Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
USA’s second seed Fabiano Caruana clinched the title of the ‘Tata Steel Masters chess tournament’ with a record-winning score of 10 points from 13 rounds. He was assured of the title even before the final round. Only Garry Kasparov (1999) and Magnus Carlsen (2013) have won the tournament by scoring 10 points since 1980.
Current World champion Magnus Carlsen finished second in the tournament. Indian Grand master and five-time Viswanathan Anand settled for the sixth place with 6.5 points from 13 rounds.

Notes:
Switzerland has recently minted the world’s smallest gold coin, which bears the famous picture of the great Scientist Albert Einstein with his tongue out. The government-run Swissmint announced that the world’s smallest coin has a diameter of 2.96-millimeter and weighs 0.063 grams. The value of the coin is pegged at 1/4 Swiss francs or approximately Rs 18.50.
Einstein came to Switzerland at the age of 17 and completed his education in the country. He also became a Swiss citizen in 1902. Another coin featuring the Swiss tennis star Roger Federer was also minted.

Notes:
The Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal recently announced that the Indian Railways is set to run entirely on electricity by the year 2024 and diesel locomotives are gradually been pushed out of service. Once achieved, India will have the first railway network in the world to be run completely on electricity.
He announced this during the India-Brazil Business Forum, which was organised during Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s official visit to India. The Minister also hoped to make the entire railways network a net-zero emission network by 2030, which will use clean energy and clean power.

Notes:
Veteran diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been recently appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to the United States. He replaces Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who was the previous Indian envoy to the US.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 1988-batch and is currently posted as High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka. Sandhu has earlier worked as the Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy of India in Washington D.C. for four years from 2013 to 2017. He has also served as the Joint Secretary (United Nations) at the Ministry of External Affairs between 2009 and 2011.

Notes:
The Oxford University Press has selected the hindi word ‘Samvidhaan’ as the Oxford Hindi Word of 2019’. Samvidhaan is the Hindi word which represents the meaning of constitution. It also denotes a body of fundamental principles as per which a state or an organisation is to be governed.
A word or expression that has attracted the attention of large number of people and reflects the mood and character of the past year is selected as the Oxford word. The Oxford Hindi Word of the Year is chosen by the team of Oxford Dictionaries in India with the guidance from a panel of language experts.

Notes:
The state-owned Electricity PSU, NTPC Limited, formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited has been announced as the Project Management Consultant for the development of 300 MW of solar power projects in the West African country, Togo.
The letter of engagement was recently signed between the country and the Indian PSU in this regard. This also marks the first time, a country has sought assistance from NTPC, under the India-led International Solar Alliance. As per the agreement, the African nation Togo is not to incur the cost in this project while the PSU will recover the project cost through bids.

Notes:
The think tank to Indian Government, NITI Aayog has ranked the aspirational districts on the basis of incremental progress made across six developmental areas in December 2019.
As per the list, Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh has been placed in the top position, followed by Belangir district of Odisha. Andhra Pradesh’s YSR district is in the third place. The six developmental areas which are taken into account are: Health and nutrition, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, education, skill development and infrastructure.

Notes:
The Indian Coast Guard has recently commissioned its ‘C-448’ high-speed boat at Mangaluru, Karnataka. The Chief Secretary of Karnataka attended the ceremony of commissioning the Coast Guard vessel.
C-448 is a water-jet-propelled interceptor vessel, which is set to be deployed in for patrolling and rescue operations off the coast of Mangaluru. The boat also comprises of world-class navigation and communication equipment systems, which helps in search operations and maritime surveillance.

Notes:
e-Commerce giant, Amazon India recently partnered with Eastern Railways, to set up a pick-up kiosk in Sealdah railway station in Kolkata.
By selecting the railway station as their pick-up location while ordering their products in the company’s website or application, the customers can pick up their packages conveniently at the station. In 2019, Amazon successfully launched pick-up kiosks at four railway stations in Mumbai by partnering with Indian Railways.

Notes:
Maharashtra-based renowned rights activist and feminist, Vidya Bal recently passed away. She had been undertaking legal battles against social and gender inequalities throughout her life.
She was the founder of the social organisation ‘Nari Samata Manch’ which aimed at discussing and providing solutions to various problems of women. The centre mainly focussed on reclaiming the rights of rural women. She was also the editor of the progressive magazine ‘Miloon Saryajani’ and author of many literary works. She is well-known for demanding the entry of women in all temples.