Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Indian Highways Management Company, incorporated by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), has recently introduced the ‘Missed Call Alert Facility’ to check the FASTag balance of the users.
The toll-free number ‘8884333331’ will be available throughout the day. The users of FASTags, who have registered their mobile numbers with NHAI Prepaid wallet, can give a missed call to the number, to check their FASTag balance. The prepaid payment can be done through the My FASTag App, which can be linked to the NHAI wallet or to the Savings account of 13 banks.

Notes:
The Government of India, Governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives signed the historic agreement in New Delhi recently, which will end the 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis.
Under the new agreement, around 34,000 Bru refugees, who were displaced from Mizoram will be permanently settled in Tripura and would be given aid from the Centre to assist their rehabilitation and development, through a fund of Rs 600 crores. Each displaced family will also be given residential plots by the Tripura Government.

Notes:
China’s leading automobile manufacturer, Great Wall Motors (GWM) has signed an agreement with the American manufacturer General Motors (GM) to acquire GM’s manufacturing plant located in Talegaon, near Pune in Maharashtra.
General Motors announced that Chevrolet Sales India, which is the sales arm of GM in India will continue as an independent entity. It will continue to provide after-sales service and spare part support to existing Indian customers. GWM has planned to enter into the Indian market by 2021 and this acquisition would speed-up its launch.

Notes:
The Chief of the leading multinational online retailer Amazon, Jeff Bezos announced that the company would invest in India to create 1 million jobs by 2025. These proposed jobs will be in addition to the 7 lakh jobs which have been already created over the last six years in India, through the investments of Amazon.
Recently the Chief of Amazon attended the two-day meet of the company in New Delhi. He also announced that investments worth $1 billion would be made in India. Amazon has been alleged by small traders, for providing steep discounts to products in their platform and supporting only a particular group of retailers.

Notes:
Chilika Lake is the largest brackish water lake of India, situated in the state of Odisha. It is also home to the highest single lagoon population of the endangered species called Irrawady dolphins.
The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) recently undertook the Dolphin Census and 146 Irrawady dolphins were directly sighted. The estimated range of population of the dolphins is 133-172. The population of the aquatic mammal species last year was 151. After removal of certain encroachments in the lake, the dolphins are found colonising in the central and southern regions of the lake for the first time.

Notes:
The state cabinet of Andhra Pradesh has approved a proposal to create three state capitals namely Amaravati, Visakhapatnam, and Kurnool. The ruling Jagan Mohan Reddy government introduced the bill in the state assembly.
The ‘AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020’ was approved by the cabinet for a decentralised and balanced growth and development of the state. It also provides for creating several zones within the state and establishing zonal planning and development boards. The government is to set up its legislative capital in Amaravati, secretariat and executive capital in Visakhapatnam and judicial capital in Kurnool.

Notes:
The 85-year old Veteran Indian classical singer Sunanda Patnaik recently passed away. The singer was referred to as ‘Guruma’ by the professionals in the Odia music field, in reverence. Known for her melodious voice, she began her musical career with the All India Radio while she was 14 years old. His father was the famous poet of the state- Baikunthanath Patnaik.
Born in Odisha, the famous singer later moved to Kolkata in 1983 and launched a music institute named ‘Vishnu Vinayak Sangeet Ashram’.

Notes:
Retired IAS Officer Yudvir Singh Malik has been recently appointed as the Chairman and Managing director (CMD) of crisis- hit realty firm Unitech. He assumed office on January 21, 2020.
A few days back, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to take total management control of Unitech and appoint a new board of nominee directors. As per the directions, the Centre has replaced the board of the realty firm and asked the new board to come out with a resolution framework within two months. The firm was reported of allegedly using flat-buyer’s money and default the delivery of flats.

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 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently cancelled the Certificate of Authorisation (CoA) of Vodafone m-pesa after it voluntarily surrendered its authorisation. RBI authorises the Payment System Operator to set up and operate in India under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
After the closure of Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd (ABIPBL), with which Vodafone m-pesa was merged, the company decided to apply for voluntary surrender of authorisation. After the cancellation, the company cannot transact business of issuance and operation of Prepaid payment Instruments but the customers or merchants with a valid claim on the company as a PSO, can approach it till September 30, 2022.