Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
Former Indian opener and Bengal captain, Arun Lal has been conferred with Karthik Bose Lifetime Achievement award of the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB’s) in Kolkata. He played 16 Test matches and 13 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for India between 1982 and 1989. He played six seasons for Delhi before becoming a regular feature for Bengal and was a major figure in Bengal’s Ranji Trophy triumph in 1989. He was credited with instilling a positive attitude in the team’s approach.

Notes:
In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, Mohali traffic police have launched 3-D Smart Traffic Signal devised by the students of a Chandigarh university. The wireless system, called ‘Intelights’, has been installed at the traffic crossing near the Airport Road, on a pilot project basis, and will regulate traffic signals with a smart bird’s eye view wireless sensor system. Intelights proposes a 360-degree solution to curb the rising problem of traffic congestion. One of the major reasons for traffic congestion is the inefficient working of traffic signal timers installed at intersections. Presently, the timers of traffic lights display a preset value which leads to waste of time. For instance, consider a scenario where green light of ’20 seconds’ is displayed but there is no vehicle present at that particular intersection – thus leading to unnecessary waste of time. To tackle this issue, ‘Intelights’ proposes an Intelligent Traffic Timer Control; which uses dynamic signal control technology to adjust the timers of red, yellow and green lights according to the traffic density at an intersection. The system uses existing CCTV cameras to gather live traffic video feed, and automatically evaluates the traffic density using Artificial Intelligence, and sets the signal timers accordingly. This process is repeated for every cycle of traffic lights to keep traffic flowing smoothly.

Notes:
The researchers at IIT Guwahati have developed a low-cost portable device to detect bacteria without cell culture or microbiological assays. The hand-held device with bio-compatible sensor can also diagnose time-critical illnesses such as meningitis. The bacterial infection is a common cause of morbidity and mortality across the world. Despite the development of a range of antibiotics, the challenge continues to lie in diagnosing bacterial infection early on. The present techniques are extremely time – consuming. Presently, cells derived from a patient are cultured or grown in laboratories to detect and micro-analyse bacteria. However, the new portable device can instantly detect the charges on the cell walls of bacteria. The rapid detection kits are like those used for blood sugar monitoring. The research has enabled rapid detection of bacteria, which is not just important in healthcare but also in anti- bioterrorism measures and environmental monitoring. The team work has been recently patented & published in the July 2019 issue of ‘Journal of Materials Chemistry of the Royal Society of Chemistry’.

Notes:
Jay Om Prakash (93), the veteran filmmaker and Hrithik Roshan’s maternal grandfather, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on August 7, 2019. He is best known for his collaboration with two of Bollywood biggest superstars — the late Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra. He had a strong penchant for beginning his film titles with the letter ‘A’. With Khanna, he made films such as “Aap Ki Kasam” (1974) and “Aakhir Kyon?” (1985). His collaboration with Jeetendra yielded five big hits — “Apnapan” (1977), “Aasha” (1980), “Apna Bana Lo” (1982), “Arpan” (1983) and “Aadmi Khilona Hai” (1993).

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:
Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has launched ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive on 9th August 2019 to create awareness about Water Conservation among all school students across country. One of the objectives of this mega drive is to encourage students towards judicious use and minimum wastage of water at home and school level. It is a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach. This concept of water conservation is essential for students so that they can understand the importance of water and how it is shaping their lives meaningfully, thereby enabling them to participate in water conservation activities in their day to day lives.

Notes:
Uttarakhand has won the most film-friendly state award at the 66th National Film awards 2018. This is the first time that this category has been added to the list of National Awards. A panel consists of Rahul Rawail, Utpal Borpujari and A S Kanal announced the award. The Uttarakhand government has provided various subsidies to encourage more filmmakers to shoot films in the state. Bollywood film Kedarnath, directed by Abhishek Kapoor, was shot in the state.

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:
India’s first health-focused credit card has been launched by RBL Bank and digital healthcare platform Practo. The co-branded health credit card is powered by Mastercard and is available on both Practo and RBL mobile apps and websites. It offers benefits like unlimited and round-the-clock online consultations with experienced and qualified doctors, one free full body health check-up. In addition, the card also offers two complimentary domestic airport lounge accesses every quarter. Beside this, users can also use the card to earn points that can be redeemed for availing Practo services like ordering medicine, tests and online consultations. Currently, Practo is the only platform in the country that lets patients manage their healthcare needs end-to-end.