Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh Government will receive Rs.711 Crores as loan for expansion of the Zero budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) project from the German Development Bank, KFW. A Memorandum of Understanding was recently signed in this regard at Amaravati.
The climate resilient ZBNF project of the state entails a cost Rs. 1015 Crores, of which Rs. 304 Crores would be contributed by the state Government and remaining 711 Crores is raised by way of loan from the German bank.

Notes:
The Election Commission of India has recently renewed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on electoral cooperation with its counterpart of Mauritius. The agreement between the commissions was in existence between April 2013 and April 2018.
The MoU was signed by Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sunil Arora and Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius, Mohammed Irfan Abdool Rahman, at the capital city of Mauritius, Port Louis.

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:
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:
The Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu is to inaugurate the Centre of Excellence for studies in Classical Telugu in Nellore.
Venkaiah Naidu had earlier suggested the Union Government to shift the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Telugu, situated in the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru, to one of the Telugu States. It has now been shifted to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. The centre performs several activities research on the evolution of the Telugu script, digitisation, and publishing of classical Telugu literature.

Notes:
Raisina Dialogue is the flagship multilateral conference on Politics and Economics of the world, held in New Delhi, India. The fifth edition of the conference is being jointly organized by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation.
Every year, in this conference, several global leaders in multiple sectors would meet and discuss about the multilateral cooperation and synergy in global political and economic issues. The Indian Prime Minister is to attend the inaugural session of the three-day conference and address the participants on the title, ‘Navigating the Alpha Century’.

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:
‘Saksham’ is an annual one-month- long campaign organised by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), which functions under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. PCRA works to promote energy efficiency and conservation across various sectors of the country.
The ‘Saksham’ campaign is to be launched by the Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan in an event to be held in Delhi. PCRA has been creating various awareness programmes for the general public about the need for fuel conservation and provides tips for saving fuel.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray launched the first girder for the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) mega project, along with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority officials.
The project connects Mumbai to the adjacent Raigad district and is expected to be made operational by 2022. The project entails a cost of nearly ₹18,000 crore and it is financed by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The foundation stone for the project was laid by Narendra Modi in 2016.

Notes:
The 1st edition of Krishi Manthan is being held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Krishi Manthan is the Asia’s largest “Food-Agri-business-Rural Development” Summit. It is organized by the Food and Agri Business Committee of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. It is a platform for Business, industry, academia, policymakers and other stakeholders to share their knowledge and expertise.
It is a 2-day event where more than 1,500 delegates including students, working professionals from Food, Agriculture and allied sectors would be participating.