Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

Notes:
Sudhir Bhargava, a former Secretary to the Ministry of Social Justice, has taken charge as new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on January 1. Beside him, President Ram Nath Kovind has also appointed four new members as Information Commissioners – ex-IFS officer Yashwardhan Kumar Sinha, former IRS officer Vanaja N Sarna, former IAS Neeraj Kumar Gupta and former Law Secretary Suresh Chandra. Now,the only woman in the CIC will be ex-IRS officer Vanaja N. Sarna. The CIC is the highest appeal body under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The authority deals with grievances related to RTI requests, and has jurisdiction over all central public authorities.

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:
Recently, the Delhi High Court has ruled that Section 354A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) can be used by transgender persons to register complaints of sexual harassment. The Section 354A of the IPC deals with sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment. The development came after a transgender student’s complaint of sexual harassment was not entertained by the police. The Delhi University student wanted to lodge a complaint against male students who allegedly sexually harassed her on the college campus. According to the police, there was a lack of an appropriate penal section under which they could register such a complaint. In it, the HC bench also allowed the petitioner to maintain anonymity and directed that the cause title would read, Anamika versus Union of India & Ors. The bench also stated that the Supreme Court’s National Legal Services Authority of India (NALSA) judgment of 2014 was gender neutral.

Notes:
Vinod Kumar Yadav, the South Central Railway (SCR) general manager, has been appointed as Chairman of the Railway Board under the Ministry of Railways and ex-officio Principal Secretary to the Government of India. He succeeded Ashwani Lohani. Yadav led SCR to a creditable performance during his tenure as General Manager. The Zone recorded its best ever financial performance in the fiscal year 2017-18, grossing Rs 13,673 crore of originating earnings. SCR won the highest number of performance efficiency shields (six) among all Zones in 2017-18, thereby earning recognition with the highest honour, Pandit Gobind Vallabh Pant Shield for overall performance. Commencing his career on Indian Railways as Assistant Electrical Engineer in February 1982, he held several important executive and managerial positions in Indian Railways.

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:
On 2nd January 2019, the Union Cabinet approved the merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB). With the merger, BoB will become the third largest bank after State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. The move will help create a strong globally competitive bank with economies of scale and enable the realization of wide-ranging synergies, leveraging of networks and low-cost deposits and substantial rise in customer base and operational efficiency. The scheme will come into effect from 1st of April this year. The pay and allowances and services of the employees of all three banks will remain same as earlier. As per the Scheme of Amalgamation, the shareholders of Vijaya Bank will get 402 equity shares of BoB for every 1,000 shares held. In case of Dena Bank, its shareholders will get 110 shares for every 1,000 shares of BoB.

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 Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) hosted third edition of the National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) in New Delhi on January 4, 2019. The awards aim to recognize and honor outstanding young first-generation entrepreneurs and those who have contributed immensely in building the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Total of 43 awards will be presented this year. These include 39 awards for Young Entrepreneurs in different sectors and four awards for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builders. The winners will receive trophy, certificate and cash prizes ranging from Rs. 5 to 10 lakhs. There are special awards for women, persons with disability, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and entrepreneurs from areas with limited opportunities. The NEA is a platform focused on driving innovation, ushering in a positive change for youth in entrepreneurship across all the industries. The awards will inspire and promote growth of entrepreneurs in India.

Notes:
Hemant Bhargava, the senior-most MD at LIC, has been appointed acting Chairman of LIC. The move comes after VK Sharma retired from the top job at LIC on 31st December 2018. In order to select new chairman and one MD, selection process will be conducted by Banks Board Bureau (BBB) and 8 officials will be interviewed for both the posts on January 4 in Delhi. One MD post was vacant since Usha Sangwan retired on September 30. The top management of LIC consists of chairman and four MDs.

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.