Daily Current Affairs and GK | 31 January 2020

1. Discrimination against women in various religions is to be taken up by the 9 judge bench of the constitution

• 9 judge bench of the constitution to decide on the discrimination against women in various religions.
• The issues include Sabrimalla temple, entry of Muslim women in mosques, female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, and barring of Parsi women, married to non-Parsi men, from the holy fireplace at Agiary.

2. TERI’s World Sustainable Development Summit held in New Delhi

• The Energy and Resource Institute organized the World Sustainable Development Summit 2020 in New Delhi.
• The theme of the summit is “Energy Future Roadmap”.
• Addressing the summit, the Petroleum Union Minister holds that India is the 3^rd largest energy consumer after U.S and China and India targets to reduce the oil import by 10% by 2022.

3. National Shooting Trials held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

• The National Shooting Trials for the Japan Olympics 2020 were held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• Olympian Ayonika Paul has won the women's 10m Air Rifle T1 event while Vijayveer Sidhu won the men's 25m Pistol T2 event.
• Zeena Khitta from Himachal came the second while Apoorvi Chandela came the third in the air rifle event.
• Zeena Khitta also won the junior air rifle event while Chandigarh's Vijayveer won the junior men's 25m Pistol.

4. Australian Open Tennis Tournament at Melbourne

• Serbian Novak Djokovic and Spaniard Garbine Muguruza entered into the finals of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament at Melbourne.
• Garbine Muguruza reached in her 1^st Australian Open women singles’ finals after defeating Simona Halep and will compete with Sofia Kenin in the finals.
• Novak Djokovic entered into the finals by defeating Roger Federer in Men’s singles.
• The Indian competitor Rohan Bopanna and his Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok were defeated in quarterfinals in the mixed doubles event.

5. Sampriti-9: Indo- Bangladesh joint military exercise

• A joint military exercise SAMPRITI 9 will be held in Umroi, Meghalaya.
• The exercise is being held between India and Bangladesh army.
• The 2018 exercise was held in Tangail, Bangladesh.
• Bangladesh:
  • It is a South Asian country with its capital being Dhaka.
  • Its currency is Bangladeshi Taka.

.

6. Transparency International survey of Indian states in budget formation practices

• Transparency International released the survey of Indian states on the budgetary practices followed by the states.
• Assam topped the budget practices followed by Odisha.
• The states that ranked lower in the budget formulation are Goa, Maharashtra, and Punjab.
• There are four parameters, namely budgetary process, public disclosure, post-budget fiscal management and efforts to make budget citizen-friendly.
• Transparency International:
• TI measures and prevents corruption activities arising out of corruption.
• It releases the Global Corruption Index annually.

7. Surajkund Mela to be organized by Haryana

• Haryana will organize the 34th International Surajkund Mela.
• The fair is being organized in Faridabad.
• The partner country of the fair is Uzbekistan, and the theme state of the fair is Himachal Pradesh.

8. War Memorial built by Assam Rifles

• Assam Rifles has built the War memorial at Mokochung in Nagaland.
• It has three converging posts signifying Army, Assam Rifles and Air Force.
• Assam Rifles:
• It is the oldest Paramilitary force of India, formed in 1835.
• Its headquarter is in Shillong, Meghalaya.

9. Janak Raj appointed as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee

• Janak Raj, the Executive Director of RBI has been appointed as a member of MPC.
• The decision was taken at the 581^st meeting of the Central Board in Mumbai.
• He will replace MD Patra.
• MPC:
• It is a statutory body set up in 2016 by amending the RBI Act 1934.
• It is a 6 member body and decides the benchmark rate by majority vote.
• The RBI Governor has the casting vote.

Multiple Choice Questions(MCQs)

1. Which of the following is the theme of the World Sustainable Development Summit 2020?

A. Energy Future Roadmap

B. Energy Future Plan

C. Future Energy Framework

D. None of the above

2. Where were the National Shooting Trials held for Olympics 2020?

A. Sikkim

B. Itanagar

C. Delhi

D. Thiruvananthapuram

3. Australian Open Tennis Tournament is being organized in which of the following places?

A. Melbourne

B. Canberra

C. Sydney

D. Perth

4. The Sampriti-9 joint military exercise is being held at which of the following places?

A. Arunachal Pradesh

B. Sikkim

C. Meghalaya

D. Assam

5. Which of the following states has topped the budget formation in a report released by Transparency International?

A. Assam

B. Uttar Pradesh

C. Sikkim

D. Maharashtra

6. Which is the partner country in the Surajkund Mela 2020?

A. Kazakhstan

B. Kyrgyzstan

C. Uzbekistan

D. Tajikistan

7. In which of the following states has the Assam Rifles built a war memorial?

A. Nagaland

B. Arunachal Pradesh

C. Sikkim

D. Assam

8. Who among the following has been newly appointed as a member of MPC?

A. Mukesh Mehta

B.  Anil Sharma

C. Janak Raj

D. Mitaali Mehta

Solution:

1. A

2. D

3. A

4. C

5. A

6. C

7. A

8. C