Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

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:
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.

Notes:
As a part of the major Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project, which would connect the Kashmir valley with the Indian Railway network, a new railway bridge is to be constructed connecting Bakkal and Kauri. This bridge in the newly formed Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be the world’s highest railway bridge. The project is expected to be completed by December 2021.
The proposed bridge will be 1.315 km long and will be built 359 m above the river bed. Presently, the highest railway bridge in the world is the Beipan river Shuibai railway bridge of China.

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:
The ‘State Energy Efficiency Index 2019’ was developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in association with the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy. The index was prepared based on efforts and achievements of states towards implementation of energy efficiency.
Haryana, Karnataka and Kerala have topped this year’s index and are placed in the ‘Achievers’ category. On the basis of Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) required to meet the state’s actual energy demand, Karnataka, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry topped their groups.

Notes:
The famous Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal recently acquired the DHFL General Insurance company. He bought the company from the Wadhawan Group of companies for ₹100 crore.
The acquisition is done through the investment firm named ‘Navi technologies’, which was founded by Sachin Bansal along with his IIT batchmate, after quitting Flipkart. The microfinance arm of Navi Technologies, Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt. Ltd (CIFCPL), has recently applied for a universal banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India recently attended the 150th celebration of the historic Kolkata Port Trust. During the event, he announced that Kolkata Port Trust would be renamed to ‘Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Port’.
The Prime Minister also released a Commemorative Stamp to mark 150 years of the Kolkata port trust. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was the founder of Bharathiya Jana Sangh, following which the Bharathiya Janata Party was formed.

Notes:
During the recent Annual BCCI awards Ceremony, Indian ace cricketer Jasprit Bumrah was selected as the best male International cricketer and he was presented with the renowned ‘Polly Umrigar’ award. He also bagged the Dilip Sardesai award for highest wicket taker. In the 2018-19 season, Bumrah clinched 34 wickets in 6 matches.
Another Indian cricketer, Cheteshwar Pujara was presented with the Dilip Sardesai award for highest run getter while the awards for the best international debut were given to Mayank Agarwal and Shafali Verma in men’s and women’s category respectively.

Notes:
Senior IPS Officer A.P. Maheshwari has been appointed as the new Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The previous DG of CRPF, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar retired last month and ITBP Director General S.S. Deswal was given the additional charge in CRPF.
Maheshwari is a 1984-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, who is the Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Union Home Ministry at present, has been appointed as the new Director General up to 28 February, 2021.

Notes:
‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ is an annual joint exercise between the Coast Guards of India and Japan. The 19th edition of the exercise is scheduled to begin in Chennai, India. Recently, the Coast Guard Ship of Japan, ‘Echigo’ arrived in Chennai on a goodwill visit, for participating in the annual joint exercise.
The exercise has been organised between the Indian and the Japanese Coast Guards for 18 years since 2000. Four Indian Coast Guard ships and a vessel from the National Institute of Ocean Technology are participating in the exercise.