Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

Notes:
India has been ranked at 54th position in the list of world’s most innovative countries, according to Bloomberg 2019 Innovative Index. It is for the first time that India has made it to the rankings. South Korea has topped the Index for the sixth time in a row with a total score of 87.38, followed by Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore, Sweden, U.S., Japan and France in the top 10. The annual Bloomberg Innovation Index (BII) analyses dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies. In the 2019 Index, India is among the new entrants from the world’s largest emerging economies with a total score of 47.93. Barring India, other nations include Mexico, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia also made a surprise entry. Bloomberg has published top 60 economies out of 95 economies analyzed for the ranking process for the year 2019. Each economy has been assigned a score from 0-100 on the basis of seven equal-weighted metrics.

Notes:
Bhanu Prakash Singh (90), the former Union minister, ex-Goa Governor and head of the Narsinghgarh royal family, has passed away in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on January 24, 2019. He was elected as an MP from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat in 1962 as an independent candidate. Singh later became close to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and joined the Congress in 1964. He became a minister in her cabinet. However, when Indira Gandhi abolished privy purses, Singh revolted and resigned from the Congress. In 1991, he became the Governor of Goa.

Notes:
Russell Baker (93), the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author , has passed away in Virginia, United States on January 21, 2019. He was the genial, but sharp-witted writer for his humorous columns in The New York Times and a moving autobiography of his impoverished Baltimore childhood and later hosted television’s ‘Masterpiece Theatre’. He won Pulitzers in 1979 for the ‘Observer’, the Times column he wrote for 35 years, and in 1983 for his autobiography ‘Growing Up’. It was the first Pulitzer for commentary awarded to a humorist.

Notes:
Kartik Sharma from India has won the New South Wales men’s Amateur Golf Championship in Australia. Kartik notched up a magnificent win over Australia’s Nathan Barberie in the scheduled 36-hole final to emerge as champion. Kartik has been playing for India since the age of 10 as part of the National Squad. He had been selected to represent Indian Golf Union for three events in Australia.

Notes:
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated Atal Setu — the third Cable bridge across river Mandovi in Panaji, Goa. The new bride is four-lane and 5.1Km long, and is expected to overcome the bottlenecks and curb traffic jams at Panaji Circle and Panaji entrance. It is constructed by the GIDC (Goa Infrastructure Development Corporation) and engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro. This is the third bridge across Mandovi River. It is named as ATAL SETU in memory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpeyee.

Notes:
Narthaki Nataraj, a renowned dancer from Tamil Nadu, has become the first Indian transgender to be honoured with Padma Shri, the third highest civilian award of India. She is a Bharatanatyam exponent and specialises in the Thanjavur-based Nayaki Bhava tradition. Born in the temple town of Madurai, Nataraj learned the art under Tanjore Shri K P Kittappa Pillai and gave her on advances to the Tanjore Quartet of Bharatanatyam (Nayaki Bhava tradition) through a dance school she established.

Notes:
Insurance regulator IRDAI has constituted a committee that will not only facilitate in identifying the Systemically Important Insurers (SIIs), but also recommend enhanced supervision measures for them. The committee headed by IRDAI member (finance and investment) Pravin Kutumbe will submit its report within six months. The committee would study the methodology followed by International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) for identification of SIIs and those followed by other financial regulators, particularly by RBI for identification of SIFIs. As per the terms of reference, the panel has also to develop a paper on assessment methodology for SIIs in India and recommend enhanced supervision for them.

Notes:
As per latest report of the World Steel Association (WSA), China is the largest producer of crude steel accounting for more than 51% of production. While, India has replaced Japan as world’s second largest steel producing country. The crude steel production of India in 2018 was at 106.5 MT. It went up by 4.9% from 101.5 MT in 2017. Japan produced 104.3 MT in 2018, down 0.3% compared to 2017. Global crude steel production reached 1,808.6 MT for the year 2018 from 1,729.8 MT in 2017, a rise of 4.6%. The WSA is the international trade body for the iron and steel industry. Its members represent around 85% of the world’s steel production, including over 160 steel producers with 9 of the 10 largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes.

Notes:
The 3rd International Stock Taking Conference on Tiger Conservation was held in New Delhi on January 28, 2019. The 2-day conference was hosted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in close collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum (GTA) which is an International, Intergovernmental Organization for conserving tigers in the world. In it, the 13 tiger range countries discussed on the status of the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) besides deliberations on combating wildlife trafficking. This is the second stock taking conference held in India after 2012. The major outcome of the Conference is expected to be course correction in strategies envisaged in Global and National Tiger Recovery Programs (GTRP/NTRP) which shall take tiger conservation forward to the intended goal as outlined in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Notes:
India received the Award of Excellence for ‘Best in Show’ at the recently concluded New York Times Travel Show (NYTTS-2019). It is the largest travel show in North America which is held from 25th – 27th January at the Jacob K Javits Centre in New York, United States. The Ministry of Tourism (Government of India) participated as the ‘ Presenting Partner’ in the NYTTS 2019 with a view to scale up its tourism promotional efforts in the US, enhance India’s visibility and to increase its share of US Outbound travel market. A high-level delegation led by Tourism Ministry Secretary Yogendra Tripathi and a number of stakeholders from India’s tourism industry participated in the Show.