Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
India has extended a line of credit (LOC) of $75 million through its Exim Bank to Cuba for financing solar parks. An MoU was signed between the Export- Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and the nominated agency of Cuban Government, Banco Exterior De Cuba last year. Based on the agreement, the Exim bank extends the finance, which is nearly Rs.500 Crores. With this credit, 75 MW Solar Parks are to be installed in Cuba in the next five years.

Notes:
The planet finder satellite of NASA, named the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) recently discovered a new exoplanet in the habitable region of its host star.
The newly found exoplanet, known as ‘TOI 700 d’ has approximately the same size of the Earth. The Space Scientists of NASA also announced that the exoplanet is only 101.5 light years from the earth, making it easy for further observations and research.

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 Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently announced that indigenous relay satellite series called the Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS) will be launched soon .
The IDRSS is a set of relay satellites that will continuously track the Indian satellites and exchange information with them. The first of the two proposed satellites will be launched by the end of 2020, before the unmanned space flight to be conducted preceding the Gaganyaan Mission. Such crucial missions can be continuously monitored by the new relay satellite series.

Notes:
About 1.46 crore voters (80.55 lakh males + 66.35 lakh females) will have a chance to vote in the Delhi assembly elections on February 8. The results will be declared on February 11. Delhi Legislative Assembly has 70 seats of which 67 seats were won by AAP in last elections.

Notes:
The World Economic Forum, held annually at Davos, is a meeting in which world leaders discuss economic matters. This year’s summit will take place on January 21- 24.

Notes:
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released a chart of world’s fastest growing cities based on the data provided by the United Nation’s Population Division. Malappuram, a city of Northern Kerala topped the list. Two other cities of Kerala, Kozhikode and Kollam were ranked 4th and 10th respectively.
As per the report, Malappuram has recorded 44% rise in population between 2015 and 2020. In the report, three Kerala cities were in the top 10 list while six Indian cities were placed in the top 30 list.

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 article 19 (1) (a) confers the right to freedom of speech and expression while the sub clause (g) of the article provides the right to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
Recently the Supreme Court of India declared that freedom of speech and expression and freedom to carry on a business through Internet also enjoys constitutional protection under the Article 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g). This landmark judgement came at the backdrop of the five-month restriction on Internet imposed in the Jammu and Kashmir UT.