Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The Union Minister for Home Affairs had recently visited Sashastra Seem Bal Headquarters in New Delhi. He reviewed the functioning of the SSB during this visit. The deployment, operational achievements and concerns were reviewed. SSB, one of the Central Armed Police Forces, was known as Special Service Bureau prior to 2001.

Notes:
According to the central government’s cleanliness survey, Indore is declared to be the cleanest city in India for the fourth time in a row. Kolkata is designated as the worst performer. It the category of cities having population more than 10 lakh, Bhopal stood second in the first quarter of the result and Rajkot got the second spot in the second quarter of the results.

Notes:
Eighty years after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression treaty dividing Europe into spheres of influence, Russia has put the original Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and its secret protocol into the public. Alongside the pact, 1938 Munich Agreement and other documents related to the occupation of Czechoslovakia until the outbreak of Second World War was also displayed to state that the west sought to redirect Nazi Germany’s aggression towards Moscow.

Notes:
The US Congress has demanded the Department of energy to investigate the concrete dome full of nuclear wastes due to the threat posed by the rising sea levels in the Marshall Islands. The Runit Dome holds tonnes of radioactive wastes from dozens of US atomic bomb tests that were carried out during the Cold War.

Notes:
Asiatic Lions are listed as an endangered species by the IUCN. They are currently confined to the Gir National Park. These lions are one among the 5 Pantherine cats living in India. Other Pantherine cats include Bengal Tiger, Snow Leopard, Indian Leopard and Clouded Leopard.

Notes:
The Prime Minister is expected to present the Krishi Karman awards during a function in Karnataka, to 21 states, for their excellent performance in agriculture production. The Krishi Karman award was instituted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare in the year 2010-2011 to recognise the efforts of states in food grain production. Awards are given on the basis of highest total food grain production and highest individual food grain crop production.

Notes:
The leading Carnatic vocalist S.Sowmya was selected for the ‘Sangita Kalanithi’ award instituted by the Music Academy and recently received the award. Sowmya, a recipient of various awards and titles in her music career, is a visiting faculty at the Madras Advanced School of Carnatic Music, run by the Music Academy. She also serves as the member of the Academic Council of the Tamil Nadu Music and Fine Arts University.

Notes:
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet recently approved the re-appointment of Umesh Sinha as the Deputy Election Commissioner of India on a contract basis. The appointment is made for one year from January 1, 2020 up to December 31, 2020. Umesh Sinha was a 1986 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer, who was about to attain his age of superannuation. He has earlier served as the Chief Election Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh.

Notes:
According to the recent data from the Ministry of Forest Environment and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the total number of tiger deaths was under 100 after three years. In the year 2019, 95 tigers were dead in total, among them 84 tigers were actually dead and 11 of them were presumed dead by identifying their body parts. In the previous year 2018, there were 100 deaths of tigers in total and in 2017, the count was 115.

Notes:
The National Traders Convention was recently inaugurated by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. The three-day event is organised by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and it will highlight the issues faced by the traders.
On the second day, The Union Finance Minister participated in the event and addressed the traders. She assured that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) would be further simplified. Recently Government constituted a committee under the Revenue Secretary for rationalising the GST tax structure.