DAILY GK 23 – 24 JAN 2020

DAILY GK 23 – 24 JAN 2020

1.    PRAGATI meeting 2020 in New Delhi

ü PM Narendra Modi chaired 32^nd PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) meeting 2020 and discussed progress of several projects in New Delhi.

ü PM modi reviews progress under insurance schemes- PMJJBY and PMSBY

ü Modi also reviewed the work related to insurance schemes – ‘Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana’ (PMJJBY) and ‘Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana’(PMSBY).

ü The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) project was also reviewed by Modi. It is a comprehensive and integrated system for effective policing through e-governance.

2.    Jharia is the most polluted Indian city

ü The Greenpeace India report for 2018 was released based on the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP).Jharia in Jharkhand which is known for Coal-belching is the most polluted Indian city with 322 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter) of PM10 (Particulate matter) pollutants in 2018.Dhanbad is the second-most polluted Indian City .

ü Lunglei in Mizoram is the least polluted followed by Meghalaya’s Dowki.

3.    Democracy Index 2019

ü According to the 12^th edition of the ‘Democracy Index 2019: A year of democratic setbacks and popular protest’, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), India has slipped 10 ranks to 51^st spot with the score of 6.90 in this index.

ü Top & bottom: Norway tops the list with a score of 9.87 while North Korea is at the bottom with 167^th place with 1.08 points.

4.    Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020

ü India has moved up eight places to the 72nd position from 80th position in GTCI 2019. In list of 132 countries Switzerland tops the list.According to the report the United States (USA) is at the 2nd position followed Singapore.

5.    MG Convention Centre in Niger

ü Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Nigerian President Mahamadou Issoufau inaugurated the first convention centre in Africa namely “Mahatma Gandhi convention centre”(MGICC) established at the state of Niger in Western Africa by India to honour the memory of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This is the 1st centre established in Africa by India under grant assistance.

6.    Julius Baer report 2020

ü According to the 1^st  ‘Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2020, released by Swiss private bank Julius Baer, India’s financial capital Mumbai was ranked last (28^th ) in a list of the world’s 28 most expensive cities for luxury living.

7.    Exim Bank extends LoC to Suriname

ü Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM bank) has extended $35.80 million million Line of Credit (LoC) to South American country Suriname to fund its rural electrification programme through solar Diesel Generator (DG) hybrid Photo-Voltaic(PV) systems.

8.    Reliance Jio launch UPI payments feature

ü Reliance Jio of the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has become the 1st Indian telecom operator to launch UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments space. Thus Reliance Jio will now compete with other private UPI payment providers such as Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe.

9.    Greece’s first woman president

ü Katerina Sakellaropoulou became the1st Woman President of Greece elected by Greece’s Parliament for a period of 5 years. She will be officially sworn in as Greece’s 13th President in April, 2020. She will succeed  Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the current president.

10. POLNET 2.0 Inaugurated

ü Nityanand Rai inaugurated revamped police communication services POLNET 2.0. It is armed with robust multi-media facility. POLNET 2.0 is a captive satellite-based network that provides video, audio and data connectivity across the country, especially in times of disasters when regular communication either gets jammed or crashes.

11. 3^rd Khelo India youth games 2020

ü The 3^rd edition of  Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) 2020 was held at Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium in Guwahati, Assam with the participation of over 10,000 students. Vijay the Tiger and Jaya the Blackbuck were the mascots of the tournament.

ü Maharashtra clinched Khelo India Youth Games 2020 champions trophy with a collection of 256 medals (78 gold, 77 silver and 101 bronze).

ü Sprinter Hima Das was the torchbearer of the opening ceremony of KIYG 2020.

12. IR sets up its Waste to energy plant

ü Railway Board Member Rajesh Agarwal inaugurated the East Coast Railway’s (ECoR) waste to energy plant at Mancheswar Carriage Repair workshop in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It is the fourth waste to energy plant in the country and first plant manufactured by Indian Railways (IR)
Total cost of the plant is Rs 1.79 crore and it can convert 500kg waste to light diesel oil which can be used in light furnaces.

13. India’s 1st War Memorial for Animals

ü Country’s 1st war memorial for service animals such as dogs, horses, mules will established in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh(UP). This war memorial will come at army’s specialised breeding, rearing training centre for animals in the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) Centre and College in Meerut.

14. Steering committees to dispose of enemy properties

ü The Union government has decided to form 3 high-level steering committees to handle the disposal of enemy properties present in the country and to raise money from them.

ü It will be headed by Union Home Minister(HM) Amit Shah, to oversee the disposal of more than 9,400 enemy properties in India, which are expected to bring in revenue of about Rs.1 lakh crore rupees to the exchequer.

15. Corruption Perception Index 2019

ü The Corruption Perception Index 2019 was released by Transparency International. As per the Index India ranks 80 out of 180 countries with a score of 41 out of 100. Last year India’s rank was 78 with the same score. The list was topped by Denmark and New Zealand.

16. WEF to conserve 1 trillion trees by 2030

ü World Economic Forum(WEF) and its partners have launched 1t.org which is a multistakeholder effort to support efforts to grow, restore and conserve 1 trillion trees around the world inorder to restore the biodiversity and help combat climate change.

ü Locking up the carbon in the world’s forests, grasslands, and wetlands can provide 1/3rd of emission reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets by 2030.

17. world’s smallest gold coin

ü Switzerland state-owned Swissmint has minted World’s smallest gold coin of 2.96 millimeter (0.12 inches). The coin will feature face of scientist Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue.

ü It weighs 0.063 grams (1/500 th of an ounce) and has a nominal value of 1/4 Swiss francs (USD United States Dollar- 0.26).

18. NICB to be converted as SFB

ü New India Co-operative Bank (NICB) has been decided to be converted into a Small Finance Bank (SFB) after being agreed by its shareholders under Voluntary Transition of Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs) into SFB.

19. Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2020

ü The govt of India announced the 2nd edition of the 2020 Subash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar on January 23, 2020 marking the 123rd birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The award is given annually and 2020 award selection & the nominations were scrutinized by two high level Committees. Disaster Mitigation & Management Centre (DMMC) of Uttarakhand and Kumar Munnan Singh were honoured with the award.

20. UNWTO’s Accessible Destination Awards 2019

ü Kerala Tourism’s Barrier Free Project has won global recognition with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as an “Emerging Global Destination” in the Accessible Destination Awards 2019 for South-Indian state category. Kerala is also the 1st Indian state to work as per the UNWTO guidelines on making tourist destinations disabled-friendly.

21. Preparation for ‘Gaganyaan’

ü According to Dr Kailasavadivoo Sivan, ISRO would launch 2 unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021 in view of the launch of India’s first manned spacecraft “Gaganyaan” in December 2021.
The ISRO has prepared women robot ‘Vyom Mitra’(means a friend in Sky) for sending into space under the 1^st unmanned Gaganyaan mission.

ü Vyom Mitra, designed & developed by the ISRO’s  Inertial Systems Unit in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) in collboration with Indian Institute of Science (IIsc) Bengaluru, Karnataka, is half-humanoid and its body stops at the torso and without legs.

22. World Archery lifts suspension on AAI

ü Indian archers has now been allowed to compete in World Archery Events from 23 January 2020 onwards.The decision to remove suspension was taken by World Archer’s executive Board postal vote.

23. National Girl Child Day-January 24

ü Women and Child Development Department of MP also observes “National Girl Child Week” from January 24 to 30.

24. International Day of Education-24 January,2020

ü Theme for the year 2020 is ‘Learning for people, planet, prosperity, and peace’.