Important Current Affairs 16th January 2020

National 

Petroleum Minister to launch fuel conservation campaign ‘Saksham’

Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas Dr. M M Kutty inaugurated fuel conservation mega campaign 'Saksham' in New Delhi on 16 January 2020. 
The campaign was organized by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA). The campaign will be held for a month.
Saksham:
♦ GoI has set to double to 11% by 2040.
♦ The campaign is aimed to address the target and India's share of primary energy demand not only petroleum conservation but the creation of a sustainable development model.
♦ It highlights the major advantages of fuel conservation, and help in a progressive reduction of carbon footprint

No documents or biometric required for National Population Register (NPR): Home Ministry

•    The Government has informed that no documents will be asked and no biometric will be taken for National Population Register (NPR) exercise to be carried out between April and September 2020.
•    The NPR is a register of usual residents of the country.
•    The NPR exercise will be carried out in all states and UTs, except Assam, along with the house listing phase of the census 2021 exercise.
•    The Union Cabinet has approved Rs. 3,941.35 crore for the NPR exercise.
•    Assam has been excluded because the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise has already been conducted in the state.

Super Senior Citizens and PwDs now vote through Postal Ballot

     Super Senior Citizens (over 80 years of age) and PwDs now vote through Postal Ballot in Delhi Assembly Election.
     A postal ballot is a facility for those absentee voters, including those who are unable to vote due to some immobility can vote.
     For the first time, Delhi Metro, Northern Railway Employees and media persons covering polling can also use postal ballot facility to cast their votes
     Till now, voting through the postal ballot was available to armed forces and those assigned in poll duties. 

5th Science Film Festival of India (SCI-FFI) 2020 Begins in Goa

•    The 5th edition of Science Film Festival of India (SCI-FFI 2020) was started in Goa’s capital city Panaji. 
•    The aims of the festival are instilling the knowledge of science among the youth with the help of exhibitions, masterclasses, workshops, and other activities. 
•    Films that have been selected to be screened at the event are ‘Mission Mangal’, ‘Antariksham 9000 KMPH’, ‘Everest’, ‘Aamorie’, ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’, ‘Geostorm’ and, ‘Virus’ among others.
•    Chief Minister of Goa: Pramod Sawant; Governor of Goa: Satya Pal Malik.

International

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev along with entire Cabinet Submits Resignation as Prez Putin proposes constitutional changes

•    Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has resigned. They submit their resignation to President Vladimir Putin. Medvedev would take on a new job as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council. 
•    The changes would include giving parliament the power to choose the prime minister and senior cabinet members, instead of the president as in the current system.

Banking and Economy

SBI cuts Fixed Deposit rates by 15 bps

♦ For deposits below Rs.2 crore, SBI will now offer 6.10% as compared to 6.25% for all maturities of 1 year to 10 years. 
♦ Senior citizens will continue to get 50 bps higher than the card rate.
♦ Whereas, the deposits maturing in 7 days to 1 year, the bank has kept the rates unchanged. 
♦ The new rates came into effect from 10 January 2020.
♦ SBI's move is to cut the fixed deposit rates at a time when consumer price index-based inflation shot up to 5 years high of 7.35%.

The FD rates of SBI are:
♦ For 7 days to 45 days 4.50%
♦ For 46 days to 179 days 5.50%
♦ For 180 days to 210 days 5.80%
♦ For 211 days to less than 1 year 5.80%
♦ For 1 year to less than 2 years 6.10%
♦ For 2 years to less than 3 years 6.10%
♦ For 3 years to less than 5 years 6.10%
♦ For 5 years and up to 10 years 6.10%

7th edition of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference 2020

•    The 7th Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) India Region was inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the Vidhan Bhawan, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on 16 January 2020.
•    During the two-day event, Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon will address the inaugural session, while Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel will address the valedictory session on 17 January 2020.
•    The main theme of the conference is ‘ROLE OF LEGISLATORS’ .

Appointment

Harish Salve Appointed As Queen's Counsel, Official Appointment On March 16

Top legal eagle Harish Salve was appointed into Queen Elizabeth II's counsel of Senior Advocate. He has been appointed as Queen's Counsel (QC) for the courts of England and Wales. Salve's name appeared on the list of silk appointments released by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Justice Department on January 13.
Salve is best known for representing India in many important matters on international waters. Having being called to the Blackstone Chambers in 2013, Salve went on to represent India at the International Court of Justice for the Kulbhushan Jadhav extradition case. 

He was also applauded by many people when he stated that for representing India in the Kulbhushan Jadhav extradition case, he will charge the Indian Government an amount of Re. 1 as his legal fees for the proceedings.
     Capital of United Kingdom: London; Currency: Pound sterling.
     Prime Minister of United Kingdom: Boris Johnson.

Robert Abela elected as Malta’s new PM
     Labour Party candidate Robert Abela elected as 14th prime minister of Malta with 57.9% of the vote. He defeated his closest rival Chris Fearne.
     He will replace Joseph Muscat, who resigned over the murder of a journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia.
     Capital of Malta: Valletta; Currency: Euro; President: George Vella.

WHO released 2020 Global Health Challenges report
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the list of Global Health Challenges of the forthcoming year on 13 January 2020.

Report Highlights:
♦ The list of Global Health Challenges highlighted 13 potential threats.
♦ The top among the listed threats was Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and climate crisis. 
♦ As per the report, around 7 million people are affected because of climate change. 
♦ The report said that climate change has increased malnutrition and is fueling the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria. 
♦ Following these 2, the other threats mentioned in the list include the influenza epidemic and the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. 
♦ The report stated that most of the death is due to stroke, chronic respiratory disease, heart attack, and lung cancer. These diseases are increased by raising levels of air pollution. 
♦ For the first time, Lack of Access has entered the list.