Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently signed an MoU with National Institute of Technology (NITK), Suratkal located in Karnataka, to set up its regional academic centre for space research at the institution. The academic centre would jointly participate in research and development in emerging space technologies. ISRO would also provide an annual financial support of Rs. 2 Crore to the centre for the research projects.

Notes:
The ace Indian all-rounder and bowler famous for his swings, Irfan Pathan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket recently. Irfan made his debut in 2003 when he was only 19 years old. In his professional cricket career spanning 16 years, he made several records including the hat-trick wicket in the first over of the test match. Irfan was also a part of the winning team of the 2007 T20 World cup.

Notes:
ArogyaSri Scheme is the flagship scheme of Andhra Pradesh Government is an initiative to provide free medical treatment to the poor. Named as Dr. YSR ArogyaSri scheme, the scheme is available to people with annual income up to Rs. 5 Lakhs. The people will be given cards with QR codes and they can use it for availing treatment above Rs.1000. Under the scheme, several super-speciality hospitals are to be included in the network and various medicines are to be made available in the state government run hospitals.

Notes:
The movie titled ‘1917’ bagged the ‘Best Motion picture- drama’ in the recently released Golden Globe awards 2020. The movie was released in December 2019 and was co-written and directed by Sam Mendes, who also won the ‘Best Director’ award in the ceremony. The film is based on the World War I in 1917 and two British soldiers in the war. George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman featured in the film in the lead roles.

Notes:
Academy award winning American actress Renee Zellweger won the ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama’ award in the Golden Globe awards 2020. With this year’s award, Zellweger has been presented with the coveted Golden Globe awards for the fourth time. In the biopic film ‘Judy’, she had played the critically acclaimed role of Judy Garland. She had earlier won the Academy award for best supporting actress for her role in the movie titled ‘Cold Mountain’.

Notes:
Former Governor of Karnataka and Padma Vibushan awardee T.N. Chaturvedi passed away recently. He served the State from 2002 to 2007 as its14th Governor. Chaturvedi was an Indian Administrative Service Officer and a Member of the Rajya Sabha. He also served as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The Chief Minister of Karnataka, Yediyurappa paid condolences to the former Governor.

Notes:
The 12th edition of the ‘Naseem-Al-Bahr’ bilateral exercise between the navies of India and Oman is to be held in Goa. The exercise is held once in every two years between Indian Navy and the Royal Navy of Oman since 1993.The previous edition of the exercise was held in December 2017 in Muscat, Oman.
Recently, two naval ships of the Oman Navy arrived in Goa, while the Indian Navy ships Beas and Subhadra will participate in the exercise.

Notes:
Khurana shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that showed the order of nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell and control the cell’s synthesis of proteins. In 1972, he also created the first ever artificial gene.

Notes:
Niti Aayog and Indian Railways have recently released a discussion paper for running 150 trains on 100 routes by private operators. The plan envisages a total investment of Rs. 22500 crore. The discussion paper titled ‘Private Participation: Passenger Trains’ has identified 100 routes, including Mumbai Central-New Delhi, New Delhi- Patna, Allahabad-Pune and Dadar-Vadodara.

Notes:
India levies license fees of 8% of adjusted gross revenues (AGR) from every telecom license holder. The SC on October 24 defined AGR as all revenues of a license holder, and not just revenues from telecom services. Apart from dealing a body blow to telcos, the order also made non-telecom companies holding licenses for internal communications and signaling liable to pay license fees on their entire revenue, even when they do not offer any telecom services.