Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2020

Notes:
The East Coast Railway has commissioned the government’s first waste-to-energy plant. This is the first of its kind in Indian Railways and only the fourth plant in India.
The plant will turn e-waste and plastic into light diesel oil in less than 24 hours. A new technology called ‘Polycrack’ which was recently patented is to be used in the waste-to-energy plant. A large pile of non-ferrous scrap generated from the Carriage Repair Workshop could not be efficiently disposed earlier, creating environmental hazards. Now the waste can be converted into hydrocarbon liquid fuels, gas, carbon and water.

Notes:
The state government of Maharashtra launched the ‘ Shiv Bhojan’ scheme, which aims to provide a meal to the poor for Rs 10. The scheme was launched on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day celebrations.
Under the scheme, thalis or lunch plates would be available to the people at designated centres in all districts. Nearly 50 ‘Shiv-Bhojan’ outlets were set up in a pilot basis, which will be extended to other parts of the state. The remaining fund needed for providing food will be given as grant to the district collectorate by the state government.

Notes:
Arunachal Pradesh recently hosted the ‘Innovation Festival’ in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation, India. The State Council for Science & Technology, Department of Science & Technology of the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh organised the two-day long festival.
The two-day programme comprised of interaction session and discussion among the innovators. Nearly 50 innovations are exhibited by students and entrepreneurs of the state and its neighbouring states. The festival was held with an objective of promoting innovation among the people of the state.

Notes:
The third Global Potato Conclave recently commenced in Gandhinagar, with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address through video-conferencing.
Two Global Potato Conferences were organised in 1999 and 2008, one in every 10 years. The conclave for this decade is being organised by the Indian Potato Association (IPA) in association with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Shimla based ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute and International Potato Centre (CIP), Peru. The three-day global event will showcase the achievements in potato research and to set a blueprint for the decade.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Slovenia, Marjan Sarec was seen in news as he recently submitted his resignation from the post to the country’s parliament. He also called for an early election as his minority government could not pass important legislations. The next regular election is due to be held in the middle of 2022.
The ruling coalition of five parties, which assumed power in Late 2018, had only 43 out of 90 seats in parliament. Before the announcement of the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj also submitted his resignation.

Notes:
The United Kingdom recently released a new 50 pence coin with inscription of “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations” and the Brexit date of 31 January 2020.
The bill to implement the exit of Britain from the European Union officially became law recently this week. The coin is minted to mark the leaving of the country from the European Union. Britain Finance Minister Sajid Javid was presented with the first set of coins. Nearly 10 million such coins are to be distributed and the first three million will be available from January 31, in all banks, post offices and shops.

Notes:
The 11th edition of the biennial mega defence exhibition, DefExpo 2020 is to be held in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh- Lucknow from February 5 to 9, 2020. The theme of this edition of the event is ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’. The sub-theme is announced as ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’.
Recently it was announced that the number of companies participating in this year’s edition has reached 1000, and this is set to become the biggest ever DefExpo to be held in India by far. In December 2019, the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released the DefExpo app, which provides detailed information about the event.

Notes:
Veteran diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been recently appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to the United States. He replaces Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who was the previous Indian envoy to the US.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 1988-batch and is currently posted as High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka. Sandhu has earlier worked as the Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy of India in Washington D.C. for four years from 2013 to 2017. He has also served as the Joint Secretary (United Nations) at the Ministry of External Affairs between 2009 and 2011.

Notes:
The state-owned Electricity PSU, NTPC Limited, formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited has been announced as the Project Management Consultant for the development of 300 MW of solar power projects in the West African country, Togo.
The letter of engagement was recently signed between the country and the Indian PSU in this regard. This also marks the first time, a country has sought assistance from NTPC, under the India-led International Solar Alliance. As per the agreement, the African nation Togo is not to incur the cost in this project while the PSU will recover the project cost through bids.

Notes:
The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is the annual flagship event organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). This year, the global summit is scheduled to be held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
The three-day event was inaugurated on January 29, 2020 with the theme, ‘Towards 2030 Goals: Making the Decade Count’. The summit has been organised for 18 years from 2001, to provide a platform for global leaders to discuss climatic issues. This year, the event focusses on the global efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.