Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

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:
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:
C. H. Lokanath (91), a noted Indian Kannada language veteran stage and cine artist, has passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka on 31st December 2018. He had acted in more than 1000 plays and 650 films. He is affectionately addressed as “Uncle Lokanath” or “Uppinakayi” by the industry people. Some of his noted characters he has played are: Galileo in “Galileo”, Rajaram in “Aspota”, Dr. Faustus in “Dr. Faustus”, Dushtabudhi in “Chandrahasa” and many such plays. His most famous films include “Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu”, “Collegu Ranga”, “Hosa Neeru” and Mane Mane Kathe. He has even acted in several episodes of Malgudi Days.

Notes:
On 2 January 2019, President Arif Alvi appointed Justice Asif Saeed Khosa as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). Khosa will succeed Mian Saqib Nisar on 18th January and will remain at seat till December 20, 2019. The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) is the head of the court system of Pakistan (the judicature branch of government) and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is responsible for supervising federal judicial policies, and conducting judicial business in the Supreme Court.

Notes:
Indian mountaineer Dr. Arunima Sinha has become the world’s first female Amputee to scale Antarctica’s Highest Peak – Mount Vinson on 4th January 2019. Apart from this, she was also the world’s first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest in 2013. Sinha was a national level volleyball player who was pushed from a running train by some robbers in 2011 while she was resisting them. As a result, one of her legs had to be amputated below the knee. Now, her aim is to climb all the continents’ highest peaks and hoist the National Flag of India. She has already scaled five peaks — Mt Everest, Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Ebrus, Mt Kosciuszko and Mt Aconcagua.

Notes:
Lady Head constable Rani of 5th Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) of Himachal Pradesh Police won a Gold medal in 78 kg category in the Senior National Women’s Judo Championship at Visakhapatnam on January 7, 2019. Rani was also declared the best Judoka at the Championship.

Notes:
In Maharashtra, the 2nd edition of Khelo India Youth Games 2019 will be held in Pune, known as the city of students on January 9. It has already been announced that Youth Olympic Gold Medallist in shooting Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhari, as well as weight lifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga will be among the cream of India’s youth sporting talent competing at these games.Three 10-year-old athletes including footballer Pratima Kumar from Jharkhand, hockey player Laltlanchhungi from Mizoram and West Bengal’s 10m air rifle shooter Abhinav Shaw, will pick up their first experience of competing in a large-scale multi-discipline event.

Notes:
On 8th January 2019, the 4th edition of the Raisina Dialogue started in New Delhi with theme “A World Reorder: New Geometries; Fluid Partnerships; Uncertain Outcomes”. The 3-day Raisina Dialogue is India’s flagship annual geopolitical and geostrategic conference. The Dialogue brought together over 600 delegates from 93 countries, including influential political leaders, strategic thinkers, policy practitioners, technology innovators, business representatives and academics on a common platform where they will offer their vision and propose solutions that will serve all in the decades ahead. The discussions will seek to address issues arising from ongoing global transitions and changes to the world order, triggered by unique leaders, innovative partnerships and new technologies.

Notes:
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has introduced a 70-point grading index to assess the quality of school education offered by states. Here, the states will be marked out of 1,000 scores on 70 parameters to assess quality of education. The move will reportedly provide a correct picture of each state’s performance. The minister has also ensured that there will be fair competition to improve upon each other’s performances. The school curriculum will also be reviewed to ensure holistic education in which there will be time for physical education, value education, life skill education and experiential learning

Notes:
On January 8, the Lok Sabha has passed the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 that seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It will pave way for the religious minorities –the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis — from these countries to get Indian citizenship. According to Union Home Ministry, the purpose of the bill is to provide Indian citizenship to those who had been forced to seek shelter in India because of religious persecution or fear of persecution in their home countries. The Bill provides for Indian citizenship to such immigrants after six years of residence in India instead of 12 years currently. The bill will apply to all States and Union Territories of the country and the beneficiaries of Citizenship Amendment Bill will be able to reside in any state of the country. Hence, the Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 to make illegal immigrants from these countries eligible for Indian citizenship. The bill will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha for discussion.