport Index-2020? (A) 54 (B) 84 (C) 94 (D) 64 18. Where is Global Investor meet (ASCEND 2020) held? (A) Visakapatnam (B) Kochi (C) Tuticorin (D) Mumbai 19. Where is Raisina dialogue, which, is recently seen in NEWS held? (A) New Delhi (B) Mumbai (C) Jakarta (D) Srinagar 20. Which state released special textbooks for intellectual disability students? (A) Tamil Nadu (B) Uttar Pradesh (C) Odisa (D) Gujarat 21. Which of the following state first introduced 3-tier panchayat raj system? (A) Bihar (B) Rajasthan (C) Madhya Pradesh (D) Tamil Nadu 22. The workshop and exhibition on “Bamboo-A wonder grass” was recently held in which state/UT? (A) Assam (B) Meghalaya (C) Jammu& Kashmir (D) Arunachal Pradesh 23. 126th constitutional Amendment bill is Related to which of the following? (A) Extended Reservation (B) Right to property (C) Right to privacy (D) Abolition of 370 24. Where is the 19th edition of sahyog kaijin exercise held recently? (A) Visakhapatnam (B) Chennai (C) Kochin (D) Mumbai 25. What is the total number of Deputy Governors in Reserve Bank of India? (A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 2 26. Which country Prime Minister has resigned along with his cabinet soon after President’s call for constitutional amendments? (A) Russia (B) France (C) Germany (D) Italy 27. What is the name of the PCRA’s recently launched initiative for fuel conservation? (A) Saksham (B) Pragati (C) Akshay (D) Vishash 28. HSN code frequently seen in NEWS related to which of the following? (A) Astronomy (B) Customs & Tariffs (C) Visa (D) Genetic Engineering 29. Where is 1st India-Norway Dialogue on Trade & Investment held? (A) Mumbai (B) New Delhi (C) Chennai (D) Kolkata 30. India and world bank have signed a USD 88 m loan agreement to improve inland water transport services of which of the following state? (A) Meghalaya (B) Bihar (C) Assam (D) Tripura 31. Which country recently passed a law to make “Ethic unity” mandatory? (A) India (B) China (C) Tibet (D) Bangladesh
90 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Practice Questions
32. Where is mega Mohiniyattam festival recently organised? (A) Thiruvananthapuram (B) Kochi (C) Thrissur (D) New Delhi 33. Which country is to offer e-visa facility to-India Tourists? A) Canada (B) South Africa (C) Kenya (D) Ireland 34. In which state/union territory Public Interface Program launched? (A) Jammu & Kashmir (B) Ladakh (C) Uttar Pradesh (D) Kerala 35. Where is recently Vice president of India inaugurated centre of excellence for studies in classical Telugu? (A) Nellore (B) Mysore (C) Amaravati (D) Warangal 36. Who is the author of “Human dignity – A purpose in perpetuity”? (A) Veerappa Moily (B) Salman Khurshid (C) Ashwani Kumar (D) Kapil Sibal 37. Which minister going to head the Indian delegation to the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) (A) Nirmala Sitharaman (B) Sadananda Gowda (C) Piyush Goyal (D) Amit Shah 38. How many water aerodromes are approved by Government of India? (A) 8 (B) 9 (C) 10 (D) 11 39. POL NET 2.0 related to which of the following field? (A) Election commission of India (B) Police Department (C) Income Tax Department (D) Tele Communication 40. As per the recent data from the Ministry of Agriculture which State has topped the production of vegetables in 2018-19? (A) Tamil Nadu (B) West Bengal (C) Uttar Pradesh (D) Gujarat 41. Who is the Chief guest for 2020’s Republic Day? (A) Jair Bolsonaro (B) Donald Trumph (C) Zayed Bin Sultan (D) Scott Morrison 42. Where did India’s first ever Global Mega Science Exhibition, “Vigyan Samagam” started recently? (A) Jalandhar (B) Kolkatta (C) Kochi (D) New Delhi 43. Which country is topped Breast Feeding support policies and programs list? (A) India (B) China (C) Srilanka (D) USA 44. Which private sector bank launched “Card less cash withdrawal” facility from its ATM’s recently (A) HDFC Bank (B) Axis Bank (C) ICICI Bank (D) Kotak Mahindra Bank 45. What is the rank of India in Democracy Index-2019? (A) 41 (B) 51 (C) 61 (D) 71 46. Which state unveiled plan to open it’s shops 24x7 recently? (A) Delhi (B) Maharastra (C) Karnataka (D) Tamil Nadu 47. Which state government joined hands with Tamil Nadu to decipher keezhadi script? (A) Karnataka (B) Andrapradesh (C) Kerala (D) Telengana 48. Bru Tribe frequently seen in NEWS, is originally belongs to ______but now they are sheltered in ______(A) West Bengal, Tripura (B) Tripura, Mizoram (C) Tripura, West Bengal (D) Mizoram, Tripura
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 91 Practice Questions Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
49. Who recently won his 100th match in Australian open who also has the same record on Wimbledon too? (A) Rafeaf Nadal (B) Novak Djokovic (C) Roger Federer (D) Andy Murray 50. Which state made it mandatory to learn preamble of Indian constitution for school students? (A) Uttar Pradesh (B) Madhya Pradesh (C) Odisha (D) Maharastra 51. Who is regarded as the first female teacher of India and her 188th birth Anniversary recently observed? (A) Kadambini Ganguly (B) Kamini Roy (C) Savitribai Phule (D) Sufia Kamal 52. Which ministry planned to set up NEST-a new division to increase investment coordination? (A) Ministry of Home affairs (B) Ministry of Extremal affairs (C) Ministry of Commerce of Industry (D) Ministry of Finance 53. Which state the became first state to conduct exercise to shortlist migration under citizenship Amendment Act – 2019? (A) West Bengal (B) Uttarkhand (C) Madhya Pradesh (D) Uttar Pradesh 54. India gave Line of Credit of 75 million dollar to which of the following country for developments of solar parks? (A) Argentina (B) Chile (C) Brazil (D) Cuba 55. Where is Manas National park located (A) Assam (B) Tripura (C) Uttar Pradesh (D) Meghalaya 56. Akbar Padamsee passed away recently, related to which of the following field? (A) Artist (B) Musician (C) Sports men (D) Author 57. Where is National Stock Exchange (NSE) Knowledge Hub inaugurated? (A) Mumbai (B) New Delhi (C) Kolkata (D) Chennai 58. Where is Vikram Sarabhai children Innovation Center going to be setup? (A) West Bengal (B) Kerala (C) Telangana (D) Gujarat 59. Which city will host the common wealth Games-2022? (A) London (B) New Delhi (C) Birmingham (D) Beijing 60. Which state set to conduct a dedicated state level Adalat for LGBT community? (A) Tamil Nadu (B) West Bengal (C) Kerala (D) Maharastra 61. Which state recently adopted a new logo of foxtail orchid for it’s state’s legislative assembly? (A) Assam (B) Arunachal Pradesh (C) Manipur (D) Mizoram 62. Which ministry launched Purvodaya scheme? (A) Ministry of Finance (B) Ministry of Commerce (C) Ministry of Steel (D) Ministry of Railway 63. Vanga nari-a Jallikattu like event conducted in Khanum Pongal is famous in which of the following District? (A) Dharmapuri (B) Selam (C) Tirunelvli (D) Kanchipuram 64. Where is National youth festival 2020-organized? (A) New Delhi (B) Varanasi (C) Ahmedabad (D) Lucknow 65. Sultan Qaboos recently passed away ruled which of the following Arab country for last 5 decades? (A) Oman (B) Yeman (C) Kuwait (D) Sandi Arabia
92 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Practice Questions
66. Ghodahada reservoir sometime seen in News is located at which of the following state? (A) Assam (B) Bihar (C) Odisha (D) Jarkhand 67. The Vice President of India is to inaugurate the centre of Excellence for studies of Telugu language in which city? (A) Amaravathi (B) Visakapatnam (C) Tirupathi (D) Nellore 68. 14th Annual status of Education Report (2019) is released by which of the following organisation? (A) Pratham (B) Ministry of education (C) Ministry of statistics (D) NITI Aayog 69. Which state launched yashaswini scheme for women entrepreneurship? (A) Karnataka (B) Maharastra (C) Goa (D) Kerala 70. Oleksiy Honcharuk has resigned as Prime Minister of which of the nation? (A) Ukraine (B) Poland (C) Sweden (D) Switzerland 71. Which country passport is rated as most powerful passport according Hency passport index-2020? (A) USA (B) Japan (C) Norway (D) China 72. Which state proposed Right to business bill-2020? (A) Haryana (B) Delhi (C) Punjab (D) Tamil Nadu 73. When will Pariksha Pe Charcha-2020 event be held? (A) 20 January (B) 22 January (C) 23 January (D) 30 January 74. The Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) declared 49 drugs as not of standard quality and the organization comes under which of the following ministry? (A) Ministry of chemical and fertilizer (B) Ministry of Health and family welfare (C) Ministry of Home Affairs (D) Ministry of Food Processing Industries 75. Where is sati stones belongs to 18th century recently found in Tamil Nadu? (A) Mandagupattu (B) Uthiramerur (C) Mahapalipuram (D) Keezhadi 76. Recently corona virus seen in NEWS, started to spread which of the following country? (A) South Africa (B) China (C) Somalia (D) Congo 77. Where is 6.5 km long Z-morh tunnel planned to be constructed? (A) Himachal Pradesh (B) Sikkim (C) Jammu & Kashmir (D) Assam 78. Which country’s National Health commission announced recent out break of corona virus is controllable? (A) USA (B) India (C) Brazil (D) China 79. Article 131 of Indian constitution related to which of the following jurisdiction of Supreme Court? (A) Appellate Jurisdiction (B) Advisory Jurisdiction (C) Original Jurisdiction (D) Writ Jurisdiction 80. What is the name of the recently launched scheme by ministry of women & child development for supporting women during pregnancy? (A) Swasthya Shakshi Project (B) Nari Shakti initiative (C) Rageshwari scheme (D) Sakhi suraksha scheme 81. Which company recently announced an investment of USD 1 billion for small and medium enterprises in India? (A) Flipkart (B) Walmart (C) Amazon (D) Alibaba
Vetrii IAS Study Circle 93 Practice Questions Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020
82. Who is the first Indian women officer to lead an all men contingent during army day? (A) Captain Swati Pandey (B) Captain Kritika Cosain (C) Captain Sanjana Chaudhary (D) Captain Tanya Shergil 83. Which country passport is rated as most powerful passport according Hency passport index-2020? (A) USA (B) Japan (C) Norway (D) China 84. GSAT-30 launched by ISRO from which of the following launch pads? (A) Sriharikota (B) Abdul Kalam Island (C) Thumba (D) French Guiana 85. India recently announced travel advisory to passengers travelling for which nation over spread of coronavirus? (A) Taiwan (B) South Korea (C) China (D) Japan 86. Who heads fee fixation committee for private agricultural colleges in Tamil Nadu? (A) Sankaranarayanan (B) Justice K. Chandru (C) Justice Lodha (D) Justice Vijaya Tahilramani 87. Which Indian advocate appointed as UK’s Queen counsel? (A) Aravind Subramaniyan (B) Harish Salve (C) Y.V. Chandrachud (D) Indra Malhotra 88. Which of the following country is planning to delivered S-400 missiles to India with in 2025? (A) USA (B) Russia (C) Japan (D) France 89. Which organization releases Global Risk report – 2020? (A) World Bank (B) World Economic Forum (C) United Nations Organization (D) United Nations Development Program 90. Who has been recently conferred with the 29th Saraswathi Samman Award? (A) Vikram Seth (B) Mahabalashwar Sail (C) Vasdev Mohi (D) Padma Sachdev 91. Who is appointed as head of Nehru memorial museum? (A) M.J. Akbar (B) Nripendra Mishra (C) A. Surya Gandhi (D) Rahul Gandhi 92. Where is largest number of Irrawaddy dolphins found in a water body in the world? (A) Sambhar lake (B) Chilika lake (C) Wular lake (D) Pulicat lake 93. Which country’s National Health commission announced recent out break of corona virus is controllable? (A) USA (B) India (C) Brazil (D) China 94. Article 131 of Indian constitution related to which of the following jurisdiction of Supreme Court? (A) Appellate Jurisdiction (B) Advisory Jurisdiction (C) Original Jurisdiction (D) Writ Jurisdiction 95. Which state recently organized 18,034 km long human chain to create awareness about climate change and social ills? (A) Odisha (B) Kerala (C) Karnataka (D) Bihar 96. India planned to establish “Maritime Research Coordinating Centre” in which of the following country? (A) Srilanka (B) Maladives (C) Madagascar (D) Myanmar
94 Vetrii IAS Study Circle Vetrii's Current Affairs, January - 2020 Practice Questions
97. Ramnath Goenka awards awarded for excellence in which of the following field? (A) Inventors (B) Journalists (C) Gallantry award for military action (D) Government officer 98. Article 131 of Indian constitution related to which of the following jurisdiction of Supreme Court? (A) Appellate Jurisdiction (B) Advisory Jurisdiction (C) Original Jurisdiction (D) Writ Jurisdiction 99. Which year Indian Council for Child Welfare was created? (A) 1952 (B) 1962 (C) 1972 (D) 1982 100. Where did Tamil Nadu Government planning to set up oil refinery company? (A) Ennore (B) Kanyakumari (C) Kayalpatnam (D) Thoothukudi
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