Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
About 1.46 crore voters (80.55 lakh males + 66.35 lakh females) will have a chance to vote in the Delhi assembly elections on February 8. The results will be declared on February 11. Delhi Legislative Assembly has 70 seats of which 67 seats were won by AAP in last elections.

Notes:
India has emerged winner in the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament for three times since it began in 2009. P.V. Sindhu won it in 2013 and 2016, and Saina Nehwal in 2017. This year, B. Sai Praneeth has been already knocked out.

Notes:
India has Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties with 42 countries and is signatory to various International Conventions for cooperation in criminal matters. The Home Ministry is the designated central authority for this. The recently revised guidelines have incorporated various legal and technological developments in recent years and aim to make documentation more compliant with international requirements. The revised guidelines provide step-by-step guidance to the investigation agencies for drafting and processing letters rogatory or mutual legal assistance requests and service of summons, notices and other judicial documents. The guidelines have taken into account the concerns raised by various courts for prompt and timely responses in service of documents to person residing abroad. These revised guidelines have provision for service of documents to authorities of foreign country preferably within ten days of receipt of request in respect of offences committed against women and children.

Notes:
As per statement of Lok Sabha Speaker, India will mark 75th anniversary of the country in 2022 and in same year parliament session will be held in the new building. The existing Parliament House Building has completed 92 glorious years after it was made functional in 1927.

Notes:
The World Bank has recently released its ‘January 2020 Global Economic Prospects report’. The GDP growth of India for FY20 is estimated to be 5%. The GDP growth for the year 2021-22 is also lowered to 5.8% in the report.
The credit instability of the weak Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) is cited to be the reason for the downgrade. Recently the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Statistical Office of the country also lowered the growth rate to 5% for this fiscal year.

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 ruler of Oman and one of the longest serving rulers in the Middle East countries, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said recently passed away. He was not keeping well for a long time and was undergoing medical treatment in Belgium last month.
After his demise, the former culture minister of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq was named as the successor of Sultan Qaboos. It is mandatory to name the successor of the vacant throne within three days, as per the constitution of Oman.

Notes:
Veteran Kannada Scholar and writer Chidananda Murthy, also nick named as Chi Mu passed away recently. He has authored several literary works in Kannada and also earned his Doctorate for his research on a Kannada poet.
He played a very crucial role in securing Classical language status to Kannada and in the campaign to protect ancient monuments in Hampi. As per Murthy’s demand, the Hyderabad Karnataka region was recently renamed as Kalyana Karnataka.

Notes:
Top professional golfer of Australia, Wade Ormsby recently clinched the Hong Kong Open title for the second time in last three years. Another ace golfer and British Open champion Shane Lowry finished the tour in the second place. The tournament was held in Hanling, Hong Kong.
Ormsby is a 39-year-old golfer, who had earlier won the Hong Kong Open title in 2017, which was his maiden European Tour victory. By this victory, Ormsby is only the second wire-to-wire winner of this tour.