Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Retired Indian Police Service Officer and Former Director General of CRPF, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar was recently appointed as the advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rajiv Rai retired from the Central Reserve Police Force in December 2019.He will serve as the third advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu. The other two advisors are retired IAS officer K K Sharma and retired IPS Officer Farooq Khan.

Notes:
The Central Statistical Office recently released the first advance estimates of the Gross Domestic Product of India for 2019-2020. The CSO forecasted the GDP growth rate of India to be 5 % in the current fiscal year.
The CSO had earlier estimated the GDP growth of the previous fiscal to be 6.8%. The reason for the decrease in the growth rate is cited to the slowdown in manufacturing sector. The Reserve Bank of India also estimated 5% as the GDP growth rate for this fiscal.

Notes:
The Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently announced that indigenous relay satellite series called the Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS) will be launched soon .
The IDRSS is a set of relay satellites that will continuously track the Indian satellites and exchange information with them. The first of the two proposed satellites will be launched by the end of 2020, before the unmanned space flight to be conducted preceding the Gaganyaan Mission. Such crucial missions can be continuously monitored by the new relay satellite series.

Notes:
Article 30 of the Indian Constitution confers the right on minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. This right is provided to all language and religious minorities.
The Article was recently in news because the Supreme Court of India held that the appointment of teachers in minority educational institutions can be regulated by the Government and it will not violate Article 30. As per the judgement, the institutions cannot have an absolute right on the appointment.

Notes:
To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a ten-day art exhibition was recently inaugurated in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The exhibition was named as ‘Gandhi @ 150 Art Exhibition’
The Indian High Commission in Bangladesh organised the exhibition in association with the national cultural centre of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. The art products of the Bangladesh artists created during the art camp and photographs of Gandhi were exhibited in the event.

Notes:
On January 8, 2020, Union Cabinet has approved promulgation of Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020. The Ordinance will amend Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation ) Act 1957 and Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015. The Ordinance will ease rules for auctioning of coal mines and to open up to all sectors. Government has also done away with end-use restrictions of the coal mining blocks.

Notes:
The Father of Green Revolution Dr M S Swaminathan is chosen as the recipient of ‘Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu National Award for Excellence’. This award is instituted by the Muppavarapu Foundation based at Hyderabad. Eminent Agricultural Scientist and plant geneticist, M.S. Swaminathan is awarded for his contributions towards the field of agriculture.
This award was presented during the 10th Anniversary Celebrations of Muppavarapu Foundation in Hyderabad by the Vice President of India, Venkiah Naidu.

Notes:
India’s leading digital payment company, Paytm has recently launched an all-in-one QR code for merchants. Using the QR code the businessmen can accept unlimited payments through Paytm Wallet, Rupay Cards and all UPI-based payment directly into their bank account.
The transactions are processed at zero percent fee using the code. The company also launched ‘Paytm Business Khata’ service. This will help the merchants to maintain ledgers of all transactions of their customers in the digital form.

Notes:
The apex body of India’s pulses and grains industry and trade, India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) will organise the 5th edition of the biennial global pulses conference, called ‘The Pulses Conclave 2020’ from February 12 to 14, 2020 at Lonavala, Pune in Maharashtra.The Association is based at Mumbai.
More than a thousand participants across the world are expected to attend the conference. This would help the people from pulses-producing nation to explore business opportunities in the field.

Notes:
The Paytm Payment Bank recently announced that it has issued three million FASTags so far and has become the largest issuer of FASTags in the country. The Common Service Centre (CSC) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Paytm Payment Bank Ltd (PPBL) for selling FASTags.
The users can recharge the FASTags provided by paytm directly from their paytm wallet without having the necessity of using another wallet or application. FASTag is an electronic toll collection system, which is based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.