Current Affairs - 2019-20

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Ram Shankar Katheria, a BJP MP from Agra, has been appointed as the new chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) for a period of three years. The post has been lying vacant since the retirement of the previous chairman PL Poonia in 2016. Beside this, L. Murugan has appointed as Vice-Chairman of the NCSC and K. Ramulu, Dr. Yogendra Paswan and Dr. Swaraj Vidwan as its Members. The commission is a constitutional body to safeguard interests of the dalits.

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S Ganesh Kumar has been appointed the new Executive Director (ED) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He succeeded Chandan Sinha, who has taken voluntary retirement on May 31, 2017. As Executive Director (ED), Kumar will look after the departments of Information Technology, Payment and Settlement Systems and External Investments and Operations. Prior to being promoted as ED, he was Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Information Technology. Currently, the central bank has 11 Executive Directors.

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AirAsia is a low-cost airline based in Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia by fleet size and destinations, and it has a significant presence in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Australia. AirAsia was founded in 1993 and began operations in 1996. The airline is known for its low-cost business model and its frequent flyer program, AirAsia BIG. AirAsia has been awarded numerous accolades, including being named the “World’s Best Low-Cost Airline” by Skytrax for 10 consecutive years from 2009 to 2018.

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According to Mercer’s 20th annual Quality of Living survey 2018, Vienna has topped the ranking among 231 cities for the 9th consecutive year. It is followed by Switzerland’s Zurich, while New Zealand’s Auckland and Germany’s Munich tied for third place. In the 2018 survey, Hyderabad and Pune have been jointly ranked at 142, making the best Indian cities to live in. They were closely followed by Bengaluru (149), Chennai (151), Mumbai, (154), Kolkata (160), with New Delhi (162) taking the last spot as it continues to battle rising traffic congestion and air pollution. The quality of living survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based upon internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries.

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NTPC Ltd. is on course to implementing the country's largest 1 GW solar park at Kadiri in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Phase-I of the project has been completed by Tata Solar (100 MW), Sterling and Wilson (50 MW), BHEL (50MW) and Lanco (50 MW) and is generating power upto 250 MW. The balance 750 MW is expected to be completed over the course next fiscal by year 2018.

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Hyderabad-based ICRISAT, or International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, has recently launched molecular breeding project for pulses.

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The member states of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Armenia.
Moldova has been granted the Observer Status in April 2017.

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Frankixalus jerdonii a species of frog which was said to extinct 150 years back was recently rediscovered in West Bengal state of India.

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Claressa Shields is a professional American boxer. She has the IBF and WBA Middleweight titles. Who is the 2018 International Boxing Federation’s Heavyweight Champion male?

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Amaury Pierron has won the Downhill World cup for men in 2018. He is a French Cyclist.