Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently released the first in-depth review of India’s energy policies in collaboration with the Indian think tank NITI Aayog. The report was launched at the Head Quarters of NITI Aayog, New Delhi.
India was made as the association member of the Paris-based global energy organisation, International Energy Agency (IEA) on March 2017 and this is the first review after that. The report highlighted the growth of renewable energy sector in India, which is nearly 23% of the country’s total installed capacity now.

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 Global political risk consultancy, Eurasia Group recently released the list of ‘Top Risks 2020’ ranking the biggest geo-political risks of the world. In the list, India under the Modi Government is placed as the 5th biggest risk. Ian Bremmer and Cliff Kupchan of Eurasia name it as ‘India gets Modi-fied’
The group releases the ‘Top Risks’ list every year in the month of January. This year, the top three risks in the list are unstable US domestic politics under President Donald Trump, Separation of US and China in the technology sphere, and unfriendly US-China relations.

Notes:
Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles, Smriti Irani recently launched a scheme named ‘Yashaswini’ from Goa. It is a women empowerment scheme, which aims at supporting women Self Help Groups (SHGs) with interest free loans up to ₹5 lakh. The scheme will also help them to get guidance from experts.
During the event, the Minister also launched Swasthya Sakhi Project and a mobile breast cancer screening initiative, which will be carried out by Anganwadi workers to screen all women of Goa for breast cancer.

Notes:
China recently added a significant bullet train to its Fuxing series of bullet trains. The recently added train is capable to ply with a speed up to 350 kilometres per hour. Another great feature of the train is it could run without a driver for operating the train.
The new train would connect the cities of Beijing and Zhangjiakou and is expected to be deployed during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Each seat of the train is furnished with a touch screen and a wireless charging port. The train also features 5G connectivity and removable seats to assist Paralympians.

Notes:
India recently signed an MoU with Bangladesh for content exchange programme between All India Radio and the national broadcaster of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Betar in New Delhi.
An MoU was also signed between National Film Development Corporation, India and Film Development Corporation, Bangladesh in the presence of Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and his Bangladesh counterpart. A biopic on the life of the great leader of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman jointly produced by the countries, will be released in March 2020.

Notes:
The Road Safety Stakeholders’ Meet was recently organised in New Delhi. During the event, the Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh addressed the participants and presented the ‘Best performing state in reducing road accidents’ award to the state of Tamil Nadu.
The Union Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has also announced that World Bank and Asian Development Bank have approved seven thousand crore rupees each, for India, to enhance road safety.

Notes:
The Indian Government constituted the Island Development Agency (IDA) in 2017 for the overall development of islands. The meetings of IDA are chaired by the Union Home Minister.
Recently, the Union home minister Amit Shah chaired the sixth meeting of the Island Development Agency (IDA). In the meeting, IDA reviewed the progress made towards the programme “Holistic development of islands”. During the meeting, the CEO of NITI Aayog made a detailed presentation about the projects planned for the welfare of the islanders. The previous meeting of the IDA was chaired by the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Notes:
Captain Tania Shergill will be the first woman to become the Republic Day parade’s parade adjutant, which means the officer responsible for the parade. She is an officer of the Indian Army’s Corps of Signals.
Captain Tania was commissioned into the Corps of Signals in 2017. The Corps of Signals is an arm of the Indian Army, which handles the communications of the military force. Last year, the Indian Army has selected 100 women to join the Corps of Military Police as soldiers.

Notes:
On the side lines of the multilateral conference Raisina Dialogue 2020, which is being held in New Delhi, India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for further defence cooperation with Finland.
The MoU on co-operation in the field of Production, Research and Development of Defence related Equipment was signed between the countries. Since the DefExpo of the year 2018, the draft MoU has been in discussion between the governments, which is now signed by the Defence Secretary of India, Dr Ajay Kumar with his Finnish counterpart.