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Current Affairs Capsule – January 17, 2020

January 17, 2020
Posted by: Team CP
Category: Current Affairs Capsule

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The Government of India and State Government of Assam signed a USD 88 million loan agreement with the World Bank on January 16, 2020 to implement the Assam Inland Water Transport Project. The project will help modernize Assam’s passenger ferry sector that runs on its rivers, including the mighty Brahmaputra. Assam has more than 361 ferry routes and a majority of them cross the Brahmaputra or serve its islands.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 16th January, 2020 in New Delhi presided over the signing of an agreement between the Central government and the governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives under which around 34,000 internally displaced people will be settled in Tripura. The Centre will provide around Rs 600 crores to help these tribes in their all-round development. During 1997-98, around 30,000 Bru-Reang tribals were displaced from Mizoram to Tripura because of ethnic violence in Mizoram. Under the agreement, the displaced families are to be provided with land admeasuring 40 by 30 square feet by the Tripura Government. The Centre will also provide aid of Rs 1.5 lakhs to build their houses.
Ladakh’s Department of Industries and Commerce in partnership with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries of the Government of India and Invest India organised the Ladakh Food Processing Summit titled “Building Partnerships for Inclusive Growth in Food Processing Sector” in Leh on 16th January, 2020. The primary objective of this summit was to carry out a value chain mapping of food processing in Ladakh and to recommend strategies for integrating local population into food processing and agriculture activities to maximize the potential of this sector.
World Health Organization (WHO) released its annual list of Global Health Challenges for the year 2020 on 13th January, 2020. The list included 13 potential threats. The foremost threats were Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and climate crisis. As per the report, around 7 million people are affected because of climate change. The other threats include influenza epidemic and spread of infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. A new entrant to the list is lack of access to medical facilities such as vaccines, diagnostic tools, medicines and other essential health products.
Pratham, a well-known non-profit organization, released the Annual Status of Education Report 2019 on 14th January, 2020. As per the report, at least 25% of school children in the 4 to 8 years’ age group do not have age-appropriate cognitive and numeracy skills, making up for a massive learning deficit at a very early stage. Between the age-group of 4 to 5 years, around 56.8% girls enrolled in government schools as compared to only 50.4% boys. On the other hand, when it comes to private schools, 49.6% boys were enrolled in schools as compared to 43.2% girls in the same age group.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) celebrated its 145th Foundation Day on 15th January, 2020. The IMD is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. The IMD was established in 1875 with headquarters in Delhi. It operates an observatory station in India and in Antarctica.
Eminent Agricultural Scientist Dr. M S Swaminathan and well-known social worker Dr. Gutta Muniratnam were chosen as the first recipients of the Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu National Award for Excellence and Muppavarapu National Award for Social Service respectively. The National Award for Excellence was instituted by the Muppavarapu Foundation, while the one for Social Service was launched by the Swarna Bharat Trust, in Hyderabad. The award carried a cash prize of Rs.5 lakh and citation.