Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The Union External Affairs Minister S. Jai Shankar recently launched the book titled ‘PAX SINICA: Implications for the Indian Dawn’ authored by Dr. Samir Saran. The book was co-authored by Akhil Deo. The book highlights the steps of China during the presidency of Xi Jinping and the key policy measures of China.
Dr Samir Saran is the President of the renowned Asian think tank, Observer Research Foundation. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s South Asia advisory board.

Notes:
The 23rd National Youth Festival is to be organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in Lucknow from January 12 to 16, 2020, in association with the Uttar Pradesh Government. The festival is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
Every year, the birthday of the famous Indian monk from Kolkata, Swami Vivekananda is celebrated as the National Youth day on January 12 and the week commencing from the day as the National Youth week. During the youth festival, several competitions are held for the youth and National Youth awards are also presented.

Notes:
The article 19 (1) (a) confers the right to freedom of speech and expression while the sub clause (g) of the article provides the right to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
Recently the Supreme Court of India declared that freedom of speech and expression and freedom to carry on a business through Internet also enjoys constitutional protection under the Article 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g). This landmark judgement came at the backdrop of the five-month restriction on Internet imposed in the Jammu and Kashmir UT.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India recently attended the 150th celebration of the historic Kolkata Port Trust. During the event, he announced that Kolkata Port Trust would be renamed to ‘Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Port’.
The Prime Minister also released a Commemorative Stamp to mark 150 years of the Kolkata port trust. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was the founder of Bharathiya Jana Sangh, following which the Bharathiya Janata Party was formed.

Notes:
The World Future Energy Summit recently began in Abu Dhabi. The summit is the largest future energy and sustainability event of the Middle East Region, which is held annually at the National Exhibition Centre of Abu Dhabi.
The theme for the 2020 edition of the summit is “Rethinking Global Consumption, Production, and Investment”. The event is to be held for four days and several thousand participants and exhibitors from across the world are expected to take part in it. The Climate Innovations Exchange and the Future Sustainability Summit are also organised along with this event.

Notes:
‘Saksham’ is an annual one-month- long campaign organised by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), which functions under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. PCRA works to promote energy efficiency and conservation across various sectors of the country.
The ‘Saksham’ campaign is to be launched by the Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan in an event to be held in Delhi. PCRA has been creating various awareness programmes for the general public about the need for fuel conservation and provides tips for saving fuel.

Notes:
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet recently approved implementation of the commissioner system of policing for its two cities, Lucknow and Noida. The system will give magisterial powers to the top police officers.
After the announcement, IPS officers Sujit Pandey and Alok Singh were named as the commissioners of Lucknow and Noida respectively. A woman police officer of the superintendent-rank has been posted in both Lucknow and Noida to deal with the cases of crime against women. The state cabinet also approved to set up two new police stations in Noida.

Notes:
In key move to promote development and improve the key infrastructure of the newly constituted Union Territory of Ladakh, an MoU has been signed between NITI Aayog and the UT of Ladakh, recently. By this MoU, NITI Aayog would support the UT’s administration through its initiative named D3S-i (i.e) ‘Development Support Services to States for Infrastructure Projects’.
The MoU has a focus on identification of priority projects and to ensure their faster implementation. A team of professionals is expected to be stationed at Ladakh for identification and development of tourism and infrastructure projects in the UT.

Notes:
The Founder and Chairperson of the famous Bio-technology company Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was recently honoured with the Australia’s highest civilian honour, ‘Order of Australia’.
The award was presented to her for significant service to promote bilateral relationship between Australia and India, especially in commercial and educational aspects. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the fourth Indian citizen to receive this honour after Mother Teresa, former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee and ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

Notes:
The Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), the scheme of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare was recently renamed as the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP).
The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare recently intimated the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories about the change of name. In 2018, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi announced 2025 as the target year for eliminating Tuberculosis form India, 5 years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goal. On account of the target, the programme was renamed to NTEP.