Important G.K. & Current Affairs Questions – 31st January 2019

Correct Answer – B. 30th January

Explanation: Martyrs’ Day (India), is observed on January 30, the anniversary of the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi in 1948. Martyrs’ day is also observed across the Indian state of Punjab on March 23, on the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh in 1931. 30 January is the date observed at the national level. The date was chosen as it marks the assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in 1948, by Nathuram Godse.

Correct Answer – B. Jammu & Kashmir

Explanation: A Pakistani delegation led by Pakistan’s Indus Commissioner Syed Mohammad Mehar Ali Shah Tuesday visited the site of the 1,000 mega watt Pakal Dul hydel project in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district. The other members in the delegation reportedly included advisor Mehmood Hayat and join commissioner Usman Ghani, sources said. The delegation accompanied by local officials from Kishtwar district administration inspected both the proposed dam and powerhouse sites during the day.Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, while Sutlej, Beas and Ravi waters have been allotted to India, the water flowing in Chenab, Jhelum and Indus allotted to Pakistan. Under the treaty, both the countries have set up Permanent Indus Commission with separate commissioners in both the countries who are mandated to inspect sites and works undertaken on both sides of Indus basin. Since the signing of the treaty, a total of 118 such tours have been undertaken by the commission on both sides.

Correct Answer – E. None of these

Explanation: The Civil Aviation ministry launched the country’s first Geographical Indication (GI) store at Dabolim International Airport in Goa on Monday. Launching a store with stocks of cashews and other state specific products from Goa, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu said, “Some geographies have expertise available which are not seen in any other place. In case of Goa, it is the culture, a geographical indicator, but also something which is coming out of nature like its cashews.”

Correct Answer – C. Noida

Explanation: The new Campus of the National Museum Institute was inaugurated by Shri Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, in the presence of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture & Chancellor of the National Museum Institute (NMI), at A-19, Sector 62, NOIDA (Institutional Area), today. Shri D.S. Gangwar, Addl. Secretary, Ministry of Culture; Dr. B.R. Mani, Director General, National Museum; Alok Tandon, Chairman, Noida Authority and Dr. Pradyuman Sharma, Registrar, NMI were among the other dignitaries present.

Correct Answer – C. IEA

Explanation: Minister of Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal launched the report “The Future of Rail” of International Energy Agency (IEA) at an event here today. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA), Dr. Fatih Birol, Director General, International Union of Railways, Shri Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Members of Railway Board and other Dignitaries from Ministry of Railways and IEA were present on the occasion.

Correct Answer – A. Ashok Kumar

Explanation: Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, AVSM, VSM has assumed charge as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff today, on 30 Jan 2019. An alumnus of Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar and National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Pune, he was commissioned into the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy on 01 Jul 1982.

Correct Answer – D. 24

Explanation: After the months-long protest by the research fellows from central institutes including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has increased the monthly stipend allotted to the research fellows by 24 per cent. According to the new revision, the Junior Research Fellow (JRF) will get Rs 31,000 and Senior Research Fellow (SRF) will get Rs 35,000 as their monthly stipend which will come to effect from January 2019 onwards. After the last fellowship hike that took place in 2014, a JRF fellow gets Rs 25,000 and SRF fellow gets Rs 28,000 as a monthly stipend. The research fellows were, however, demanding a revision of Rs 50,000 and Rs 56,000 for JRF and SRF fellows respectively.

Correct Answer – D. 150

Explanation: The periodic table of chemical elements is having its 150th birthday, and the UN scientific agency is holding a year of events to celebrate. Anyone who has studied chemistry will recognize the table, which organizes all chemical elements by the number of protons in a given atom and other properties. Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev published the first such table in 1969. The UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization kicked off the “International Year of the Period Table of Chemical Elements” on Tuesday with a ceremony including a Nobel chemistry laureate and Russia’s science minister, among other dignitaries.

Correct Answer – A. Odisha

Explanation: The Odisha government decided on a five-fold increase in the number of target beneficiaries for farmers’ welfare scheme KALIA for the landless agricultural household category to 5 lakh during 2019-20. A proposal to this effect was approved at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. KALIA scheme has five components such as support to cultivators for cultivation, livelihood support for landless agricultural labourers, life insurance support for cultivators and landless agricultural labourers, financial assistance to vulnerable agricultural households and interest free crop loan.

Correct Answer  – A. Britain

Explanation: In Britain, lawmakers voted in favour of an amendment in BREXIT plan seeking alternative arrangements to replace the Irish border arrangement known as the Irish backstop. With this, PM Theresa May will try to renegotiate the Brexit treaty with European Union. The amendment calls for the backstop to be replaced with unspecified “alternative arrangements” to avoid the reintroduction of border checks in Ireland. However, European Union has repeatedly said it does not want to reopen the treaty, which has been signed off by the other 27 EU leaders, and said the “backstop” was needed as a guarantee to ensure there can be no return to a hard border between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland. The backstop is aimed at keeping an open border between European Union-member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland after Brexit.