Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Also known as “hook-lipped rhinoceros”, these species, though called “black” are in varying colours of brown and grey. They are found in South and East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Its IUCN status is critically endangered, though the South-Western status of the black rhinoceros is classified under vulnerable.

Notes:
Auckland in New Zealand has become the world’s first major city to celebrate the start of the 2020.  Australia and New Zealand were followed by Europe, the Middle East and Asia to welcome the year 2020. The firework display in Sydney, Australia was put up despite the ongoing bushfire crisis.  

Notes:
The Prime Minister is to visit Karnataka on January 2^nd and 3^rd. He will confer Krishi Karman Award to 21 states that have recorded good agriculture production in various categories during the previous crop seasons.

Notes:
The MANI app, which stands for Mobile Aided Note Identifier Application, was launched by the Reserve Bank of India. It helps the visually challenged people to identify the denomination of the currency. The mobile’s camera scans the currency note and identifies the denomination through audio output.

Notes:
Former Indian cricket team captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was selected as the captain of both the ESPNCricinfo’s ODI and T20 teams of the decade. The present skipper Virat Kohli was selected as the captain of ESPNCricinfo’s Test team of the decade, while he found place in all the three formats. Famous Indian batsman Rohit Sharma was included in the ODI team of the decade, while spinner R Ashwin found place in the test team. Bumrah was the only bowler to be placed in the T20 list.

Notes:
 Recently, Telengana Government organised an event to declare the year 2020 as the year of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the event, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed with several technological firms and institutions for development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research in the state. As per the partnerships, a Centre for Research in Applied Artificial Intelligence (CRiAA) and a Research & Development (R&D) park will be soon set up in Telengana.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has launched the Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map (I-STEM) portal during the Indian Science Congress at Bengaluru. All academic institutions with R&D facility and research labs across the country will list themselves in the portal, so that a live inventory about the research facilities available in India will be created. The researcher can apply online for the research facility after he/she maps it in the portal.

Notes:
The World Health Assembly has designated 2020 as ‘the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife’. According to the WHO, the world needs 18 million more health workers to achieve universal health coverage by the year 2030 and approximately 9 million health workers of the world are nurses and midwives. The World Health Assembly, which is the decision making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), holds the assembly at Geneva, Switzerland every year and it determines the policies of WHO.

Notes:
The Ramsar site – designated Bhitarkanika National Park is located in Odisha’s Kendrapara District. It is seen in news recently as the annual census of estuarine crocodiles was conducted in the national park. As per the census, there are 1,757 estuarine or salt water crocodiles in the park, 15 more than the previous year count. The national park is also a mangrove ecosystem and is home to several flora and fauna in addition to crocodiles.

Notes:
Automobile Major Hyundai recently unveiled an air electric taxi, developed in collaboration with Uber, in the Consumer Electronics Show 2020.
According to their partnership, Hyundai will develop and deploy vehicles and Uber will provide support service, ground transport connection and customer Interface. Uber is to launch urban commercial flights by 2023 and Hyundai is its first carmaker partner in the project.