Current Affairs - 2019-20

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In September 2018, Senior IPS officer Arun Kumar was appointed as Director General of Railway Protection Force (RPF). Kumar, a 1985 batch officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, is serving as Special Director General of Border Security Force.

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India and the United States established a Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism as early as February 2000. It had its ninth meeting recently. Our two countries signed a Counter-terrorism Cooperation Initiative in July 2010. There are other institutional mechanisms, such as the Working Group on Aviation Security, Working Group on Information and Communication Technology and the Defence Policy Group, which provide avenues for our cooperation. India’s membership of FATF has strengthened our ability to work with each other on the financial aspects of terrorism.
 

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A week long diversified cultural carnival ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav’ was held in February, 2018 in Madhya Pradesh beginning at Maan Mandir Fort, Gwalior. 

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'Tulaipanji' and 'Gobindobhog' are varieties of aromatic rice. Recently, the Bengal Government applied in the Office of Geographical Indications, Chennai for GI certification of products.

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Almost every year, maximum part of the sum of money allotted to the Defence Ministry for capital acquisition lapses and return backs to government. To cope of with the issue, the Defence Ministry sent a proposal to Finance Ministry for creation of “Non-lapsable Capital Fund Account” for capital acquisitions of Indian defence.

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Indian scientists have discovered a new species of frog that has a snout-shaped nose, just like a pig’s. It has been named Nasikabatrachus bhupathi after the Indian herpetologist S. Bhupathy, who died in a freak accident in 2014. The soiled-dwelling species has been discovered by scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). Bhupathy’s purple frog inhabits the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats, near the Srivilliputhur Grizzled Giant Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.

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The scheme called “Transforming India by 2022”, aspires to rapidly transform backward districts that are lacking on key development indices in health, nutrition, education, agriculture, skill development, financial inclusion and basic infrastructure.

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Recently, Madhya Pradesh Government announced to shift its financial year format to January-December from the present April-March cycle. With this, it became the first state in the country to do so.

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The correct answer is Sabarimala Temple. It is a Hindu pilgrimage centre located at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala. The shrine at Sabarimala is an ancient Ayyappan temple. It is located on the banks of the holy River Pampa. On the way to Sabarimala shrine is located Vavar mosque which is an integral part of this pilgrimage. The temple is open for worship only during the days of Mandalapooja, Makara Sankranti and Maha Vishuva Sankranti and the first five days of each Malayalam month. The temple was recently in news for legal case due to its custom of restricting women above the age of 10 and below the age of 50 from offering worship at temple.

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Swayam is a 1-U picosatellite (CubeSat) developed by the students of College of Engineering in Pune. This satellite provides point-to-point communications for the UHF HAM band. The Satellite was launched by ISRO on June 22, 2016 along with Cartosat-2C by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-34. The satellite has been placed in low earth orbit (LEO) around the Earth at a height of 515 km. The project was completed over a span of 8 years and more than 200 students worked on it. The scientific objective of the satellite is to demonstrate passive attitude control to stabilise and appropriately orient the satellite. This technique has been used for the first time on an Indian Satellite.