Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The Union Sports Minister recently released the schedule of the 1st edition of ‘Khelo India University Games 2020’. The event is to be conducted in Bhubaneswar from February 21 to March 1, 2020.
Students from various universities across the country will take part in the event in 17 different sports. The logo and the jersey of the players were also released by the Sports Minister along the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik.

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 Government of Puerto Rico recently declared a state of emergency, after it was hit by a deadly earthquake. The 6.4 magnitude quake was the strongest and the most devastating earthquake, the country has ever had for hundred years.
Puerto Rico is a group of islands located in the Caribbean Sea. It is one of the unincorporated territories of the United States. The capital city and the largest city of the country is San Juan.

Notes:
The National Traders Convention was recently inaugurated by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. The three-day event is organised by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and it will highlight the issues faced by the traders.
On the second day, The Union Finance Minister participated in the event and addressed the traders. She assured that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) would be further simplified. Recently Government constituted a committee under the Revenue Secretary for rationalising the GST tax structure.

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:
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:
Eminent social worker, Dr. Gutta Muniratnam was chosen as the first recipient of ‘Muppavarapu National Award for Social Service’’. The announcement was made during the 10th Anniversary celebration of the foundation. The award was instituted by the Swarna Bharat Trust.
Dr. Gutta Muniratnam is a former member of the National Planning Commission of India and the founder of an NGO named ‘Rashtriya Seva Samithi’ serving the villages of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. G. Muniratnam is also a Padma Shri awardee.

Notes:
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released a chart of world’s fastest growing cities based on the data provided by the United Nation’s Population Division. Malappuram, a city of Northern Kerala topped the list. Two other cities of Kerala, Kozhikode and Kollam were ranked 4th and 10th respectively.
As per the report, Malappuram has recorded 44% rise in population between 2015 and 2020. In the report, three Kerala cities were in the top 10 list while six Indian cities were placed in the top 30 list.

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:
The Department of Cane Development of the state government of Uttar Pradesh has recently started an awareness campaign for the farmers to protect their sugarcane crop from locusts.
During the month end of December 2019, a huge swarm of locusts destroyed more than 25000 hectares of crop lands in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Several thousand litres of pesticides were used by the state governments to kill the locusts. Gujarat recently announced Rs.18500 per hectare as relief assistance for the affected farmers.