Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
The government has recently relaxed the norms for withdrawal of General Provident Fund (GPF) to enable the central government employees receive payments within 15 days. Employees can also withdraw the fund for select purposes after completing 10 years of service, as against 15 years of service earlier. This reform will help around 50 Lakh central government employees.

Notes:
In a bid to expand the green cover, the Maharashtra government recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Railways, under which trees will be planted on the land adjacent to the railway tracks in the state.

Notes:
The mines mentioned in this are in Jharkhand.

Notes:
Vyas Samman is a literary award given annually by the K.K. Birla Foundation. The award is given to an Indian citizen for an outstanding work of Hindi literature published in the last 10 years. The award includes a cash prize of Rs 4,00,000.
The first Vyas Samman was awarded in 1991 to Dr. Ram Vilas Sharma. In 2018, Leeladhar Jagudi was given the Vyas Samman Award for his collection of poems “Jitne Log Utne Prem, published in 2013.

Notes:
The Advanced Ultra Supercritical technology is an indigenous technology for coal-fired power plants, which requires less fuel, delivers greater efficiency and is a tad cleaner. The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is designing phases of the 800 MW advanced ultra supercritical (AUSC) boiler for coal power plant will be ready by 2019-2020.

Notes:
Recently, Switzerland and India have inked a pact to extend the Indo-Swiss Building Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP) by five years till 2021 based on successes achieved by the project in the first phase. 

Notes:
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has started its Twitter Seva. The Twitter Handle is ‘DARPGSEVA’. The Twitter Seva aims to address issues relating to the DARPG like Public Grievances and Administrative Reforms etc. The Twitter Seva will enable the DARPG to reach out to the common public and various stakeholders for facilitating redress of grievances and other issues of importance relating to the department.

Notes:
Seychelles is an archipelago and country in the Indian Ocean. Officially known as the Republic of Seychelles, it is a 115-island country. Recently, India signed an Agreement with Seychelles for the Development, Management, Operation and Maintenance of Facilities on “Assumption Island”. The agreement will be valid for 20 years, after which it can be renewed for periods of 10 years at a time.

Notes:
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has recently signed an institutional agreement with Punjab State Council of Science and Technology to set up India’s first Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) in Punjab. This initiative has been taken under the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) TISC programme. It aims to stimulate a dynamic, vibrant, and balanced Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) system in the country to foster creativity and innovation and promote entrepreneurship.

Notes:
Pusa Kiran and Pusa Malvi are varieties of wheat. These were recently in news when scorching heat in early march damaged the wheat yield in the country this year.