Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
A newly-discovered Kajin Sara lake in Manang district of Nepal is expected to set a new world record of being the world’s highest lake. It is located at an altitude of 5,200m, which is yet to be officially verified. Currently, Tilicho lake in Nepal holds the title, which is situated at an altitude of 4,919m in the Himalyan nation. Tilicho lake is 4 km long, 1.2 km wide and around 200m deep.

Notes:
The researchers from IIT Kharagpur have developed a low-cost diagnostic device which can perform various pathological tests by using blood taken from a finger prick. The device requires only a paper strip based kit integrated with a smartphone to enable analytics and readout functions and an LED light for imaging. The key aspect of the kit is operational simplicity and extremely low running cost. The kit is developed by a research team led by Prof Suman Chakraborty.

Notes:
Legendary Indian athlete and Olympian P.T. Usha has been appointed as a member of the Athletes Commission of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA). Usha will be one of the six members of the AAA Athletes Commission. The commission will be headed by 1992 Olympics gold medallist hammer thrower Andrey Abduvaliyev of Uzbekistan. Usha is known for her stellar performance at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she missed the bronze in the 400m hurdles finals by 1/100 second. The ‘Payyoli Express’ was awarded with the prestigious Arjuna Award in 1983. Recently, Usha is nominated for the prestigious International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Veteran Pin Award.

Notes:
Rizia Rahman (79), the renowned Bangladeshi novelist and the Ekushey Padak winning author, has passed away in Dhaka on August 17, 2019. She was born in Kolkata in 1939 and migrated to East Bengal after the partition. Rizia wrote in all genres of creative work viz. short stories, poems, essays and children’s fiction but she was renowned for her novels. Some of her well-known novels are as follows: Bong Theke Bangla, Rokter Okshor and Ghar-Bhanga-Ghar.

Notes:
Damodar Ganesh Bapat (84), the noted social worker and Padma Shri awardee, has passed away in Bilaspur district, Chhattisgarh on August 17, 2019. He dedicated his life to the treatment and service of leprosy patients at an ashram run by Bharatiya Kushta Nivarak Sangh (BKNS) in Sothi village in Janjgir-Champa district of the state for the last four-and-a-half decades. He played an instrumental role in making people aware about leprosy in tribal areas of the state.

Notes:
Indian cricket team has won the T20 Physical Disability World Cricket Series in England. In the final, India defeated England by 36 runs at the Blackfinch New Road ground in Worcester. The Indian team called itself Wadekar Warriors, in memory of former India captain Ajit Wadekar, who played an active role in All India Cricket Association for Physically Challenged (AICAPC). The AICAPC organised the selection and preparation for the event. The 6-nation tournament was organised by England and Wales Cricket Board.

Notes:
India has recently contributed $1 million to the UN Special Purpose Trust Fund (SPTF) for the Resident Coordinator System. The SPTF is a specific fund housed within the UN Secretariat. The fund has been established to receive, consolidate, manage and account for all contributions and financial transactions of the new Resident Coordinator system in a transparent and effective way. On real time basis, the SPTF web portal reflects all commitments, contributions and expenditures recorded for the fund.

Notes:
The World Photography Day (WPD) is observed every year on 19th of August to inspire photographers across the planet to share a single photo with a simple idea – To share their world with the world. The date of August 19 was chosen to commemorate the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic process developed by Frenchmen Louis Daguerre & Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1837. On 9th January 1839, the French Academy of Sciences announced the Daguerreotype process. After that, on 19th August 1839, the French government purchased the patent and announced the invention as a gift “free to the world”.

Notes:
Ranjit Guru (61), the noted Odisha journalist and columnist, has passed away in Bhubaneswar on August 18, 2019. He was working with leading Odia daily Sambad in a senior editorial position. During his over a 3-decade long career in journalism, he was also associated with the leading newspapers like ‘Anandabazar Patrika’ and ‘The Asian Age’.

Notes:
The Odisha Wetland Authority has recently approved implementation of an integrated management plan for Chilika (India’s largest brackish water lagoon), and Ansupa (State’s largest freshwater lake). The plan for Chilika & Ansupa will cost Rs 180 crore. The 5-year management of lakes is intended at strengthening livelihood of thousands of fishermen relying on the two water-bodies. Chilika is spread over 1,100 sq km and lakhs of tourists visit the lake to watch endangered Irrawaddy dolphins and migratory birds during winter. While Ansupa is famous for its sweet water fish, especially for labeo bata locally known as pohala. It is spread over almost 2 sq km & is also the wintering ground for 32 species of migratory birds. Its calmness, scenic beauty and forest coverage behold the visitors.