Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
Sixteen eminent personalities were selected for the ‘Padma Bhushan’ award, for their distinguished service of high order. Out of the 141 total Padma awardees selected this year, there were seven Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri Awardees.
Famous personalities who were selected for the ‘Padma Bhushan’ award includes, top-rated Badminton Player PV Sindhu, Former Chief Minister of Goa- Manohar Parrikar (posthumous), father of modern legal education in India, N R Madhava Menon and businessmen Anand Mahindra and Venu Srinivasan.

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:
The state assembly of Andhra Pradesh recently passed a resolution to abolish the state’s legislative council. The decision was supported by 133 legislators of the ruling YSR Congress Party.
This decision is taken at the backdrop of the constant opposition faced in the upper house of the legislature, the Andhra Pradesh Legislative council. The main opposition party, Telugu Desam Party led by Chandrababu Naidu has 27 seats out of 58 in the council. It recently sent two bills related to the decentralization of Andhra Pradesh’s capital to a select committee for further deliberation, after it was passed in the assembly.

Notes:
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed annually on January 27 across the world. This year, the day is observed in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, under the theme “75 years after Auschwitz — Holocaust Education and Remembrance for Global Justice”.
The United Nations Department of Global Communications organized several events on 27 January to observe the day, including the 2020 United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony. After the UN passed a resolution for the day in 2005, Holocaust Remembrance weeks were organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme. Recently, the World Holocaust Forum was held in Jerusalem, Israel.

Notes:
The Principal advisor to the monetary policy department, Janak Raj has been appointed by the Reserve Bank of India, as the Executive Director of the Monetary Policy Department.
Michael Patra who held the post earlier was elevated as the Deputy Governor in charge of Monetary Policy and a part of the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC). Janak Raj, will be the part of the committee as an internal member of the Reserve Bank of India. With the new appointment, RBI has its full strength of 12 Executive Directors.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik recently launched a Virtual Police station under the state’s flagship 5-T initiative.
The Chief Minister also launched two other innovative projects of the Odisha Police called Road Accident case documents module and Medico Legal opinion system. The Virtual Police Station will enable the citizens directly lodge FIR online without having to visit the police stations. The other two applications will help in downloading the required documents and online medical examination reports of accident victims.

Notes:
The 85-year-old veteran social worker and educationist Tushar Kanjilal passed away recently in Kolkata. He was the recipient of the prestigious ‘Padma Shri’, the fourth highest civilian honour of India, in 1986.
Fondly called as ‘Mastermoshai’, he worked as the head of a high-school in Rangabelia village of Kolkatta and strived for promoting education among the local population. He also authored a book titled ‘Who Killed the Sunderbans?’, which is based on the issue of destruction of the Sunderbans’ mangrove forests.

Notes:
The 34th Surajkund International Crafts Mela is set to be held from February 1 to 16, 2020, at Surajkund, Haryana. It is an annual flagship event organised by the state government of Haryana.
This year, Himachal Pradesh is selected as the theme state for the festival. The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Jai Ram Thakur attended the inaugural ceremony of the Mela. Various cultural programmes and exhibitions are arranged to promote the tourism of the state. This will enable the state to showcase its tourism potential and attract more people to the state.

Notes:
The 29-year old sportsperson from Manipur, Bala Devi was seen in news recently as she became the first Indian woman footballer to sign up with a professional football club abroad. The prestigious European club, Rangers Women FC signed the Indian footballer from Manipur for 18 months.
Bala Devi has also been the captain of the national women’s team and the top scorer for the team with 52 goals in 58 games. She also holds the top international goal-scorer rank in the South Asian region. The footballer has also been named AIFF’s Woman Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.