Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
India fulfils 85% of its crude oil requirements through imports. As of June, 2022, Iraq, Russia and Saudi Arabia are India’s largest three crude oil suppliers.

Notes:
The American Cancer Society presents the Luther L. Terry Awards. The awards recognize individuals and organizations that continue the work of Dr. Luther Terry. Dr. Terry was the ninth Surgeon General of the United States from 1961 to 1965. He is known for his warnings against the dangers of tobacco use.  The Luther L. Terry Awards recognize those who carry on Dr. Terry’s legacy and the importance of continuing his work. For example, in 2018, Professor Elif Dagli and Dr. Constantine Vardavas were recognized for their work on tobacco control.  Dr. Terry released the Smoking and Health-Report, which became one of the most important and widely quoted documents in medicine.

Notes:
Under the Part XXI of the Constitution of India, which deals with “Temporary, Transitional and Special provisions”, Article 370 is a temporary provision granting special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir. However, all sections of article 370 except article 370(1) have been abrogated in 2019.

Notes:
ISRO made successful test of Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration Program or RLV-TD

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Shola forests are tropical montane forests predominantly found in the hilly regions of Western Ghats. Recently, researchers from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in collaboration with IISER in Tirupati and Botanical Survey of India used satellite imagery to study the forest and grassland cover in the Western Ghats. They found that there has been a drastic decline in the area of the Shola grassland. In the place of these grasslands and forests, timber plantations have thrived. Also, increase in agricultural land coupled by urbanisation was reported as another major reason for decline of shola grasslands.

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:
As per the Indian State Forest Report 2017, the correct order is Tropical Dry Deciduous (279506 sq km), Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest (144747 sq km), Tropical Semi Evergreen (98039 sq km), Himalayan Moist Temperate (29216 sq km) and Tropical Wet–Evergreen (20872 sq km).

Notes:
As per India State of Forest Report 2017, the current mangrove cover in the country has been reported to be 4921 sq km, which is .15% of the total geographical area of the country. As per the report, the mangrove forests have increased by 181 sq kms in the country compared to assessment made in 2015. Maharashtra has shown the maximum increase in area under bamboo cultivation among all other states. Maharashtra (82 sq kms), Andhra Pradesh (37 sq kms) and Gujarat (33 sq kms) are the top three gainers in terms of mangrove cover. 7 out of the 12 mangrove states have shown an increase in mangrove cover and none of them show any negative change. The correct order of states in terms of area under Bamboo cultivation is Madhya Pradesh> Maharashtra> Arunachal Pradesh> Odisha.