Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
Indian Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly from Kolkata has won the 2019 Belt and Road China Hunan International chess tournament. Ganguly left behind a strong field to win the 9-round Open tournament played in a Swiss League format. He registered 5 wins and 4 draws to emerge the sole leader with 7 points. He not only collected 27.5 Elo points but pocketed $50,000 (Rs 35.6 lakh) as well.

Notes:
For Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched a draft titled ‘Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF)”, which is a part of a World Bank-funded project. The draft plan will dictate how prospective infrastructure projects situated along the coast ought to be assessed before they can apply for clearance. The document lays out guidelines out for coastal States to adopt when they approve and regulate projects in coastal zones. The document was prepared by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management, a Ministry-affiliated body. So far three coastal States, namely Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, have prepared ICZM Plans with support from the World Bank. Such plans would be prepared for the selected coastal stretches in other States/UT.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced its “Vikram Sarabhai Journalism Award in Space Science, Technology and Research” to recognize and reward journalists who have actively contributed towards the field of space science, applications, and research. Basically, the awards are part of the centenary year celebrations of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, father of Indian space programme. The nominations are open to all Indians who have a good experience in journalism. The articles published from 2019 to 2020 will be considered. The names of the selected candidates will be announced on August 1st, 2020. There are two categories of awards, wherein the first category holds a cash price of Rs 5,00,000, a medal and citation and two journalists or freelancers of print media will be awarded. On the other hand, the second category of the award holds 3 cash prizes of Rs 3,00,000, 2,00,000 and 1,00,000 and citation each for journalists or freelancers of print media.

Notes:
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (or World Tribal Day) is observed on August 9 to front-up and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population. The 2019 theme is ‘Indigenous Languages’. It was reported in the year 2016 that about 2680 indigenous languages were in danger and on the verge of getting extinct. To safeguard the loss of these indigenous languages, the United Nations (UN) has designated 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages. This will help in persuading, convincing and creating awareness to people about the Indigenous Languages.

Notes:
Hellaro (Gujarati) has won the Best Feature Film award at the 66th National Film awards for year 2018. While, Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal share the Best Actor Award for Andhadhun and Uri: The Surgical Strikes, respectively. Keerthi Suresh bagged Best Actress award for Mahanati. ‘Uri’ director Aditya Dhar won in the Best Director category, and Sudhakar Reddy Yakanthi won for Best Debut Film of a director. Surekha Sikri’s performance in ‘Badhaai Ho’ won her the award for Best Supporting Actress, while lyricist-actor Swanand Kirkire bagged the award for Best Supporting Actor for Marathi film ‘Chumbak’. ‘Badhaai Ho’ also won the Award for a Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, and Akshay Kumar’s ‘Padman’ was awarded the Best Film on a Social Issue.

Notes:
The researchers at IIT Madras have designed a system titled ‘Project Water Chakra’ to recycle human urine. The project won the Indian Innovation Growth Programme 2.0 award in July 2019. The researchers have retrofitted urinals on the campus to collect urine i.e. then processed into several useful materials for use in manufacturing. The concentrated urine is stored for 3 days to allow the urea to get converted to ammonia. By a process of steam distillation, the ammonia is segregated and this commercial grade liquid can be used to make cleaning products, such as detergents or in rubber manufacturing. Then, to precipitate phosphorus through struvite process, magnesium is added to the rest of the liquid. Hence, through electrochemical process we can recover 90% of water and it can be used for gardening purposes and flushing.

Notes:
Bajrang Punia won gold in the 65 Kilogram category at Tbilisi Grand Prix Wrestling tournament. In the 65kg final of the men’s free style competition, Punia prevailed 2-0 over Iran’s Peiman Bibyani in the capital city of Georgia. It is 4th gold of the season for the Asian Games champion Bajrang after standing atop the podium at Dan Kolov, Asian Championship and Ali Aliev tournament.

Notes:
The International Youth Day (IYD) is observed every year on 12th of August to raise awareness of challenges and problems facing the world’s youth. The day reiterate our pledge to make education inclusive, equitable & relevant to the changing dynamics of 21st century to prepare our youths to be future ready. The 2019 theme “Transforming education” highlights efforts to make education more relevant, equitable and inclusive for all youth, including efforts by youth themselves.

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.

Notes:
In New Delhi, the Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the India’s largest sanitation survey – Swachh Survekshan Grameen-2019. The aim of this 45-day long survey is to engage rural communities in improvement of the sanitation status of their districts and states through intensive campaign. The survey will take place in 18 thousand villages of 698 districts. Swachhata activities have also been planned at around 87 thousand public places where community meetings will be organized. People can also directly give their feedback through the mobile app. Under the 2nd edition of Swachh Survekshan Grameen, districts and states will be ranked on data collected from citizen feedback, direct observation and service-level progress.