Daily Current Affairs : January 23 & 24, 2020

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NATIONAL NEWS

Cabinet approves over Rs 4300 cr to establish permanent campuses for new NITs

• Union Cabinet approved to Revised Cost Estimates for the establishment of permanent campuses of new National Institutes of Technology, NITs, at a total cost of 4371.90 crores rupees for the period till 2021-2022. 
• NITs were established in the year 2009 and started functioning from the academic year 2010-2011 in their temporary campus with very limited space and infrastructure.
• These NITs will be fully functional from their permanent campuses by 31st March, 2022.
• It also approved the extension of tenure of the Commission constituted under Article 340 of the Constitution, to examine the issue of sub-categorization within Other Backward Classes in the Central List. Briefing media in New Delhi on Wednesday, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, the tenure has been extended by six months till 31st July, 2020.

Election Commission to host 1st Sukumar Sen Memorial Lecture

• Election Commission will host the first Sukumar Sen Memorial Lecture.
• Former President Pranab Mukherjee will deliver the first of the Lectures.
• The EC has decided to institute an Annual Lecture Series as a tribute to the first Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sukumar Sen.
• He commendably conducted the first two General Elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, thereby putting India firmly on the map of democracy.

Nation pays homage to Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary

• The nation pays homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary on 23rd January.
• It was on this day in 1897, Netaji was born in Cuttack, Odisha.
• A number of functions have been organized across the country to mark the occasion. 
• President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have paid tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Govt is fully prepared to take on the challenge of Coronavirus outbreak in China: Health Ministry

• As regards the spread of Novel Coronavirus in our country, the Union Health Ministry officials have said that no case of Novel Coronavirus has been detected in India so far.
• In all, 12,828 passengers from 60 flights have been screened till yesterday for Novel Coronavirus symptoms in the country and no passenger has been detected with the virus.
• Thermal screening is being done at the International airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin. Airlines have been asked to follow International Civil Aviation Organization guidelines for managing and notifying anybody reporting illness on flights originating from China and disembarking in India.

ECI to host 10th Annual Meeting of Forum of Election Management Bodies of South Asia

• Election Commission of India will host the 10th Annual Meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) in New Delhi today.
• Election Commission of India will take over the Chair of the forum for the year 2020.
• On the occasion, the International Conference on the theme ‘Strengthening Institutional Capacity’ is also being organized.
• The International Conference is being organized with the purpose of sharing the experience of different Election Management Bodies, International Institutions, and Experts.
• The international delegates will also attend the National Voters’ Day Celebrations in New Delhi on the 25th of January.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

France to train Indian flight surgeons for ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission

• France will train Indian flight surgeons to enable them to monitor the health of astronauts selected for the ambitious human space mission Gaganyaan, officials said on Tuesday.
• The two-week training is a critical aspect of the Gaganyaan project that is aimed at sending three Indians to space by 2022.

Aurobindo Ashram School building constructed with India’s assistance inaugurated in Nepal

• A new building of Aurobindo Ashram School in Thankot, Kathmandu is constructed with the Government of India’s grant assistance of 28.25 million Nepali rupees.
• The three-story building comprises eleven classrooms, three labs, four storerooms, two staff rooms.
• Besides rooms for accounts, administration, record, library, and principal, it also has an examination and multi-purpose hall.
• Aurobindo Ashram School was established in 1993 by Sri Aurobindo Yoga Mandir in Thankot area of Kathmandu district.
• This is a residential School which provides Secondary School Education to nearly 260 students. 
• The school has over 53% of girls students. Most of the students are poor, destitute and orphan. The School is providing free education and hostel facility to them.
• The newly built infrastructure is expected to boost the learning environment of the students. The government of India is happy to be associated with the project which complements the effort of the Government of Nepal in augmenting infrastructure in the field of education.

ICJ orders Myanmar to take steps to prevent Rohingya Genocide        

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at Hague today ordered the Myanmar government to take measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingyas as part of its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
• In a unanimous decision by 17 Judges of the ICJ, the court observed that there was prima facie evidence of breaches of the convention by Myanmar. The ICJ said that the estimated 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar were “extremely vulnerable” to violence at the hands of the military.
• In its judgement the ICJ ordered that the government of Myanmar should submit its report of the steps taken to the ICJ within 4 months and thereafter every six months till the final decision is pronounced.
• The case was brought to ICJ by the West African country Gambia alleging that Myanmar has breached the Genocide Convention. It requested the ICJ to order provisional measures to protect Rohingyas from genocide.

STATE NEWS

Mumbai malls, shops, eateries can stay open 24X7 from January 27

• Maharashtra cabinet has approved a proposal to allow malls, multiplexes, shops and eateries to remain open round the clock.
• The decision will come into force from 27th January and will be implemented only in non-residential areas like Bandra Kurla Complex and Nariman Point. 
• In another decision, the cabinet has made the film “Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior” tax-free in the state.
• The film is based on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s trusted lieutenant Tanaji Malusare who had played a pivotal role in capturing the Sinhagad Fort.
• The movie that released on 10th January has already grossed over 150 crore rupees.

India’s first e-waste clinic opens in Bhopal

• The country’s first e-waste clinic is being opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
• It will enable segregation, processing and disposal of waste from both household and commercial units.
• The e-waste clinic is jointly set up by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC).
• In the absence of a safe disposal mechanism, electronic waste at present is being disposed of along with other waste. 
• “The e-waste clinic is being started on the basis of a three-month pilot project.
• If this project is successful, e-waste clinics will be established at other places in the country.
• BMC officials informed that electronic waste will be collected door-to-door or could be deposited directly at the e-waste clinic.

Uttarakhand becomes the first state to implement agricultural land leasing policy

• Uttarakhand has become the first state in the country where the government has made a policy to lease agricultural land.
• In lieu of giving land on a 30-year lease, the concerned farmer will get the rent for the land.
• In the hilly areas of the state, the obstacles of leasing land for farming, agriculture, horticulture, herbs, off-season vegetables, milk production, tea plantation, fruit hybridization, and solar energy has been removed with this step.

Jharkhand’s Jharia most polluted city in India

• Coal-belching Jharia in Jharkhand continues to be the most polluted city in India while Delhi has made marginal improvement in reducing air pollution, according to a Greenpeace India report.
•  Delhi is the 10th most polluted city in India. It was eighth a year ago. 
• Jharkhand’s Dhanbad, known for its rich coal reserves and industries, is the second-most polluted city in India, according to the report based on an analysis of PM10 data from 287 cities across India.
• Lunglei in Mizoram is the least polluted followed by Meghalaya’s Dowki, according to the report.
• Six of the top 10 polluted cities are in Uttar Pradesh: Noida, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Allahabad, Moradabad and Firozabad.

APPOINTMENTS

ACC appoints Challa Sreenivasulu Setty as MD of SBI

• The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has appointed Challa Sreenivasulu Setty as the Managing Director of the State Bank of India.
• Department of the Financial Services proposed his name to the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet for the position of Managing Director of the State Bank of India.
• Setty’s appointment has been done for 3 years.
• Challa Sreenivasulu Setty is presently serving in the State Bank of India as its Deputy Managing Director.

Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank get new MD & CEOs

• The government on Monday appointed heads of three large public sector banks – Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Canara bank for a period of three years.
• Sanjiv Chadha has been appointed as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bank of Baroda (BoB).
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) appointed Lingam Venkat Prabhakar as MD & CEO of Canara Bank and Atanu Kumar Das as MD & CEO of Bank of India.

ECONOMY AND BANK NEWS

UN lowers India’s growth forecast for FY20 to 5.7%

• GDP growth in India and few other large emerging countries may gain some momentum this year after the global economy recorded its lowest growth of 2.3 per cent in 2019 due to prolonged trade disputes, a UN study.
• It lowered its GDP growth estimate for India to 5.7 per cent in the current fiscal (from 7.6 per cent forecast in WESP 2019) and lowered its forecast for the next fiscal to 6.6 per cent (from 7.4 per cent earlier). It has also forecast a growth rate of 6.3 per cent for the fiscal beginning in 2021.

ICICI Bank rolls out cardless cash withdrawal facility at ATMs

• ICICI Bank on Tuesday has come out with an innovative method to withdraw cash from ATM machines without debit card. The private lender has introduced ‘Cardless Cash Withdrawal’ facility which enables customers to withdraw cash through an app.
• An ICICI customer can withdraw cash from over 15,000 ATMs of the bank by raising a request on ‘iMobile’-its mobile banking application.

IMF lowers India growth estimate to 4.8% for 2019

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday lowered growth estimate for India to 4.8% for 2019, citing stress in the non-bank financial sector and weak rural income growth as the major factors for the downward revision.
• While providing an update on the global economy ahead of the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual summit, the IMF cut its India growth forecast to 4.8% for 2019.It expects growth to be 5.8% in 2020 and rise to 6.5% in 2021.
• India-born IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said growth in India slowed sharply owing to stress in the non-bank financial sector and weak rural income growth.

AWARDS

Priya Prakash wins Cisco Youth Leadership Award 2019

• Priya Prakash, the founder and CEO of India based HealthSetGo, has won the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award for 2019 for her school health programme that aims at providing 360 degree healthcare support to children.
• The prestigious award honours an individual aged 18 – 30 who is bringing about a positive change in the world by solving some of its biggest global challenges. The award includes a US $250,000 prize paid to the individual’s organisation to which the individual contributes, to further their mission of accelerating global problem solving.

SPORTS

RFI lifts Dattu Bhokanal’s ban after IOA’s intervention

• Indian Rower Dattu Bhokanal’s two-year suspension on charges of tanking a race during the 2018 Asian Games was lifted today after the intervention of the Indian Olympic Association.
• Bhokanal was one of the Indian quartets that won gold in the men’s quadruple sculls event in the Asian Games but later left the single sculls race midway. He was banned by the Rowing Federation of India in March last year. In his explanation, Bhokanal had said that he fell off the boat as it overturned and he was also not well on that day.

Shiva Thapa, Sonia Lather, Hussamuddin assure medals at Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament

• Former world Boxing medallists Shiva Thapa (63kg) and Sonia Lather (57kg) assured themselves of medals at the 71st Strandja Memorial Tournament by advancing to the semi-final in Sofia, Bulgaria yesterday. Joining them was Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg).
• Former world silver-winner Lather (57kg) clinched a 3-2 triumph over Ireland’s Michaela Walsh in a hard-fought contest to enter the last-four stage. Thapa, a bronze-winner from the 2015 world showpiece, got the better of Ireland’s George Bates in his quarterfinal clash.

World Archery lifts suspension on India enabling Indian archers to represent country

• The World Archery conditionally lifted the suspension on India, less than a week after the embattled national federation held its elections. A statement from the World Archery said the federation needs to comply with good governance and activity portions of the World Archery constitution and rules.
• The Indian archers, who had to compete as neutral athletes at the Asian Championships because of the suspension, can now represent the country under the Tricolour. The next international tournament is Indoor World Series in Las Vegas in three weeks’ time.

OBITUARY

Former Indian cricketer Man Mohan Sood passes away

• Former Indian Test batsman and National selector Man Mohan Sood passed away.
• He played 1 Test and 39 first-class matches with 1 century.
• He played his lone test match against Richie Benaud, Australia at Madras in 1960.

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Daily Current Affairs Quiz – January  23 & 24, 2020

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