Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Brazil recently announced that it would officially open its new research base in Antarctica this week. The original research base of Brazil in Antarctica was destroyed by a fire in 2012. The construction of the new base started in 2015 and it involves a project cost of near $ 100 million.
The station has seventeen laboratories which will support research in several fields. It also possesses a state-of-the-art infrastructure and accommodation facilities for more than 60 people. The new base is on the same place of the previous one and bears the same name of Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station.

Notes:
In the recently held Rome Ranking Series wrestling event 2020, Indian teenage wrestler Anshu Malik won the silver medal by technical superiority. She lost the final match for gold against the Nigerian wrestler Odunayo Adekuoroye in the 57 kg category.
The 18-year-old wrestler Anshu maintained her form throughout the tournament and she won the bouts against several top-rated wrestlers of the world. Another Indian wrestler Divya Kakran missed her bronze medal, after losing to Danielle Suzanne Lappage of Canada. 2019 World Championship bronze winner Vinesh Phogat is yet to compete in the tournament.

Notes:
The Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda recently launched the ‘APNA UREA – Sona Ugle’ brand and logo of Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Limited (HURL).
HURL is a Joint Venture Company, which is promoted by the three PSUs and Maha Ratna Companies – Coal India Limited, NTPC Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited. HURL has undertaken the revival process of three sick Urea plants, situated at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Barauni (Bihar) and Sindri (Jharkhand). The plants are to be commissioned in February 2021.

Notes:
After a two-year formal maternity break, India’s ace tennis player Sania Mirza clinched the ‘WTA Hobart International doubles title along with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok. In the final match which lasted for 1 hour 21 minutes, Sania along with her partner defeated the second seeded Chinese duo Shaui Peng and Shuai Zhang 6-4, 6-4.
This was the first tournament for the 33-year old Sania, after giving birth to her son. This series proved to be a great come-back for the Indian star, while she earned her 42nd WTA doubles title.

Notes:
Ratchanok Intanon, the Badminton player of Thailand, defeated Spain’s Carolina Marin in the women’s singles final match of the Indonesia Masters tournament in Jakarta, held recently. This is her second win in the Indonesian Masters event after her triumph in 2010.
Ratchanok Intanon became world champion in women’s singles in 2013 and became the first Thai player to become No.1 in women’s singles. Carolina Marin is the present Olympic Champion and three-time World Champion.

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:
As per the recent announcement from the Indian Army, the first batch of 18 indigenously upgraded ‘Sharang’ artillery guns are to be inducted into the Army by March 31, 2020.
The barrel of the indigenously designed gun has been upgraded from 130 mm to 155 mm. As a result, the hitting range of the gun has been increased by 12 km kilometres, to 39 kilometres. The Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur had been awarded the global contract for upgrading the Sharang artillery gun, and the project was done with the help of ordnance factories, Indian Army and DRDO.

Notes:
The Union government recently announced that a National Start-up Advisory Council has been set up. The Council will advise the Centre on steps to be taken to create a strong environment for start-up companies in India.
The Council will be chaired by the Union Commerce minister while it will have non-official members with 2-year-term, to be nominated by the Centre. Other members include founders of successful start-ups and veterans who have started and grown companies in India. The nominees of the ministries and organisations concerned, not below the rank of joint secretary will be ex-officio members.

Notes:
The Team of Maharashtra dominated the Khelo India Youth Games by clinching the overall trophy for the second time with a huge haul of 256 medals, including 78 gold and 77 silver. Last year, Maharashtra topped the table with 228 medals. The trophy was presented to Maharashtra by the Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal in the presence of Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijju, during the closing ceremony.
The second place was bagged by the state of Haryana with 200 medals and Delhi with 122 medals. Khelo India Youth games has been organised in Assam’s Guwahati for the last 13 days.

Notes:
Sri Lanka has been ranked first among 97 countries on breastfeeding rate as per the new survey conducted by the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi).
The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) was launched by the experts at the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India, based at Delhi. 120 countries across the world have been involved in WBTi, as of now. The report stated that Sri Lanka had shown greater commitment health and nutrition of mothers and babies. The country has scored 91 out of 100 points, based on its performance on ten indicators of policies and programs.