Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Judicial corporal punishment, such as whipping or caning, has disappeared from most European countries. However, it remains lawful in parts of Africa, Asia, the Anglophone Caribbean, and indigenous communities in South America.
Corporal punishment of children is legally banned in most countries in Europe and Central Asia. The latest countries to prohibit it are France (July 2019) and Kosovo (June 2019).
Corporal punishment is explicitly prohibited by several international conventions on human rights, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations’ “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners”.

Notes:
General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, has released a book on Paramveer Chakra Awardees – ‘Paramveer Parwane’ on 20 March 2018. The book illustrates the bravery of Paramveer Chakra Awardees from 1947 to 1965 and is written by Dr. Prabhakiran Jain published by Medha Books. The book has 11 short stories, poems and songs highlighting the history of the battles in which the brave soldiers sacrificed their lives and have shown the utmost courage & leadership while facing the enemy during War to protect the motherland. The book is available in paperback & coffee table book format and its second part will be released shortly.

Notes:
∠ACB = 180° – 120° = 60°
AB = AC
∴ ∠ABC = ∠ACB = 60°
∴ ∠BAC = 60°
Hence option [B] is the right answer.

Notes:
To strengthen the aviation sector in Gujarat, the state government has planned to set up the country’s first-ever aviation park in the state. Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Ltd (GUJSAIL) has been tasked with the project. It would include facilities including an airstrip, training school, helipad and space for setting up small manufacturing units. The company has recently identified a piece of land near Bagodara village for this park. “This will be a first ever Aviation Park in India.

Notes:
Recently, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, has proposed to develop a dedicated 200 acre industrial park for the manufacture of medical devices in his state. The Park will be having a Common Manufacturing Facility Centre to act as a Hub for SME Sector to enable it to flourish as a Cluster. Focus will be on creating an Eco System for High End Medical Device Manufacturing and Import Substitution with an eye for Export Market. Though the Medical Device Park has been proposed to be set up in three states viz. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, but Andhra Pradesh has become the first to implement the programme. The proposed medical devices park will have ‘Centre of Excellence’ in which research for medical device will be conducted.

Notes:
The Department of Disinvestment has been renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management or ‘Dipam’. This step is aimed at proper management of Centre’s investments in equity including its disinvestment in central public sector undertakings. The new department has been mandated to "advise the government in the matters of financial restructuring of central public sector enterprises and for attracting investment through capital markets".

Notes:
The sixth Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia summit was held in Amritsar, from December 3 to December 4, 2016. The Key Features of the Conference are:

• The delegates from nearly 40 countries and leading groupings like EU participated in conference
• Indian delegation was led by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
• The theme of this edition of the conference was “Addressing Challenges, Achieving Prosperity”
• The three big issues of the conference were (i) countering terrorism to create stability in Afghanistan, (ii) Providing Afghanistan connectivity to strengthen economic activities and (iii) the development which is essential for its progress

Notes:
In Budget 2018, Bamboo has been termed as “Green Gold”. The Finance Minister announced a Re-structured National Bamboo Mission with corpus of Rs.1290 crore to promote bamboo sector. Taxonomically, bamboo is a grass. However, the Indian Forest Act, 1927 classifies Bamboo as tree as well as grass. While the bamboos produced in the forest area have been termed as tree, those produced in non-forest areas have been termed as grass. The recent change introduced in the Forest Act, 1927 has made Bamboo as one of the highest yielding renewable natural resource. The non-forest bamboo produce will now be used for artifacts and for infrastructure development.

Notes:
First statement is correct. The scheme aims to get foreign investment and turn India into an electronics manufacturing hub. Second statement is incorrect. The scheme provides subsidy for capital expenditure – 20% for investments in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 25% in non-SEZs. Third statement is correct. One of the major objectives of the scheme is to attain net zero imports in electronics by 2020. Fourth statement is correct. It is an initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) was launched in 2012. Its first phase will end in December, 2018.

Notes:
In January 2018, the Turkish military began an operation in the Kurdish- majority Afrin Canton and the Tel Rifaat Area of Shahba Canton in Northern Syria. Turkey code-named the operation as Operation Olive Branch.