Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
Using platinum nanocatalyst, a two-member team at the IIT Madras has successfully converted petroleum waste-product toluene into benzoic acid. Benzoic acid is used as a food preservative (E210) and medicine for fungal/bacterial infection. Toluene is converted into benzoic acid through selective and controlled oxidation in the presence of a catalyst — binaphthyl-stabilised platinum nanoparticles (Pt-BNP). Generally, organic reactions are carried out using organic solvents, which makes it expensive and also generates toxic waste. So, the team led by G. Sekar used water as solvent to make it environment-friendly. Also, a green oxidant (70% aqueous tert-butyl hydroperoxide or TBHP) is used for converting toluene into benzoic acid. When toluene is oxidised, it gives four products. But, the team used catalyst that they developed and then only benzoic acid is produced. No alcohol, aldehyde or ester is produced. The yield of benzoic acid varied from 68-96% depending on whether the toluene used is electron-deficient or electron-rich.

Notes:
Vadodra-based artist Raju Baraiya has been chosen as the Glenfiddich’s Emerging Artist of the Year 2019. He will represent India at the Glenfiddich Artists in Residence (AiR) programme where he will spend three months at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland with artists from around the world. Baraiya will also be awarded Rs 10 lakh, which includes an international allowance of Rs 1,20,000 per month and a work allowance of Rs 5,00,000; besides being given a solo show at Art District XIII Gallery in New Delhi. Baraiya’s work takes inspiration from observing and diagnosing the rural in relation to the urban and vice-versa. His practice springs out of this shift from a strong rural background to an urban one. The artist has been deriving imagery from these seemingly ambiguous notions of the urban and the rural, and the complexities between the two spaces create a common meeting ground for him to explore through an impression he holds of them. With his art, he aims to translate the ever evolving image of this convergence.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut its repo rate under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 6.0% in its first bi-monthly policy statement of the current financial year FY20, with immediate effect. The move will cheer markets and investors and is the second consecutive rate cut by the RBI. It has also maintained the policy stance neutral and lowered the retail inflation and GDP forecasts. This is the second consecutive rate cut from RBI under new Governor Shaktikanta Das, after a rate cut in February 2019. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 5.75%, and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.25%. These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of plus or minus 2% while supporting growth.

Notes:
Brunei has recently introduced harsh new Islamic laws that make adultery and homsexuality punishable by stoning to death. The new measures also cover a range of other crimes, including punishment for theft by amputation. The move makes Brunei the first place in Southeast Asia to have a sharia penal code at the national level. The new law mostly applies to Muslims, though some aspects will also apply to non-Muslims. It stipulates the death penalty for a number of offences, including rape, adultery, sodomy, robbery and insulting or defaming the Prophet Muhammad. It also introduces public flogging as punishment for abortion and criminalises exposing Muslim children to the beliefs and practices of any religion other than Islam.

Notes:
Phayeng Village of Manipur has been tagged as the India’s first carbon-positive settlement. As part of the carbon-positive village project, Phayeng will receive a grant of Rs10 crore in phases to facilitate afforestation in the catchment of river Maklang that flows along the village. The fund will also be utilised for creation of water bodies, introduction of climate change-resilient varieties of crops, installing solar lights, for setting up a community piggery and poultry farm, an eco-resort, replacing firewood in kitchen with cooking stoves and an indigenous knowledge centre in the village. A village is given the Carbon-Positive Tag if it sequesters more carbon than it emits, slowing the accumulation of greenhouse gases and mitigating the effects of climate change. Phayeng is a scheduled caste village of the Chakpa community in Imphal West district and its conservation efforts are mainly linked to the belief that the forest is a sacred grove. It is surrounded by three densely forested hillocks with fruit trees at centre and a stream flowing through it.

Notes:
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said that its Hayabusa2 spacecraft has successfully blasted the surface of an asteroid Ryugu to make a crater on its surface. The move will pave the way for the collection of underground samples for possible clues to the origin of the solar system. For this, the Hayabusa2 dropped a “small carry-on impactor” made of copper onto the asteroid and the spacecraft safely evacuated and remained intact. Now, JAXA is analyzing data to examine if or how the impactor made a crater. The copper explosive is the size of a baseball weighing 2 kg. If successful, it would be the first time for a spacecraft to take such materials. The asteroid, named Ryugu after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale, is about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth. Earlier, Hayabusa2 successfully touched down on a tiny flat surface on the boulder-rich asteroid in February 2019, when the spacecraft also collected some surface dust and small debris.

Notes:
The World Health Day (WHD) is observed every year on 7th of April as a global health awareness day under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO). The day also celebrated the establishment of WHO in 1948. The 2019 theme is “Universal Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere”. Here, Universal Health means that all people across the globe have access, without any kind of discrimination, to comprehensive quality services, wherever they need them, without facing financial difficulties.

Notes:
Sydney Brenner (92), a South African-born biologist, has passed away in Singapore on April 5, 2019. He helped decipher the genetic code and his research on a roundworm sparked a new field of human disease research. Brenner shared the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2002 for his contribution to work unraveling how genes control cell division. He and two colleagues, John Sulston and Robert Horvitz, traced a transparent roundworm known as C. elegans to determine how cells divide and create something new. The findings on programmed cell death were key to understanding how cancers develop and laid the groundwork for making C. elegans a major model organism in research.

Notes:
In a bid to further improve the cash position of banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently tweaked Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) norms to provide an additional 2% window to lenders. The move will harmonise the liquidity requirements of banks and release additional money for lending. The LCR indicates the proportion of highly liquid assets held by banks to ensure their ability to meet short-term obligations. In a statement on ‘Developmental and Regulatory Policies’ the RBI has extended the timeline for linking floating interest rates on personal, home, auto and MSEs loans to external benchmarks.

Notes:
London has become the world’s first city to implement a special Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) that would charge an entry fee for older vehicles if they do not meet the emission standards. The move aims to reduce toxic air pollution and protect public health. , The ULEZ will be operational for 24 hours and 7 days a week. It will help address London’s toxic air health crisis that currently leads to thousands of premature deaths annually, and increases the risk of asthma, cancer and dementia. As part of the efforts to combat air pollution, London’s famous red bus fleet is also being upgraded. By October 2020, all of 9,200 vehicles will meet or exceed ULEZ standards, as per the statement from Khan’s mayoral office.