Current Affairs - 2019-20

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Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for merger of State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Patiala (SBP), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT), and State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) with the parent, State Bank of India. This merger will create a banking giant, having 1/4 of market share in India’s banking sector (in terms of loans and deposits), with an asset base of about Rs 40 lakh crore from Rs 23 lakh crore.

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The Indian Railways has recently launched a virtual server “RailCloud” with an inbuilt security system to optimise server usage and faster connectivity. The technology is developed by rail PSU RailTel at an estimated cost of approx Rs 53 crore. The RailCloud technology enables maximising the usage of available server and storage resulting in accommodation of bigger data and more applications within same server space. It will cover all management related to various services like human resources, health and hospital, signal assets, freight and logistics and energy among others. Beside this, the first IT application on RailCloud “Nivaran-Grievance Portal” was also launched. Nivaran is a platform for resolution of service-related grievances of serving and former railway employees.

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Under the Part XXI of the Constitution of India, which deals with “Temporary, Transitional and Special provisions”, Article 370 is a temporary provision granting special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir. However, all sections of article 370 except article 370(1) have been abrogated in 2019.

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The Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), the research arm of Union Ministry of Railways, has launched “New Online Vender Registration System” on January 9, 2018. This new system provides major improvements and paradigm changes in the registration system over the earlier system. Public access to the information, expeditious process completion with defined timelines, simplification of procedures, round-the-year services, availability of all related information on RDSO Website, constant monitoring at all levels, reduction in cycle timelines, regular updation of online data, user friendly interface etc. are the hallmarks of the new system. And also, there is no need for vendors to visit RDSO office for any activity related to his case for registration.

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The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority group that are native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. The Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim and are culturally affiliated with Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs have been protesting against the increasing settlements of Han Chinese in the Xinjiang province.  The Chinese government has committed human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities. China’s counterterrorism efforts focus on the mostly Muslim ethnic Uighur population in the western Xinjiang region.  According to the 2020 census, the total population of Xinjiang was 25.85 million. The Han ethnic group numbered 10.92 million, and ethnic minorities numbered 14.93 million.

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Cluster of Differentiation 36 (CD36) recombinant human protein is supplied as a lyophilized powder. This protein is suitable for use in analysis of protein structure the study of protein-protein interactions, and cell biology research applications.

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Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm is a joint venture between India and Sri Lanka.

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Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India's first international exchange India INX at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat International Financial Tech City located in Gandhinagar. India International Exchange (INX) is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

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The 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Marrakesh, Morocco from 7 to 18 November 2016. It is the 22nd conference of the parties (COP22) to be held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The next conference or COP-23 is scheduled to be held on 6–17 November 2017 in Bonn, Germany.

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Express Wi-Fi is an initiative of Facebook in India. It is live in India and it empowers local entrepreneurs to help provide quality Internet access to their neighbours and make a steady income with the help of internet service providers and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world.