Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Sanjay Gupta, the Chief Editor of the leading Hindi daily, ‘Jagran’ was recently honoured with the ‘Lokmanya Tilak National Journalism Award’. This award was instituted by the Pune based Kesari-Maratha Trust for recognising the contributions made by individuals in the field of journalism. The award will be presented at the event organised to commemorate the Foundation day of ‘Kesari’, the newspaper started by famous freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak.

Notes:
 As per the recent data of UNICEF, India recorded the highest number of child births on the New Year’s Day. Out of the 3, 92,078 babies born around the world on the day of New Year, 67,385 babies were born in India, which is the highest in the world. With 46,299 births, China is in the second place. UNICEF runs ‘ Every child alive’ campaign to ensure safe birth and pregnancy to every child and mother across the world.

Notes:
The second tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the world is recently unveiled at Ahmedabad, Gujarat by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani. This 50 feet tall bronze statue is the second tallest statue of Patel only after the ‘Statue of Unity’, located in the Narmada district of Gujarat. Ram Vanji Sutar, the famous sculptor and designer who designed the 182 feet tall statue of unity has also designed this statue.

Notes:
The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) launched a helpline for women called ‘Damini’, to improve the safety of women in public road transport. The helpline number subscribed for this scheme is ‘81142-77777’, which will have both calling and Whatsapp service. The helpline will be handled by women officers at the headquarters and zonal offices of UPSRTC, which will be operational from 9 am to 6 pm daily. This scheme is launched as a part of the Central Government initiative of ‘Nirbhaya Scheme’.

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 Manas National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a biosphere reserve is situated in Assam. Recently a one-horned rhinoceros of the national park named R3A gave birth to its calf. The R3A was also born in the same park to the elder rhino ‘Laisri’ in 2013.
The One-horned rhinoceros or the Indian rhinoceros is an endangered species and is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red list of threatened species. At present, the national park is home to 42 rhinos.

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 31st edition of the International Kite Festival was inaugurated in Ahmedabad by the Chief Minister of Gujarat and the Governor of the state. Ahmedabad has been the official host of the festival since 1989.
Several kite makers and enthusiasts all over the world will participate in the festival to display and fly their kite creations. The festival is organised as a part of the ‘Uttarayan’ celebrations of the state of Gujarat. The festival is expected to boost the tourism sector of the state.

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:
North East Gas Grid project is being implemented by IGGL, a Joint Venture company of five CPSEs (GAIL, IOCL, ONGC, OIL and NRL). The total length of the pipeline is planned to be 1,656 km and will be built at estimated cost of Rs. 9,265 crore (Including interest during construction). It will cover eight states of the North-Eastern region i.e., Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, MeghMizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.