Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced that the city of Daman will be the head-quarters of the newly constituted Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Daman is a city in the erstwhile UT Daman & Diu, located on the west coast of India.
Two separate Union Territories of India, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli were merged to a single Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on December 3, 2019. Silvassa was the previous capital of the erstwhile UT Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Notes:
India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has recently estimated that the gross domestic product (GDP) of India to grow at 5.5 per cent in FY21. The ratings agency also hoped that the growth would improve in 2021 but the country’s economy is stuck in a low consumption-low investment phase.
It observed that the shortfall in the tax plus non-tax revenue of the country will make the fiscal deficit slip to 3.6 % of GDP, against the budget target of 3.3 per cent. Even after accounting for the surplus transferred to the government by the RBI, the fiscal deficit target could not be possibly achieved, as per Ind-Ra.

Notes:
The Department of Biotechnology, under the Ministry of Science and Technology organized an International Summit on Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) – “Visualizing the Future: New Skylines” at India Habitat centre, New Delhi.
The Summit was organized to encourage the participation of women in STEM field and for developing their career in the field. Renowned women scientists from different countries, who pursue their career in the STEM field addressed the participants and motivated them to pursue their scientific career.

Notes:
The President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro recently arrived India along with his ministers, parliamentarians and top businessmen, to grace the Indian Republic Day celebrations as the Chief guest.
India and Brazil are expected to sign as many as 15 agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of like oil and gas, mining and cyber security. Agreements on social security, on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters on cooperation in bio-energy are also expected to be inked between the countries. Bolsonaro became the President of Brazil in October 2018 and this is his first visit to India.

Notes:
India’s first war memorial for service animals including dogs, horses and mules is to be set up in Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh.
The place will be dedicated for recognising the contributions and heroics of animals who have helped the army in counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir and in the battlefield during the Kargil War. Similar to the national war memorial of Delhi, this memorial will be established at the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) Centre and College in Meerut. Tablets in granite with the name and service numbers of the service animals will be inscribed.

Notes:
Indian boxer Mohammed Hussamuddin was seen in news recently as he clinched the silver medal in the 57-kg category, at the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament. The tournament was being held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Hussammudin, who is a Commonwealth Games bronze-winner, lost the final bout to Italy’s Francesco Maietta and settled with the silver. Other two Indian boxers who won bronze medals in the tournament were four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa and former world silver-medallist Sonia Lather.

Notes:
The Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recently announced the new scheme of fast-track visa to attract world’s best scientists.
The United Kingdom is expected to face a major job crunch as after the Brexit deal, the European Union citizens will lose the right to live and work in the UK and the natives of Britain will settle in the 27 remaining nations of the union. The Prime Minister also announced the ‘Global Talent route program’ of 300 million pounds for research in advanced mathematics.

Notes:
Ace Indian squash player Saurav Ghosal became the runner-up in the Pittsburgh Open squash tournament after he lost to the top seed Egyptian player, Fares Dessouky in the final.
The second seed Saurav Ghosal lost 7-11, 4-11, 9-11 to the Egyptian player after he advanced to the finals by defeating the fifth seed Egypt’s Omar Mossad in the hard-fought semi-final match, which lasted for an hour and 13 minutes. Saurav has reached his career-high world ranking of 10 in April 2019.

Notes:
According to the recent survey conducted the international NGO Transparency International, Indian state Assam has been ranked as the top state in terms of best practices followed during budget formulation.
The survey considered four parameters for ranking the states, which are: public disclosure, budgetary process, post budget fiscal management and efforts to make budget more transparent and citizen friendly. The survey also revealed that the states which are placed at the bottom of the list were Goa, Maharashtra and Punjab.

Notes:
According to the recent report by the Netherlands-based global navigation tech firm- TomTom, Bengaluru is named as the world’s most traffic congested city. In the list comprising of 415 other cities across 57 countries of the world, Bengaluru was placed in the first spot, according to the data in 2019.
This year, the firm has released its ninth annual traffic index. The capital city of Philippines, Manila was ranked second in the list. Other Indian cities which found place in the list are: Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi in the 4th, 5th and 8th positions respectively.