Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for merger of State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Patiala (SBP), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT), and State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) with the parent, State Bank of India. This merger will create a banking giant, having 1/4 of market share in India’s banking sector (in terms of loans and deposits), with an asset base of about Rs 40 lakh crore from Rs 23 lakh crore.

Notes:
The Vishakhapatnam railway station in Andhra Pradesh has been adjudged as the cleanest railway station among the 75 busiest stations in the country in category A1, followed by Secunderabad, Jammu Tawi, Vijayawada and Anand Vihar railway stations. This was revealed by Third Party Audit Report on Station Cleanliness i.e. released by Ministry of Railway in New Delhi on May 17, 2017. The railway stations are categorised — A1, A, B, C, D, E and F — based on their annual passenger revenue by the ministry. Among the ‘A’ category stations, Beas railway station in Punjab was rated the cleanest station followed by Khammam station in Telangana and Ahmednagar station in Maharashtra. Zone wise South-East Central railway has been ranked first followed by East Coast railway and Central Railway. The survey was carried out by the Quality Council of India (QCI) and was based on criteria such as toilets on platforms, management of tracks and dustbins.

Notes:
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India has won prestigious International Award of Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) titled “APQN Quality Award 2017 for International Co-operation in Quality Assurance” in Moscow, Russia on May 26, 2017. The NAAC is an organisation that assesses and accredits institutions of higher education in India. It’s headquarters is located in Bangalore, Karnataka.

Notes:
The International Conference on Green Initiatives & Railway Electrification has inaugurated by Union Minister of Railways & Coal Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on October 27, 2017. The conference is organised by Ministry of Railways through Institution of Railways Electrical Engineer (IREE). The main purpose of the 2-day international conference is to bring green power project developers and other stakeholders on a common platform for making Indian Railways (IR) an efficient and Greener mode of transport. This will open an international discussion on various Green initiatives including use of renewable energy, shift towards electric traction, development of new locomotive technology, high speed rail traction system and development in generation of Solar/Wind power as well as use of energy in efficient ways.

Notes:
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.
 

Notes:
Government has recently announced the setting up of National Nutrition Mission which would benefit nearly 10 crore people in the country. It aims to cover all the States and districts in the country i.e. 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20. It aims to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies. It would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022). The mission will be funded by Government Budgetary Support (50%) and 50% by IBRD or other MDB. The support ratio would be 60:40 between Centre and States/UTs, 90:10 for NER and Himalayan States, and 100% for UTs without legislature.

Notes:
Mannavaram power project is a proposed power project in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

Notes:
The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released a book titled “The Birds of Banni Grassland”. The Book is a compilation of the research work, relating to more than 250 species of birds found in the Banni area of Kutch, Gujarat.

Notes:
Mata Prasad Committee has been appointed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. It has suggested that transmission planning be aligned to meet customer aspirations as opposed to the existing system where transmission is associated with long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Notes:
Recently, our researchers have discovered a new termite species Glyptotermes chiraharitae from the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary at Kakkayam in Kerala. The newly discovered species has been named 'chiraharitae', after it was found in the tropical ever-green forest of Western Ghats. Termites are eusocial insects, which are generally of three types- drywood, dampwood and subterranean ones. The new species Glyptotermes chiraharitae is dampwood termites which infest parts of woods with high moisture content.