Current Affairs Quiz: January 23, 2020

Notes:
According to the recent report released by the environmental NGO Greenpeace India, Jharia, a city in Jharkhand is the most polluted city in India, which is followed by Dhanbad of the same state.
The report also revealed that six of the country’s ten most polluted cities are in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Lunglei city of Mizoram is the least polluted city and it is the only city with Particulate matter (PM) levels under the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) prescribed level. Greenpeace India has used data from the Central Pollution Control Board and analysis of particulate matter (PM) data of 287 cities, to rank the most polluted cities in India

Notes:
The State government of Uttarakhand recently released a notification that it has made a policy to lease agricultural land, becoming the first Indian state to implement such policy.
According to the policy, any institution, company or NGO can take farm land on lease for 30 years, provided the leased land is below 30 acres. The farmers who own the land will receive the corresponding rent during the leased period. Difficulties in leasing land for agriculture and plantation in hilly areas and consolidation of fragmented land are being solved by the policy.

Notes:
As per the recent announcement from the Indian Army, the first batch of 18 indigenously upgraded ‘Sharang’ artillery guns are to be inducted into the Army by March 31, 2020.
The barrel of the indigenously designed gun has been upgraded from 130 mm to 155 mm. As a result, the hitting range of the gun has been increased by 12 km kilometres, to 39 kilometres. The Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur had been awarded the global contract for upgrading the Sharang artillery gun, and the project was done with the help of ordnance factories, Indian Army and DRDO.

Notes:
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed between Indian Navy and Geological Survey of India (GSI). The agreement was on ‘Sharing of seabed sediments data, products and expertise for Naval Application in Meteorology and Oceanography’.
The Marine and Coastal survey Division of GSI has mapped most of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. This repository of data collected using the oceanic research vessels of GSI, will now be used by the Indian Navy. The data would be used for oceanographic modelling during their maritime operations in the Indian Ocean region (IOR).

Notes:
The National Bravery awards for the year 2019 were recently presented by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) in New Delhi.22 children including 10 girls were selected for the National Bravery awards. Among them, one award was given posthumously. The highest award called Bharat award was conferred on a 15-year-old Kerala boy Adithya, for saving more than 40 lives after a bus accident.
Indian Council for Child Welfare was formed in the year 1952, which initiated this award to recognize children for their brave and spontaneous selfless service or their daring act against a social crime.