Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Automobile Major Hyundai recently unveiled an air electric taxi, developed in collaboration with Uber, in the Consumer Electronics Show 2020.
According to their partnership, Hyundai will develop and deploy vehicles and Uber will provide support service, ground transport connection and customer Interface. Uber is to launch urban commercial flights by 2023 and Hyundai is its first carmaker partner in the project.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has recently granted ‘in-principle’ approval to Shivalik Mercantile Cooperative Bank, to convert into a Small Finance Bank (SFB). It is the first Urban Cooperative Bank (UCB) to be granted such permission after the announcement of RBI in September 2018, about voluntary conversion of UCBs into Small Finance Banks. 
The bank should comply with the requirements of an SFB such as minimum net worth and Capital to risk ratio, as stipulated by the RBI within 18 months of the in-principle approval.

Notes:
Retired Indian Police Service Officer and Former Director General of CRPF, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar was recently appointed as the advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rajiv Rai retired from the Central Reserve Police Force in December 2019.He will serve as the third advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu. The other two advisors are retired IAS officer K K Sharma and retired IPS Officer Farooq Khan.

Notes:
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) recently announced that it will observe 2020 as the ‘Year of mobility’. It was also announced that special attention would be provided towards creation of more residential units and welfare measures for their troops. The announcement was made by the Director General of CISF, Rajesh Ranjan.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is a Central Armed Police force under the Ministry of Home affairs, headquartered at New Delhi.

Notes:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) recently directed the health and general insurance companies to offer a standard individual health insurance policy. The policy is named as ‘Arogya Sanjeevani policy’.
It will cover minimum health requirements of the insurers and would be offered from April 1, 2020. IRDAI also stipulated that there will be no exit age for the scheme, so that the insurance will be continued till the person’s last breath. The minimum and maximum age limit to enroll are 18 years and 65 years respectively. The sum assured will be between Rs.1 Lakh and Rs. 5 Lakhs.

Notes:
According to the recent study published in ‘Astrophysical Journal’, Scientists have discovered thirteen huge black holes in some dwarf galaxies. The galaxies are found to be located several light years from the earth and in half of the galaxies, the black holes are not in the centre of the galaxies.
The high-resolution images of the galaxies with black holes were captured using the Very Large Array (VLA) observatory. It is a radio telescope observatory, which is situated in New Mexico, U.S.A. VLA was set up by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Notes:
India’s Central bank, the Reserve Bank of India recently released various stipulations for the Urban Cooperative Banks (UCB). A UCB shall be placed in the Supervisory Action Framework upon certain conditions announced by the RBI, which include Net NPA exceeding 6% and CRAR ratio falling below 9%. Depending on the financial stress, the lending powers of the UCBs may also be cut short.
The Reserve Bank has made this announcement at the backdrop of the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank scam. The new norms would provide faster resolution to the bad assets of UCBs.

Notes:
Article 30 of the Indian Constitution confers the right on minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. This right is provided to all language and religious minorities.
The Article was recently in news because the Supreme Court of India held that the appointment of teachers in minority educational institutions can be regulated by the Government and it will not violate Article 30. As per the judgement, the institutions cannot have an absolute right on the appointment.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani recently announced that a new centre for fostering innovation among the children would be set up in the state of Gujarat. It is named as the Vikram Sarabhai Children Innovation Centre.
The announcement was made during the Children Innovation Festival held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. This festival was organised by the Gujarat University’s start up council, GUSEC in association with UNICEF. During the event, a letter of intent was also exchanged between the Gujarat University and UNICEF.

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.