Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2018

Notes:
The 4th International Ayurveda Congress (IAvC) 2018 has been inaugurated by Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik at Leiden, the Netherlands on September 1. The congress would focus on promotion and propagation of Ayurveda in the Netherlands and its neighbouring countries of Europe. The 2-day congress is jointly organized by International Maharishi Ayurveda Foundation (Netherlands), All India Ayurvedic Congress (New Delhi) and the International Academy of Ayurveda (Pune) in association with the Indian Embassy in the Netherlands. A special Seminar is also organized by the Indian Embassy titled “India-Netherlands collaboration in Healthcare, including Ayurveda”.

Notes:
Well-known neurosurgeon Dr. Basant Kumar Mishra from Odisha has been named for prestigious Dr B.C. Roy National Award for year 2018 as Eminent Medical Person of the Year. It is the highest medical honour of India, which will be given away by President Ram Nath Kovind on July 1, 2019. It was instituted by the Medical Council of India (MCI) in 1962. Presently, Mishra is leading the Department of Neurosurgery & Gamma Knife Radio surgery at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai. He is also the secretary of International Neurosurgeon Council. During his career, Misra has several firsts to his credit, including image guided aneurysm microsurgery, first doctor in South Asia to perform gamma knife radiosurgery and first in the country to perform awake craniotomy for brain tumours.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently released the draft rules on sale of drugs by e-pharmacies with an aim to regulate online sale of medicines across the country. It aims at providing patients accessibility to genuine drugs from authentic online portals. The draft rules on “sale of drugs by e-pharmacy” stated that no person will distribute or sell, stock, exhibit or offer for sale of drugs through e-pharmacy portal unless registered. The new draft rules require e-pharmacies to be registered with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and obtain a trade licence — applicable across India — from any state government. The drugs sold online would need prescription and the pharmacy will have to maintain a detailed record. However, there should be strict confidentiality and no patient information should be leaked domestically or internationally. There should also be facility for customer support and grievance redressal. Though, sale of tranquillisers, psychotropic drugs, narcotics and habit forming drugs have been prohibited through these portals.

Notes:
The US researchers have developed a wearable device that could generate energy from the swing of an arm while walking or jogging. The device, about the size of a wristwatch, produces enough power to run a personal health monitoring system. The prototype watch is apparently made from a crystal material, which can produce an electric current when compressed or can change shape when an electric charge is applied. This is called the “piezoelectric effect” and is used in ultrasound and sonar devices, as well as energy harvesting. The researchers used a well-known piezoelectric material ‘PZT’ and coated it on both sides of a flexible metal foil to a thickness four or five times greater than in previous devices. The compressive stresses that are created in the film as it is grown on the flexible metal foils also mean that the PZT films can sustain high strains without cracking, making for more robust devices. The researchers behind the device come from Pennsylvania State University’s Materials Research Institute and the University of Utah. The research was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) will observe September as National Nutrition Month (NNM) across the country to mark the fight against malnutrition. During this month, various programmes have been organized by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry to spread broad awareness on the issues related to malnutrition like stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight in children. The Nutrition Month will also focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers to eliminate the deficiencies prevailing in the Health sector. The NNM will be celebrated every year with the aim to bring down stunting of children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38% to 25% by 2022. The POSHAN Abhiyaan – the National Nutrition Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan on 2018 International Women’s Day (IWD).

Notes:
Nepal is hosting the International Women Entrepreneurs Summit (IWES) 2018 in Kathmandu with theme “Equality begins with Economic Empowerment” from September 3. The main purpose of the 3-day summit is to bring together achievers, women business leaders, professionals, international service providers, resource organizations, experts, government representatives and other stakeholders with a focus on innovative economic transformation through discussions and collaborations. The delegates from the SAARC, ASEAN, EU, Africa, Arab countries and China participating in the summit. The event is organised by the South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF).

Notes:
India and France has recently signed an agreement to collaborate on ISRO’s first human spaceflight programme “Gaganyaan”. It was announcement by French space agency president Jean-Yves Le Gall at the 6th edition of the Bengaluru Space Expo. The first step under the MoU is to exchange specialists to work on (space) medicine. The ambit of the cooperation includes giving ISRO access to space hospital facilities in France and combining expertise of the two space agencies in fields of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring, life support, radiation protection, space debris protection and personal hygiene system. The two space agencies also plan to work on Mars, Venus and asteroids. The aim of the Gaganyaan mission is to send a 3-member crew to space for a period of 5 to 7 days by 2022. Its objectives are to inspire youth, increase science and technology levels in the country, improve industrial growth, develop technology for social benefits, etc.

Notes:
The International Day of Charity (IDC) is observed every year on September 5 to raise awareness and provide a common platform for charity related activities all over the world for individuals, charitable, philanthropic and volunteer organizations for their own purposes on the local, national, regional and international level. The day also recognizes the efforts of charitable organizations and individuals. The date was chosen by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in order to commemorate the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace.

Notes:
Bhagwatikumar Sharma (84), the renowned author and journalist, has passed away in Surat, Gujarat on September 5, 2018. Born in May 1934, Sharma authored novels, short stories, poetries, essays and articles during his 65-year career. Some of his famous Gujarati novels include ‘Aarti Ane Angara’ (1957), ‘Man Nahi Mane’ (1962), ‘Rikta’ (1968), ‘Vyaktamadhya’ (1970) and ‘Samaydvip’ (1974), among others. He received Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak in 1984 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1988 for his novel ‘Asooryalok’. In 2017, the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi honoured him with the ‘Sahityaratna’ Award. He had also worked in different genres of poetry such as ghazal, geet and sonnet. His first ghazal collection, ‘Sambhav’, was published in 1974, followed by ‘Chhando Chhe Pandada Jenan’ (1987), ‘Nakhdarpan’ (1995), ‘Jhalhal’ (1995) and ‘Adhi Aksharnu Chomasu’ (2002), among many others.

Notes:
In the first round of the ‘two-plus-two dialogue’ in New Delhi, India and the United States signed military communications pact “COMCASA” , which will give India access to advanced new defence systems like armed drones and will enable the Indian armed forces to exploit existing US-origin platforms much more efficiently. COMCASA is an India-specific version of the Communication and Information on Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). It comes into force immediately & is valid for a period 10 years. The term “COMCASA” stands for Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and is one of the four foundational agreements that the U.S. signs with allies and close partners to facilitate interoperability between militaries and sale of high end technology. COMCASA allows India to procure transfer specialised equipment for encrypted communications for US origin military platforms like the C-17, C-130 and P-8Is.