Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

Notes:
In Andhra Pradesh, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu has recently dedicated the India’s longest electrified rail tunnel i.e situated between Cherlopalli and Rapuru. He also inaugurated the 112-km long electrified railway line between Venkatachalam and Obulavaripalli. The length of the electrified rail tunnel is 6.6km. The tunnel has 44 trolley refuges and 14 cross-passages in a horseshoe design. It is built in the shape of a ‘horse shoe’ using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) at a cost of Rs 437 crore. The height of tunnel (rail level to roof) is 6.5m and the minimum height of contact wire is maintained at 5.2m. The track is constructed without using Ballast by providing Bi-block sleepers and Vaslo fittings. There are LED lights at an interval of every 10 metres inside the travel. The newly constructed tunnel will provide seamless rail connectivity between the Krishnapatnam Port and the hinterland areas.

Notes:
Asian Games gold medallist shotputter Tejinderpal Singh Toor clinched a silver with a best throw of 20.09m in his last attempt during an athletic meet at Decin, Czech Republic. Tajinder was awarded with the 2019 Arjuna Award. Though, he couldn’t meet the World Championship standard but his efforts were good enough to earn him a silver at the event.

Notes:
In a unique initiative, the Ambikapur municipal corporation of Chhattisgarh will soon open India’s first ‘Garbage Cafe’ in the city of Ambikapur. This initiative is a step towards making the city plastic-free. In this unique Cafe’ poor people and rag pickers will get free food in exchange for 1Kg of plastic, while breakfast will be provided if half a kilogram of plastic is brought to the cafe. The collected garbage will be sold at Solid Liquid Resources Management Centre (SLRMC). The collected plastic waste would further be turned into granules and will then be used in the construction of roads in the city. Ambikapur is Chhattisgarh’s first dustbin-free city. The city has an efficient solid waste management system. The Self Help Groups (SHGs)of women are involved in door to door collection of waste. The city has been hailed as the 2nd cleanest city in the country in Swachhata rankings. The opening of this garbage cafe is another step towards the city’s aim to become free from plastic waste.

Notes:
The Punjab Employment Generation Department (PEGD) has decided to play the role of a recruitment agency for the youth wanting to go abroad for studies and work. It will also set up a special cell to send the youth for studies abroad. The move came after regular complaints of fraud by travel agents. The special cell will have a tie-up with foreign public universities which offer education at reasonable rates. This will not only save students from frauds but also help them financially as the commission which foreign institutes pay to the agents would be returned to them. This facility is already available in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana.

Notes:
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched the first-ever ‘Terracotta Grinder’ at Sewapuri in Varanasi. This machine can be used to grind wasted and broken pottery items for re-use in pottery-making. The Terracotta grinder was designed by the KVIC Chairman and fabricated by a Rajkot-based engineering unit. It will make grinding of wasted pottery items faster than the traditional mortar and pestle. It will lessen the cost of production and will also help in solving the problem of shortage of clays. The machine will also be a boon for potters as Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has proposed to introduce Kulhads and other terracotta products at 400 prominent railway stations. The proposal is under active consideration of the Railways.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be honoured with the prestigious ‘ 2019 Global Goalkeeper Award’ by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for his leadership and commitment to his ambitious pet project “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA)” on 24th September 2019. The Prime Minister will also address global leaders and corporate executives at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum during his visit here for the high-level UN General Assembly (UNGA) session. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), which was launched on 2nd October 2014, is a nationwide initiative aimed to inspire the public to voluntarily clean public spaces as a service to the nation. The aim of the campaign is to achieve the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2nd October 2019. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a private foundation owned by billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates.

Notes:
The 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is at Greater Noida on 2nd September 2019. The core agenda of the 12-day Conference is to reverse land degradation and its outcomes while accelerating positive achievements for people and for ecosystems. The main objective of the convention is to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought in countries experiencing serious drought or desertification. The delegates from 196 countries are participating in COP14. The Parties to the Convention will agree on the actions they will take over the next 2 years and beyond to get the world on a sustainable development path.

Notes:
Sunil Arora, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, has recently assumed Chairmanship of Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) for the term 2019-21 as India takes over the Chair from Romania. He succeeded Lon Mincu Radulescu. The AWEB Flag was handed over to the new Chairman, Sunil Arora and it will remain with Election Commission of India (ECI) for the 2 year term till 2021. More than 110 delegates from 45 countries attended the meeting. A-WEB is the first global organization of election management bodies, and the membership currently consists of 97 organizations from 94 countries. The constituent units of the A-WEB are the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) of different countries, structured to work together and learn from the experiences and best practices from one another.

Notes:
The digital transformation and IT services major, Wipro Limited has bagged a strategic contract valued at $300 million from the ICICI Bank to provide digital technology led services. Under the contract, Wipro will offer a comprehensive suite of services to ICICI Bank for the next 7 years. Earlier, Mumbai-based IT services firm Vara lnfotech was providing these services to the ICICI Bank. As part of this strategic deal, Wipro will absorb about 3,800 employees of Vara lnfotech along with its existing contracts, facilities and assets, on a going concern basis, through a business transfer agreement for an all cash consideration of  Rs 321 crore. This transaction is expected to be completed during the quarter ending September 30, 2019 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Notes:
Srihari Nataraj from Bengaluru  has won the best male swimmer award at the 73rd Glenmark National senior aquatic championships at the Prakash Tarun Pushkar pool. He created a national record in the men’s 100m backstroke. Meanwhile, Shivani Kataria from Haryana was adjudged as the best woman swimmer. Karnataka won the overall championship and men’s team title. And, Maharashtra took the women’s team trophy.