DAILY GK 16 – 17 JAN 2020

DAILY GK 16 – 17 JAN 2020

1.    Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi scheme

ü Govt has released the National draft policy on Rare Disease in which financial support of Rs. 15 lakh will be provided under the Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi scheme for one-time treatment of rare diseases.

ü The scheme benefit is limited to people below Poverty Line (BPL) and also 40% of the population eligible as per Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(AB-PMJAY) norms for treatment in government tertiary hospitals only.

2.    National Water Policy

ü Mihir Shah has been appointed as the chairman of the 11-member committee to draft the National Water Policy(NWP) and will have to submit the report within 6 months from the date of constitution. The committee was established by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation of govt. of India.

3.    ‘Saksham’ Campaign

ü Dharmendra Pradhan launched ‘Saksham’ a month long People-centric fuel conservation mega campaign of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in New Delhi.

ü Under this campaign PCRA and Gas companies will conduct various workshops, seminars, cyclothons to adapt the measure of using less fuels.

4.    Bru-Reang refugee agreement

ü Amit Shah has presided over the signing of a quadripartite agreement between the central government and state Governments of Tripura ,Mizoram and representatives of the Bru tribe in New Delhi to end 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis.

As per the new agreement, about 34,000 Bru refugees will be inhabited in Tripura and assisted by central government with its allocated budget of Rs 600 crores to help in their resettlement.

5.     ‘Chapchar Kut’ festival

ü Government of Mizoram has decided to celebrate the ‘Chapchar Kut’, the biggest and most important festival of the Mizos.The two- days festival is celebrated under the theme “Promotion of Mizos’ culture and moral code”.

6.    IUCN’s red-listing of orchids

ü Arunachal Pradesh has became the 1^st  State in India to initiate the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s ‘red listing’ of orchids.

7.    23rd National Youth Festival 2020 held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

ü Theme of the 2020 NYF was “Fit Youth, Fit India”

8.    SIT recommendations in 1984 anti-Sikh riot

ü The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing of the 1984 anti-sikh riots cases was headed by retired Delhi High Court judge Justice  SN Dhingra.

9.    Assam Inland Water Transport Project

ü Govt. of Assam and the World Bank(WB) signed a loan agreement of $88 million for implementation of the Assam Inland Water Transport Project (AIWTP) to modernize passenger ferry sector of Assam which runs on rivers including the Brahmaputra river in Assam.

10. Doorstep banking in 585 stations

ü South Central Railway (SCR) Zone of Indian Railways has signed an MoU with State Bank of India (SBI) for ‘doorstep banking’ under which the bank will collect earnings generated from all 585 stations of the zone.

11. 29th Saraswati Samman

ü Sindhi Writer Vasdev Mohi has been selected for the Saraswati Samman 2019, by the K K Birla Foundation. The literary award is given for his short stories collection- ‘Chequebook’. The short story talks about the sufferings of the marginalized sections in the society.

12. ODI cricket of the year

ü Indian opener Rohit Sharma became ODI (One Day International) Cricketer of the Year for the first time. At the same time, Virat Kohli bagged Spirit of Cricket award.

ü Ben Stokes won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the Cricketer of the Year, While Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins became the best Test cricketer of the year.

13. New Prime Minister of Russia

ü Russian lawmakers have approved Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed candidate Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin, the head of the Federal Tax Service, as the next prime minister of the country. He replaced Dmitri Anatolyevich Medvedev who resigned from his post.

14. GSAT-30 LAUNCHED

ü Arianespace, launched communication satellite GSAT-30(Geosynchronous Satellites) from Guiana space center, French Guiana,South America.

ü To provide high quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services.The 3,357 Kg GSAT-30 derives its heritage from ISRO’s earlier INSAT/GSAT (Indian National Satellites/Geosynchronous Satellites) satellite series

15. K9 Vajra

ü Rajnath Singh dedicated  51st K9 Vajra self-propelled Howitzer gun made by L&T (Larsen & Toubro) private sector Limited at Hazira in Gujarat to the Nation. The Government has set a target to achieve a $26 billion turnover in the aerospace and defence industry by 2025 and provides employment to 2- 3 million people.
K9 Vajra guns is the best example of ‘Make in India’ in Defence.

16. Three new frog species discovered

ü The scientists of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) had discovered three new species of tiny frogs in Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh.New species named as ‘Liurana himalayana’, ’Liurana indica’ and ‘Liurana minuta’.

17. Army Day 2020

ü India celebrated its 72nd Army Day in New Delhi,India. The date marks the day on which First Indian General Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa took charge as the first commander-in-chief of the Indian Army in 1949 from General Francis Butcher, the last British Chief.
Captain Tania Shergill from Punjab,became the first woman parade adjutant in the history of the Indian Army who led all the men-contingents during the 2020 Army Day parade in New Delhi, India.

18. longest unbeaten streak in chess history

ü Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen set a world record of 111 unbeaten classical games after getting out of trouble against local Jorden van Foreest during their 45-move draw in the fourth round of Tata Steel Masters chess tournament.

19. Guinness world record in Taekwondo

ü A five-year-old boy named Aashman Taneja has made the Guinness Book of World Records for the most full contact knee strikes in one-hour non-stop in Taekwondo, who successfully achieved more than 1,200 knee strikes.