Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Before 5 August 2019, Part VI was not applicable to Jammu & Kashmir state. On 6 August 2019, parliament of India declared all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative. After this, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed dividing the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories viz. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Notes:
In October, 2022, India has emerged as the world’s largest producer and second largest exporter of sugar. In Sugar Season 2021-22, a record of more than five thousand lakh metric tons of sugarcane was produced in the country.

Notes:
AirAsia is a low-cost airline based in Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia by fleet size and destinations, and it has a significant presence in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Australia. AirAsia was founded in 1993 and began operations in 1996. The airline is known for its low-cost business model and its frequent flyer program, AirAsia BIG. AirAsia has been awarded numerous accolades, including being named the “World’s Best Low-Cost Airline” by Skytrax for 10 consecutive years from 2009 to 2018.

Notes:
The proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka aims at improvement over the existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The agreement seeks to boost cooperation in scientific expertise, technical areas and research amongst institutions between India and Sri Lanka. It also seeks to boost standards of goods and services to compete on global market and improve opportunities for manpower training and human resource development. The ETCA initiative follows unfruitful negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between two countries. Objectives of ETCA: (i) Strengthen and advance the economic, trade, investment and technology cooperation. (ii) Promote further liberalization of trade in goods, trade in services and gradually establish transparent, fair and facilitative trading, investment and investment protection mechanisms (iii) establish a cooperation mechanism and expand areas of economic cooperation.

Notes:
On December 1, 2016, Yoga was listed as UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage.

Notes:
Recently, Government has planned to organise an international bird festival in this Dudhwa tiger reserve. The bird festival is being organized jointly by the state forest department and Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). This region is home to 450 bird species, including the endangered Bengal florican and vulnerable bird species like swamp partridge, also called swamp francolin, sarus crane and herons.

Notes:
INS Chakra is an 8,140-tonne nuclear-powered submarine manufactured by Russia. It was taken by India on lease from Russia in 2012 for a period of 10 years. The Russian experts after examination of the damaged submarine have asked 125 crore for its repair. The Arihant is based on Russian double hull design with a sealed nuclear reactor section. Recently, it also suffered a major damage due to “human error” and is back in services after repairs. INS Arihant was built with Russia’s help under Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project.

Notes:
Scientists from have discovered Gymnothorax indicus (called Indian unpatterened moray), a new species of eel (a snake-like fish) in the northern Bay of Bengal region along the West Bengal coast.

Notes:
Maharashtra is the first State in the country to draft its own internal security act- the Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act (MPISA), 2016.