Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has extended title sponsor rights to Paytm for the Indian cricket team’s international and domestic matches with a winning bid of Rs 3.80 crore per match for the 4-year cycle commencing October, 2019. Over the next 4 years, India is set to host at least 86 international men’s matches in bilateral series & BCCI is thrilled with the 57% hike in sponsorship amount. Besides men’s international cricket, BCCI offers extension of sponsorship rights to domestic cricket and women’s international games at no additional cost.

Notes:
Union Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel has recently launched the book titled – “the Diary of Manu Gandhi (1943-44)” at a function in New Delhi. The book has been brought out by National Archives of India (NAI) in collaboration with Oxford University Press on the occasion of 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The book originally written in Gujarati language and has been edited & translated by a well known scholar Dr. Tridip Suhrud. The first volume of the book covers the period of 1943-1944. It throws light on Gandhiji’s life as a prisoner and his endeavour to establish the possibility of collective non-violence. It also chronicles the spiritual and educational pursuits of a woman who takes up writing as a mode of self examination. She shares a moving portrait of Kasturba Gandhi’s illness and death. Manu Gandhi (Mridula) was a grand niece of Mahatma Gandhi, and stayed with Gandhiji till his assassination. She was an aide to Kasturba Gandhi during her imprisonment in the Aga Khan Palace in 1943.

Notes:
In France, the 45th edition of G7 summit was held in Biarritz on 24-26 August 2019 with theme “Fighting Inequality”. The annual meet was attended by the leaders of 7 member states — France, Italy, Canada, United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are in Biarritz to discuss various issues during the G7 meeting. PM on way to France to attend G7 meeting in Biarritz; Theme of the summit is ‘Fighting Inequality’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the G7 meeting in which India has been invited as a partner country.

Notes:
In Badminton, ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu has become the first Indian to book a gold medal at the World Championships at Basel in Switzerland. In the final, she defeated her Japanese opponent Nozomi Okuhara by 21-7, 21-7. This was Sindhu’s third straight World Championships final. Sindhu is also the second women shuttler to have five medals and the third to have medals in all three colours.

Notes:
The researchers at IIT-Guwahati have developed a novel technique for production of meat which is completely natural. The lab-grown meat is nutritious and will be a step towards cruelty-free food. The taste of the final meat product will remain similar as raw meat but with improvised nutritional values as per customer needs. The product can be printed in varying shapes and sizes using a 3D bioprinter with the edible components and preserved for future use. According to researchers, the meat industry has been facing immense pressure in keeping up with the food requirements due to rapid increase in population. Citing predictions from the UN population prospects, Dr Biman B Mandal stated that the current meat industry will not be able to meet the global needs by 2050. Around 4,000 litres of water are required to produce one kg chicken meat and more than 8,000 litres of water are required to produce one kg of mutton. Hence, the lab grown meat made will have immense value in the Indian as well as the foreign market as it is nutritious and can be tuned for the high in demand needs of fast-food joints.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu government has recently launched its exclusive education TV channel – Kalvi Tholaikkatchi – to benefit students of classes I to XII. The content will include shows aimed at school children, besides those on jobs and related issues. The Education TV will telecast programmes from 6 am to 9.30 pm every day. The programmes will be based on board exam preparation for students, employment news and opportunities for the youth and career-guidance information. The content for the channel has been prepared by a group of 25 teachers and the programmes will also have guest speakers like authors and subject experts. The State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has also contributed towards content development for the channel. The TN SCERT has a channel on YouTube already with around 2.5 lakh subscribers and more than 3,000 videos. The videos range from chapter-wise tutorials on subjects to easy science experiments conducted by middle school students.

Notes:
Prabhakar Singh, Director General (DG) of Central Public Works Department (CPWD), has been chosen for the ‘Eminent Engineer Award for the Year 2019’ by the Institution of Engineers (India) for his distinguished and exemplary Service in the field of Engineering and Technology. This Elite and Prestigious Award shall be conferred to him on the ‘Engineers Day’ on September 15, 2019 in New Delhi. Singh is an IIT Graduate and MBA from one of the Premier Business Institute of the Country. His enormous contributions and dedicated Service to the Nation as an Eminent Technocrat has been instrumental in transforming the Premier Engineering Organisation of the Central Government – CPWD.

Notes:
The 4th edition of the Internet of Things (IoT) India Congress 2019 held in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The theme of Edition is ‘Mainstreaming the Internet of Things’. It is the India’s largest confluence of digital technology. The 2-day session focused on 10 tracks viz. Energy, Healthcare, Defence, Standards and Regulatory, Retail, Digital Communication, Skills and Development, Agriculture, Manufacturing and Smart Cities.

Notes:
Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa is representing India at the 2019 Indo Pacific Chiefs of Defence (CHOD) Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. The theme for the conference is “Collaboration in a free and Open Indo – Pacific”. The conference will provide perspectives on common challenges faced by attending nations and elicit open discussions on the same. More than Chiefs of Defence of 33 countries are participating in the conference.

Notes:
Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has recently launched a school education portal ‘Shagun’, which links over 15 lakh schools across the country to provide all the information on school education. The schools have been geo-tagged and all the data provided by them can be accessed through this portal. According to HRD officials, there would also be a third-party verification of the information provided by schools. Through this initiative, more than 2.3 lakh educational websites can be integrated.