Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
Harshad Pandurang Thakur, Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), has been appointed as the new Director of National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), New Delhi for a period of 5 years. The NIHFW is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is headquartered in New Delhi. It acts as an apex technical institute as well as a think tank for the promotion of health and family welfare programmes in the country.

Notes:
Dr. K Thangaraj, Chief Scientist at the city based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has bagged the prestigious J C Bose Fellowship for his outstanding scientific contributions in the field of population and medical genomics. The J C Bose fellowship is awarded to active scientists in recognition of their outstanding performance by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science & Technology. Dr Thangaraj is a population geneticist. Some of his major works includes finding out the origin of Indian population– how humans migrated from Africa during different episodes and populated different parts of India. These studies led to further work on understanding how these populations interbred. He also showed how in the last 2000 years Indians started practicing endogamy resulting in many population specific genetic disorders.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has recently inaugurated thematic underground British-era Bunker turned Museum inside the Raj Bhavan at Malabar Hill in Mumbai. The 15,000 sq.ft museum has Virtual Reality Booths (VRBs) in which visitors can “time travel” to the 19th century when the bunker was created to fire cannons at approaching enemy ships. The history of Raj Bhavan has also been depicted in another section. In 2016, the British-era bunker was discovered by Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao. It is made up of 13 rooms such as Shell Store, Gun Shell, Cartridge Store and Central Artillery Store. The underground passage has a proper drainage system and inlets for fresh air and light. The bunker dates back to the pre-World War I era and is believed to have been an asset of the battery stationed near the coast to defend Bombay Castle from naval attacks.

Notes:
In India, the Sadbhavana Diwas (or Communal Harmony Day) is celebrated every year on August 20 to commemorate birth anniversary of late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. On the occasion of 75th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi along with Rahul Gandhi inaugurated an exhibition titled ‘Memories and Archives of Rajiv Gandhi’ on 20th August 2019. Rajiv Gandhi served as the 6th Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian Prime Minister at the age of 40. In 21st May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. His death anniversary is also observed as National Anti-Terrorism Day.

Notes:
The Union Tourism Ministry has decided to offer e-Tourist Visa fee based on tourist footfall to attract foreign travellers from over 160 countries to India. The ministry has proposed to introduce e-visa fee for short duration of 30 days during peak tourism season – from July to March — at a charge of 25. However, the e-visa fee during the lean period — from April to June — is to be kept at 10. The Ministry also introduced a new 5 year e-tourist visa the fee of which will be 80 and the fees of one year e-visa would be 40. Though, there will be no visa fee for tourists from 14 Pacific Island nations belonging to Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) — Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue Island, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu — and Myanamar, Argentina, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa and Uruguay. Both the Ministry of Home Affairs (HA) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) have given approval to the flexible e-tourist visa regime.

Notes:
The State of Karnataka has got the first position in the SARAL – ‘State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index’ that evaluates Indian states based on their attractiveness for rooftop development. The index has recently launched by the Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy (IC), RK Singh. Telangana has acquired the 2nd position, followed by Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The index has been designed collaboratively by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Ernst & Young (EY).

Notes:
The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network “TRAFFIC” has recently revealed a new report titled ‘Skin and Bones Unresolved: An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 2000-2018’. As per new TRAFFIC analysis, India topped in the trafficking of tigers and tiger body parts over 19 years since 2000. Apart from tiger skin and bones, live tigers are also traded illegally in a number of cases. It accounted for 40.5% of total incidents (463) and 26.5% of tigers seized (626). Overall, the analysis estimated that 2,359 tigers and tiger body parts were seized during the period across 32 countries and territories globally, resulting from 1,142 seizure incidents. Around 95% of these seizures were recorded in countries that are home to tigers. The study was launched to coincide with discussions around the trade in tigers and other big cat species at the 18th meeting of governments that are parties to the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. It must be noted here that India has the world’s largest wild tiger population. The headquarters of TRAFFIC is located in Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK).

Notes:
The World Senior Citizen’s Day (WSCD) is celebrated every year on 21st of August to raise awareness about the issues that affect older adults. and to support them throughout the aging process. The day also recognizes & acknowledges the contributions of older people to the society. It provides an opportunity to show our appreciation for their dedication, accomplishments, and services they give throughout their lives.

Notes:
Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Government of India (GoI) has launched its latest initiative called the ‘San-Sadhan’ Hackathon – for Divyangjan accessible toilets. The aim of the initiative is to ease lives of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) by making toilets smarter, more accessible, and easier to use. In this hackathon, the government is looking for smart, scalable and innovative solutions for economical toilets for individual and community use in rural and urban contexts. The Hackathon is inviting researchers, start-ups, student innovators, technology enthusiasts, and industry experts to participate. The last date to apply for participating in the Hackathon is August 28. The shortlisted applicants will work to develop their prototype during the two-day Hackathon scheduled to be held in the month of September in New Delhi. The initiative is being organized jointly by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and 91springboard.

Notes:
According to the latest date by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), the Amazon Rainforest Forests in Brazil has recorded 74,155 fires since January 2019. Its satellite data showed an 84% increase as compared to the same period in 2018. The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, which covers more than 5 million square kilometres across nine countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. It acts as an enormous carbon sink & stores up to an estimated 100 years worth of carbon emissions produced by humans, and is seen as vital to slowing the pace of global warming. It is the most significant climate stabilizer as it creates 20 percent of the air we breathe and it also holds 20% of the fresh flowing water on the planet. But in the last half-century alone, nearly 20% of the forest has disappeared. Scientists have warned that if tree loss in the Amazon were to pass a certain “tipping point”, somewhere between 25 -40%, deforestation could start to feed on itself and lead to the demise of the forest within a matter of decades. Hence, preserving the forest is of critical importance for both the region it encompasses and the rest of the world.