Current Affairs - 2019-20

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Police Commemoration Day is celebrated annually on October 21st to honor police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. The day commemorates the sacrifice of ten policemen who died while defending India’s borders with China in 1959.
The day is also known as Martyr’s Day in all police forces of India. The government of India decided to observe October 21st as Police Commemoration Day to honor all police personnel who have died in the line of duty.
The National Police Memorial was unveiled on October 21st, 2018 in New Delhi. The memorial is for those who have died from 1947 to the present.

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The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1989. It is also known as Green Nobel Prize. The prize is awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The prize includes a no-strings-attached award of US$175,000 per recipient. Prafulla Samantara is an environmentalist from Odisha. He is known for Lok Shakti Abhiyan, a civil rights organisation, which was at the forefront of the protests in Niyamgiri in Lanjigarh district where Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of Vedanta Alumina, was planning to set up mining operations in a joint venture with state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC).

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Bonus shares are gifts to existing shareholders as the company issues additional shares to them at no cost. Issuing of bonus shares further attaracts new investors to company.

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Recently, Scientists have discovered a new planet called Ross 128b that could possibly sustain life. This planet is located just 11 light-years away. It is a temperate planet that orbits a “quiet star”. It gets its name from the fact that it doesn’t spew out life-threatening bursts of radiation. The planet was discovered using ESO’s unique planet-hunting HARPS instrument.

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Till now, only Highways, ports, inland waterways and railways were part of the planned multi-modal logistics hubs in India. But recently Aviation sector has been also included as the part of multi-modal logistics hubs in India. With this step the government will integrate all kinds of logistics hubs. It has been included as a part of India Integrated Transport and Logistic policy. The integrated policy would include construction of 50 Economic Corridors and upgrading key feeder and inter corridor routes to improve overall efficiency of freight movement. It also includes developing 35 multimodal logistics parks to serve as centres for freight aggregation and distribution, multimodal transportation, storage and warehousing and value added services.

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The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has recently signed an institutional agreement with Punjab State Council of Science and Technology to set up India’s first Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) in Punjab. This initiative has been taken under the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) TISC programme. It aims to stimulate a dynamic, vibrant, and balanced Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) system in the country to foster creativity and innovation and promote entrepreneurship.

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In Budget 2018, government announced for Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBAR-DHAN) scheme that aims to convert cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost, biogas and bio-CNG.

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Darfur is a region in Sudan also known as North Sudan. The War in Darfur is a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting the government of Sudan

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Express Wi-Fi is an initiative of Facebook in India. It is live in India and it empowers local entrepreneurs to help provide quality Internet access to their neighbours and make a steady income with the help of internet service providers and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world.

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The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is working on providing “Universal Identity Cards” to all Divyangjan (persons with disabilities) which will be valid in all States for all schemes.