Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the state of Madhya Pradesh. In the year 2018, it received the status of national park. It was selected as a probable location to implement the Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project, with an objective of establishing a second lion population in India.

Notes:
The Egypt squash team has won the boy’s title at the 6th WSF-World junior squash team championship 2018 by defeating England by 2-0 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on July 29. Egypt’s Marwan Tarek, who lost the individual championship final, defeated Nick Wall of England in straight games. Czech Republic and USA finished third and secured the bronze medal. Host India finished 11th overall.

Notes:
Recently, Indian scientists announced the discovery of an almost fully preserved fossil of a Jurassic age sea-dwelling reptile known as the ‘fish lizard’ from a village in Gujarat’s Kutch district. The discovery was reported in PLOS ONE, a scientific journal, by a group of researchers who found the fossil in early 2016. The discovery adds to the knowledge of ichthyosaur from the southern continents. Ichthyosaur is a combination of two Greek words meaning fish and lizard, a name the reptile gets because of its fish-like appearance. The discovered fossil is believed to be from the Jurassic period, which lasted from about 250 million to 200 million years ago. Ichthyosaur fossils from the Jurassic period have been found in the Americas, Australia and Europe but never in India.

Notes:
Second option is the correct answer. The pollen seeds of this tree are said to cause respiratory problems.

Notes:
Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP) in Sikkim has been named a world heritage site by the World Heritage Committee (WHC) of UNESCO. This is a National Park and a Biosphere reserve located in Sikkim, India. It was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list on July 17, 2016, becoming the first "Mixed Heritage" site of India.

Notes:
Recently, Meghalaya became the first state in the country to operationalise a law that makes social audit of government programmes and schemes a part of government practice. The Meghalaya state government recently launched “The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017”. The key provisions of the social audit law are as follows:

• Make an easy edit in the course of action for implementation of government schemes as per requirement
• The law gives people a direct say in how money will be spent and fills an information gap for officers and locals

The law also has provision for appointment of social audit facilitator to conduct the audit directly with the people.

Notes:
Sathyabamasat is a micro experimental satellite developed by students and faculty of Sathyabama University, a private university of Chennai. It aims to collect data on greenhouse gases. It was launched on June 22^nd, 2016.

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The South Asia Sub regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) includes seven member countries-Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Myanmar has been recently added to the list as the seventh member of the economic cooperation.

Notes:
Recently, the scientists have discovered the oldest fossil ever on earth at Quebec in Canada. The discovered fossils shows that organisms were thriving 4.2 billion years ago, hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought.