Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) a Maharatna and Fortune Global 500 Company has achieved the No.1 rank for 3rd time in Indian oil and gas sector for its sustainability performance in the 2022 edition of the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) rankings.

Notes:
The Government of India presented USD 2.5 million (second tranche of a total contribution of USD 5 million for the Financial Year 2022-2023) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Notes:
Forbes unveiled its 2022 Asia’s Power Businesswomen list, honoring 20 outstanding women in business across the Asia-Pacific region. Soma Mondal, the chairperson of Steel Authority of India Ltd, Namita Thapar, executive director at India business of Emcure Pharma, and Ghazal Alagh, co-founder and chief innovation officer of Honasa Consumer, are on the list.

Notes:
E-voting allows voters to cast secret ballots online for electronic tabulation, while electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in India are not internet-connected. EVMs require physical presence at polling booths, whereas e-voting enables remote participation, enhancing accessibility for the elderly and differently abled. The EVMs utilize a paper trail for verification through the VVPAT system, while e-voting is entirely digital.

Notes:
The Xerces blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces) went extinct in 1941 due to habitat loss from urbanization. Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii was discovered in Agasthyamalais and is featured in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. Kerala has designated the Malabar Banded Peacock as its state butterfly, while Tamil Nadu has chosen the Tamil Yeoman (Cirrochroa Thais). Other states with designated butterflies include Maharashtra (Blue Mormon), Uttarakhand (Common Peacock), and Karnataka (Southern Birdwings). The golden birdwing is recognized as India’s largest butterfly.

Notes:
The Western Naval Command of the Indian Navy conducted the joint maritime exercise Paschim Lehar to enhance inter-service synergy among the Navy, IAF, Indian Army, and Coast Guard. India and the UK initiated Konkan Shakti, their first tri-services joint exercise. Tiger Triumph is a bilateral tri-service amphibious military exercise between India and the United States, marking their first such collaboration. The INDRA series of exercises between India and Russia began in 2003, evolving into a joint tri-services exercise in 2017.

Notes:
The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite or GOSAT, also known as Ibuki (meaning breath in Japanese) is an Earth observation satellite and the world’s first satellite dedicated to greenhouse-gas-monitoring. It measures densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations on the Earth’s atmosphere. The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and launched on January 23, 2009, from the Tanegashima Space Center. Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, and National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) use the data to track gases causing the greenhouse effect, and share the data with NASA and other international scientific organizations.

• Note : On Dec. 22, 2016 China has successfully sent its first carbon dioxide monitoring satellite TanSat into space via a Long March-2D rocket. The spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center located in the Gobi Desert.

Notes:
The third Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Distinguished Indologist Award for the year 2017 was awarded to Professor Hiroshi Marui of Japan in November 2017. He was presented with this award by President Ram Nath Kovind at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Notes:
Recognising the path-breaking transformations in India’s energy sector under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design is awarded its fourth annual Carnot Prize to Shri Piyush Goyal. The most prestigious award in the energy sector, Carnot Prize is named after French physicist Nicolas Sadi Carnot who recognised that the power of the steam engine would ”produce a great revolution” in human development.

Notes:
The 64th Filmfare Awards ceremony, presented by The Times Group, honoured the best Indian Hindi-language films of 2018. The ceremony was held on 23 March, 2019 in Mumbai. Alia Bhatt won Best Actress for playing the role of a spy in movie Raazi which also fetched Meghna Gulzar the Best Director Filmfare Award.