Current Affairs - 2019-20

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The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan on June 8-9, 2017. In this summit, India and Pakistan will become full members of the organization. The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It is mainly aimed at military cooperation between the members and involves intelligence- sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia. Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status.

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Recently, Gurdeep Singh from India created three new senior national records in +105 Kilogram weight category in the just-concluded IWF World Weightlifting Championships at Anaheim in USA. Singh finished 13th overall with a total lift of 388kg (172 + 216) but created national records in snatch, clean and jerk, and the total lift. In snatch, he bettered his own earlier national record of 171kg by one kilogramme. In the total lift also, Gurdeep bettered the earlier national record of 384kg.

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The 90th edition of Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has started in New Delhi, which was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13, 2017. It was the Mr Modi’s first address to an AGM of a national business association after becoming the Prime Minister. It was his first major interaction with India Inc since the launch of GST. The theme of this year’s AGM is, ‘Indian Business in a New India’. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia are also scheduled to address different sessions of the AGM. Finance Ministers of Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir will speak on GST at a special session during the AGM.

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Cervus elaphus hanglu, also known as Hangul or Kashmir red deer, is a subspecies of Central Asian red deer. It is native to India and is found in dense riverine forests in the high valleys and mountains of the Kashmir Valley and northern Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh.
The Hangul is a critically endangered animal. It is listed as critically endangered in the IUCN Red Data Book and is under Appendix – I in CITES listings. The Wildlife Department of Jammu and Kashmir Government launched “Project Hangul” in 1970 to save the Hangul.
The Hangul has a brown coat color with speckled hairs. It has a light rump patch, but not including the tail. The buttocks are greyish white on the inner side, and the upper side of the tail is black.
The Hangul population has seen a marginal increase in Kashmir. In 2019, there were 237 Hanguls, in 2021 there were 261, and in 2023 there were 289. However, the basic demographic ratio of male: female and female: fawn are skewed.

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Cambridge Analytica is a data analytics and political consulting firm set up in 2014, launched with the help of Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to U.S. President Donald Trump and former head of the alt-right media platform. Recently, Union IT minster Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Cambridge Analytica for illegally harvesting personal information from Facebook for influencing polls in several countries

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has recently given its approval for the development of Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) technology for thermal power plants. 

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First statement is correct. The scheme aims to get foreign investment and turn India into an electronics manufacturing hub. Second statement is incorrect. The scheme provides subsidy for capital expenditure – 20% for investments in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 25% in non-SEZs. Third statement is correct. One of the major objectives of the scheme is to attain net zero imports in electronics by 2020. Fourth statement is correct. It is an initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) was launched in 2012. Its first phase will end in December, 2018.

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The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2017 (WESP) has been published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

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Leaders' Retreat 2016 Outcome Document was released in Goa on 16 October 2016 during the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. The BIMSTEC is the sub-regional group of seven countries in South Asia and South East Asia lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. They are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia.

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Pratham is an Indian Ionospheric research satellite built by the students of IIT Bombay. It is a part of Student Satellite Initiative. Its primary mission is to count electrons in the Earth’s ionosphere. Its weight is10 kg and is a cube with 30cm sides. Pratham was successfully launched on 26 September 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh.