Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy (93), Acclaimed educationist, journalist and patron of the arts, has passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 5th August 2019. Parthasarathy founded the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Group of Schools driven by her desire “to Indianise school education”. She waspopularly known as Rashmi or ‘Mrs YGP’. In 2010, she received the Padma Shri for her contribution to literature and education. She also worked in ‘The Hindu’ and had written regularly for its Sport & Pastime magazine.

Notes:
India has recently signed the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements (UNISA) to boost the confidence of foreign investors. It was signed by India’s High Commissioner to Singapore Jawed Ashraf, who was representing the Government of India (GoI). The purpose of the convention is to strengthen the international dispute resolution framework, and in turn help ease trade and commerce among countries. It will enable the enforcement of mediated settlement agreements amongst signatory countries. So far, the treaty named Singapore Convention on Mediation (SCM) has signed by 46countries including the United States, China, and India. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Convention on 20th December 2018 during its 73rd session. The Convention has opened for signature by all States in Singapore on 7th August 2019, and thereafter at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Notes:
Kandikuppa Sreekant has taken charge as the new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Power Grid Corporation of India. He shall be on post till 31st December 2023 i.e. the date of his superannuation or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Prior to this post, he was serving as the director (finance) of Power Grid. POWERGRID is an Indian state-owned electric utilities company headquartered in Gurugram. It transmits about 50% of the total power generated in India on its transmission network.

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:
The World Biofuel Day (WBD) is observed every year on 10th of August to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels. The day also highlights the various efforts made by Government in the biofuel sector. The 2019 theme of Biofuel day is ‘Production of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO)’. Biofuels have the benefits of reduction of import dependence, cleaner environment, additional income to farmers and employment generation.

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:
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:
Reliance Jio has partnered with Microsoft to accelerate digital transformation in India. Under the deal, Microsoft will bring in the Azure Cloud on Jio Network targetting the enterprise and business users seeking a technological shift. Jio is the subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). The aim of both the companies is to enhance the adoption of leading technologies like data analytics, AI, cognitive services, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to make them ready to compete and grow.

Notes:
In a path-breaking move, Cricket Australia has recently launched new transgender inclusive policy to ensure transgender and gender-diverse people can take part in the game at the highest level in Australia. The move aligns in accordance with the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) gender recognition policy and gender diversity guidelines. The policy sets out a testosterone limit for transgender and gender-diverse players who want to play for state and national women’s teams. To be eligible for elite women’s teams, the players must show a testosterone concentration of less than 10 nanomoles per litre over at least 12 months. They must also be able to demonstrate their elected gender is consistent with how they are living their lives on a daily basis. The guidelines cover everything from victimisation to privacy and providing suitable facilities, as well as the collection of personal information.

Notes:
To mark the 77th anniversary of Quit India movement, the Uttar Pradesh has created a world record by planting more than 22-cr saplings in a day at 12.2 lakh locations in the state. For this noble cause, the state government launched a mega afforestation drive ‘Vriksharopan Mahakumbh’ with target to plant 22 cr saplings in a day. The previous record of planting 30,000 saplings was created by Savitribai Phule Pune University of Maharashtra in June 2019.