Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet recently approved the reappointment of Abhinav Kumar, IPS as the Inspector General (IG) of Border Security Force (BSF) and extended his tenure up to July 2021, following the proposal by the Home affairs ministry. The extension was made by relaxing the tenure policy of Indian Police Service. Border Security Force is the national border defence force and also the largest border defence force in the world.

Notes:
The Common Service Centre (CSC) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Paytm Payment Bank Ltd (PPBL) for selling digital toll payment tags called FASTags. CSC will integrate its platform with that of the bank to sell the PPBL FASTags. The digital tags are made mandatory to be fixed in all vehicles from December last year. The Common Service Centres sell the FASTags through its Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). Earlier CSCs had integrated with State Bank of India, Equitas Bank and HDFC Bank for sale of FASTags.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed to set up its Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) in the Challakere town of Karnataka. It is located on the National Highway connecting Bengaluru and Pune. The 400-acre Training centre will entail a project cost of nearly 2700 Crores. Recently, four Indian astronauts selected for the Gaganyaan mission are sent to an Russian agency for space related training. This indigenous HSFC of ISRO will be have world class infrastructure and training facilities.

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:
Supreme Court recently asked the Centre to consider the deployment of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to guard the various courts in India — taking over the job of securing the courts from the local police forces.

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.

Notes:
India has Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties with 42 countries and is signatory to various International Conventions for cooperation in criminal matters. The Home Ministry is the designated central authority for this. The recently revised guidelines have incorporated various legal and technological developments in recent years and aim to make documentation more compliant with international requirements. The revised guidelines provide step-by-step guidance to the investigation agencies for drafting and processing letters rogatory or mutual legal assistance requests and service of summons, notices and other judicial documents. The guidelines have taken into account the concerns raised by various courts for prompt and timely responses in service of documents to person residing abroad. These revised guidelines have provision for service of documents to authorities of foreign country preferably within ten days of receipt of request in respect of offences committed against women and children.

Notes:
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated every year to mark the contribution of overseas Indian community in India’s development. It commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India on 9 January 1915. The event is organized by Ministry of External Affairs every year on this day since 2003. 2020 marked 16th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas.

Notes:
Vishva Hindi Divas or World Hindi day is celebrated every year on January 10. The day is celebrate to commemorate the First World Hindi Conference, which was held from January 10 to January 12, 1975, at Nagpur.The first Hindi Conference was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. Subsequent conferences were held in various countries including the USA, South Africa, UK, Mauritius.
The first World Hindi day was observed on January 10, 2006. The Day aims to promote Hindi language around the world.

Notes:
The International passport ranking ‘Henly Passport Index’ was recently released. It ranks various countries of the world in the order of travel-friendly passports based on the data of International Air Transport Association.
In the recent report, India’s rank is 84, which is two ranks above that of last year. The mobility score of Indian passport is 58, and it means that Indian passport holders can travel to 58 countries without a prior visa. The first rank in the index is bagged by Japan with a score of 191, followed by Singapore.