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:
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.

Notes:
The Union Minister for Home Affairs, Amit Shah recently released a book titled ‘Karmayoddha Granth’. The book is based on the life of the present Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the book releasing event, Amit Shah hailed Modi for successfully transforming the Gujarat BJP organisation and his leadership qualities as the Indian Prime Minister.
Narendra Modi is the 14th and the incumbent Prime Minister of India since 2014. Prior to that he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat since 2001.

Notes:
The Department of Cane Development of the state government of Uttar Pradesh has recently started an awareness campaign for the farmers to protect their sugarcane crop from locusts.
During the month end of December 2019, a huge swarm of locusts destroyed more than 25000 hectares of crop lands in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Several thousand litres of pesticides were used by the state governments to kill the locusts. Gujarat recently announced Rs.18500 per hectare as relief assistance for the affected farmers.

Notes:
The team representing Serbia defeated the team of Spain  in the inaugural ‘ATP Cup’ 2020 Tennis tournament held at Sydney. The top-rated Tennis player of Serbia and World No 2  Novak Djokovic defeated the World No 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain. With this victory, Serbia won the title by defeating Spain 2-1.
Djokovic subsequently partnered with his team-mate Viktor Troicki to win the doubles match and confirmed the country’s victory.

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:
Recently, the head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos announced that the company will invest 1 billion to digitise Small and Medium Businesses in India. Jeff also announced that Amazon India will export several ‘Make in India’ products, worth 10 billion, by the year 2025.
He made this announcement during his recent official visit to India, where he met many Small and Medium businessmen, top Indian business leaders and government officials. Recently, The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) alleged that the company follows unfair business practices.

Notes:
Taal Volcano is the second most active volcano of Phillipnes, and is located on the Luzan island of the country.Recently, the Taal volcano emitted lava and ash clouds up to nine miles into the air. Several lakhs of people are being evacuated from the capital city of Philippines Manila, fearing a major and explosive volcanic eruption.
Ash falls, volcanic lightning and volcanic thunderstorms were observed in the island. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has made the alert level to four, the highest being five.

Notes:
The retail inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) tracks the change in retail prices of a basket of essential goods and services at rural, urban and at national level. This index is measured from the perspective of household consumption. Recently in the month of December 2019, the retail inflation touched 7.35%, against the RBI’s target of 2-6%.