Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Before 5 August 2019, Part VI was not applicable to Jammu & Kashmir state. On 6 August 2019, parliament of India declared all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative. After this, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed dividing the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories viz. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Notes:
The four largest newspaper markets in the world are:

1. China, with 107 million copies sold daily
2. India, with 99 million copies sold daily
3. Japan, with 68 million copies sold daily
4. The United States, with nearly 51 million copies sold daily

The Asia-Pacific region is the largest newspaper market, accounting for over 30% of the market in 2018. The growth of print and digital media in India and China is a key factor in the growth of the Asia-Pacific market. The global print newspapers and magazines market size was estimated at USD 123.93 billion in 2021. Revenue is projected to reach US$165.80bn in 2023.

Notes:
Recently, Indian scientists announced the discovery of an almost fully preserved fossil of a Jurassic age sea-dwelling reptile known as the ‘fish lizard’ from a village in Gujarat’s Kutch district. The discovery was reported in PLOS ONE, a scientific journal, by a group of researchers who found the fossil in early 2016. The discovery adds to the knowledge of ichthyosaur from the southern continents. Ichthyosaur is a combination of two Greek words meaning fish and lizard, a name the reptile gets because of its fish-like appearance. The discovered fossil is believed to be from the Jurassic period, which lasted from about 250 million to 200 million years ago. Ichthyosaur fossils from the Jurassic period have been found in the Americas, Australia and Europe but never in India.

Notes:
MESSENGER was the first orbital mission around Mercury. It was a NASA robotic spacecraft that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015. BepiColombo is a joint mission planned to be launched in October 2018. It is a joint mission by European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury. The mission comprises two satellites to be launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter (MMO). The mission will perform a comprehensive study on Mercury, including its magnetic field, magnetosphere, interior structure and surface. Mariner 10 was an American robotic space probe launched by NASA on November 3, 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) is a space probe developed by NASA designed to study the atmosphere of Mars. The mission was successfully launched on November 18, 2013. Mission goals include determining how the planet’s atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time. MAVEN has completed four years on 21 september, 2018.

Notes:
The pangolin is world’s most trafficked animal. They are believed to possess magic or charms. They are hunted for their magical properties. Their scales when mixed with bark from certain trees; the scales are thought to neutralize witchcraft and evil spirits. In recently held global wildlife summit, a total trade ban in all species of pangolin was imposed by CITES. More than a million wild pangolins have been killed in the last decade, to feed the huge and rising appetite in China and Vietnam for its meat and its scales, a supposed medicine. The 182 nations of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) unanimously agreed a total ban on international trade on all species at the summit in Johannesburg.

Notes:
Custard apples are also known as sitaphal. Beed district of Maharashtra is famous for its organically grown custard apples. Beed’s custard apples were recently issued GI certificates.

Notes:
Leaders' Retreat 2016 Outcome Document was released in Goa on 16 October 2016 during the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. The BIMSTEC is the sub-regional group of seven countries in South Asia and South East Asia lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. They are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia.

Notes:
Diyarbakir is one of the largest cities of Turkey. It is situated on the banks of the Tigris River. The city was in news for in news for revolutionary activities led by Kurdish militants for self-rule.

Notes:
Swayam is a 1-U picosatellite (CubeSat) developed by the students of College of Engineering in Pune. This satellite provides point-to-point communications for the UHF HAM band. The Satellite was launched by ISRO on June 22, 2016 along with Cartosat-2C by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-34. The satellite has been placed in low earth orbit (LEO) around the Earth at a height of 515 km. The project was completed over a span of 8 years and more than 200 students worked on it. The scientific objective of the satellite is to demonstrate passive attitude control to stabilise and appropriately orient the satellite. This technique has been used for the first time on an Indian Satellite.

Notes:
Fejervarya goemchi, a frog species discovered in the highland plateaus of the Western Ghats parts of Goa. This new species has been named after the historical name of the state of Goa. These frogs are terrestrial but they also need water bodies nearby to continue for survival. This new species is mainly found in the high elevation areas of Laterite plateaus, temporary water bodies and paddy fields of Goa.