Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

Notes:
As per 2nd schedule of the RBI Act of 1934, the ESAF Small Finance Bank (SFB) Ltd has got approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a scheduled bank. This makes ESAF the fifth scheduled bank from Kerala after Federal Bank, South Indian Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, and Dhanlaxmi Bank. Being a scheduled bank, ESAF can step up resource mobilisation through the issue of certificate of deposits and inter-bank borrowings at competitive rates of interest. The bank can also seek funds from trusts, associations, religious institutions and mutual funds. It will also enable the bank to avail higher refinance facility. It will also assume more responsibility for the implementation of government schemes and Aadhaar enrolment services. ESAF has a presence in urban, semi-urban, rural and unbanked rural areas with a network of 432 banking outlets across 13 States. The headquarters of ESAF is located at Thrissur, Kerala.

Notes:
Rishabh Pant became the first Indian wicket-keeper to claim 20 catches in Test series, during the final day of the ‘Boxing Day Test’ in Melbourne against Australia on December 30. He surpassed former cricketers Naren Tamhane and Syed Kirmani who had recorded nineteen dismissals in 1954-55 and 1979-80 respectively. Brad Haddin from Australia holds the record for taking most catches in a Test series (29). In ‘Boxing Day Test’, India beat Australia by 137 runs to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series. India took a giant stride towards winning their first ever test series on Australian soil in seven decades.

Notes:
In Kerala, around 50 lakhs of women assembled under the aegis of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to create an almost unbroken human wall that stretched 620 km from Kasaragod in north Kerala to Thiruvananthapuram in the south on 1st January 2019. Marshalled by the Kerala government and a section of Hindu organisations, the wall was organised against the backdrop of the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala. The programme ended with a joint pledge to harness the power of renaissance principles to insulate society against revanchist forces that sought to push Kerala back to the dark ages of casteism and discriminatory religious practices. The event was organised by the ruling CPI(M) along with over 176 other socio-political organisations, including the CPI, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam and the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha.

Notes:
The United States and Israel officially quit the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with the close of 2018. The countries had announced their decisions in 2017 of withdrawing from the agency, accusing it of bias against Israel. America has demanded fundamental reform in UNESCO, which was co-founded by it after World War II to foster peace UNESCO also works to improve education for girls, promote understanding of the Holocaust’s horrors, and to defend media freedom. The withdrawals will not greatly impact UNESCO financially since it has been dealing with a funding slash ever since 2011 when both Israel and the US stopped paying dues after Palestine was voted in as a member state. . Israel joined the agency in 1949. It is best known for its World Heritage program, which designates cultural sites and aims to preserve traditions.

Notes:
Recently, German authorities approved an $8 billion rail and road tunnel linking Denmark and Germany, despite environmental objections. The project comprises a four-lane motorway and a two-track railway. It is part-funded by the European Union (EU). The 19 km Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link is a planned immersed tunnel that is proposed to connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn. It was due to be completed in 2024, but has been delayed by environmental protests in Germany. The link would cross over the Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea – 18 km wide – hence providing a direct link by railway and highway between northern Germany and Lolland, and thence to the Danish island of Zealand and Copenhagen. Once completed, it will become the world’s longest road and rail tunnel, and will open new socio-economic opportunities on both sides of the border.

Notes:
The 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC-2019) has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, Punjab from 3rd January 2019. The theme of the 5-day science congress is ‘Future India: Science & Technology’. Approx 30,000 delegates, including 300 top scientists and Nobel Laureates from across world are attending the congress. In it, around 100 plus conferences and events of scientific and technology origin will also be held, where eminent personalities from DRDO, ISRO, DST, AIIMS, UGC, AICTE, and many elite universities of the USA, UK, India and other countries will participate. The event will play a pivotal role in stimulating scientific research effort and raising the scientific temperament in the country and the world. There will also be four parallel mega events, including the children’s science conference; women’s science conference; science communicators’ meet; and, science exhibition. The exhibition will see participation from the national and international science companies, especially from the US, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed an 8-member expert committee headed by former SEBI chairman U.K. Sinha to comprehensively review and propose long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. The MSME sector has been facing stress due to the demonetisation exercise and implementation of GST. The panel would review the current institutional framework in place to support the MSME sector, and examine the factors affecting the timely and adequate availability of finance to the sector. The panel will also review existing MSME-focussed policies and their impact, and study the global best practices with respect to MSMEs and recommend their adoption in India. The committee will submit its report by the end of June 2019.

Notes:
The West Bengal government has launched Krishak Bandhu scheme to provide financial assistance to farmers and landless labourers. The state government will give an annual financial assistance (cash dole) of Rs 5,000 per acre in two instalments – one during kharif and another during rabi – for a single crop. Farmers can take the financial assistance at one go too. Farmers can take the financial assistance at one go too. Under the scheme, the state government also announced a life insurance cover of Rs 2, 00,000 in case of death, irrespective of the cause, of an earning family member (farmer) aged between 18 and 60 years. Farmers need not pay any premium for availing this life insurance cover. The registration of farmers and share-croppers under this scheme will start February onwards. Benefits will accrue from January 1, 2019.

Notes:
Prof. Jayanta Kumar Ghosh of IIT Roorkee was conferred with ISRS National Geospatial Award for Excellence-2017 (Life Time Achievement Award) at the Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad. He won the award for his contribution towards the development of geospatial science and applications. The award comprised a citation, a medal and Rs 1 lakh. The Indian Society for Remote Sensing (ISRS ) is an organization known in the area of space science, remote sensing and geo-spatial technology.

Notes:
In Thailand, Tropical storm Pabuk caused floods and blackouts leaving nearly 30,000 people in evacuation shelters across the southern part of the country on January 5, 2019. Pabuk packed winds of up to 75km an hour and brought heavy rains and storm surges as it lashed the entire south of the kingdom. It is expected to be the worst storm to hit the region in 30 years. The storm was downgraded to a depression early today as it moved into the Andaman Sea. Meanwhile, ‘yellow’ alert has been issued for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. As per the latest data, no warning has been issued for Odisha but due to cyclonic activities near the Andaman Islands, weather in the eastern Indian state will be cloudy and dry. IMD has predicted heavy rainfall over the Andaman Islands from the evening of January 5. People in the Andaman Islands have been advised to remain in safe places and IMD has advised fishermen to stay out of the sea.