Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
The 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-52) has recently taken place in Bangkok, Thailand from July 29 to Aug 3. The annual meeting opened with a call from the host Thailand for deeper integration to expand trade and bolster prosperity in the region amid rising global challenges. The meeting takes place in the shadow of rising security tension on the Korean Peninsula, China’s aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea and the US-China trade war. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is seeking to boost its own voice as a global player. It also plays host to a series of foreign ministers from key strategic and dialogue partners, including US, China and Russia.

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Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry has become the first cricketer of either gender to reach the rare milestone of scoring 1000 runs and taking 100 wickets in T20 international cricket. She achieved the feat run in the multi-format 2019 Ashes series where Australia beat England by 7 wickets in Hove. Former Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi (1416 runs and 98 wickets) currently stands closest to achieving the feat, while Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan, with 1471 runs and 88 wickets, stands next in line to join Perry.

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Microsoft India has partnered with Apollo Hospitals to set up a National Clinical Coordination Committee (NCCC), which will guide the two entities on all cardiology and cardiovascular related Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects. It will also provide clinical insights on developing clinical algorithms and treatment guidelines based on the inferences of national, multi-centre prospective study. The committee will work for the AI-powered Cardiovascular Disease Risk Score API. It will have members drawn from Apollo Hospitals, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi; and King George’s Medical University, Lucknow. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the biggest cause of mortality in India with nearly 25% of mortalities – amongst the age group of 25 to 69 years.

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In a major boost to national food security, the Government of India (GoI) has launched the One Nation-One Ration Card scheme on a pilot basis in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat from 1st August 2019. Families who have food security cards can buy subsidized rice and wheat from any ration shop in these states. Their ration cards should be linked with Aadhar Number to avail this service. The white Ration Card holders in Telangana have been getting the portability facility, enabling them to buy their subsidized rice and other food grains from any Fair Price Shop in the state. The same facility can be utilized anywhere in Andhra Pradesh now through PoS machines under the One Nation One Ration Card scheme which has come into force in the two states. The Centre is intended to extend the programme to all states by August 2020 so that the portability of the food security card implemented.

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The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is an annual celebration which is being held every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 120 countries. The purpose of WBW is to create awareness among the parents about breastfeeding and to encourage parents to adopt breastfeeding. The week also create awareness about the importance of initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, and adequate and appropriate complementary feeding. It provides advocacy material about the importance of breastfeeding. The 2019 theme is “Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding”. The focus this year is on protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding.

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President Ram Nath Kovind has been awarded the National order of Merit by the President of Guinea for his exceptional contribution to the advancement of overall relations and development of mutual cooperation between India and Guinea and for promoting friendship and partnership between the people of both the countries. This is the highest award of Republic of Guinea. Beside this, 3 MoUs were signed between the two countries viz. Cooperation in the Field of Traditional System of Medicine, e- Vidhyabharati – e-Aarogya Bharati Network Project and Renewal Energy. President Kovind also announced a new Line of Credit of US$ 170 million for Water Supply Project of Conakry city. Both countries also agreed on the need for reform of the UN Security Council to make it reflective of contemporary realities.

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The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has launched India’s first large-scale trial for two new TB vaccines – VPM1002 and Immuvac. The initiative would enroll 12,000 healthy household contacts of a patient whose sputum has tested positive for TB and are therefore at high risk of contracting the disease. VPM1002 is produced by the Serum Institute of India (Pune) & Immuvac is manufactured by Cadila Pharmaceuticals. These anti-Tuberculosis vaccines aim to prevent infection (pre-exposure) or prevent primary progression or reactivation of latent TB infection (post-exposure). According to the Global TB Report 2017 issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), India has the highest number of TB cases in the world.

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The Union Government has approved Rs 4,900 crore Kosi-Mechi Interlinking project for interlinking of Kosi and Mechi rivers of Bihar. This is the second major river interlinking project in the country to be approved after the Ken-Betwa project in Madhya Pradesh. The ambitious Kosi-Mechi project is unique in many ways. It will not only prevent recurring floods in north Bihar but also provide irrigation for a whooping over 2.14 lakh hectares of cultivable land in Araria, Purnea, Kishanganj and Katihar districts, collectively called Seemanchal region. This approval comes after this project secured the last remaining mandatory technical-cum-administrative nod from Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Mechi is an important tributary of Mahananda river.

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India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been chosen as the Professional Cricketers Association’s(PCA) Player for the month of July 2019 for his consistent performances in the county championships. Ashwin signed with Nottinghamshire for six County Championship matches as practice for India’s World Test Championship fixture against West Indies that gets underway later this month. In three matches, he took 23 wickets at 19.91 and scored 197 runs at 39.40.

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In India, the 5th edition of National Handloom Day (NHD) has celebrated on 7th August 2019 to honour the handloom weavers in the country and also highlight India’s handloom industry. The day seeks to focus on the contribution of handloom to the socio economic development of India and also to increase the income of weavers. This year, Bhubaneswar has been chosen as the venue for the main event due to its rich tradition of Handlooms. The prime objective of holding the NHD in Bhubaneswar is to empower women and girls. The day was chosen as the National Handloom Day (NHD to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on 7th August 1905 in Calcutta Town Hall to protest against the partition of Bengal by the British Government. The movement had aimed at reviving domestic products and production processes.