Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
To help modernise the passenger ferry sector of Assam, the Government of India, Government of Assam and the World Bank has signed a loan agreement at New Delhi for $ 88 million.
The Assam’s passenger ferry sector operates passenger freight service in major rivers including the Brahmaputra. There are more than 360 ferry routes in Assam, and most of them cut through the Brahmaputra or serve its islands. Hence, this is a very important means of transportation in the Brahmaputra Valley. The Assam Inland Water Transport Project (AIWTP) will help the state to improve the passenger ferry infrastructure.

Notes:
The 51st K-9 Vajra-T Gun manufactured by Larsen and Toubro (L&T) was flagged off by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Larsen and Toubro Armoured Systems Complex at Hazira, Surat. With a weight of 50 tonnes, the gun can fire 47 kg bombs on targets, that are 43 km away. It can also make zero-degree radius turns.
As a part of Make in India initiative of the Government, L&T won the Rs.4500 crore contract from the Union Ministry of Defence to supply 100 units of K-9 Vajra-T self-propelled gun systems to the Indian Army.

Notes:
The capital of Telangana and a major hub of technology industries, Hyderabad was recently adjudged as the ‘World’s most dynamic city’, as per the JLL City Momentum Index, 2020.
The US-based by global real estate services firm Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), recently released the index by assessing 129 cities around the world. In this seventh edition of the ranking, Hyderabad was placed at the top spot followed by another Indian tech-hub Bengaluru. Southern city Chennai is placed at the fifth place while Delhi is at the sixth place. India leads the 2020 Index with its seven cities being placed in the top 20 ranks.

Notes:
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) recently appointed Ashish Garg as its new President for the year 2020. Another member of ICSI, Nagendra D Rao has been elected Vice-President of the Institute. Ashish Garg was elected to the central council of ICSI for the 2015-18 term and has been re-elected for the 2019-22 term.
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is a New Delhi based statutory body to promote and regulate the profession of company secretaries in India.

Notes:
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently released its ‘Global Investment Trend Monitor report’ and listed the countries on the basis of receipts of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
As per the report, the United States was the largest recipient of FDI in 2019 with inflow of investments amounting to $251 billion. The second largest recipient was China at $140 billion in 2019. India was also among the top 10 FDI recipients in 2019, which attracted investments worth $49 billion. This is 16% higher than the previous year FDI inflow of the country. The report also stated that majority of India’s FDI inflow went to its service sector.

Notes:
The people of the three North-eastern states- Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura celebrated their Statehood Day on January 21. On the same day in 1972, these three states became full-fledged states under the North Eastern Region (Re-organisation) Act, 1971. This year, the states celebrate their 48th Statehood day.
Many National Leaders including the Prime Minister and the President expressed their wishes to the states on their Statehood day and greeted the cultural heritage and traditions of the North-Eastern states.

Notes:
The State government of Uttarakhand recently released a notification that it has made a policy to lease agricultural land, becoming the first Indian state to implement such policy.
According to the policy, any institution, company or NGO can take farm land on lease for 30 years, provided the leased land is below 30 acres. The farmers who own the land will receive the corresponding rent during the leased period. Difficulties in leasing land for agriculture and plantation in hilly areas and consolidation of fragmented land are being solved by the policy.

Notes:
Katerina Sakellaropoulou was recently elected as the first female President of Greece. The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis nominated Katerina Sakellaropoulou as the President. The 63-year-old Sakellaropoulou has worked as a top-level judge in Greece.
The term of the current president of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos is to expire in March, this year. The newly elected President is expected to hold the post for next five years. According to the Greek constitution, the President is the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces and is often consulted on important national affairs.

Notes:
The Telangana State Election Commission recently announced that it would use facial recognition application in 10 selected polling stations, on a pilot basis.
Telangana is the first state to implement the process of facial recognition in polls to curb impersonation of voters. The additional polling officer takes photograph of the voters after verifying their identity proof. The photo is then uploaded to the server using face recognition app and compared with the polling booth photos. The process is completely encrypted and the data is not used for any other purposes.

Notes:
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recently released a notification that the country has discontinued the production of the ozone-depleting chemical, Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC)-141 b.
HCFC-141 b is one of the most powerful ozone depleting chemicals after the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). It is a chemical used in the process of manufacturing production of rigid polyurethane (PU) foams, as a blowing agent. The chemical was not produced in the country and after the notification, the issuance of import license for HCFC-141b is also prohibited from 1st January, 2020.