Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has recently released a report card on “Breastfeeding & Infant & Child feeding Practices” with data from the State and UTs on 8th August in New Delhi. In it, Manipur has topped the rankings in the Breastfeeding report card in the country. National capital Delhi is also among the worst-performing States. It has been developed by devising a composite score based on three indicators namely early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding for six months and complimentary feeding at 6-8 months of child’s age. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar are at the bottom positions in the report card.

Notes:
In Meghalaya, the 22nd National Conference on e-Governance 2019 was held at Shillong on August 8-9, 2019 with theme “Digital India: Success to Excellence”. It was inaugurated by Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma. The Conference is a part of the DARPG’s 100 days initiatives in the new Government. This is the first time the event was organized in North-Eastern region of the country. This Conference provides a platform to disseminate knowledge on effective methods of designing and implementing sustainable e-Governance initiatives to provide end-to-end Digital Services, exchange experiences in solving problems, mitigating risks, resolving issues and planning for success. A total of 28 states and all the Union Territories (UTs) participated in the Conference.

Notes:
The RBI task force on Offshore Rupee Markets (ORM), headed by Usha Thorat, has suggested liberal currency market for offshore users. The panel recommended that onshore market hours may be suitably extended to match the flexibility provided by the offshore markets (or NDF markets). This is aimed at incentivizing non-residents to hedge in the onshore market. The Thorat panel suggested that banks may be allowed to freely offer prices to non-residents at all times, out of their Indian books, either by a domestic sales team, or by using staff located at overseas branches. It recommended that non-deliverable rupee derivatives (with settlement in foreign currency) may be allowed to be traded in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), and IFSC Banking Units may be allowed to deal in such derivatives with a distinct foreign currency-Indian rupee (INR) position limit.

Notes:
The Manipur government has appointed a 9-year-old girl Valentina Elangbam as the State’s green ambassador after a video of her crying over felled trees goes viral. Hence, the state government issued an order in recognition of her immense love and affection for trees and for generating mass awareness on conservation of the environment for a period of one year from the date of issuing the order. Valentina is a Class V student of Amutombi Divine Life English School in Kakching town. She had planted the saplings of two Gulmohar (royal poinciana) trees by the side of a river when she was in Class I. However, in a rude shock to her, the trees were recently cut down as part of a road expansion project. Then, a video of the crying child over the trees was shared on Facebook by her uncle.

Notes:
On the occasion of World Tribal Day (WTD-2019), the Madhya Pradesh government has announced that loans taken by tribals from money-lenders would be waived in all tribal blocks of the state. The government will also provide debit cards to tribals through which they can withdraw up to Rs 10,000 from ATMs. The facility to withdraw money from ATMs will be provided at weekly markets. The decision is expected to benefit 1.5 crore tribals. Chief Minister Kamal Nath has also said that the government will also ensure that tribals get back valuables like jewelery and land pledged as collateral for the loan. Now, money-lenders will have to obtain a license from the government for working in tribal areas. The state government has also announced that forest villages would be converted into `revenue villages’ for administrative convenience. The Scheduled Tribes (STs) department would be renamed as Tribal Development Department as per tribals’ demand.

Notes:
Sudha Rani Relangi, who is currently serving as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Law and Justice, has been appointed as new director of prosecution in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of two years. The post had been lying vacant since the last Director of Prosecution OP Verma completed his term on 24th December 2018.

Notes:
US President Donald Trump has designated India among the over 20 major drug transit or illicit drug-producing countries. The other countries identified in the list are Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. The reasons why these countries are on the US list is the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to transit or be produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control measures.

Notes:
In Badminton, Sourabh Verma from Madhya Pradesh clinched the Men’s Singles title in the 2019 Hyderabad Open championship at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium. He defeated Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 21-13, 14-21, 21-16 in the thrilling summit clash that lasted 52 minutes. Earlier, in May 2019, Sourabh had won the Slovenian International title. He had also won two Super 100 titles at the Dutch Open and Russian Open last year.

Notes:
Dr. Chandrima Shaha is set to be the first woman president of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). She is currently Professor of Eminence at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) of Delhi. As a biologist, Ms. Shaha has focussed on apoptosis (or programmed cell death). Her laboratory uses the uni-cellular leishmania parasite as a model to understand the conditions under which cells respond to their environment and kill themselves, if need be.

Notes:
Astronomers at the Max Planck Institute of Germany have recently discovered a new black hole named Holmberg 15A that is clocking in at 40 billion times the mass of the Sun. The black hole is supergiant elliptical galaxy i.e. around 700 million light-years away from Earth and resides right at the centre of the Abell 85 galaxy cluster. It is to be noted that the Holmberg 15A is one of the biggest black holes that’s ever been spotted by keeping track on the movement of stars around it. Black holes are a region of space-time exhibiting gravitational acceleration so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it.