Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

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:
Former Indian Cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth is selected for the prestigious ‘C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award’, presented by the National Cricket Board of India, BCCI. The famous cricketer from Tamil Nadu represented India from 1981 to 1992.
The other cricketer who is also to be presented with the award is Anjum Chopra, former Captain of Indian women’s cricket team. The awards will be presented at the BCCI Annual awards function, to be held in Mumbai, on January 12, 2020.

Notes:
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) recently released a report titled ‘Statement on Climate of India During 2019’. According to the report, almost 1560 people died in 2019 due to unusual weather events including heavy rain and floods, heat wave, lightning and thunderstorm.
With nearly 650 deaths, Bihar had the highest number of people who died due to extremities in weather. The report also cited that five of the eight cyclones that hit India, were on the Arabian Sea, which was against the normal count of 1 cyclone on the west.

Notes:
According to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD’s) Statement on Climate of India During 2019 report, the number of cyclones in the Arabian Sea was 400% higher than normal frequency because five out of eight cyclones affected Arabian Sea. These give cyclones were Vayu, Hikka, Kyarr, Maha and Pavan. This after the sea on India’s west coast normally undergoes only one cyclone annually — read a 400% rise. (India normally has five cyclones in total every year.) However, the Bay of Bengal — usually the more cyclone-prone coast of India — was relatively subdued in 2019 with three (Pabuk, Fani, Bulbul) instead of four cyclones that occur there annually on an average.

Notes:
An International Conference cum Exhibition on Civil Aviation sector named ‘WINGS INDIA 2020’ is scheduled to be organised from March 12 to March 15, 2020. The event is to be held at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad.
Recently the Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri participated in the curtain raiser event for the WINGS INDIA Conference in New Delhi. The Ministry of Civil aviation is to organise the event in association with the industry body FICCI. This is one of the largest events on Civil Aviation in Asia.

Notes:
The famous Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal recently acquired the DHFL General Insurance company. He bought the company from the Wadhawan Group of companies for ₹100 crore.
The acquisition is done through the investment firm named ‘Navi technologies’, which was founded by Sachin Bansal along with his IIT batchmate, after quitting Flipkart. The microfinance arm of Navi Technologies, Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt. Ltd (CIFCPL), has recently applied for a universal banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Notes:
Lohri is a festival celebrated in North India, especially in Punjab ahead of the Makar Sankranti Festival. The festival marks the completion of Winter and the arrival of sunny weather in the region. It is also regarded that the festival commemorates the passing winter solstice.
According to the traditional calendar, this year the festival Lohri falls on January 13. People of North India celebrate the festival by lighting bonfires, with their friends and relatives. It is mainly celebrated in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
This festival is celebrated as Makara Sankranti (Pedda Pandaga) in Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal (also called Poush sôngkrānti), Karnataka and Telangana, Sukarat in central India, Magh Bihu by Assamese, and Thai Pongal by Tamils. Vishu concides with Vaishakhi.

Notes:
The high-level committee on industrial guidance and single window system, chaired by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palaniswamy recently approved investment proposals worth Rs 6608 Crores. The fifteen new investments are expected to boost the employment generation in the state.
During the event, the Chief Minister also launched a scheme named ‘Amma Youth Sports Scheme’ to encourage the sporting activities of youth in the state. Amma Youth Sports Committee would be formed under the scheme, which is to be implemented in all gram panchayats and Panchayat unions.

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 Non-Governmental organisation, called ‘Pratham’ releases the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) in India. The ASER for the year 2019 was released recently. The report states that five-year-old children in private institutions performed better in learning activities than the same-aged children in Government-run schools and anganwadis.
The enrolment levels among girls in the age group of 4 to 8 years, were higher than those among boys. But more girls are being enrolled in state-run schools than boys, who are enrolled more in private schools, showing a clear gender gap.