Current Affairs Current Affairs January 2020

  Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda was elected as President of the suspended Archery Association of India (AAI). The elections were held as per the Delhi High Court order. With the support of former AAI president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Munda, the president of Jharkhand Archery Association, defeated Assam Archery Association president and retired IAS officer BVP Rao by a margin of 34-18. Pramod Chandurkar of Maharashtra defeated the Mahasim of Chandigarh 31-21 in the election for the post of Secretary, while in the election of Senior Vice President, former Haryana Minister Captain Abhimanyu defeated GA Ibopishak of Manipur by 32-20.

  The Iranian film ‘Castle of Dreams’ directed by Reza Mirakarimi won the Best Film Award in Asian Competition section of the 18th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF). The film also won the Best Director Award. Indian film ‘Finally Love’ directed by Anjan Dutt bagged Best Audience Award in Cinema of the World Category. Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage’s film ‘Children of the Sun’ won Special Jury Award. A total of 220 films from 74 countries were shown at the festival. The Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) is being organized by the Rainbow Film Festival since 1992 with support from Bangladesh government and many other organizations including the High Commission of India, Dhaka. The theme of this year’s festival was ‘better film, better audience, better society.’

 India has successfully test-fired nuclear-capable K-4 ballistic missile at Vizag coast in Andhra Pradesh. The missile was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). This 3,500-kilometre range nuclear-capable missile can be launched from a submarine. The submarine-launched ballistic missile is the most important part of the air, land and sea nuclear triad and is at the front of India’s second-strike capability. Only the US, Russia and China have submarine-launched ballistic missiles of 3,500-kilometre range.

  Government of Mizoram will celebrate Chapchar Kut, the biggest and most important festival of the Mizos, on March 6, 2020. Chapchar Kut is a spring festival celebrated usually in March after completion of the Jhum cultivation. Jhum cultivation, also known as the slash and burn agriculture, is the process of growing crops by first clearing the land of trees and vegetation and burning them thereafter.

  The 9th International Children’s Film Festival hosted by Kolkata, West Bengal. About 250 films from 45 countries will be screened at the festival. The National Award winner Children actor, Talha Arsad Rishi inaugurates the festival. An anthology of children’s films in Bengali in the last 100 years and an exhibition on movie posters will be held along with the festival.

 Sania Mirza (India) and Nadiia Kichenok (Ukraine) have won the women’s doubles title of the WTA International trophy at Hobart, Australia. They beat Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang from China 6-4,6-4. It’s Sania’s 42nd WTA doubles title and first since Brisbane International trophy in 2007 with American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

 The ICC Under-19 World Cup Cricket 2020 begins in South Africa. Indian team played under the captaincy of Priyam Garg. The final of the tournament will be played on Feb 09 at JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, South Africa. India is the most successful team in the tournament, having won four titles till date. India is the defending champions in U19 World Cup 2018. Total 16 teams are participating in the tournament, split into four groups of four.

  NITI Aayog and Union Territory of Ladakh sign MoU for Development of Infrastructure Projects in Ladakh.  It was signed between NITI Aayog Senior Adviser Dr Yogesh Suri and Adviser to the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Umang Narula. The agreement was executed in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. Under this agreement, NITI Aayog will be supporting the UT’s administration through its key initiative ‘Development Support Services to States for Infrastructure Projects (D3S-i)’. In an important initiative to promote the development of key infrastructure sectors in the newly constituted Union Territory of Ladakh. NITI Aayog will identify high-impact projects, It will expedited project implementation, addressing structural-level issues and creating unique models of development for the Union Territory of Ladakh. The main purpose of D3S-i projects is creating PPP (Public Private Partnership) projects. In 2018, phase I of the project was completed. In phase I, 10 projects were selected from 400 projects that were submitted by the states. In phase II, that was completed in the year 2018-19, the selected projects entered transaction stage.
Preparation activities were carried out:
  • The think tank also created a techno-economic feasibility report.
  • A professionals team is to be stationed at Ladakh for identification and development of projects in the UT, especially in tourism, solar energy and basic infrastructure.
The following were other steps taken:
  • The think tank organized investor consultations for the state governments Integrated post-harvest supply chain management and integrated community-based micro-irrigation infrastructure were generated.

  Russia has started production of S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems for India. All five units will be delivered to India by 2025. The S-400 air defence missile systems are among the best in the world. This will significantly bolster India’s air defence mechanism. In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal to buy the air defence missile systems. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007.

  World’s shortest man Khagendra Thapa Magar passed away. He was born on 14 October 1992, stood at 67.08 cm (2 ft 2.41 in) tall. He was born in the Baglung district of Nepal. He first came to the attention of Guinness World Records in early 2010, when he was measured by Records Manager Marco Frigatti on the GWR Italian TV show Lo Show Dei Record and confirmed to be the shortest teenager (male) living. He made his first appearance in the GWR 2011 book, alongside Jyoti Amge, the shortest teenager (female) living.


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