Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Drosophila is an insect, which is also called as small fruit fly. It belongs to the species of flies and the family of Drosophilidae. This fruit fly serves as the model organism for biological research all over the world.
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) is to organise the fifth edition of the Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC5) in Pune. The five-day conference will commence from January 6, 2020.

Notes:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) recently directed the health and general insurance companies to offer a standard individual health insurance policy. The policy is named as ‘Arogya Sanjeevani policy’.
It will cover minimum health requirements of the insurers and would be offered from April 1, 2020. IRDAI also stipulated that there will be no exit age for the scheme, so that the insurance will be continued till the person’s last breath. The minimum and maximum age limit to enroll are 18 years and 65 years respectively. The sum assured will be between Rs.1 Lakh and Rs. 5 Lakhs.

Notes:
The fourth edition of the ‘Buxa Bird Festival’ was recently inaugurated in the Buxa National Park of West Bengal. It is a famous bird festival which is held at the National Park organised by the Forest Department of West Bengal.
Several bird watchers and bird lovers across the country have registered to take part in the festival, which will be held for four days. Many rare bird species such as the Great Horn-bill, the Greater spotted eagle and several migratory birds are expected to arrive in the national park during this season.

Notes:
The State Bank of India’s economic research department has lowered its projection for the GDP growth rate of India for FY 20 to 4.6%. Earlier it has projected the GDP rate to be 5%.
The research department also estimated that the GDP of India would be below 6% for two successive years. The CSO also recently estimated the GDP growth of FY20 to be 5%, in lines with the Reserve Bank of India. But the RBI projected 5.9 – 6.3% growth rate for the next fiscal.

Notes:
The Indian Railways has installed Artificial Intelligence based Facial Recognition Technology in Manmad and Bhusawal stations of Maharashtra and Bengaluru station of Karnataka. The PSU under the Railway Ministry, RailTel carries out the project to provide Video Surveillance System with facial recognition and video analytics.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) will subsequently link the output of this facial recognition system with their existing criminal database, so that identification of criminals at the Railway station would be made easier.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently released a report titled ‘National Strategy for Financial Inclusion’.
The report suggested that along with formal banking outlets, payment banks, small finance banks, cooperative banks and non-banking units like fair price shops should also practice digital banking. The Regulator directed the banks to increase the outlets in all villages and hilly areas by March 2020. The report also suggested to make the Public Credit Registry (PCR) fully functional by 2022.

Notes:
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet chaired by its Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently approved to build a new zoological garden in Gorakhpur. The zoo is to be named after the famous freedom fighter Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan, who was sentenced after the Kakori conspiracy, 1925.
The proposed 121-acre zoo is expected to improve the tourism sector of the state and provide employment opportunities. The Government also sanctioned Rs. 234 crores for the construction of the zoo.

Notes:
China recently added a significant bullet train to its Fuxing series of bullet trains. The recently added train is capable to ply with a speed up to 350 kilometres per hour. Another great feature of the train is it could run without a driver for operating the train.
The new train would connect the cities of Beijing and Zhangjiakou and is expected to be deployed during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Each seat of the train is furnished with a touch screen and a wireless charging port. The train also features 5G connectivity and removable seats to assist Paralympians.

Notes:
The Australian Government recently announced that it could place ‘Koala’ in the endangered species category. This announcement is made after the devastating bush fires witnessed by Australia, which killed nearly 25 people and nearly 1.25 billion animals.
Koalas of northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland are being observed by the Scientific committee. Another species called ‘Wallaby’ is also greatly affected. Recently the Government committed an emergency wild life recovery fund worth 50 million Australian Dollars.

Notes:
According to the second wetland bird count conducted by the officials of the Kaziranga National Park and avian specialists, ithe park recorded 96 species of wetland birds. This count is one of the highest among the other national parks with birdlife.
Kaziranga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is located in the state of Assam. It has the world’s largest population of Indian rhinoceros also called as the one-horned rhinoceros. Several migratory birds visit the park attracting many tourists.