Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
The International Day of Forests is observed every year on March 21 to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and of trees outside forests for the benefit of current and future generations. The 2017 theme is ‘Forests and Energy’. The theme highlights the importance of wood energy in improving people’s lives, powering sustainable development and mitigating climate change.
 

Notes:
On 25-12-2017, India’s top 10 trade partners are China, USA, UAE, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Indonesia and Singapore.

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Under the Global Plan to End TB 2016-2020, the Stop TB Partnership, the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Advance Access & Delivery (AA&D), and Interactive Research and Development (IRD) have come together to launch the Zero TB Initiative to support cities, districts, and islands that are committed to achieving a rapid reduction in the number TB patients.

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:
World’s One of the most powerful X-ray machines called European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL has officially opened at Hamburg, Germany. It is capable of firing powerful X-rays in bursts in less than seconds: so short that, like strobe lights, they can capture snapshots of jittery molecules frozen in time, and with a wavelength small enough to provide pictures at atomic resolution. The Hamburg machine is one of a few such X-ray lasers worldwide, but boasts a unique rapid-fire feature: it can rattle off 27,000 pulses every second, a firing rate more than 200 times greater than the next-fastest facility.

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The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed a UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, paving the way for tackling child hunger and ending all forms of malnutrition once and for all. Every country in the world in 2015, agreed to eliminate malnutrition by 2030. Brazil became the first country to make SMART commitments as part of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025.

Notes:
Narendra Modi Government reinstalled plaque with the name and quote of Veer Savarkar at Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The plaque was first installed in 2004 in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government. It was removed soon after UPA government came to power at the Centre.

Notes:
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has introduced a new star rating methodology called Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) for air conditioners. Keeping the performance of air conditioners during higher temperature in mind, ISEER will address the different climatic zones in India and higher temperature. ISEER measures energy efficiency of air conditioners based on a weighted average of the performance at outside temperatures between 24 and 43 degree C based on Indian weather data.

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Monero (XMR) is an open-source cryptocurrency created in April 2014 that focuses on privacy, decentralisation and scalability.

Notes:
Recently, based on the recommendations of Kokate committee, the Union Health Ministry had imposed the ban on 344 FDC drugs under Section 26A of Drugs and Cosmetics Act in March 2016. The ban was imposed because of FDC being unsafe and not having a therapeutic justification. India is one of the world’s largest markets for FDC drugs that make up almost half the market share. It was imposed over fears that these drugs cause anti-microbial resistance and might even cause organ-failure because of high toxicity. It also aimed at curbing the misuse of medicines.