Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the country’s first of its kind special exhibition on ‘Indian Heritage in Digital Space’ and a two-day-long first international heritage symposium in New Delhi.
The exhibition was organised in association with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and it will be made open to the general public for one month. Digital installations of Indian monuments were showcased, which were created under the Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) have recently launched the Cyber Security Grand Challenge.
It is an initiative to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the start-up arena of Cyber-Security. Participants will compete in teams at three stages namely Idea, Minimal Viable Product and Final Product Building, to create solutions around six defined areas including Microservices, IoT, Biometrics etc. The award will include a cash prize of Rs.3.2 Crore as the top three teams will be presented with a total cash prize of Rs.2 Crore.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik recently launched a state-wide helpline for labourers called e-Shramik Samadhan. He also announced that a State Corpus Fund of Rs. 500 crores has been created, so that payment given under the MGNREGA scheme will be on time.
The Chief Minister also announced that employment under MGNREGA will be extended for 200 days a year, in 20 vulnerable blocks of the state. He said that a Central data base will be created to track the migrant workers in the state and ensure that all welfare schemes reach them.

Notes:
The People’s Congress of Tibet recently passed a law that makes ethnic unity in the region mandatory. The regulations, which are meant to strengthen the ethnic unity are expected to come into effect from May 1st, 2020.
The new law stated that it is the common responsibility of the people of all ethnic groups to safeguard reunification of the country and strive hard against separatism. There are more than 40 ethnic minorities in the region, which constitute nearly 95 per cent of the population of Tibet. This decision is expected to improve the socio-economic development of the country.

Notes:
The construction project of the Z-Morh Tunnel, to be built in in Jammu and Kashmir has been awarded to APCO Amarnathji Tunnelway. An MoU was recently inked between National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) and the company in this regard, in the presence of Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
The project entails a cost of Rs. 2,379 crores and it would provide road connectivity to the tourist spot Sonamarg, in Jammu & Kashmir. The tourist destination mostly remains closed due to heavy snowfall.

Notes:
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently released its ‘Global Investment Trend Monitor report’ and listed the countries on the basis of receipts of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
As per the report, the United States was the largest recipient of FDI in 2019 with inflow of investments amounting to $251 billion. The second largest recipient was China at $140 billion in 2019. India was also among the top 10 FDI recipients in 2019, which attracted investments worth $49 billion. This is 16% higher than the previous year FDI inflow of the country. The report also stated that majority of India’s FDI inflow went to its service sector.

Notes:
As a part of the mid-term review of the Central and the state government departments by the Jal Shakti Ministry, Gujarat has been ranked first in meeting the efficiency targets, to provide piped drinking water connection to every household in next 5 years.
Delhi is among the worst performing states for the year 2019. The ranking which also listed seven Central departments placed the Survey of India in the first place followed by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH). The ranking has been done under the National Hydrology Project of the Ministry.

Notes:
The ninth Nation’s Cup Boxing Tournament was held in the city of Sombor, Serbia. India finished the tournament with an impressive haul of six medals, including four silver and two bronze.
Monika, Ritu Grewal, M Meena Kumari and Bhagyabati won silver medals for India, under the categories of 48 kg, 51 kg, 54 kg and 75 kg respectively. Though all the four Indians were qualified for and contested the final bout for gold, they settled for silver medals. Other Indian boxers, Pavitra and Basumatary Pwilao won a bronze medal each.

Notes:
The Head of the IT Industry at the World Economic Forum, Eric White announced that C. Vijayakumar, the President & CEO of HCL Technologies, would be the chairman of the World Economic Forum’s IT Governors community.
The announcement was made during the 50th annual meeting of WEF in Davos. The IT Governors community of WEF convenes CEOs of the world’s top Information Technology firms for tackling the issues in the field and solving them together. The community, under Vijayakumar will focus on the industry’s concerns including Talent re-skilling, Data governance and Security.

Notes:
The 123rd birth anniversary of the great Indian Leader, also called as Netaji, Subash Chandra Bose was recently celebrated. The day is celebrated as the National Day of Patriotism.
The Government of India has instituted an annual award known as the ‘Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar’ in the field of disaster management. The award is presented to recognise the work done by individuals and institutions in India in the disaster management field. The award is announced every year on 23rd January, which is the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.