Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2019

Notes:
The World Vitiligo Day (WVD) is observed every year on June 25 to raise awareness about the condition. The 2019 theme ‘The Quality of Life of a Vitiligo Patient’ focuses on mental and medical journey of vitiligo. Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder wherein the immune system of the body attacks the healthy cells and in turn starts affecting the body. The condition is characterized by white patches on the skin that develops as a result of melanocytes within the skin. These are the cells that are responsible for the skin pigment melanin that gives color to your skin. The white patches appear when the melanocytes die off. The condition is also termed as Vitiligo or Leucoderma or White Leprosy.

Notes:
Mohammed Baji (103), the eminent freedom fighter, has passed away at Sunari Sahi in Nabarangpur , Odisha. He was born on 20th January 1917 and was a bachelor. A close associate of tribal civil rights activist Laxman Nayak, Baji was injured in police firing during the 1942 movement when 29 tribals were killed while protesting before the Mathili police station in Malkangiri district. He had joined the Indian National Congress in 1936, the year Odisha became a separate province on the basis of language. He also joined the Quit India Movement and was held on August 19, 1942. He spent nearly five years in jail before he was released on June 25, 1947. After the freedom struggle, Baji was active in the Sarvodaya movement. He was the chairman of Utkal Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and a close associate of Utkal Sarvodaya Mandal. Baji led padayatras at Nabarangpur for the restoration of peace after the demolition of the Babri Masjid and again after the communal riot in Kandhamal in 2008.

Notes:
In Jammu and Kashmir, the district administration of Rajouri has been launched a campaign called “Operation Khumaar” to make 312 panchayats tobacco-free. The programme is run by the district administration to make panchayats free from tobacco and tobacco-based products. Under this programme, even the headmaster of the schools have been authorised to impose a fine on the sale of tobacco within 100 yards of school limits. Block Medical Officers (BMO) have been directed to set up counselling centres at all Community Health Centres (CHCs) to help tobacco consumers to quit this habit. The district officers have been urged upon to work in a mission mode so as to make the society free from the injurious tobacco and tobacco-based products.

Notes:
Santosh Rana (76), the veteran Naxalite leader, has passed away in Kolkata on June 29, 2019. He is one of the foremost leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and a major thinker on caste, class and tribal politics in West Bengal and winner of a top literary award in the State. The CPI-ML (PCC) was one of the very first Naxalite groups to participate in elections. Under his leadership, CPI-ML (PCC) was active in parts of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam. It played a significant role in opposing the CPI-M led government during the Nandigram land agitation, which contributed to the electoral debacle of the Left Front in West Bengal. He argued in his award-winning autobiography, Rajnitir Ek Jibon [A Life in Politics], that the Left in India made a huge mistake as they never analysed and responded to the caste question.

Notes:
Under the emergency provisions, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has signed an Rs 200 crore defence deal with Russia to acquire ‘Strum Ataka’ anti-tank missile for its fleet of Mi-35 attack choppers. The Mi-35s are the existing attack choppers of the Indian Air Force and are set to be replaced with the Apache gunships being acquired from the US and slated to be delivered from next month onwards. Earlier, in June 2019, IAF signed Rs 300 crore deal with an Israeli defence firm to procure a batch of ‘Spice 2000’ guided bombs. These bombs are already present with the IAF and were used in the Balakot air strikes by Dassault’s Mirage 2000 to target Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps across the Line of Control (LoC). With this, the IAF has emerged as the frontrunner in terms of weapon acquisition under the emergency procurement, followed by the Indian Army. Under the emergency powers given to the three services, they can buy the equipment of their choice within three months at a cost of up to Rs 300 crore per case.

Notes:
Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has recently launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan – a campaign for water conservation and water security, with an emphasis on 1592 stressed blocks in 256 districts. The campaign will run through citizen participation during the monsoon season, from 1st July, 2019 to 15th September, 2019. The focus of the campaign will be on water stressed districts and blocks. The ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan’ will focus on five aspects — water conservation and rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies, reuse of water and recharging of structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation. The conservation efforts will be supplemented by initiatives like developing block and district water conservation plans and ‘krishi vigyan kendra melas’ to promote efficient water use for irrigation and better crop choices. In urban areas, plans with time-bound targets will be developed for waste water reuse for industrial and agricultural purposes.

Notes:
A team of herpetologists from the Forest Department and two NGOs — Help Earth and Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) have discovered the Impressed Tortoise (Manouria impressa) in Yazali area of the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. This is the first-ever recorded sighting in India of this tortoise which is on a red list of threatened species. Chelonian is an order of reptile that includes turtles, terrapins and tortoises. The male Impressed Tortoise is smaller than the female which is 30 cm in length. This Manouria species is one-third the size of the Asian Forest Tortoise. There are only two species of tortoises under the Manouria genus. India was known to be the home of only the Asian Forest Tortoise (Manouria emys) until the discovery of the Impressed Tortoise. The Asian Forest Tortoise, the largest in mainland Asia, is found only in the northeast, as are 20 of the other 28 species of chelonians.

Notes:
The autobiography titled “Lessons Life Taught Me, Unknowingly” has been authored by Bollywood actor Anupam Kher i.e. set to hit stands on 5 August. It is a story of a small town boy who dared to dream. It is a story about hope, disappointments, success, failures and eternal optimism. The book will be an extraordinary, riveting and no-holds-barred saga in which Kher will make some behind-the-scenes revelations, and share anecdotes and rare nuggets from his life and the lessons it taught him. He has over 530 films in several languages, both in India and the West, 100 plays and numerous TV shows to his credit. He is a winner of two National awards, 8 Filmfare awards and a BAFTA nomination. He is also a recipient of the Padma Shree and Padma Bhushan awards.

Notes:
After 18 years of research, the scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia and a team of Indian researchers have identified a new gene – called NAPRT1 – directly linked to schizophrenia. Using DNA from thousands of people in India, the team has found clues in the quest for the causes of schizophrenia, and for potential treatments. This study identified a gene that encodes an enzyme involved in vitamin B3 metabolism — we were also able to find this gene in a large genomic dataset of schizophrenia patients with European ancestry. The team of Indian researchers was led by R. Thara, co-founder and director of the Chennai-based Schizophrenia Research Foundation. Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality.

Notes:
The scientists from 17 nations will take part in the year-long MOSAiC mission as they anchor the ship to a large piece of Arctic sea ice to study climate change. The German icebreaker RV Polarstern will be the base for scientists studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic and how it could affect the rest of the world. The MOSAiC mission stands for Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate. It comes about 125 years after Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen first managed to seal his wooden expedition ship (Fram) into the ice during a three-year expedition to the North Pole. The mission has received funding from U.S. institutions such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and NASA.