GK & Current Affairs Quiz: October 15-16, 2018

Notes:
The World Egg Day (WED) is celebrated every year on the second Friday in October and was first celebrated in 1996. The day helps to raise awareness of the benefits of eggs and their importance in human nutrition. Eggs are one of nature’s highest quality sources of protein, and indeed contain many of the key ingredients for life. The proteins contained within eggs are highly important in the development of the brain and muscles, have a key role to play in disease prevention and contribute to general well being. The 2018 theme is “Protein for Life”.

Notes:
Great Britain lifted the 8th edition of Sultan Johar Cup Junior Hockey tournament in Johor Bahru, Malaysia on October 13, 2018. In the final, Great Britain defeated India 3-2. The other teams in the tournament were Japan, Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Notes:
India has been ranked 103rd among 119 countries in the 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI). The 2018 GHI report was prepared jointly by global NGOs namely – Concern Worldwide (Ireland) and Welthungerhilfe (Germany). The index indicates that the level of hunger and undernutrition worldwide falls into the serious category, at a value of 20.9, down from 29.2 in 2000.

Notes:
Dr. Teejan Bai, the folk artist from Chhattisgarh, has won the 2018 Fukuoka Arts and Culture Prize, one of the top honours of Japan. It was the first time she had been formally recognised abroad and she was flabbergasted that anyone in Japan had heard of her or her art: Pandavani. Dr. Teejan is a leading performing artist and a contemporary exponent of Pandavani, a narrative singing of the ancient Indian epic “Mahabharata”.

Notes:
Maryse Conde, a French (Guadeloupean) author of historical fiction, has won the 2018 New Academy Prize in Literature, which is formed in protest to the Nobel Literature Prize. Conde will win about £87,000 raised from crowdfunding and donations, and will receive the prize at a ceremony on 9 December, one day before the Nobel banquet. In 2018, the Nobel Prize in Literature was postponed for the first time since 1949 because of a sexual misconduct scandal that came to light as part of the #MeToo movement.

Notes:
India and China have launched their first joint programme for Afghanistan to train its diplomats from October 15-26 under the aegis of the Trilateral Cooperation between India, China and Afghanistan. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during an informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held in April 2018 at China’s Wuhan city. This will be a first such project in the war-torn country where China while trying to expand its influence has tacitly backed Pakistan, which has been accused by Afghanistan and the US of backing the Taliban and its most violent attacks in the country destabilising any attempts to restore peace.

Notes:
Novak Djokovic, a Serbian professional tennis player. has recently won the 2018 Shanghai Masters Tennis tournament in Shanghai, China. In the final, he beat Croatia’s Borna Coric by 6-3, 6-4 to claim his fourth Shanghai title and second Masters title of the year. Djokovic now has 18 consecutive wins. With this win, he overtook Roger Federer and returned to the #2 ranking for the first time since the 2017 French Open.

Notes:
Dr. Shekhar C Mande, a biologist, has been appointed Director-General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Research (DSIR). The position of CSIR DG fell vacant recently with its previous chief Girish Sahni superannuating on August 31. At present, Dr. Mande is the director of the Pune-based National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) and a top functionary of Vijnana Bharati, the RSS-affiliated swadeshi science movement. He is a fellow of all three major science academies: The Indian National Science Academy, the National Academy of Sciences India, and the Indian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Mande has also worked at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad.

Notes:
The International Day for Disaster Reduction is observed every year on October 13 to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. The day celebrated how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the risks associated with them. The 2018 theme is ‘Reducing Disaster Economic Losses’.

Notes:
The book “Maharana Pratap: The Invincible Warrior” is authored by noted historian Rima Hooja, who describes in detail how Maharana Pratap managed to elude capture by the mighty Mughal army for so long and never bowed down to Akbar. This new book on Maharana Pratap examines the life of the great Rajput warrior and also revisits the famous battle of Haldighati with the Mughals saying it remained inconclusive and there was no clear winner. According to author, the story of Haldighati is a story of great courage and sacrifice; of the clash of indomitable wills; of Mughal ambition and expansion versus Rajput pride and honour.