Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Karnataka won the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Notes:
Discovered small field (DSF) auction happened recently. The term is related to oil sector.

Notes:
Indian anti-hunger activist Ankit Kawatra has honoured with the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders award for his exceptional work in transforming the lives of others. Kawatra is among the 60 others from all 53 Commonwealth countries to be felicitated with the prestigious award by Queen Elizabeth (II) at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace in London on June 29, 2017. The honourees will also undergo a year-long mentoring and online learning by the University of Cambridge to build leadership capabilities and better their work towards the communities. He is the founder of Feeding India, a not-for profit organization that works towards solving problems of hunger, malnutrition and food wastage, mainly by redistributing extra food from restaurants, canteens, households, corporates etc. to help people in need.

Notes:
Currently (June, 2018), Apollo Global Management LLC tops the list of the world’s top 10 private equity firms, with just under $150 billion in total private equity assets under management(AUM) for 2015. Blackstone is the world’s second biggest private equity firm. 

Notes:
Difference in per cent expensses on printing cost and advertisement charges = (35 – 18)% = 17%
Now, 1% = 3.6%
∴ 17% = 3.6°17=61.2°

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:
Catalonia’s separatist government has declared independence from Spain – but at the same time the national government in Madrid imposed direct rule on the region. Catalonia is one of Spain’s wealthiest and most productive regions. The region enjoyed broad autonomy once but that was suppressed under decades of Gen Francisco Franco’s dictatorship from 1939-75. When Franco died, Catalan nationalism was revived and eventually the north-eastern region was granted autonomy again, under the 1978 constitution. Recently, on 27 October 2017, after years of mutual hostility, independence supporters have proclaimed Catalonia a republic in response of which Spain has responded by imposing direct rule on the autonomous region.

Notes:
The Sela Pass is a high-altitude mountain pass located on the border between the Tawang and West Kameng Districts of Arunachal Pradesh. It is highly prone to landslides or snow cover during winters. To facilitate easy mobilisation of army and vehicles on this route, government announced the construction of tunnel under the Sela Pass.

Notes:
The Indian scientists have finally started their research on “Dark Matter” in the special underground lab set up at Jaduguda mines in Jharkhand. The lab’s primary aim will be to join the hunt for dark matter, the mysterious stuff whose gravity holds galaxies together. The laboratory is located deep underground almost half-a-kilometre below the earth’s surface. To search for dark matter, scientists need to dive deep underground, so their experiments are shielded from intruders like cosmic rays and other radiations. The rock overhead is expected to absorb these unwelcome rays that interfere with the experiments. The Jaduguda mines are located nearly 260 km from Kolkata and 150 km from state capital Ranchi. It was set up at a cost of a mere Rs. 20 lakh. This is India’s second foray in underground lab experiments. Before this, in 1992, a similar facility was started in Karnataka’s Kolar gold field but was shut down after the mine got flooded due to disuse.

Notes:
The First Indian Mushroom Growers Association (IMGA) was launched recently by Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) at Bengaluru. Mushroom production is indoor actively using vertical space well suited to small farmers & landless labourers. Mushroom cultivation does not require large tracts of land and can be grown on marginal lands under sheds prepared for its cultivation. Mushroom cultivation thus not only meets the dietary requirements but also adds to the income.