Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Uttarakhand is preparing for its maiden snow leopards survey after the winter is over. Experts estimate that there are over 80 snow leopards in Uttarakhand. However, a census of this cat has not yet been conducted.

Notes:
Government of National Accord and Turkey had recently inked military and maritime agreement. It is feared by many that it may escalate the war in Libya. The conflict was initiated in 2011 when the NATO-backed uprising had toppled and killed the Libyan dictator.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Britain, Borris Johnson recently announced to increase the minimum wage of the workers by more than four times the rate of the inflation prevailing in UK. For the workers of age more than twenty-five, an increase of 6.2 % is to be provided so that the national living wage of 8.21 pounds would rise to 8.72 pounds. This decision, being the biggest increase since 2016, is taken at the back drop of economic uncertainty existing in the county.

Notes:
SPARMVs refer to Self Propelled Accident Relief Medical Vans which are vehicles to provide relief during Railway accidents and disasters. Indian Railways is gradually replacing locomotive hauled Accident Relief Medical Vans (ARMVs) with Self Propelled Accident Relief Medical Vans (SPARMVs) to improve response during disaster. Another kind of vehicles, which Railways proposes to include are high speed Self Propelled Accident Relief Trains (HS-SPARTs) with speed of 160 kmph. Railways will soon procure them.

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:
Veteran Theatre artist and Social Activist of Assam, Ratna Ojha passed away at Guwahati. He played an instrumental role in reviving the theatre play movement of the state. He had also actively participated and addressed demonstrations in several social issues of the country including those against Citizenship amendment act. For his great contribution towards the theatre art, he was honoured with the ‘Natasurya Award’ by the Assam Government.

Notes:
The State Government of Odisha recently launched the e-Gazette portal, to release all gazette publications of the state in digital format. This scheme is launched a s part of the ‘5T initiatives’ of the Odisha Government. After the launch of the portal, the gazette notifications will be published online saving paper and cost of transportation. All the departments of the state will be asked to upload their data in the portal, which will be monitored and verified by digital signatures.

Notes:
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet recently approved the reappointment of Abhinav Kumar, IPS as the Inspector General (IG) of Border Security Force (BSF) and extended his tenure up to July 2021, following the proposal by the Home affairs ministry. The extension was made by relaxing the tenure policy of Indian Police Service. Border Security Force is the national border defence force and also the largest border defence force in the world.

Notes:
India’s first rehabilitation centre for freshwater turtles will be inaugurated in the Bhagalpur forest division of Bihar. The centre, which is to be open soon can accommodate 500 turtles at a time. The forest division is near to the river Ganga, which makes it a perfect breeding area for freshwater turtles. The turtles are abducted and hurt by smugglers will be rescued by the team of the rehabilitation centre and will be provided proper treatment.

Notes:
The domestic lighting scheme of Central Government, Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and LED Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) completed five years since they were launched. Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture of the Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) companies under the Power Ministry is the implementing agency of the schemes. Under the UJALA scheme, more than 36 Crore LED bulbs have been distributed.